IAEA Profile: Rola Ghneim Khreis, the IAEA’s First Woman Director of Information Technology

Khreis’s very first mentor was her father. He was a school principal who fostered a supportive tutorial environment at residence. “He often gave me the exact alternatives as my brothers. He strived to aid me build techniques applicable to any self-discipline, this sort of as critical imagining, investigation and self-expression,” she reported. “He manufactured me who I am.”

As in several STEM fields, there were several females studying technology at her college, and Khreis was frequently the only woman in her course. “It was typically hard, but I would just become far more established, and this made me much better,” she remembers.

Following a couple of several years performing in the personal sector in Lebanon, Khreis moved to Austria the place she had her very first professional encounter in an worldwide business as an IT Marketing consultant at the Corporation for Protection and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). She embraced the multicultural ecosystem.  

Inspired by the IAEA’s impact on many elements of people’s lives, Khreis joined the Agency in 1998 as IT Coordinator and Challenge Manager. Afterwards, as IT Assistance Supervisor and then Device Head of IT Services Design, she worked on the implementation of IT company administration most effective procedures to guidance Agency workers. In 2014, she became Head of the Shopper Expert services Area, a situation she held for 10 many years. “Through this part, I had the privilege of working instantly with all departments to recognize their needs and make a decision how to greatest provide them,” she said.

Today, Khreis manages 120 employees and sales opportunities the use of digital abilities at the IAEA to incorporate worth by means of IT. Khreis describes her function as “an enabler, leveraging engineering to empower small business outcomes and to push operational effectiveness.” By collaborating intently with colleagues throughout the business, she employs her comprehension of their distinct requirements to be certain that IT investments are aligned with the organization’s strategic plans. “My intention is to make a big difference to the Agency’s function by comprehending how we can help stakeholders from an IT point of view to do their function more conveniently and additional efficiently, to permit them to be much more powerful in what they do,” she claimed.

Going forward, Khreis aims to identify regions the place digital transformation initiatives and innovation can even more greatly enhance perform processes and general efficiency, focusing on regions such as synthetic intelligence, knowledge administration, analytics, visualization and conclusion creating capabilities.

When requested about her expert achievements so considerably, she said, “Being the IAEA’s initial girl Main Info Officer and Director of Info Technological innovation is a good achievement, and I am also specifically very pleased of getting developed really motivated groups all through my career.”

Khreis characteristics significantly of her job accomplishment to her persistence and the skill to understand prospects. In her view, a supportive natural environment for females relies upon really a lot on an organization’s leadership and procedures that guidance gender equality, range and the elimination of bias. “I actually think that variety makes excellence,” she said.

Khreis advocates for ladies and young women to go after research in IT and believes this requires to start off at household by encouraging them to take a look at scientific fields and constructing confidence in their capabilities with a ‘you can do it’ mind-set. “Women have constantly confronted troubles in STEM-similar fields, and that contains ladies in IT,” she mentioned. Khreis coaches youthful colleagues and consistently promotes the industry by means of IT workshops for 11- to 16-calendar year-previous girls for the duration of the annual Vienna Daughters’ Working day event.

Khreis’s assistance to young girls commencing their expert journey in this evolving area is to “embrace your enthusiasm and be resilient. Road blocks and setbacks are normal in any career, but don’t allow anyone quit you. Be self-assured and don’t forget that troubles typically create fantastic possibilities.”