Mariesa Coughanour, Head of Automation Advisory, Cognizant Digital Operations, was named Innovator of the Year at the Women in IT Awards, New York 2020.

Organized by Information Age and DiversityQ, the Women in IT awards serve to showcase the achievements and innovation of women in technology. The awards program aims to tackle the issue of the lack of women and women leaders working in IT by showcasing the achievements of women within the sector and identifying new role models.

In the last 18 months, Coughanour established a new offering within the Intelligent Process Automation (IPA) practice, focused on filling a need for clients to accelerate and scale their automation programs. The team developed new products and services, implementing solutions at client sites that delivered business outcomes at scale. Well-received by clients, the work has also earned Coughanour recognition with many research firms as a leader in the industry.

As part of the submission, an executive from a large utility company included a testimonial stating, “Mariesa provided hands-on guidance for reestablishing our automation program. Her insights on utilizing analytics, artificial intelligence, and automation, focusing on end-to-end automation, enabled us to exceed our expected outcomes. She helped us realize this trifecta was key in establishing a program that was scalable to support our enterprise. We now generate hundreds of automations and return over $10 million in business value annually. We would not have been able to be this successful without her direction!”

“I’m so excited and honored to receive this award,” said Coughanour. “Diversity in the workplace is so important. We need to continue to inspire and encourage women to join IT and technology and uplift and grow those that are here. We need change agents who will challenge the status quo, bring together the people with technology to make the way we work better, and continue to push the needle forward, particularly in spaces like artificial intelligence, analytics, and automation. The opportunities to improve outcomes and revolutionize how companies operate are endless when we bring diverse minds to the table who aren’t afraid to ask ‘why not’. I hope this award inspires more women to join, and importantly to lead in IT.”

Learn more about the Women in IT Awards here.