際際滷

際際滷Share a Scribd company logo

Extended Biography

Download as DOC, PDF
A
Andrea Campanella Henrich

The document provides an extended biography of an individual who was born in Argentina to parents from diverse cultural backgrounds. They grew up in a strict household that emphasized learning and intellectual pursuits. They became multi-lingual and developed interests in music, academics, and competitive swimming. They went on to obtain degrees in economics and music before beginning a career in consulting and business that involved international projects and relocations to Brazil and the United States.

1 of 2
Download to read offline
Extended Biography I was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in a very uncommon home: with a father born in Vietnam from an Italian-Vietnamese couple, and an Argentine mother. Spanish was not the obvious common language and the costumes were not necessarily the local costumes. With 35 years difference between each other my parents raised me in a very straightforward way: the use of your intellect is your only weapon to progress in life. Discipline was very strict and there were no space for discussion. As an archeologist, anthropologist and linguist, silence was a must in our house, which introduced me since at a very short age in the world of books, studying and concentration. One of my earliest memories about books is that my father had a set of encyclopedias in different languages. I would tip each of these volumes out of its space and try to understand the meaning and compare the different writings. Until the end of second grade I attended an Italian school, then changed to a Catholic private school, where I ended my Elementary formation. At home we usually spoke to each other freely interchanging in Spanish, French or Italian. The winter before seventh grade, my baby brother was born. At that time the Argentine economy entered into one of its many downward cycles, so my mother started to work in a Library. That led me much more into books of different topics and languages. I was a pretty good swimmer as well. Swimming competitions against other clubs introduced me to the competitive world. Since the very beginning my favorite part of competing were the relays. In parallel to school, and swimming, I started to attend classes 5 hours a day, 3 days a week, at the National Conservatory of Music (Conservatorio Nacional de Musica) Carlos Lopez Buchardo, in Buenos Aires where I spent the next 10 years of my life learning about several disciplines, methods, and cultures through Art History, Ethics, Culture History, Child Psychology, Orchestra, Chorus Direction, Vocal Training, with a focus on Classic Guitar. By the time I finished school, I became a music lover, and also what most people might consider an obsessive learner. I guess I did not have time to be a teenager. After high school, I knew that I wanted a profession related with Arts in general, or a Human Science. But reality knocked on the door and my mother gently invited me to pursue a career that would quickly put me on the market and make money, as eventually I should have to support the family. Obeying every single word, just as I was told since a little kid, I finished my degree in Economics at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1995. In the meantime, I earned my Honorary Diploma for the Graduating Class of 1993 at the National Conservatory of Music. I started my professional career as an Auditor at Coopers & Lybrand, in January 1996. Even though that position was directly related to my career, I felt caught in a 7-column page. I needed more space to express, at that time, the actual financial situation of a company. As soon as the opportunity appeared, I joined the Consulting practice of Coopers & Lybrand in Argentina, when the SAP boom and the Y2K issue were demanding more consulting resources. People can say that I was lucky, that I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. And that would be true. But it is also true that in business it is not only about reaching the top but also knowing how to remain there. As 2002 was coming to an end Argentina was in another political and economical downturn, and the opportunity to have an experience abroad came up. Between October 2002 until June 2004 I worked