Havovi Yazdabadi – Leader for Oracle’s Alliance, Channel Technology and Cloud Systems business

Nothing has ever stopped me as a woman in technology – in fact I feel there is no job in technology that would be a barrier for women.

Havovi Yazdabadi is the leader for Oracle’s Alliance & Channel Technology & Cloud Systems business for UK, Ireland, Israel & Northern Europe. She is passionate about building and transforming strong teams to succeed. Havovi career has spanned Marketing, Business Development, and Channel; more recently responsible to grow Oracle’s cloud, technology and hardware’s channel market influence and share. “Our channel partners own the ultimate and intimate relationships with a lot of our customers and at Oracle we put our partners at the epicentre of our Go to Market’.’

Havovi is also a member of the EMEA A&C Senior Management team and the Northern Europe extended Management Team. Award winning Marketeer (Asia’s Most Influential CMO) and Women in Leadership influencer, Havovi’s career has spanned continents from Australia, UK, and Middle East holding various management and leadership positions in the high-tech industry and across business groups.

Havovi is mum to 3 wilful and strong Tic Tok fans and likes a spot of fishing when she can catch one, beating unsuspecting challengers to a game of ping pong and enjoys sailing without a sail!

In a Nutshell: Tell us a bit about your job and what role technology plays in it?

I head up Alliances & Channel for the UK, Ireland, Israel and Northern Europe, (all the colder pastures like Switzerland, the Nordics, Germany, Belgium, Luxemburg and Netherlands). At Oracle we are a technology company who provide line of business applications our customers need to do their role effectively; whether its finance, or operations, or marketing or sales. Oracle provides companies, and very relevant right now especially when everyone is looking to improve and adapt how best to manage and transform their business to keep growing. We also provide cloud infrastructure and on premise environments for IT to keep secure, up to date and agile.

Where did your professional journey start and how did you get to where you are now?

My professional journey started working for Tomen, a Japanese multi national in Sydney, and then I moved into the Tech industry working for SAS Institute who provide Business Intelligence and analytics solutions. At the turn of the century (2000) I moved to the UK and started working for Siebel another tech CRM company in Marketing which was then taken over by Oracle a few years later. I moved to the middle east for a short term gig and a few years ago I moved from Marketing to Channel Sales.

What was the best decision in your career?

I’d say that was 4 years ago when I moved from marketing to channel sales. I found a whole new set of skills and being closer to the point where decisions are made and you can feel the impact is certainly fulfilling.

What is the greatest transformation in technology you’ve witnessed in your career?

It’s not one technology but a mind set of using technology which allows us to move quickly to meet the demands of the market. Whether it’s an application to avoid traffic or to manage your business by scanning the pulse rate of your employees or customers to improve employee or customer satisfaction. Nothing is out of reach – it can be rather instant – you now have the ability to gage the demand and bring solutions to market rather quickly, creatively and cost effectively.

When you think about ‘women’ and ‘technology’ what comes to your mind first?

The fact that it is a great opportunity comes to mind. I don’t really harbor views (and perhaps that comes from my personal experience), but nothing has ever stopped me as a woman in technology – in fact I feel there is no job in technology that would be a barrier for women. Its more what interests you and the contribution you would like to make would be the point of contention.

In your words: Why aren’t there more women in tech?

You need to find a tech company that appeals to your professional or moral compass or better both!

Probably because there are many more interesting careers that appeal to women and their life choices. Being candid, I don’t see why any woman who wants to join the tech industry would be discouraged. There are equally many accessible careers for men and women in tech. You need to find a tech company that appeals to your professional or moral compass or better both! Our current CEO is a woman! We have many partners who’s CEOs are Women! The list goes on!

If you had 1 Million € to invest in women, what would you do?

Provide reskilling for mothers who have been out of work and don’t feel they have the confidence to go back, as mostly the experience and time out during motherhood changes you and changes your aspirations. Wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t have to take ourselves too seriously, and can reskill to re-start work later in life following our true or new passion and skills we acquired in lifes journey.

If you could go back in time, what advice would you give your 14-year-old self?

There is nothing more appealing than an authentic, confident person with a genuine passion for what they do and stand for.

Be confident and Be yourself. There is nothing more appealing than an authentic, confident person with a genuine passion for what they do and stand for. This is actually a conversation I have often with my 14 year old daughter.

Havovi Yazdabadi is the leader for Oracle’s Alliance & Channel Technology & Cloud Systems business for UK, Ireland, Israel & Northern Europe. She is passionate about building and transforming strong teams to succeed. Havovi career has spanned Marketing, Business Development, and Channel; more recently responsible to grow Oracle’s cloud, technology and hardware’s channel market influence and share. “Our channel partners own the ultimate and intimate relationships with a lot of our customers and at Oracle we put our partners at the epicentre of our Go to Market’.’

Havovi is also a member of the EMEA A&C Senior Management team and the Northern Europe extended Management Team. Award winning Marketeer (Asia’s Most Influential CMO) and Women in Leadership influencer, Havovi’s career has spanned continents from Australia, UK, and Middle East holding various management and leadership positions in the high-tech industry and across business groups.

Havovi is mum to 3 wilful and strong Tic Tok fans and likes a spot of
fishing when she can catch one, beating unsuspecting challengers to a
game of ping pong and enjoys sailing without a sail!

See more interviews of our amazing Gals.