Putting the People First
From the beginning of her career to today, Andrea has focused on putting people first. Starting at age 10, Andrea began delivering newspapers every day for the Ottawa Citizen, ensuring that the people of Ottawa received the news promptly at dawn and on weekends. Like many of us, Andrea lists her career path as meaningful wandering, moving from recruiting to telecom to HR. No matter her role or the industry, her focus has always been on taking a job where she can make a meaningful impact on people. When Appen recruited Andrea, what attracted her to the role was Appen’s focus on removing bias from AI data and the potential part she could play in that mission. What Andrea sees is the long-term and daily impact of AI data. As AI data is implemented in more and more daily activities, from something as simple as applying for a mortgage, she sees the effect it will have on people. If we’re not careful, our current biases will be baked into AI, and the world will be no better off than it was before. Andrea wants to be a part of the difference, and as Chief People Officer of Appen, she can be at the heart of putting people first.Let the People Lead
According to Andrea, “My role at Appen exists to listen. To synthesize employee feedback, and to be a catalyst for building a magnetic culture. When employees speak up and share their voice with me, I do a better job.” One of her first initiatives at Appen was an employee feedback survey, which had an 80% participation rate. In response, Andrea says, “I hope everyone will keep sharing their voice so I can help shape all of our employees’ experiences so we can become the destination of choice in our industry.” Andrea has named her leadership style of following her people as humbition, equal parts humble and ambitious. “I believe the best answers come from teamwork – I am attached to finding the right answers, and that doesn’t have to come from me,” says Andrea. In a previous role, Andrea started an initiative that she’s incredibly proud of and the basis of which she’ll carry on into her role at Appen. At her previous organization, Andrea was able to implement diversity initiatives that improved inclusion at the company. She was able to improve benefits packages to include paid parental leave for all parents, including those who adopted, fostered, became a surrogate, or lost a pregnancy. She also increased representation within the company by increasing:- The number of women in vice president roles from 25% to 58%
- From one female executive to three
- How many people of color were vice presidents from zero to 18%
