Empowering small businesses to reclaim time and accelerate growth through AI-powered automation | Inventor | Keynote Speaker

I lead enterprise AI adoption — turning ambition into execution.

With over 25 years guiding organizational transformation across industries, I’ve seen how the best processes, approaches, and technology fails without alignment, clarity, and a clear path to measurable impact. My work focuses on helping enterprises define what AI should do for their business, not just what it can do.

I specialize in building frameworks for responsible, scalable AI adoption that connect strategy, operations, and people. This includes:

Designing AI adoption roadmaps aligned with business goals and governance

Translating technical possibilities into clear, actionable business outcomes

Building cross-functional alignment between leadership, operations, and IT

Coaching teams to develop AI literacy and operational confidence

Heidi 💡 Araya

Upnotch

As a mentor at UpNotch, I dedicate my free time to giving back to the community by guiding and supporting individuals on their professional development journeys. My role involves sharing industry insights, providing career advice, and helping mentees navigate their paths in technology and software engineering. By offering personalized mentorship and leveraging my experience, I contribute to the growth and success of aspiring professionals, fostering a culture of learning and collaboration. This role allows me to stay connected with emerging talent and make a positive impact on the next generation of tech leaders.

Mentor

Capital One

As a Business Program Manager, I lead the execution of strategic initiatives that drive organizational success and deliver substantial value. Working directly with Business, I align program goals with executive priorities, fostering strong partnerships to ensure seamless execution. My role involves managing complex programs from inception to completion, optimizing performance through data-driven insights, and steering organizational change to enhance operational efficiency. By translating high-level strategies into actionable plans, I enable leadership teams to achieve their objectives and drive impactful results across the business.

Business Program Manager

Citrix

As a Principal Service Delivery Manager, I lead enterprise-level performance and availability improvement programs, collaborating closely with SVPs and VPs to drive strategic initiatives that enhance customer success and service uptime. I ensure that services meet or exceed SLAs (Service Level Agreements) and SLOs (Service Level Objectives), implementing best practices and SOPs for service delivery management to maintain high standards of performance and reliability. My role involves managing PagerDuty resource allocation, optimizing on-call schedules, and streamlining incident management processes to minimize downtime and improve response times. By aligning service delivery with business objectives and fostering a culture of continuous improvement, I contribute to the overall operational excellence and customer satisfaction, driving impactful results for the organization.

Principal Service Delivery Manager

As a Staff Technical Program Manager, I lead complex programs with a focus on Agile delivery and scaling, serving as a Release Train Engineer and leveraging my expertise as a SAFe SPC (Scaled Agile Framework Program Consultant). I drive PI Planning and execution, ensuring alignment across teams and seamless delivery of program objectives. I am instrumental in defining Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and driving their adaptation across the enterprise to standardize best practices and enhance operational efficiency. I excel in creating and managing dashboards for PI tracking and team performance, providing visibility into progress and facilitating data-driven decisions. My role involves coordinating across multiple teams to optimize execution, track dependencies, and resolve impediments, ultimately enhancing delivery efficiency and aligning outcomes with business goals. Through my leadership, I ensure that programs are executed with precision, fostering a culture of accountability, consistency, and continuous improvement.

Staff Technical Program Manager

As a Senior Release Manager, I oversee the planning, tracking, and management of releases for both cloud services and on-premises solutions, with release cycles ranging from 1 week to 1 year. I define comprehensive release checklists and processes that ensure consistency, quality, and compliance across all release types. My role involves coordinating with cross-functional teams to ensure that each release is meticulously planned and executed, minimizing risks and ensuring smooth transitions from development to production. By implementing structured release management practices, I enhance the reliability and predictability of releases, driving operational excellence and aligning outcomes with organizational goals. My work directly contributes to improved service delivery and customer satisfaction by ensuring timely, high-quality releases that meet the needs of the business and its customers.

Senior Release Manager

As a Senior Software Engineer II, I lead feature development, bug fixes, and the creation of automation frameworks for Citrix ShareFile across all platforms, including Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS. I manage testing efforts across a globally distributed team of 30 members, ensuring comprehensive test coverage, including globalization testing, to maintain product quality and consistency across diverse markets. My contributions to automation framework development streamline testing processes, reduce time-to-market, and enhance the reliability of releases. By driving cross-platform development and rigorous testing, I ensure that Citrix ShareFile meets the highest standards of functionality and performance, delivering impactful solutions that enhance productivity and user satisfaction worldwide.

Technical Lead

As a Software Engineering Intern, I contributed to the architecture, development, testing, and utilization of an automation framework for Citrix products. My role involved designing robust automation solutions that streamlined testing processes, significantly improving efficiency and accuracy. By developing and integrating the automation tools, I helped reduce manual effort and accelerated the validation of product features, leading to quicker release cycles and enhanced product quality. My contributions ensured that the framework was scalable and adaptable, providing long-term value in automating repetitive tasks and supporting the continuous improvement of Citrix products.

Software Engineer Internship

As an experienced developer and Technical Program and Business Operations Manager, I am passionate about driving strategic initiatives that foster organizational excellence and transformative growth. With a strong reformer mindset, I continuously innovate and enhance processes, while maintaining a commitment to lifelong learning.

As a Mentor at UpNotch & Being YoUnique, I find fulfillment in empowering others to grow and reach their potential. My authentic leadership style is rooted in transparency, collaboration, and a deep commitment to the success of my teams and the organizations I serve.

I thrive in environments where strategic thinking, program management, and leadership intersect to deliver high-impact results. My goal is to create value through solutions that meet business objectives and empower teams to excel.

taplio

The Battle

Heidi 💡 Araya

Charitha Krishnappa SAFe SPC, Prosci Change Practitioner

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