Diva Tech Talk enjoyed interviewing Liz Siver, former Microsoft executive for the U.S. Central (23-state) Region, now General Manager for NeoPollard Interactive, a breakthrough company, leading the transformation and movement of state lottery systems online. At the outset of our interview, Liz credited her “network: the people I knew and encountered” for introducing the world of technology to her.
Liz attended the University of Dayton, in Ohio, graduating with a degree in English. “I kept it simple,” she laughed. “Like most young people today, it was hard to identify all opportunities…so I took a generic path.” Liz worked her way through college, since “work was very engrained in everything I did, even at a very young age.” Among other assignments, she worked for the Girl Scouts of Western Ohio (“responsible for their cookie kickoff campaign!”); the government of Montgomery County in Ohio (“responsible for their newsletter”); sold ads for Berry Yellow Pages; and worked for the university, itself, in a fund-raising role. Through personal networking, post-graduation, Liz parlayed her talents, and experience, into her first career, in fund development, at Hospice of Michigan, the largest, most experienced provider of care to those facing end-of-life challenges, and their families. “It was a great role. Whether it was grant-writing, special event planning or working with donors, it was an array of interesting experiences to launch me in my career path.” After 5 years, “my network came to me,” Liz said, alerting her to an opportunity to manage marketing for the launch of The Somerset Collection in Southeast Michigan. She jumped into working for the property management company (Forbes Properties) serving as the event manager for their massive development and its growth. “It was a super-exciting time.” Liz hired The Disney Company to implement the launch of the mall, and she learned all about retail property management and marketing over a 2.5 year period.
From another networking situation (“I ran into somebody at the mall, looking for a business development manager”), Liz moved into her next challenge, as a marketing manager at Deloitte Touche (now simply Deloitte), a global professional services organization, providing audit, tax, consulting, enterprise risk and financial advisory services to companies, worldwide. “I spent the majority of my time on the audit side of the house, driving business development,” she said. After over 3 years at Deloitte, “my network came to me, again” Liz said. A public relations firm, in Michigan, worked with both Deloitte and Microsoft. They let her know about “a great opportunity” and Liz made the leap over to one of the largest technology companies, of the 21st century. At the time, two decades ago, “Microsoft had 23,000 employees, and now the company has 170,000 employees,” marveled Liz. “It was an incredible experience. From a technology perspective, I went from learning technology to embracing and selling what the potential of technology could be. It was the ‘cutting edge’ of corporate America bringing in technology as a collaboration solution to their environments. Fun times!”
Liz’s tenure at Microsoft spanned 18 years, and 11 different roles. “The theme for me was learning, developing; and always be networking, keeping your eye out for the next potential opportunity to learn and grow.” So, while home-based in Michigan, she spent a significant portion of her time on the road. Since she has a strong belief in the value of people in any environment, Liz usually jumped at any chance to lead teams or projects with a significant, diverse team as many as 100 people, at various times. She also spearheaded the development of the Central Region’s Microsoft Women’s Leadership organization. Occasionally home, Liz also “had the privilege” of spending time with (then-CEO) Steve Ballmer, “who always had a passion” for the city of Detroit, and Southeast Michigan in general. “He was a visionary for Microsoft in the early years. That vision became really broad.” Commenting today, Liz said “what Satya Nadella has done for the company,” in contrast, “is brought it back to a singular cloud vision across platforms, applications and devices.” During Liz’s tenure, the vision evolved from a computer on every desktop to every home, to help people and businesses throughout the world realize their full potential. The key question was “how is Microsoft going to evolve, to the cloud.” It took time for people to evolve to the cloud. But when people were ready, Microsoft was ready, too.
