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An interview with Judy Kawaguchi

news published date 7 July 2020
  • Our Stories
Refinitiv

Judy Kawaguchi is the Global Head, Programme Delivery & Enablement at Refinitiv, with a proven 20-year track record of leading large-scale global organisations through disruptive change and delivery of complex, business-critical programmes and business transformation enabled by technology and innovation.

Prior to joining Refinitiv, Judy was the Regional CIO of Moody’s, where she optimised operations and delivered IT solutions and services across 36 offices in APAC, EMEA, and Latin America. Judy also held various departmental head of IT roles at UBS, leading multi-year transformation and integration programs resulting from divisional consolidations as well as operations optimisation. Judy has a global background working and living in APAC, EMEA, and the US, with experience in both technology consulting and business development as well as in-house technology leadership roles.

Judy has been shortlisted for the 2020 WIBF Tech Star Award.

Can you give us an overview of what your role entails?

I lead all cross-technology strategic programmes globally across Refinitiv as it embarks on a large-scale transformation journey stemming from the separation from Thomson Reuters and in preparation for the future merger with LSEG, whilst meeting Refinitiv’s ambitious growth targets and technology modernisation goals. I have completely overhauled the Technology Programme Delivery Operating model from a central capacity-based Project Management resourcing model to a partnership model aligning her team’s end-to-end programme delivery capabilities to various technology and cybersecurity delivery organisations. My objective is to create a highly collaborative, matrixed operating model, to align and lead the organisation through disruptive change and delivery of complex, business-critical programmes. This new PD&E organisation is now in place and is starting to transform the way technology programmes are delivered through agility, end-to-end accountability, and relentless drive for success.

You founded the Women In IT (WinIT) when you were at Moody’s, what motivated this and what did it involve?

I have always been passionate about moving the needle on the D&I agenda for over 15 years. As the only female Managing Director in Technology for many years, I focused on developing other women in technology by providing leadership opportunities through Moody’s Women in Technology network which ran multiple streams of initiatives with the goal to retain and develop top female technologists through networking, engagement, education, and tackling unconscious bias. I spearheaded the initiative to push for 50/50 women/men recruiting candidate pool for open roles where there was feasible supply in the market. I also introduced Girls Who Code into Moody’s as developing a strong pipeline of women in technology starts by building a strong pipeline of girls taking interest in technology discipline from young age.

You coach aspiring leaders and students to overcome ethnic and gender stereotypes, what have you learned yourself from doing this?

I have realised that there are so many different experiences that people have had that led them to having career and social challenges based on stereotypes and they haven’t had good role models or mentors to help them work through their unique challenges. I have also learned that I have been fortunate in having great mentors and sponsors that helped me turn my diverse experience into professional strengths. And as a result, it has been extremely rewarding experience for me to be able to help other aspiring leaders/students to realise their goals and to share our stories. I’ve learned just as much from their experience and their views/opinions through reverse mentoring as they may have gained from our relationship.

Female leaders in tech are still a minority, what would you advocate to change this?

I think we need to consciously build a strong pipeline of women technology leaders – we can do this through 1) tackling unconscious bias – successful behavioural attributes for tech leaders – it’s not about having ‘male traits’, 2) advocating girls to take interest in STEM disciplines in school, which eventually builds a stronger pipeline of women in technology careers when they enter the work force, which in turn gives more opportunities for women to become technology leaders, 3) making conscious efforts to drive diverse candidate pools when hiring leadership roles 4) seeking and supporting women in technology with career opportunities.

What career ambitions do you have?

I would like to continue to have a global role where I’m challenged, can keep learning, and am given the opportunity to add significant positive value, both to the firm and to the people who work at the firm. I am passionate about change, and being a change agent, and I hope to continue to look for opportunities that allows me to grow in this capacity. In terms of specific career ambition, I would be very interested in taking on roles in the future that combine both my technology and operations experience, in a COO type of a role.

You founded eCubed, can you tell us about this?

I founded eCubed because I wanted to do something to make a difference in standing against domestic and sexual violence – not just to donate money through on-line giving – but to physically contribute by running events that not only raise funds for organisations that spend day and night helping survivors regain their independent lives but also to raise awareness of this horrific situation that impacted nearly 2m people in 2019 in the UK. People often ignore or even avoid addressing the topic of domestic and sexual violence – afraid to be ‘associated’ to it. There is a stigma associated with this topic which makes it really hard for survivors to come forward, and makes it really hard for organisations to raise funds to help the cause. What I love about our eCubed team is that we all have different skills to bring to the table, and different reasons why we may have joined eCubed, but we all have the same passion – we all believe that we need to take a stand, and if we engage and empower people, we can really make a difference in the world.

THE ECUBED STORY

We are an organisation run by passionate and dedicated volunteers, that raises money for non-profits that share our mission to help end sexual and domestic violence across London. We believe that when people engage, they can empower their communities to end violence.

Though we officially registered as an independent brand in 2018, the concept began with a gig in 2011 called Rock Against Violence (RAV). Originally organised by me and a friend, the gig raised unrestricted funding for Solace Women’s Aid to support their vital services. A decade later, the flagship event has now expanded to include a series of fundraising events from music gigs, sporting events, afternoon teas to DJ gigs – all facilitated by a committee that we call eCubed. To date, we have raised nearly £200,000 for Solace Women’s Aid, and counting.

OUR VALUES/ETHOS

Underpinning everything we do is our mission to help end sexual and domestic violence in our communities. We believe that if we come together, we really do have the Power to Change. Bringing together our community through local music and charity events, eCubed hope to raise not only much needed funds for charities but awareness around this important issue and call people to action. It is our vision to find positive ways to empower people across London to make a difference.

We organise fundraising events that are accessible to everyone. Domestic violence cuts across all demographics, gender, age, social-economic status, ethnicity, and sexual orientation so we want to organise events that can reach all demographics, not just an expensive fundraising dinner that can only be attended by those with high socioeconomic status.

WHY DO WE DO IT

Every day almost 30 women attempt suicide as a result of domestic violence and 3 kill themselves for the same reason. 2 women are killed by a violent partner or ex-partner every week. The situation worsened by almost double during the COVID-19 lockdown. We all need to stand together and challenge this status quo.