Wendy Lung, director of corporate strategy at IBM Ventures, enjoys “trailblazing into unknown territories, so it was a perfect fit for me to join the ventures team and be headlights for our business”.
Having started writing a travel blog, Lung said: “Whether it is my professional or personal life, I have a zest for adventure. Fortunately for me, in corporate venture, I get insight into the most pressing business problems corporations face today and get to work with brilliant entrepreneurs with amazing new ideas to solve these problems — this makes every day an adventure.
“My greatest feeling of accomplishment comes at the magical intersection of IBM, our customer, and the startup. Through dozens of instances, I have discovered that by bringing all three parties together, I can be most effective as a change agent in the company. Helping startups understand enterprise needs and being a trusted adviser to IBM and our customer can help bring about transformation.
“I was reminded the other day that in corporate innovation, there are no best practices in a sense, because there is no one-size-fits-all solution. The many moving parts and the fast-changing landscape requires constant learning and adjustment to deliver and maximise results.
“While one of the challenges of my role is to make sure there is clear impact to the business on a continual basis, it is also one of the most stimulating parts of the role. Being part of this vibrant CVC community, which Global Corporate Venturing helped create, has fostered the important sharing of best practices, so that together we become a stronger industry.
“At the end of it, though, many corporations are at the point of innovate or die and those businesses and leaders who embrace innovation and survive will be the ultimate proof point.
“In the past, I had created several first-of-a-kind programs in IBM to help startups globally I am particularly excited about a new initiative that I am about to launch that will enable this collaboration at scale.”
As an IBM-lifer, having joined the US-listed technology company as a sales representative in 1989, Lung has been a partner in IBM Ventures since 2008 and one of her earlier successes had been the creation of IBM’s first global program for startups in 2010.
She said for 2016’s awards: “It was exciting to rally resources from across the company to engage and provide value to early-stage startups.”
The program, IBM Global Entrepreneur, has grown to 40 international cities, 10,000 startup participants across 100 countries, 600 mentors in the network and $180m of venture investment in the companies since its inception in 2010.
She added for this year’s profile: “I have been publicly working with dozens of IBMs clients to match them up with promising startups for years. For example, I support IBM’s innovation partnership with Deutsche Bank. The new program is just an extension of that, called Innovation Hub.”
And while she has countered the Silicon Valley trend of company-hopping to build a career, she remains aware of the challenges faced by others. “For the past five years, I have been part of a volunteer organisation that assists people who have come across life challenges to re-enter the workforce.”
By giving to others, however, she has typified another Valley mantra of trying to help the world become a better place.