WHN Miami 2024: Panel on Perspectives from the C-Suite—Promoting Female Leadership

Opening remarks speakers

• Maria Lourdes Teran, Vice President, AS/COA Miami 
• Carol Barnhart, Shareholder, Greenberg Traurig LLP

Panel speakers

• Tito Arciniega, President, Microsoft Latin America 
• Idil Yasa, Regional President, Americas, JTI 
• Blanca Trevino, President & CEO, Softtek
• Moderator: Susan Segal, CEO & President, AS/COA 

Greenberg Traurig's Carol Barnhart and AS/COA's Maria Lourdes Teran opened the 9th Women's Hemispheric Network Conference in Miami. "Working hard is only half the battle," Barnhart said in the opening remarks. "But developing relationships and fostering strong ties... that can really help you."

Afterward, CEOs and company presidents from across Latin America participated in a panel discussion, titled "Perspectives from the C-Suite—Promoting Female Leadership."

“Whatever challenge, you should not feel that that there is a bias, that there is a difficulty because you are a woman," said the President and CEO of Softtek Blanca Treviño. "You have to look at you and say, ‘I have the time, I have the the power, everything.''' Treviño went through the story of how she arrived in tech, explaining that her father pushed her to power through the fear of the unknown.

For Microsoft's Tito Arciniega, "the concept of a leadership is pretty much based on a male personality," he told AS/COA's CEO and President Susan Segal, the panel's moderator. "That's not the real leadership. But, again, you have to learn, and I think that constant learning is what brings you to different levels." He added, "As a man, you are coming from a position of privilege. If you don't understand that, this is not gonna work."

JTI's Idil Yasa said, "When it comes to women empowerment, it's one of those topics like global issues, like climate change. Everyone is for it, but when it comes to the action, we see different levels of engagement." She noted that she's optimistic about the future.