Joanne Heng
KPMG
Excellence in Client Service
Like a lot of our Women Leaders in Technology recipients, Joanne Heng got into consulting somewhat accidentally. She was a business major in college and needed an internship and a global manufacturing company was looking for an intern to write training material for their SAP implementation. "When I graduated, the demand for someone with SAP skills was sky high," Heng says. "And I've never looked back."
Fast forward to today and Joanne Heng is a Managing Director in KPMG's Deal Advisory group and has extensive experience working on organizational transformation and strategic technology initiatives across a number of industries, including media and entertainment, automotive, manufacturing and life sciences.
She focuses on leading M&A IT across the deal lifecycle from diligence to integration and separation services and understands alignment to business strategy. She is a member of the Integration & Separation team specializing in Technology-enabled projects including M&A IT diligence, integration and separation and IT strategy & transformation.
"There was a paucity of women in technology when I started, and I specialized in automotive manufacturing which is equally short of women," she says. "Fortunately, I've had great mentors and clients over the years and that experience has instilled a significant desire to continue to increase diversity in these industries."
Heng has had extensive experience in leading global ERP implementations, business integration, process design and IT strategy initiatives in support of business value creation and realization.
"Consulting, even technology consulting, is ultimately a people business," she says. "Whether it's helping our people become successful, providing value to clients or making my executives look good at the end of the day, it's the people I work with that makes this the best job in the world."
She has led the design and implementation of multiple SAP financial and management accounting solutions within the enterprise including global reporting and consolidation, margin improvement and front and back-office integration.
Specifically, she has deep experience in planning and managing IT, business transformation and integration projects from inception through planning, deployment and continuous improvement.
"I have been working with the same team for over 12 years and this group of highly talented folks are still working with me and are well on their way to becoming future partners in the firm," Heng says. "Personal success is wonderful, but seeing our team achieve the success I knew we were capable of is priceless."
Ask her the best advice she's ever received and she says that someone once told her that: "This business is a marathon, a long play, not a sprint and your decisions and choices should reflect that."
And when it comes to winning the Women Leaders in Technology award, Heng says she's "honored to represent KPMG and humbled to counted among so many amazing women in technology."
Professionally, what are you most looking forward over the next 12 months?
Heng: "Growing, deepening and developing my team to expand our book of business by helping our clients win."
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