4 minute read
Blanca Treviño
BLANCA TREVIÑO: THE KIND OF LEADERSHIP THAT MAKES THINGS HAPPEN
Woman’s empowerment in business has a pioneer named Blanca Treviño. She stands out in the ICT sector in Latin America, the United States and beyond
Blanca Treviño’s frame of work stands for decades leading Softtek, one of the first ITC companies in Mexico, which she and her partners created in 1982, when not only was uncommon to own a home computer, but also around the time a personal computer’s dimensions were just reducing to fit in a single desk. It’s very clear that her outstanding, successful career happened before recent efforts to bring women’s efforts in the workplace to the forefront; the place Treviño is at has demanded work, vision and attributes such as determination.
Before the end of the 1970s, Treviño was admitted to the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM, popularly known as “el Tec”, one of the most prestigious colleges in Latin America), where she earned her bachelor’s degree in computer science administration. Shortly after graduating she created Softtek, which has gone beyond working for both the public and private sectors, and any size of enterprises to extend its services
abroad, making Mexico an attractive ITC provider for the United States, practically defining what today we actually know as ‘nearshoring’. Softtek currently operates in more than 30 countries, becoming the largest independent ITC service provider in Latin America.
UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT IN MEXICO AND ABROAD
Treviño’s notoriety and success has led her to be considered a very influential presence in business not only in Mexico and Latin America, but rather globally.
Forbes magazine considers Treviño among top decision-makers and most powerful women in business, as well as into the top 50 most powerful women in Mexico; the former Latin Business Chronicle (now Latin Trade) listed Treviño among the 25 most important businesswomen, and Fortune magazine also includes her in their 50 most powerful women list.
ACCOLADES AND DESIGNATIONS
Treviño’s career and vision have been considered not just to be honored, but also to rely with her perspective to improve conditions in different environments. She’s been recipient to accolades such as the best Latin American executive of the year, from the Stevie Awards (2010); in 2011 she was the first woman inducted into IAOP’s (International Association of Outsourcing Professionals) Hall of Fame; and in 2019 she was inducted to the Women In Technology - International (WITI) Hall of Fame. Treviño belongs to elite groups such as the World Economic Forum’s B20 Task Force about ICT and Innovation,
and she has taken part in the Woman and Economy chapter of APEC (AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation), among others. She’s also a board member for Walmart Mexico, Grupo LALA (dairy and related giant in Mexico), the Mexican Stock Exchange, ITESM (her alma mater), the MIT School of Engineering councill, the Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern University), Harvard Business School and the London Business School. Treviño’s admittance to what is now known as the Mexican Business Council -to which she’s currently the vice-president- implied the name change of the former businessmen group. She’s also a member of the IBD (Interamerican Bank for Development).
OVERCOMING CHALLENGES THRU TRANSFORMATION
Treviño’s impact on business has taken the work of hundreds of individuals beyond Mexico and the US, it has been instrumental to optimize operations in large organizations both within business as well as government agencies from different countries… To sum it all up, she’s been a factor in bringing people closer in ways that just didn’t seem real when the second half of the last century had just begun. Her efforts and vast quantity of finished projects are more than plain successful business and development at times when a global pandemic seems to tear the world apart, as communications among individuals depend upon cables and antennas to keep any activity running, specially bringing people together. Treviño’s businesswoman persona is not an obstacle toward displaying the necessary empathy -along with outstanding efforts- to close gaps, bringing the world closer to places where there is need and there are no ways to come in contact with the rest of the world in a quicker way. It would be very hard to imagine what reality would look like for companies and countries of any size without empowered businesswomen such as Blanca Treviño, who are able to perceive challenges as opportunities to bring people together, to create links between worlds that at first seemed to have nothing in common. Her vision allows to bring down walls separating different surroundings and to erase limits imposing isolation in a way that solutions come from across every part involved. Whatever challenges the future brings, it’s pretty sure that come that moment, Blanca Treviño’s prowess and leadership will bring together different forces to deliver significant advances from the less common scenarios.
