Consulting Magazine - April 2020

IN
THE 2 0

Margaret Scovern got into technology by accident. After college, she says he got an internship
in southern France and when that
wrapped up, she had a hard time
finding a job that enabled her to
pay back her student loans. She
headed back to the U.S. and got
a sales job at a tech company. “I
realized at that point I really liked
figuring out the mechanics of how
things work and technology was
going to be my career path for-
ward,” Scovern says. “What makes
consulting so attractive is the na-
ture of problem solving; we are
challenged with the complex sys-
tems of our clients’ value chain.”
Today she is Seattle Office Man-
aging Vice President for Pariveda
where she brings strategic leader-
ship and practical problem solving
and leverages her technology back-
ground to solve her clients’ most
complex problems. In today’s ever-
changing technology world, Mar-
garet helps her clients navigate the
complexity and ensures they have
an eye on resiliency.

She says what she enjoys most
about the work she does is twofold:
One, the creativity of developing
a solution, and two, collaborat-
ing with co-workers and clients. “I
am completely energized by creat-
ing an innovative new framework,
model or path forward in collabora-
tion with others,” she says. “I soak
up the diversity of ideas and per-
spectives and adapt to the situation
in order to collectively create some-
thing new, with what can be seen as
an abundance of enthusiasm.”
As a female in the tech world,
Scovern says she has gotten a lot
of bad advice that she had to un-
learn and reconcile. “The best ad-
vice I have gotten over the years
is the importance of understanding
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in
one’s personal development. When
coaching or mentoring someone, I
often try to get to the root versus
addressing the symptoms evident at
the surface level,” she says, “Inter-
acting with the whole person, both
personal and professional, has pro-
vided me with great insight and has
also helped me grow as a person.”
Has she ever experienced unique
challenges being a woman consult-
ant in the technology field?

“I have been a woman in tech-
nology for 30 years, so yes, indeed,
there have been unique challenges
over the years,” she says. “I cur-
rently lead Pariveda Solutions Di-
versity and Inclusion initiative to
be a part of the solution, so that
not only women but other minor-
ity groups within technology and
consulting do not experience what
I experienced and had to work
through on my own.”
Before the coronavirus sur-
faced, she says she was looking
forward to the empowered growth
of her consulting team in Seattle,
the resiliency of her clients, and
the impact of Pariveda’s Diversity
& Inclusion initiative on our em-
ployees and communities. “Today,
every aspect of our lives is being
impacted by the virus,” Scovern
says. “Therefore, 12 months from
now, I hope to be looking back
and marveling at how all of us
came together, worked together,
and supported each other for the
greater good and for our overall,
global resiliency.”