2023 Women Leaders in Technology: Angela Bandlow

Angela Bandlow is a strategic marketing executive with 20+ years of experience in enterprise and cloud software with a deep commitment to the intersection of technology and social and environmental impact. I have had an extensive history of leading high visibility global product strategy, marketing, go-to-market (GTM), and positioning strategies that drive awareness, expand market share and strengthen customer loyalty at large global companies, early-stage companies, and social and environmental impact companies–both as an employee and as a consultant.

What has been the biggest factor in your success so far?

My north stars in my career are integrity, innovation and being a strategic leader. I have worked at global companies and early-stage startups, both as an employee and as a consultant. In my sustainability work, I have been able to guide projects across diverse stakeholders from technologists, to scientists, policy leaders, NGOs, investors, and other sustainability leaders to successfully define strategies, develop programs and execute. I am able to pull from an extensive toolkit of experience, look at an industry landscape, develop strategic recommendations, and work across an organization to align on a path through the most complex and important topics. A big part of this is building relationships, developing credibility, and always focusing on doing the right thing to make individuals, initiatives and organizations successful.

What do you enjoy most about your career in the consulting industry?

I am an Executive Advisor in the Sustainability practice for Bridge partners. I consult with global tech and cloud companies on their sustainability strategies and narratives–and how to land them in the market. For a large, global client, this means engaging with leadership within a sustainability organization to articulate commitments, approaches and roadmap–as well as business groups that execute roadmaps to meet these commitments. I like to refer to the process as "forensic marketing" – where you are gathering the pieces and progress and finding the most compelling, authentic way to tell the story of commitments, progress and learnings. What love about consulting is the amount of impact that you can make with a client, especially in an emerging discipline like ESG. Bringing structure, best practices, and an operational approach to scale work in an area as important to the planet as sustainability is an incredible experience. Generally, we are working with companies at very early stages in their sustainability journeys and helping them frame their strategies and build their operational and investment plans from the ground up.

What is your proudest achievement to date?

I have had the opportunity to work with one of the world's largest global tech and cloud providers, who has made industry-leading sustainability commitments, on their environmental sustainability narrative, and annual sustainability report. It has been an amazing opportunity to work across stakeholders from their work in carbon, water, waste and ecosystems–as well as business groups from data centers to campuses, devices, supply chains and more. This is our third year of creating a report that spans their operational work, the technology they provide for customers to be more sustainable, and the work they are doing in policy, advocacy, and investments to shape the future of sustainability. Their sustainability report has been referred to as a gold standard of corporate reporting.

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

This is advice I received early on in my consulting career: focus on where you can have the biggest opportunity to make an impact vs trying to do everything. Time and again, I have seen leaders and organizations try to do too many things with the resources and budget that they have. I have learned to immerse myself in a challenge, identify opportunities, and prioritize where I can have the biggest impact on an organization or market.

What does this recognition mean to you?

It is a tremendous honor to be considered for an award in ESG. I made a very deliberate career decision to pivot and focus on impact work five years ago. It has been an amazing experience and I wake up every day passionate about the work I am doing and the difference I am making. Being recognized for my work in sustainability is an incredible step in my journey and hopefully give others inspiration that they, too, can make a difference through consulting.