Overseeing the development and management of Telstra’s global products and services, Gina has to meet the rapidly changing and increasingly sophisticated needs of multinational enterprise and service provider customers. Instrumental in establishing and growing business relationships with international carrier partners, she is also directly involved in developing Telstra’s Ethernet service portfolio and access programme.
Gina brings significant marketing and product development experience to Telstra, having previously led product management for domestic and international off-net services at Level 3 Communications and Broadwing Communications. Her previous roles have included product management for traditional and emerging technologies, strategic management of outside consulting firms, market research, competitive analysis, and vendor management.
She has lived and studied in Europe, North America, South America, gaining a bachelor’s degree from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, Washington DC, and an MBA from University of Texas, Austin. She has been with Telstra since 2007 in Hong Kong and Australia. Her hobbies include going to the gym, running, travel and reading.
Tell us about your role at Telstra International.
I lead the global product team; we’re responsible for product development and product management of Telstra’s suite of global products. This includes product strategy, requirements definition, development/implementation, lifecycle management and partner integration. We have a ‘virtual’ team that operates on four continents, which means we can take advantage of time zones, unique skills and regional experience.
What are the key challenges you currently face?
In the global telecoms market, the key challenge is often about finding new ways to innovate and differentiate our products. At the moment, customers are still feeling the effects of the global financial crisis and budgets have tightened. ‘Optimisation’ is a word we’re hearing a lot as customers are looking to get more from their existing network infrastructure. So, with customers demanding better functionality and performance from their networks, we are very focused on delivering specialised solutions that will help them achieve this.
How do Telstra International’s challenges differ to those of Telstra as the incumbent in Australia?
As an Asian specialist, Telstra International is operating in one of the most dynamic and fastest growing markets in the world – with an intense rate of change in terms of technology, competitors and offerings. Our customers expect and receive consistent, high quality service in the mature and developed markets, as well as in emerging parts of the region.
As such, we are constantly working to improve access technologies, cable diversity and performance throughout the region, for example, the new Asia Americas Gateway cable system which offers the lowest latency path from Hong Kong to North America.