Heidi Alali, Melanie Gallant, and Terri McAllister
Women in IT Mini-Panel
Panelist Biographies:
Heidi Alali strives on thinking out of the box and creating SMART and effective career goals. With Over 19 years of experience in her field, Heidi was fortunate to have worn many hats: Delivery Project Executive, Sr. Project Manager, Solution Designer, Strategist, Analyst, and Consultant. She is a strong believer that actual professional value comes from believing in the following:
- I don’t care who gets credit. I just want to make sure we win!
- I have big ideas; Big ideas mean nothing if they cannot be executed, and I do execution.
- I’m the calm one.
- I run towards fires.
- I’m willing to learn anything if someone else is willing to teach me.
My career focus is typically in Project Management, IT strategy, People Management, BPM& Re-engineering, Analytics and BI.
Women in IT Mini-Panel
Panelist Biographies:
Heidi Alali strives on thinking out of the box and creating SMART and effective career goals. With Over 19 years of experience in her field, Heidi was fortunate to have worn many hats: Delivery Project Executive, Sr. Project Manager, Solution Designer, Strategist, Analyst, and Consultant. She is a strong believer that actual professional value comes from believing in the following:
- I don’t care who gets credit. I just want to make sure we win!
- I have big ideas; Big ideas mean nothing if they cannot be executed, and I do execution.
- I’m the calm one.
- I run towards fires.
- I’m willing to learn anything if someone else is willing to teach me.
My career focus is typically in Project Management, IT strategy, People Management, BPM& Re-engineering, Analytics and BI.
Melanie Gallant is an IT professional with over 30 years of experience in the industry. From very early on as a software developer in the 80’s, Melanie had been personally driven to achieve success in roles by breaking traditional barriers and thinking related to where women should be directing their careers.
Her passion for both gender equality and diversity in the workplace is a direct result of struggles in the she overcame as a young women entering into jobs held predominately by men. This passion has now transcended into driven action, providing mentorship and thought leadership within her organization and community.
Now, as a Director of Operational Services for CGI in the Atlantic region, Melanie strives to ensure her organization continues to evolve year over year with a special focus on gender diversity in the areas of workforce management, project & delivery leadership, quality and learning & development.
In honor of a former CGI professional, Melanie launched and leads the CGI Cynthia Tully Women in Tech Scholarship Fund which annually provides awards to daughters of CGI employees who are enrolled in post-secondary STEM programs.
In 2018, Melanie was the winner of the CGI Canadian Dream Connectors project. Working with Actua, a renowned leader in the field of all-girl STEM and the largest science outreach program for girls in Canada, Melanie’s project helped to support nine STEM camps for girls in all 3 provinces.
Melanie leads the Atlantic “Women of CGI” chapter and runs the Women in IT, Halifax MeetUp group.
Her passion for both gender equality and diversity in the workplace is a direct result of struggles in the she overcame as a young women entering into jobs held predominately by men. This passion has now transcended into driven action, providing mentorship and thought leadership within her organization and community.
Now, as a Director of Operational Services for CGI in the Atlantic region, Melanie strives to ensure her organization continues to evolve year over year with a special focus on gender diversity in the areas of workforce management, project & delivery leadership, quality and learning & development.
In honor of a former CGI professional, Melanie launched and leads the CGI Cynthia Tully Women in Tech Scholarship Fund which annually provides awards to daughters of CGI employees who are enrolled in post-secondary STEM programs.
In 2018, Melanie was the winner of the CGI Canadian Dream Connectors project. Working with Actua, a renowned leader in the field of all-girl STEM and the largest science outreach program for girls in Canada, Melanie’s project helped to support nine STEM camps for girls in all 3 provinces.
Melanie leads the Atlantic “Women of CGI” chapter and runs the Women in IT, Halifax MeetUp group.
Terri McAllister is Director of Technical Strategy at Blue Spurs Consulting in Fredericton, N.B. She has been with Blue Spurs for 4 years and has had the opportunity to perform many challenging roles.
She holds a Bachelor of Computer Science from UNB and has held many different roles in her career such as Software Developer, Integrations Analyst, Technical Support, and Operations Engineer. Terri leads a team of AWS Solution Architects and DevOps professionals who design, implement, and maintain Cloud solutions for customers.
Aside from her day-to-day operational responsibilities as Director of Technical Strategy, Terri's passion lies in the future of Cloud Architectures, specifically using Amazon Web Services platforms and tools. She truly believes in the Art of the Possible, and enjoys helping customers navigate their journey in Cloud technologies. Terri currently holds AWS Solutions Architect and SysOps Administrator Associate certifications.
She holds a Bachelor of Computer Science from UNB and has held many different roles in her career such as Software Developer, Integrations Analyst, Technical Support, and Operations Engineer. Terri leads a team of AWS Solution Architects and DevOps professionals who design, implement, and maintain Cloud solutions for customers.
Aside from her day-to-day operational responsibilities as Director of Technical Strategy, Terri's passion lies in the future of Cloud Architectures, specifically using Amazon Web Services platforms and tools. She truly believes in the Art of the Possible, and enjoys helping customers navigate their journey in Cloud technologies. Terri currently holds AWS Solutions Architect and SysOps Administrator Associate certifications.
