(US & Canada) Latha Subramanian, SVP, Head of Data Engineering and Analytics at GM Financial, speaks with Amy McNee, SVP Solutions Architecture and Technical GTM at Informatica, in a video interview about her career journey, the importance of taking calculated risks in one’s career, and improving the participation of women in stem.

Subramanian highlights her nearly two-year tenure at GM Financial, building on a foundation established at Miami University while pursuing a master’s degree in systems analysis. Her career began with GE Aviation’s Information Management Leadership Program, which launched her journey into data and analytics.

Over 28 years, she has advanced through leadership roles across diverse industries, including healthcare, textbook publishing, financial services, insurance, payment processing, and high-tech solutions. Most recently, at Salesforce, she spearheaded the largest global implementation of Tableau and drove efforts to modernize and digitize the company’s data platform.

Sharing her experiences around career progress, Subramanian emphasizes the importance of being open to exploring new opportunities and taking calculated risks to drive career progression. She highlights two pivotal moments where her willingness to embrace challenges significantly shaped her path.

At Salesforce, she took on the responsibility of leading the largest global implementation of Tableau shortly after the company acquired the product. This required her to navigate the complexities of retiring competing analytics technologies within Salesforce, such as SAP, which had been widely adopted by customers, particularly in finance. Despite initial resistance, she worked closely with the enterprise product architecture team to successfully deprecate these technologies, streamline operations, and achieve significant cost savings of approximately $5.7 million over two years. This accomplishment was the result of meticulous planning, strategic vision, and effective execution.

In another instance, Subramanian made a bold career pivot after spending a decade in healthcare, where she held leadership roles at McKesson and Baylor’s healthcare system. Despite being comfortable in her position, she decided to leave the sector to broaden her expertise and transition into high-tech by joining Salesforce. This decision allowed her to move from being a specialist to a generalist, diversifying her skill set and opening doors to new opportunities.

Speaking about the changes needed to get more females interested in STEM education and careers, Subramanian emphasizes that addressing the challenges women face in STEM careers requires a multi-faceted approach. She highlights that a significant percentage of women leave STEM roles not for family-related reasons but due to feeling undervalued, dealing with unsupportive managers, facing exclusionary workplace behaviors, or encountering limited growth opportunities.

To foster change, Subramanian advocates for a philosophy of “lift as you climb,” where successful women actively mentor and support others in the field, creating a community of encouragement and opportunity. She also stresses the importance of companies investing more heavily in diversity and inclusion initiatives, noting that the current efforts, even by Fortune 500 firms, are insufficient.

Beyond workplace policies, Subramanian calls for a broader cultural and legislative shift to normalize work-life balance and provide better support for women. This includes revisiting labor laws to offer more robust maternity leave and family support, ensuring women can pursue STEM careers without compromising on personal aspirations.

CDO Magazine appreciates Latha Subramanian for sharing her insights with our global community.