The 2020 Women Leaders in Technology: Marcy Chanin

Today, Chanin is a delivery leader at Simplus where she is accountable for ensuring delivery success and operational effectiveness. When it comes to consulting, Chanin says she most enjoys the people. "There's just so much camaraderie and great collaboration to consulting projects. You get to engage with so many different people and different teams," she says. "I also love that there are always new challenges with consulting. Every customer and every project presents something new to conquer."

Her greatest professional achievement, thus far, is getting to see the people she's mentored succeed, she says. "I've watched people since they were fresh out of school, starting their careers, and I've given them guidance and advice and from there watch them take off and become leaders in their own right. It's really humbling."

Simplus was recently acquired by Infosys, and, as part of it, the firm will be doing something really unique: a reverse integration. "For me, this is really exciting because it feels like I have an opportunity to take some of the lessons learned from the Cloud Sherpas/Accenture acquisition I was a part of and ensure success here," Chanin says. "I'm looking forward to lending my experience and expertise to the reverse integration in order to make sure that consultants from both companies—Simplus and Infosys—are happy and successful."

And as far as being recognized as a women leaders in technology, Chanin says it's a great testament to how women can succeed in the industry, even though there is still quite a gap for women in the technology space. "There's a disadvantage from the get-go for women going into tech because there aren't many women to look up to in the field," she says. "Acknowledging women leaders in this way helps create role models and mentors for the younger generations."

Have you experienced challenges being a woman consultant in the technology field? 

Chanin: "As a woman manager in the technology consulting space, one of the biggest hurdles I repeatedly have to face is managing men who—for whatever reason—seem to believe I don't know enough to be respected. Managing male direct reports who dismiss me before I have even had a chance to show my value to them is really challenging. As an experienced consultant and manager of people, I have the knowledge and the methodology to advise them, make sure they're focusing on the right things, and ultimately make them successful. But getting them to see it that way isn't always easy. The best solution I've found for this is just asking for support and continuing the dialogue. I don't write them off, but instead, I continue to show my value to them and reach out to other people who have worked with those individuals to ask about the best way to engage with them."