WiTT’s Directors are:
Annette Nabavi
AHV Associates / Anchusa Consulting / iomart plc / Elect plc
Annette has a broad range of public and private board experience and currently holds a number of Directorships. She is a Non-Executive Director on the board of iomart plc, an AIM listed cloud services business. She serves as the Chairman of iomart’s Remuneration Committee and is a member of the Audit Committee. She is also a Non-Executive Director on the board of Eleco plc, an AIM listed construction industry software company, where she chairs the Remuneration Committee and acts as the Senior Independent Director. She was on the Advisory Board of the National Media Museum, part of the Science Museum Group for 10 years, and also served as a Non-Executive Director on the board of Maintel Group plc for 7 years. She is a Director of Women in Telecoms and Technology (WiTT) Ltd.
Annette previously held the position of Head of Telecoms Global Business Development for Corporate Finance at ING Barings where she gained significant experience in M&A, private equity, structured debt and public equity transactions.
She later became the founding director and CEO of XchangePoint Holdings Ltd, a Venture Capital backed Internet Interconnect company providing broadband metro peering services to ISPs and carriers. Annette was responsible for tripling revenues every year for 3 years, and grew the customer base to over 100 customers while expanding the company into Germany. She successfully achieved two rounds of VC financing.
Her early years were spent with the PA Consulting Group where she specialized in strategic partnerships, business planning and marketing strategy. She became a Senior Partner with PA before moving to Barings.
Annette holds an MA from Oxford University and a Doctorate from the University of Dijon.
Michelle Senecal de Fonseca
Michelle Senecal de Fonseca is a seasoned international telecommunications and technolo-gy executive and board director. Currently, she serves on a number of public and private boards. Michelle is a Non-Executive Director of FTSE listed Alphawave Semiconductor where she serves as the Workforce Engagement/ESG Director and sits on the Audit Com-mittee. As a Non- Executive Director at the FDM Group, a FTSE listed international IT ser-vice provider, she serves on the Audit, Remuneration and Nomination Committees. Michelle is also a Non-Executive Director at AIM listed Redcentric, an IT managed services company, where she is serves as the Chairman of the Renumeration Committee and sits on the Audit Committee. Additionally, Michelle is an Investment Board member of MOVe Capi-tal – a European fund investing in B2B technology service businesses, a Director of the Women in Telecom and Technology, an ASU Global Foundation Trustee and Strategic Advi-sor to Thunderbird School of Global Management.
Michelle’s executive career included being the Global Vice President, Cloud Innovation Stra-tegic Partnerships and the former European Area Vice President for Sales and Services at Citrix Systems until 2023. Prior to joining Citrix, she was the Managing Director of Cloud & Hosting Services, a global line of business for Vodafone. Michelle’s has held other senior leadership roles at Cable & Wireless Worldwide, Fidelity Data Networks, NextiraOne, Worldport, Global One, Sprint International and US West International. From 2007-2011, Ms Senecal de Fonseca worked for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) where she managed the Telecom, Media and Technology banking team and its as-sociated €3 billion investment portfolio within the international financial institution.
She holds dual degrees in Business and Political Science from the University of Kansas and a Masters in Global Management from Thunderbird School of Global Management in Phoenix, Arizona. She has been recognised by Global Telecom Business Magazine as one of the telecom industry’s most influential leaders (Power 100) and IT executives (Global 50), Computer Weekly’s Most Influential Women in IT, CRN Women of the Channel as well as one of the Women to Watch by Cranfield University School of Management as part of their annual FTSE Board Report. She has dual American/British citizenship and lives in London with her husband and three children.
Audrey Mandela
WiTT Chair; Co-Founder, Multimap; Independent Consultant /Angel Investor
Audrey is WiTT’s chair and company secretary. She is also director of Mandela Associates, which provides market research and consulting services for select clients in the telecom, internet and geographical information sectors.
Audrey was Co-Founder of Multimap, one of the world’s leading online mapping providers, where she acted as the company’s corporate counsel and marketing director, and was a board director. Multimap was sold to Microsoft in December 2007.
Audrey was formerly Senior Vice President, International, for the Yankee Group, one of the industry’s leading IT research firms. As Senior VP, Audrey was responsible for managing the Yankee Group’s research, consulting and sales activities in Europe, Latin America and Asia. She was a frequent speaker at telecom industry events around the world, and the author of numerous reports and studies on global telecom trends.
Audrey is also a member of the steering committee for the Global Board Ready Women initiative; a board director for Wedu, a charity that mentors and supports young women leaders from underserved communities in Southeast Asia; and an NED for Clear Returns, an award-winning and innovative SaaS company; its returns intelligence platform enables retail clients to boost profits by reducing the costs and impact of returns.
For the past five years Audrey has been an advisor for London Business School’s TEDxLondonBusinessSchool event. She has also judged for the FDM everywoman in Technology Awards since 2012, and is a member of Angel Academe, which offers angel investment to women-led businesses.
Audrey holds a bachelor’s degree from Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts, US.
Helen Kelisky
Managing Director, UKI, Google Cloud
Helen Kelisky is an executive sales leader with a proven track record in general management, sales and marketing, and technology, spanning more than 30 years.
She is Managing Director for UK and Ireland at Google Cloud. She is also a commercial advisor to SaaS start ups, and has been a WiTT board member since 2013.
Before joining Google, Helen was Vice President for B2B Sales across EMEA for OpenText, and prior to this, Senior Vice President at Salesforce, responsible for establishing, setting the strategy, and leading the Cloud Sales organisation for UK and Ireland. Previously in IBM, Helen held a number of leadership roles, latterly heading up IBM’s Cloud business, leading the UK and Ireland organisation’s digital transformation to think and act ‘Cloud First’.
Helen is also an a Non-Executive Director with Calnex Solutions plc (AIM: CLX), a leading provider of test and measurement solutions for the global telecommunications sector.
Given the enormous amount of change the world is experiencing – health, climate, technology and more – Helen believes it’s never been more important to champion diversity and inclusion in all its forms. She has been voted as one of the Most Influential Women in UK Tech for the last five years consecutively 2017-2021 (Computer Weekly), and lives in London with her husband and two children.
Yasmeen Majid
Non-Exec Director, Board Chair, Senior Advisor, Trustee
Yasmeen Majid was invited to join the WiTT Board in 2017, following 10 years as an active member. Throughout her career, she has led global functions and transformation in tech-oriented and tech-driven organisations in several industries and geographies. She enjoys mentoring and continues to promote, actively, the benefits of a diverse workplace.
In addition to being a WiTT Director, Yasmeen is the Chair of two Local School Governing [secondary and primary school] Boards in the Mulberry Trust, a Senior Advisor to HPP; a Health Policy Consultancy, and a Trustee on the board of the Neville Abraham Foundation.
Prior to her most recent role leading global Transformation/Business Change in Eviden’s Cloud Business, Yasmeen held leadership roles with Aviva, Vodafone, Direct Line Group, and Multimap/ Microsoft in the UK, following several years of Tech, Management and Consultancy (KPMG), in France and Canada.
Yasmeen holds a B.Sc. in Computer Science from McMaster University, Canada, and an MBA from EDHEC-Theseus, France.