THP 30: Stephanie Aylward

Program: Technology Management
Current Position: Regional Manager, Sales Development, Oracle
Hometown: Landenberg, PA
LinkedIn: Stephanie Aylward

Describe an interesting trend you see emerging in your profession and how you think it will affect the field:

An emerging trend in my profession is customers moving to the cloud. Customers do so because it's cheaper, more flexible, and provides better forecasting accuracy. In general, the cloud will reduce costs for companies and will reduce barriers for start-up companies, which will not need to make massive IT investments to get started.

Who (or what) has inspired you and how has your life changed as a result?

My former boss, who actually wrote one of my Georgetown recommendation letters, really inspired me. He taught me that hitting quota is the minimum and that I should be going way beyond that. He had me deliver presentations to teams and stakeholders with over 20 years of experience in the field. He pushed me beyond my limits, and as a result I got smarter and more confident. Overall, he instilled more drive and more confidence in me so that I could be great at my job and so that I could have a successful, long-lasting career at Oracle.