Carissa Hughes ─ customer obsessed for customer success
February 23, 2021 • 3 Minute Read
Updated October 2022
Carissa Hughes
Associate Partner AWS
Alliance Lead
IBM
(Previously — AWS Alliance Manager, ANZ
Rackspace Technology)
Are you looking for someone who knows how to develop solutions to deliver an innovative customer digital transformation journey? We know the person—Carissa Hughes!
Carissa Hughes is the AWS Alliance Manager for Rackspace Technology in Australia. She has extensive direct and indirect sales experience with end-to-end business solutions, as well as architecture services (network and data centre), consumption services (cloud and *aaS), and technical services (professional managed). She thrives on being part of a team that delivers innovative solutions to customers.
Please meet this IT Wondrous Woman™—Carissa Hughes!
Our 10 Questions for this IT Wondrous Woman.
Fun Facts
1. What’s the one thing about you that your business colleagues don’t know about you?
As a kid, I thought I’d grow up to be a frog breeder after adopting some tadpoles, but instead discovered that my strength lay in sales when I convinced others to take them as they multiplied.
2. Before the pandemic, how many air miles/KMs did you flying annually?
Pre-Covid I used to travel frequently within Australia on business travel. My husband and I have an interest in a resort in the Gili Islands (Indonesia) where we are regular visitors. We also like to visit Europe for fun and adventure. I couldn’t tell you how many KMs though!
3. What is the most adventurous food you have eaten and what city/location did you eat it?
I’m not the most adventurous when it comes to food, however when traveling I do try to taste the local delicacies. I have great memories of trying escargot in Paris as we sipped champagne – that’s an adventurous highlight. Growing up in the country in Victoria, Australia, I went from trawling the garden with a torch to crush the snails before they ate the garden, to eating them in Paris was quite a change.
Your Career
4. What are the top two experiences, achievements or failures that shaped your journey as a successful leader?
I took a risk in my late 20’s and accepted a role that was an incredible step up. It involved helping to build a 300 seat call centre and the first small business focus sales team from scratch. It was a huge challenge that proved to be an exceptional learning ground that shaped the manger I became. From hiring and building the team to creating business process, go to market strategy and ensuring the team hit their revenue growth and sales targets, it was the first big challenge I think I’d ever faced in my career. Its success opened up a whole new world of opportunities to me, and taught me to embrace my fear, not run from it.
Another highlight was the opportunity to work throughout Australia and rebuild and establish new teams.
5. Did you have a mentor in the early part of your career and, if so, what is the biggest lesson you learned from your mentor or influencer?
Early in my career, I don’t think I realised the advantage of having a strong mentor, but in my current role, I have the opportunity to work with Angela Logan-Bell who has been the most positive influencer in my career. She is forever promoting the importance of thinking differently while bringing honesty and compassion to the role.
Walking In Your Shoes
6. What is one piece of business or career advice you would give to your younger self?
Don’t take criticism to heart, and always play to your strengths. I was told early on, that I wouldn’t succeed in sales because I was “too nice”. I took that as a challenge. After achieving national sales recognition both individually and running teams, I proved them wrong. Believe in yourself!
7. As a leader, how do you remain a resource for people early in their careers?
I encourage the team to step beyond their comfort zone and focus on their strengths. I’ve always said that career growth comes from leading with your strengths. I love working with individuals to understand their aspirations, but also to observe, listen and sometimes guide them towards a path they hadn’t considered before.
Today’s Business Environment
8. What is the most interesting project you have worked on in the last few years?
All my projects are interesting. Recently I’ve enjoyed working with the internal business teams to create partnerships and help influence the decision-makers within the organization to create and adopt new frameworks that help the business deliver better outcomes collectively.
9. What skills are you currently developing or refining (in yourself) that will make you a more successful leader in the digital economy?
Agility and adaptability to change. At the moment I am currently improving my technology understanding around serverless, IoT, AI, and Machine Learning to help identify use cases and solutions for customers to accelerate their business outcomes. Always be learning.
10. What is your greatest business challenge today?
COVID accelerated many companies’ IT transformations, especially in Cloud adoption. The biggest challenge we’re seeing is recruiting technical roles as we continue to see growth. We value diversity – particularly in underrepresented roles in technology.
