Hema Sundaram

Critic
DISC Type : C

Division Chief Information Officer at Portland General Electric

Portland, Oregon, United States

Overview

Hema Sundaram is the Division Chief Information Officer at Portland General Electric, bringing over 20 years of experience in data and analytics. She spearheads the development of a Gen-AI platform to boost productivity and was recently a finalist for an HCLTech Women in Technology Award.

She is actively involved in her community, serving on the boards of the PGE Foundation and OREGON STEM, and as an advisory board member for Oregon State Universitys College of Business. Hema is passionate about creating fair hiring practices and has developed an app for bedtime stories.

Unique fact: Hema champions a hiring process that masks candidate names, colleges, and experience levels to mitigate unconscious bias.

Personality Overview

ROI Driven

Negotiator

Critic

Unless the value is proven by data, they are unlikely to value fancy features.  They prefer to analyze logically and value objective facts over emotions. It is very likely that they will negotiate pricing or other important terms.

Topics They Care About

Generative AI in Utilities
Currently leading the development of a Gen-AI platform at PGE and has been a featured speaker at conferences focused on AI in the energy sector.
Data Strategy
Her career has focused on creating enterprise data strategies, managing cloud data platforms, and democratizing data through data science to drive business decisions.
Combating Unconscious Bias
Actively implements strategies to reduce bias in the hiring process and has completed certifications in Unconscious Bias and Communicating about Culturally Sensitive Issues.

Media Appearances

Portland General Electric, Hema Sundaram wins in the 2024 Stevie Awards. Featured in YouTube

See Now

Work History

1-2024
Division Chief Information Officer at Portland General Electric
10-2017 - 1-2024
Director at Portland General Electric
9-2014 - 9-2017
Senior Manager, Business Analytics Competency Center at Southern California Edison (SCE)
2-2012 - 2-2014
Industry Principal at Infosys
7-2002 - 1-2012
Manager, Enterprise Systems at Southern California Edison (SCE)

Education

5-2022 - 5-2024
Master's degree from University of California, Berkeley
1988 - 1992
Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.) Computer Science from Sathyabama Engineering College

More Information

Social Presence :

Prographics :

Exp : 32 Location : Portland, Oregon, United States Job Level : Leadership Designation : Division Chief Information Officer at Portland General Electric
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Insights For Selling To Hema

During A Call Or A Meeting

DO's

  • Tell them what ROI they can expect
  • Don’t forget to mention how you compare to competition on both features and pricing
  • Use phrases like ‘expect X% improvement’, ‘data clearly shows’ etc.

DONT's

  • Avoid pushing them too much to involve other stakeholders unless it is critical
  • Don’t try to give too many examples of other users, they like to make their own decisions
  • Make extra effort to not seem pushy or confrontational

When Cold Calling

When Writing An Email

While Negotiating & Closing

    The secret to closing fast with Hema is

  • Proof of ROI, low pricing and objective proof points are the important factors for them.
  • Will you ever get a clear answer from Hema

  • They do not mind saying no if they believe that it is the right decision.

Insights For Deal Planning

    How fast (or slow) will Hema move?

  • Their decision-making is neither very fast nor very slow, they are somewhere in between.
  • Can Hema take some risk or not?

  • They can take risks if their analysis shows that it would be worth it.

You And Hema

Personality Compatibility


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