The 2022 Women Leaders in Consulting: Teresa Barreira

Publicis Sapient's EVP/Global Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Teresa Barreira is a transformational leader with a passion to innovate and think differently. Named one of the Top 25 Women Leaders in IT Services of 2020 by the IT Services Report, and a 2019 recipient of the Silver Stevie Award for Female Executive of the Year. Teresa embraces the unknown and operates with fearlessness.

Teresa's creative thinking coupled with her ability to make the complex simple enabled her to break the mold of traditional marketing in Technology and Service companies. She is currently the Global CMO at Publicis Sapient where she has reinvigorated the brand, repositioning the company to drive profitable growth and become a leader in digital business transformation. Under her leadership, marketing-influenced revenue has more than tripled. She created an agile operating model focused on speed, data & innovation and built a multidisciplinary, multicultural global team that fosters diversity, equity and inclusion. Teresa is a proud Hispanic and native of Portugal who is focused on advancing DE&I in leadership and at all levels of the workplace. She's lived and worked in the U.S., Canada and Europe, and spent most of her career leading teams and companies through transformation, launching new brands or lines of business, and cultivating a culture of experimentation and learning.

Formerly CMO for Deloitte Consulting LLP, Teresa has held numerous leadership positions with technology companies including IBM and Accenture and startup software organizations such as Lotus.

What do you consider your greatest personal or professional achievement?

On a personal level, it would be raising two amazing sons and watching them grow into thoughtful, curious and ultimately happy people. Professionally, it would be building our marketing organization at Publicis Sapient. We worked extremely hard to create a culture where people can thrive and feel good about the work they do, all founded on three key tenets—a learning mindset, an entrepreneurial spirit, and an engaged team with diversity of thought, background and experience. For me, creating an inclusive environment that allows for people to experiment, grow, feel valued and bring their best self to work is the greatest achievement.

What advice would you give to a female consultant just beginning her career?

Consulting is an excellent away to start a career because it provides the opportunity to work in different industries and organizations, which opens the door to identify a career path that appeals to your strengths and interests. My advice is to learn different capabilities at an accelerated rate and raise the hand often for new projects and experiences —choose projects that challenge you and give you exposure to completely new experiences.

What's the best advice—personal or professional—you've ever received?

Two key pieces of advice I think of often: 1. Trust myself—believe in myself and trust my instincts. 2. Be the CEO of my own career—don't let others define your path, you're the one who gets to decide what you want to do next. Be proactive and ask for opportunities and be open to them versus letting others manage you.

What does being honored as a Woman Leader in Consulting mean to you?

I'm beyond humbled to work in an industry as impactful and powerful as technology. More than just help companies and business, tech has the power to impact people in so many ways—making lives easier, driving social good and advancing everyone, not just the few. With power comes responsibility, and I am honored our work benefits the greater society and people through the work we do with our clients and gives us purpose.