in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in the most significant project for my professional career: designing and implementing a Shared Services Center that could serve more than 10 countries in the areas of Finance and Accounting, Supply Chain and Human Resources. The project team was composed of 120 people from all over the Americas, speaking 3 different languages: Portuguese, English and Spanish. As soon as the first design phase was approved, the SAP implementation project, which aimed to support all the operations and reduce the IT investment from 10 to only 1 SAP instance officially started. I was the leader of the Project Management office, which included not only the strategic direction of the initiative, the direct contact with the top level management of the Client, but also the areas of Change Management, Risk
Management and Benefits Realization. My counterpart, the PMO leader from the Client was from Germany. The successful execution of this project was my major accomplishment not only from a professional standpoint. It was a reflection of my own life; leaving in a diverse world, dealing with cultural differences, learning from them all and getting to the best of all worlds. It is not only about getting there on time and on budget but also with everybody on board and happy to have accomplished their full potential. In 2004 I became the mother of a beautiful princess we chose to call Mia. Motherhood changed me also as a professional. I became a better leader, I learned how to listen to my team members with mother ears, being empathetic and trying to help them exceed their own goals, but also setting realistic goals, hard but possible to achieve. By 2007 my husband and I decided that we should move to Brazil. The most promising of the BRIC countries, the new emerging market would bring bigger opportunities for both of us. I cant thank enough to Brazil. My professional career flourished: bigger projects, bigger win, more regional and global involvement, more exposure to global leaders. I got to be known in a global organization such IBM for representing Latin America on every global deal. In Brazil I grew as a Sales Professional. I changed sides and left the execution side of the business, moving to Solutions and Sales. Focusing on the Distribution Sector (Consumer Products and Retail) I acted as and Industry Business Developer providing clients multi-branding business solutions based on 3 main drivers: ROI maximization, risk management and mitigation and focus on market demands. After a couple of years the Outsourcing fever also reached its heating point in Latin America, so I joined this new, innovative and growing area in 2009. Acting as a Sales Executive my role consisted of being the link between the Client and the people working behind the scenes building an outsourcing solution that meets all the Clients goals. My expertise in Finance and Accounting, together with my Economics background were key to performing this role, which requires the combination of business process, IT, financial, contractual and legal acumen to manage and lead the negotiations with the Client. In 2011 our baby boy arrived to complete this family. Toby now fills our days with joy and Mia makes them sweeter and tender. In 2013 we decided to move to the US. Brazils growth was waning and did not meet the expectations. Business never exploded as expected and Latin America is still a dilemma. As a family, Brazil no longer met our expectations nor did it provide us with a sense of safety and security for our young children. My American husband made the final call to move to US in 2014. Today, I cannot imagine being anywhere else. I am leading now my most important project, because it touches my soul. My kids need to adapt to a different culture, new friends, new school and new home. My husband is facing new challenges in his professional career and I want to be his support and make a warm home to come back to. I am dealing with my own transition as well. My whole family is in South America. But I have a very practical approach to it. It is my job. The one that I love. I want to deliver, for my kids, for my husband, and for myself. If anybody asks my What is your motivation to keep moving forward? The answer is simple. I love accomplishing goals. I want to go to bed with an empty To Do list.

