Vanguard Magazine

gaMe CHAnGER 42 DECEMBER 2018/JANUARY 2019 www.vanguardcanada.com See the full interview online Q What is your role at your organization today? As Account Manager for the NATO Flying Training in Canada (NFTC) pro- gram, I am responsible for managing the relationship with federal government stakeholders. This includes producing integrated program status updates and reports, managing local governance, and reporting between the government and CAE. I also provide support to a diverse team of CAE Program and Project Man- agers who are executing the combined deliverables associated with the delivery of the NFTC program. As President of WiDS, I am respon- sible for leading the Executive Team to achieve our mandate, which is to sup- port and promote the advancement of women in the defence and security sec- tor. We continue to drive opportunities for our membership to meet, learn, and grow by recognizing excellence, devel- oping talent, and creating connections. In my role, I am also responsible for providing strategic direction for the or- ganization and liaising with the Canadi- an Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI). Q What was your most challenging moment? I would say my most challenging mo- ment isn't actually a moment but some- thing that is constant. As the mother of a five-year-old and two-year-old twins, my biggest challenge is trying to find an optimal work/life balance to both suc- ceed in and continue to climb the ladder in my career while at the same time giv- ing my family the time and energy they deserve. Q What is the one thing that has you most fired up today? As a woman and the President of WiDS, I am truly heartened by the strides be- ing made by the defence and security industries to sharpen the focus on di- versity and inclusion. Through my own experience, I am seeing the passion, commitment, and talent that women of all backgrounds bring to their work. While the progress we are seeing is a reason to get fired up, I recognize that changing the dialogue on diversity and inclusion will not happen overnight and must be complemented by a concerted effort by those within industry and gov- ernment–men and women–to promote opportunities for all individuals. There is still work to be done, but we're on the right path. Q What is a habit that contributes to your success? The one thing that I believe most signifi- cantly contributes to my success is the emphasis I put on building relationships with both my colleagues and my cus- tomers. You can have the best work hab- its in the world, but without focusing on building and maintaining relationships, I do not believe a high level of success can be achieved. Q How has innovation become en- grained in your organization's culture, and how is it being optimized? Innovation isn't just engrained in CAE's culture; innovation is in our DNA. For over 70 years, CAE has been a techno- logical leader in aviation training, a trait that is underpinned by an innovative mindset and longstanding commitment to R&D. This past summer we launched a five-year internal research and develop- ment initiative called Project Digital Intel- ligence that will see us invest more than $1 billion to transform our products and services to leverage digital technologies. We will be creating solutions that involve big data, artificial intelligence, cloud-com- puting, cybersecurity and augmented/ virtual reality. To even further optimize our innovative spirit, CAE has launched an employee initiative called "One Spark" that is leveraging our employee's own cre- ativity into concrete improvements and new products. Q What technologies, business models, and trends will drive the biggest changes in your industry over the next two years? CAE is well-known for its capabilities in flight training, and the aviation industry– both civil and military–is facing a major challenge with pilot recruitment, training and retention. The training piece of that challenge is where CAE can help because we are in the business of helping produce pilots for our customers. For our military customers, we help our customers make the pilot training pipeline more effective and efficient, which has the ultimate effect of contributing to force generation for our military customers. Q What is your parting piece of advice? I recently attended a WiDS Professional Development event at the Telfer School of Management on "Resilient Leadership", which focused on the critical importance of "self-care" in being a successful leader. With the seemingly impossible juggle of work and life, it can become far too easy to neglect yourself. This is still something I continuously struggle with, but I whole- heartedly believe that we all need to take a moment for ourselves from time to time to reenergize and refocus. When we do this, we are helping ourselves and becom- ing more successful business leaders in the process. Jana Lee MuRRay aCCOunt ManagEr, CaE InC. PreSident, WoMen in defence and Security (WidS)

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