Board Adviser

Expertise: Mature and Emerging Market Access and Go-to-Market, Talent Development, Opportunity Development, Start-ups and Scaling, Relationship Cultivation, Innovation, Customer Experience and Engagement, Governance and Funding Originally from Armenia, Yana is proud of her journey from a small city into a bigger world, advancing up to senior director level in one of the largest enterprise software companies, SAP AG. Her mantra of ‘embrace the unknown’ has driven her executive career over the last two decades, allowing her to acquire strong strategic, commercial and operational capabilities. She is now building her portfolio career as a people-orientated Non-Executive Director. Applying Yana’s experience of emerging and mature markets is a real asset to any organization. She helps companies steer their go-to-market strategy and access the right territories. She caters for cultural nuances, encouraging brands to play to their strengths, working with tech start-ups through SAP Innovation Labs, advising stakeholders on applying new technology, driving expansion, and presenting product value. Yana invests in people, highlights the importance of employee engagement, and always ensures they go on the journey and share in the success. She advocates people-centric technology such as robotics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, and digitalisation, but equally, believes these innovations should not limit opportunities for people, making a social impact and driving evolution. Alongside her mainstream executive career, Yana indulges her passion for driving change and enriching the lives of individuals across the globe with her role in Rotary International. She has gained insight into the intricacies of a not-for-profit, including governance, funding, project execution and strategic expansion. This is something she wishes to continue in a non-exec capacity. Acknowledging the world is a rich and diverse landscape, Yana promotes Diversity & Inclusion, viewing D&I as a way to address the complexities, fragile, global and hyperconnected environments. She embraces her background to drive change, allowing everyone, whoever they are, to generate new ideas and business opportunities through the design of superior products and services, orientated to the customer. Yana will thrive in a start-up, mid-sized or a larger enterprise with a more linear structure. She is comfortable in any public, private or charity sector, providing insightful guidance on opportunity development, customer experience and engagement, operational excellence, and direction setting. “Yana is a strategic thinker with a thorough experience in Sales, Finance and Customer Experience. She is approaching new opportunities and tasks and challenges in a very structured manner while driving tangible business outcomes. I have been appreciating a lot her passion, teamwork capabilities, analytical skills and drive for success.” Michael Rieder, Chief Customer Experience Officer, SAP SE