Rising Stars of the Profession 2021: Raquel Alvarez Holgado

Raquel Alvarez is a Senior Consultant in the Banking Financial Services practice within Cognizant. She has over five years of experience in innovation and strategy, mainly in the areas of business transformation, technology advisory, and product management.

Prior to Cognizant, she worked as an Innovation Project Manager for BNP Paribas in NY and Paris. In France, she developed strategic partnerships with startups for the "Reinventing Paris" initiative, with projects ranging from $500k to $7M+. In NY, she managed the digital growth strategy for BNPP CIB Americas, working closely with the COO and CIO. In her time at BNPP, Raquel co-founded PeopleMatch, an internal app to increase innovation and diversity for a total of 2,000 employees.

Since joining Cognizant in Q1 2020, Raquel has developed the market-entry strategy for a multi-million US direct bank, an intelligent neobank built around AI and automation, leading the client through the entire journey from strategy to conceptualization and into the first MVP product.

Always on top of new technologies, Raquel recently conducted the IoT strategy for a major payment provider in the US, where she built the long-term vision and enabled a key partnership with a $250M startup.

Internally, Raquel has created a training program to help more than 1,500 associates stay on top of the latest business trends. She also helps new MBA joiners get on-boarded and she leads the town hall for her practice. She is involved in several initiatives to promote women in consulting, a top priority for her.

"Since I was little, I have always been curious about learning new things," Raquel notes as a big factor in her success to date. "This curiosity has been key in my education and professional career, and I believe it has been the biggest factor of my success. I have always tried to be creative and original and to challenge myself – drivers that have led me to go beyond expectations on several occasions. To be curious, you need to learn from the ones around you. Therefore, learning from my peers and collaborating with others has been crucial in my professional life. I love innovation because I am curious; I am passionate about the unknown, about creating what is new, learning, taking risks. That is the reason why I am here today and that has been the key factor of my career development."

What does Raquel enjoy most about her consulting career? She responds, "Since day one, I knew that consulting was the place I wanted to be. In my personal life, I love to travel. As a consultant, each engagement is an adventure, and it reminds me of the excitement of discovering a new place for the first time. Consulting is a learning experience by itself. Each client is a new challenge, and I am passionate about each and every new journey. From creating a new business to building the digital strategy for a company, I always learn and grow."

"In addition, I love helping others achieve their objectives and I am passionate about delivering the best results to my clients. Consulting is the place for me and moreover, I have fun every day!"

When asked about her proudest achievement to date, Raquel tells of her last role at BNP Paribas as an Innovation Project Manager, "I was working with several teams in different departments. As a large organization, I found out that most individuals were working in silos. This was not promoting a collaborative way of working within the firm and moreover, was creating frustration and isolation in individuals. I shared my concerns with colleagues and decided to do something about it. I ended up creating a team. As a team, we built a business plan, and after several design-thinking sessions, we created an MVP. Our ultimate purpose was to create an app called PeopleMath. Using AI, the app matched individuals from different ages, hierarchies, and teams to share business knowledge and learn more about each other. I shared this initiative with leaders across regions like the Head of Diversity and Inclusion, the CIO and the Head of HR. PeopleMatch was well received by them all and the project got sponsorship from three different departments, going from MVP into production. We received a budget and a full team of AI, UX, UI developers dedicated to this initiative. The project became a global success and the app was used by individuals across regions. People were sharing their experiences with us, grateful for being part of the firm. I couldn't be prouder of my team and myself. I learned that to go far you need to work together, as a team, and as a company."

What's the best advice you've ever been given?

"The best advice I have ever been given comes from my mother. She told me once that, "We should not wait for the storm to pass, we should learn to dance in the rain." Throughout my career, I have faced challenges and adversity. Overcoming these, being resilient and open to change, has enabled me to become the person I am today. I learned that being wrong and making mistakes is acceptable. If we are not prepared to be wrong, we will never end up creating something original. We need to accept that business, as life, is a constantly changing experience."