More Related Content

Extended Biography

  • 1. Extended Biography I was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in a very uncommon home: with a father born in Vietnam from an Italian-Vietnamese couple, and an Argentine mother. Spanish was not the obvious common language and the costumes were not necessarily the local costumes. With 35 years difference between each other my parents raised me in a very straightforward way: the use of your intellect is your only weapon to progress in life. Discipline was very strict and there were no space for discussion. As an archeologist, anthropologist and linguist, silence was a must in our house, which introduced me since at a very short age in the world of books, studying and concentration. One of my earliest memories about books is that my father had a set of encyclopedias in different languages. I would tip each of these volumes out of its space and try to understand the meaning and compare the different writings. Until the end of second grade I attended an Italian school, then changed to a Catholic private school, where I ended my Elementary formation. At home we usually spoke to each other freely interchanging in Spanish, French or Italian. The winter before seventh grade, my baby brother was born. At that time the Argentine economy entered into one of its many downward cycles, so my mother started to work in a Library. That led me much more into books of different topics and languages. I was a pretty good swimmer as well. Swimming competitions against other clubs introduced me to the competitive world. Since the very beginning my favorite part of competing were the relays. In parallel to school, and swimming, I started to attend classes 5 hours a day, 3 days a week, at the National Conservatory of Music (Conservatorio Nacional de Musica) Carlos Lopez Buchardo, in Buenos Aires where I spent the next 10 years of my life learning about several disciplines, methods, and cultures through Art History, Ethics, Culture History, Child Psychology, Orchestra, Chorus Direction, Vocal Training, with a focus on Classic Guitar. By the time I finished school, I became a music lover, and also what most people might consider an obsessive learner. I guess I did not have time to be a teenager. After high school, I knew that I wanted a profession related with Arts in general, or a Human Science. But reality knocked on the door and my mother gently invited me to pursue a career that would quickly put me on the market and make money, as eventually I should have to support the family. Obeying every single word, just as I was told since a little kid, I finished my degree in Economics at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1995. In the meantime, I earned my Honorary Diploma for the Graduating Class of 1993 at the National Conservatory of Music. I started my professional career as an Auditor at Coopers & Lybrand, in January 1996. Even though that position was directly related to my career, I felt caught in a 7-column page. I needed more space to express, at that time, the actual financial situation of a company. As soon as the opportunity appeared, I joined the Consulting practice of Coopers & Lybrand in Argentina, when the SAP boom and the Y2K issue were demanding more consulting resources. People can say that I was lucky, that I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. And that would be true. But it is also true that in business it is not only about reaching the top but also knowing how to remain there. As 2002 was coming to an end Argentina was in another political and economical downturn, and the opportunity to have an experience abroad came up. Between October 2002 until June 2004 I worked in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in the most significant project for my professional career: designing and implementing a Shared Services Center that could serve more than 10 countries in the areas of Finance and Accounting, Supply Chain and Human Resources. The project team was composed of 120 people from all over the Americas, speaking 3 different languages: Portuguese, English and Spanish. As soon as the first design phase was approved, the SAP implementation project, which aimed to support all the operations and reduce the IT investment from 10 to only 1 SAP instance officially started. I was the leader of the Project Management office, which included not only the strategic direction of the initiative, the direct contact with the top level management of the Client, but also the areas of Change Management, Risk
  • 2. Management and Benefits Realization. My counterpart, the PMO leader from the Client was from Germany. The successful execution of this project was my major accomplishment not only from a professional standpoint. It was a reflection of my own life; leaving in a diverse world, dealing with cultural differences, learning from them all and getting to the best of all worlds. It is not only about getting there on time and on budget but also with everybody on board and happy to have accomplished their full potential. In 2004 I became the mother of a beautiful princess we chose to call Mia. Motherhood changed me also as a professional. I became a better leader, I learned how to listen to my team members with mother ears, being empathetic and trying to help them exceed their own goals, but also setting realistic goals, hard but possible to achieve. By 2007 my husband and I decided that we should move to Brazil. The most promising of the BRIC countries, the new emerging market would bring bigger opportunities for both of us. I cant thank enough to Brazil. My professional career flourished: bigger projects, bigger win, more regional and global involvement, more exposure to global leaders. I got to be known in a global organization such IBM for representing Latin America on every global deal. In Brazil I grew as a Sales Professional. I changed sides and left the execution side of the business, moving to Solutions and Sales. Focusing on the Distribution Sector (Consumer Products and Retail) I acted as and Industry Business Developer providing clients multi-branding business solutions based on 3 main drivers: ROI maximization, risk management and mitigation and focus on market demands. After a couple of years the Outsourcing fever also reached its heating point in Latin America, so I joined this new, innovative and growing area in 2009. Acting as a Sales Executive my role consisted of being the link between the Client and the people working behind the scenes building an outsourcing solution that meets all the Clients goals. My expertise in Finance and Accounting, together with my Economics background were key to performing this role, which requires the combination of business process, IT, financial, contractual and legal acumen to manage and lead the negotiations with the Client. In 2011 our baby boy arrived to complete this family. Toby now fills our days with joy and Mia makes them sweeter and tender. In 2013 we decided to move to the US. Brazils growth was waning and did not meet the expectations. Business never exploded as expected and Latin America is still a dilemma. As a family, Brazil no longer met our expectations nor did it provide us with a sense of safety and security for our young children. My American husband made the final call to move to US in 2014. Today, I cannot imagine being anywhere else. I am leading now my most important project, because it touches my soul. My kids need to adapt to a different culture, new friends, new school and new home. My husband is facing new challenges in his professional career and I want to be his support and make a warm home to come back to. I am dealing with my own transition as well. My whole family is in South America. But I have a very practical approach to it. It is my job. The one that I love. I want to deliver, for my kids, for my husband, and for myself. If anybody asks my What is your motivation to keep moving forward? The answer is simple. I love accomplishing goals. I want to go to bed with an empty To Do list.