Mercy Manning ─ fueling hyperscalers and major cloud providers with sustainability values around the world...
May 12, 2021 • 3 Minute Read
Mercy Manning
Vice President, Sales & Sustainability Strategy
Aligned
Are you looking for a person who can leverage their breadth of technology experience into fueling hyperscalers and major cloud providers with sustainability values around the world? We know the person—Mercy Manning!
Mercy is the Vice President of Sales & Sustainability Strategy for Aligned. She is responsible for strategic account growth with the major cloud providers and hyperscale community, as well as evangelizing Aligned’s resource efficiency objectives and core sustainability values within the IT industry. Her strategic sales, business development and finance experience spans the tech industry and is rooted in the venture and start-up culture of Silicon Valley. Prior to her current role, she spent 12 years pioneering new IoT, wireless and AI-enabled energy efficiency technologies for mission-critical, colocation and commercial real estate portfolios across North America, Europe and Asia.
Please meet this IT Wondrous Woman, Mercy Manning.
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?
I am passionate about herbal medicine, and own an organic, climate-friendly snack food company with ingredients sourced from regenerative farms and ranches.
2. Before the pandemic, how many air miles/KMs did you flying annually?
Too many! Weekly day trips to Seattle, monthly day trips to Dallas or the East Coast, and a few quick international trips each year. Because I exclusively breastfed and didn’t want to leave a baby at home, I took each child under one year old (and my mother) on the road with me for all overnight trips.
3. What is the most adventurous food you have eaten and what city/location did you eat it?
An unknown meat in Taipei.
Your Career
4. What are the top two experiences, achievements or failures that shaped your journey as a successful leader?
Experiencing the devastation of a lay-off as a top performer early in my career. After a few grueling years putting in 100-hour work weeks for a multinational organization, I received a generic dismissal letter from an unknown executive based in another country. This experience led me to graduate school and to reevaluate my career. Going forward, I chose to exclusively work with companies where I could make a direct impact on the future of the business.
Driving my company’s transition to 100% renewable energy. During an All-Hands meeting in my first month onboard, I shared my personal conviction that our startup company should proactively take a leadership role in our industry’s transition to 100% renewable energy, and that customers would soon demand a carbon-free option. It was a fairly new model for the organization, but I continued to advocate for it. In 2019 with Board approval, we began our transition to renewable energy, and reached 100% in 2020.
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?
I had two amazing mentors early in my career – my father, who I worked for in our family business, and the only female Vice President during my financial analyst years. Both people taught me to trust my intuition, lead the room in integrity, intellect and grit, bring my own style to the meeting and lift people up along the way.
Walking In Your Shoes
6. What is one piece of business or career advice you would give to your younger self?
Listen to your intuition above everything else. Just like in sales, “lose quickly” by moving on as soon as you realize you are no longer in alignment with the direction or culture of the organization.
7. As a leader, how do you remain a resource for people early in their careers?
I mentor younger women and men within & outside of my industry, as well as unofficially coach younger colleagues within my organization.
Today’s Business Environment
8. What is the most interesting project you have worked on in the last few years?
In my current role, I led the development, strategy and successful RFP for one of the largest client projects in our industry at the time. This “cross the chasm” transaction secured our next round of funding, and transformed our organization from a startup with an uncertain future into one of the fastest growing and successful companies in our space.
9. What skills are you currently developing or refining (in yourself) that will make you a more successful leader in the digital economy?
Public speaking and personal brand development.
10. What is your greatest business challenge today?
Building trust and strengthening relationships with new customers in the current remote environment.
