Elise Cambournac focused on listening, learning, collaborating and giving back
By Tom Ballard, Chief Alliance Officer, PYA
The new President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Greater Nashville Technology Council (NTC) describes herself as a “techie at heart” who is enthusiastic about the new opportunity that she has accepted.
The official announcement of Elise Cambournac’s appointment was made last week (see yesterday’s teknovation.biz article here), and she will take the reins from Brian Moyer on April 18. Before that, however, she has a busy four-week transition schedule that includes attending this week’s two-day meeting of the Technology Councils of North America (TECNA). The group is comprised of about 60 information technology and more general technology organizations that, in turn, represent more than 22,000 tech-related companies in North America.
“I have had a very good career in corporate America for more than 20 years,” Cambournac told us in an interview yesterday. Since mid-2013, she has served as Assistant Vice President of Information Technology at HCA. Earlier positions, in reverse order, included: (1) President and CEO of JABE Consulting; (2) President and CEO of ITTI PVT LTD in India; (3) Principal Consultant for Cognizant Technology Solutions; (4) several roles at Emdeon Business Services; (5) Manager of Application Development at WebMD; and (6) Senior Software Engineer at Envoy.
As for her interest in leading the NTC, Cambournac cited the timing of the opportunity. “I’m at a time in my life and career where I can focus on giving back,” she said, adding, “What better place to do so than the Tech Council.”
Regarding her priorities, Cambournac said that she has a lot of ideas, but wants to spend the next 90 days listening to staff, members of the Board of Directors, and other stakeholders before outlining a set of priorities going forward.
“I’m fully on board with the current mission,” she says, suggesting that she does not anticipate “a drastic change, just a different flavor of things.”
That said, Cambournac emphasized the importance of working with others, something that she says has defined both her career at HCA and earlier stops as well as her volunteer work. “Collaboration is really important to take Nashville to the next level,” she believes.
Cambournac has a master’s degree in electrical engineering from SUPELEC (Ecole Superieure d’Electricite) in Paris, France and is fluent in English and French. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Interfaith Dental Clinic in Nashville and previously served on the Board of Women in Technology of Tennessee (WiTT) in Nashville. Cambournac is also an advisor to the Nashville Entrepreneur Center and has served as a guest lecturer at Vanderbilt University and Lipscomb University.
Those in Nashville’s tech community who do not know Cambournac will have an opportunity to meet her at this Thursday’s “NTC Educators Tech Summit” and the April 7 “Nashville Technology Summit.”
