Yanna Andronopoulou | The CEO of Microsoft Who Knows How to Tame the Waves

Yanna Andronopoulou has been leading Microsoft as the CEO in Greece, Cyprus, and Malta for a few months now, succeeding Theodosios Michalopoulos, who left to seek his fortune in the United Kingdom.

Such a critical position at the American technology giant could easily be a defining point for its holder. However, Yanna Andronopoulou possesses a multifaceted personality that is not limited to a singular thematic role.

Apart from being a successful executive with a long and highly successful professional career, she is a proud and loving mother of two children, with her son studying medicine and her daughter in the third year of high school. Additionally, she is an enthusiast of windsurfing (which she claims has taught her a lot about managing the leadership positions she has held), explaining perhaps her skill in 'battling the waves' in the business world. She is also particularly sensitive to issues of equality in the workplace and female representation.

In the 'front line of the battle' against discrimination

Indeed, she leads the Women Employee Resource Group (ERG) of Microsoft for Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Turkey, Israel, and the Adriatic countries. Andronopoulou herself has confessed that she has faced incidents in her career that either put her in a difficult position or resulted in gender-based discrimination. A notable example of the former was being asked during interviews about her plans to become a mother soon, while the latter category includes cases where a task or a trip was deemed too challenging for a woman and was assigned elsewhere.

Now, holding a position of responsibility in a company that fully embraces inclusive hiring and continuously trains its employees to eliminate stereotypes, she has the opportunity to actively contribute to creating not only a new culture but also a new work reality characterized by equal opportunities for all, free from exclusions and discrimination.

After all, she witnessed the world changing in a field she knows well. Coming from a family with a tradition in legal science, everyone assumed that she, as the eldest of three children, would follow the same well-trodden path. For this reason, she was enrolled in a school with a theoretical orientation. However, Yanna Andronopoulou followed her own dreams and studied Electrical Engineering at the Polytechnic University, a time when women completing their studies in this department did not exceed 10%. Today, things have changed significantly, as the percentage of women in the same school approaches 50%, confirming that we live in a completely different era. It is worth noting that her husband, whom she met on a project they collaborated on in Paris, is also a graduate of the same school.

Her priorities at the 'helm' of Microsoft

Although she only took on her duties on July 1st, she has been working at Microsoft Hellas for nine years, being the one who led the company in significant partnerships in the field of digital transformation, and she has also completed more than four years in the so-called 'close' management team.

Therefore, she has an excellent understanding of the plan she wants to implement from her new duties, which will be based on three axes.

The first focuses on the country's digital transition, using cloud technologies. Microsoft already collaborates with the Public sector and some of the country's largest companies, while simultaneously focusing on SMEs, which are the backbone of the Greek economy.

The second axis relates to artificial intelligence, with the company running a major project named CoPilot.

Finally, the third axis concerns cybersecurity, in an era characterized by geopolitical instability, where cyber attacks have increased both in number and in terms of danger and complexity.

Nearly 30 years of work in telecommunications and technology

A guarantee for achieving Microsoft's goals is Andronopoulou's 'heavy' resume, with her career being inextricably linked to the field of technology and telecommunications.

Her professional journey began in 1994 at Intracom Telecom, where she remained for 7 years, serving in several different positions. She then moved to Ericsson Hellas, where she served for 12 years, and for over 4 years she was the Deputy General Manager at Huawei Technologies, as the head of the company's department operating on behalf of the OTE Group.

She has been offering her services at Microsoft since 2014 in many positions. Before taking on the duties of Managing Director, she was the Sales Director for large enterprises of Microsoft for Greece, Cyprus, Malta, and she also played a crucial role in the digital transformation of the Public Power Corporation, which was implemented with the help of Microsoft.

Yanna Andronopoulou is an excellent example of female success in a field that for years was a male privilege, marking the advent of a new era where people progress based on their merit and work, not their gender.