Liz loved and learned from her long tenure at Microsoft. But, at the point she considered transitioning, “we had sold all states on ‘the cloud’,” she said. “At my age, and career point, I thought I have more to give, and learn.” She spent a year, still working there, but also taking advantage of the services of an excellent coach, and panel of career advisors. “What I wanted to do was to learn something new. And if I had the privilege of trying to transform an industry, wouldn’t that be exciting?!” In that year of self-discovery, Liz said “the opportunity that presented itself was to run a joint venture.” She assumed the challenge of managing NeoPollard Interactive, with a parent company in Tel Aviv, another in Canada, and Michigan-based HQ in Lansing, seat of that state’s government. NeoPollard is 50% owned by Israel-based NeoGames (“creators of our solution platform and incredible games”) and a Winnipeg, Canada company that has been in the lottery industry for decades. “They have gaming legacy and deep relationships, globally, in the lottery industry.”
NeoPollard Interactive “was born online.” The company, currently employing 82 staff, works with state lotteries to move them online and “then we provide services to help them be successful.” In current mobile device-dominant environments, NeoPollard is trying to “help state lotteries build an additional opportunity for people to play the lottery” outside of the traditional “cash and carry retail environment.” What inspires Liz is that “the money from state lotteries goes to all the great causes” that are funded within each individual state. “In every state, there is a different good cause that its lottery supports.” In addition to doing good, for Liz, “the fun part is transformation” ---- the opportunity to marry her technology passion with belief in what technology can do to help humanity. “This also allows me to be at the early stages of helping transform an industry.” The transformation is so new that while NeoPollard has dominant market share, they are only currently in four of 50 U.S. states. “I am excited about being on the front end of the industry.”
Over the course of her robust career, Liz has developed leadership philosophies she holds dear. One of the most vital is “always be authentic. You can’t be anything better than yourself. Having the confidence to stand up, as yourself, in any situation is critical to your career progression.” She firmly practices the principle of “my responsibility as a leader is figuring out how I make others great.” She has had many mentees, and believes that “the mentor/mentee relationship goes both ways. If I am aligning myself to someone else, for their career aspirations, I have just as much to gain from the relationship as they do.” In defining her personal strengths, Liz says that analytically “defining a business opportunity and its challenges, and then understanding how to address the challenges with the right people, partnerships and solutions” is one of her personal strengths. She also strives to “be present” at all times.
Throughout her career path, thus far, Liz feels fortunate that “being a woman has opened up opportunities. Networking with other women exposed me to interesting people, interesting thoughts; and I like to ‘lean in’ to help people get the support to get their ideas out.” For Liz, “it is not about work/life balance, it is about work/life blend.” Her family blends into her career aspirations and “conversely I would hope that my career aspirations blend into my family.” The mother of twin daughters, Liz commented that she wants her daughters to be open-minded. “I want them to be able to think through an opportunity, weigh the risk and reward of things, and realize the importance of just getting out there, and making an impact.”
One of Liz’s favorite axioms is “attitude is altitude.” According to her, “how you show up every day, in your personal life, or your professional life is incredibly important to the people you touch.” For Liz, the best approach to every situation is “a super-positive attitude and open-mindedness.” This is particularly important in driving innovation because “many people are not where you are.” She also is clear that it is “important to say: I don’t know everything.” She fears the day that she would ever become risk averse. “I would say to my ‘younger self’, take more risks! Open doors can present closed doors which then present other open doors. You need to have some grit.” Knowing all this, Liz places great emphasis on “the ability to recruit other people” to “the cause” who have appropriate skills, appetite for innovation, drive and agility. Liz also places a high value on empathy, in colleagues and her own children, and spends time supporting the development of that quality in both. “We’re too harsh, today, in passing judgement. And we don’t spend enough time being reflective and empathetic to the needs of others. At the end of the day, we’re all just people, and should be supporting each other.”
Liz was raised in a tradition of “giving back” to her community. “To be present, I need to also be present in my personal life.” To that end, Liz is Vice President of her teenage girls’ high school sports organization and sits on a variety of different committees in her church parish. She is also co-chairing the South Oakland Shelter’s (now merged with Lighthouse of Oakland County) efforts to house the homeless, periodically, through her church. “Your words and your actions mean everything,” said Liz. “Always give back.”
Liz Siver may be reached via email at liz_siver@hotmail.com.
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