Throughout the month of November, we are posting a blog series spotlighting Protiviti’s Women in IT.
Let’s meet Ashley Cuevas. Ashley joined Protiviti as an intern in the summer of 2005 while attending Louisiana State University. She returned to Houston after graduation and began her full-time career with us February of 2006, and she recently celebrated her 10 year anniversary milestone! As an Associate Director in our IT Consulting practice with a focus in ERP Solutions, Ashley is a key proponent of our iGROWW program (Initiative for Growth and Retention of Women in the Workplace).
When we had some time to connect with Ashley, we asked her the following questions:
- What attracted you to Protiviti? “Everyone says ‘The People,’ which is my real answer, but next I would say ‘The Opportunity.’ I also knew I didn’t want to work in an IT department. I spent a summer installing MS Office products and printers for a manufacturing company. I knew I couldn’t do that for my whole life!”
- What excites you the most about your work in IT? “IT is exciting to me because it is constantly changing and improving. In ERP Solutions, I especially enjoy that we are able to help companies use technology to make business processes more efficient and more controlled. When a company has an efficient and well controlled ERP system, they can rely on the data in that system to make better business decisions.”
- What has been the biggest challenge you have faced working in IT? “Keeping up with the technology and buzzwords that change so frequently, especially in areas of IT that I don’t work in as frequently. The other challenge is my family and friends assume I can fix their computers, but I cannot. I can’t even fix my own half of the time.”
- Where do you see Protiviti in the IT space in the next 5 years? “Overall, I think we have good breadth and depth in our IT Consulting Practice, which should position us well. In the ERP Solutions area, I think we will be moving towards more hands-on assistance for our clients, versus advisory work. I also think that while we have historically had a lot of business with the large ERP system (SAP, Oracle, JDEdwards), we will start to see more projects and services for some of the up-and-coming systems, like Microsoft Dynamics, and smaller industry-specific systems. “
- Who has played a critical role in the development in your career? “Tyler Chase, a Managing Director in the Houston office. He was a Senior Manager when I first started working with him. At the time, I was not actually doing IT work, even though that was my background from school. He staffed me on my first IT project as a consultant and we continued to work together quite often after that. He has provided me opportunities and challenges throughout the past ten years which have taught me so much about consulting and also helped me gain confidence in the IT space. He has also given me room to make mistakes, which ironically are the times that I have learned the most.”
- What do you enjoy doing outside of work? “My favorite things to do outside of work are cooking, yoga, drinking wine, and relaxing with my family. I have an amazing husband, a 1 year old daughter, and a big fat English Bulldog at home.”
Thanks Ashley for being one of Protiviti’s amazing Women in IT! We appreciate your leadership and valuable career and life insights.
