Unprecedented times call for unprecedented, win-win, innovative, decisive, and practical solutions from business leaders. Driving business outcomes of an organization is not an easy task. It requires prolific expertise, comprehension of global business trends, optimum utilization of technology and the teams or resources in hand, and so much more. Possessing the passion to lead, an urge to contribute and servant leadership are important attributes found within successful business leaders.
Rhonda Vetere is one such a passionate leader who believes in giving back in and out of the office. Servant leadership is in her heart and she enjoys investing on people’s career and seeing them grow. She is the Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Herbalife Nutrition.
Rhonda is a 2x author and is an avid sports fan. Her latest book is titled Grit & Grind where one can learn about her leadership style. She is a triathlete, and she was quoted in Shape Magazine, “Racing is my outlet, it’s not about competing with others – I’m finding joy.” She is a true corporate athlete as well. She aims to truly inspire change and growth within the organizations and people around her.
Purposeful and Conscious
Rhonda’s journey started when she was a little girl with big dreams and she has worked since the age of 12 while going to school and this continued while in college working full time and going to school full time.
From being a lifeguard to working in telecommunications and across a plethora of industry verticals in her career, she has always been very purposeful in the areas that she worked and made conscious career moves and always ran into the fire to help during crisis management business times whether it was 9/11, AIG “too big to fail,” Lehman Brothers collapsing or a financial merger/acquisition(s).
A True Corporate Athlete
Rhonda continues to pursue challenging athletic achievements because she finds that the training increases her mental toughness alongside keeping her physically healthy and helping her to make better decisions.
Over the years, she has completed over 60 half and full marathons, triathlons, and have completed six 70.3mile IronMans. Even though she travels 75% of the time, fitness is an important part of her routine and something she encourages her team at work to maintain as well. She strongly believes in being a Corporate Athlete in and out of the Board Room.
Mission Driven
Rhonda’s goal has always been to be a well-rounded executive and work with all the industry verticals with multiple organizational transformations driving business outcomes. Managing through crises and intense moments throughout her career has enabled her to pick up nuggets in what works and what does not, on a global scale.
Rhonda’s mission is to use her experience and leadership to drive change in the world. She wants to positively impact IT, businesses, and institutions – and the people they serve.
Prioritizing Learning
Rhonda believes in learning from her industry peers and thus stays in contact with them regularly. She considers it important to learn and stay updated about what is going on in the world and different industry verticals. “The latest and greatest shiny object in technology often is not the best answer and taking time to learn is important,” Rhonda adds.
Evolving Business Solutions
Herbalife Nutrition is a global company that has been changing people’s lives with great nutrition products and a proven business opportunity for its independent distributors since 1980.
Herbalife’s offerings depend on various industry verticals it caters to, however bottom line is the world has changed immensely over the year and business offerings will continue to evolve with the targeted audience whether it is online, mobile or even more high touch service and having technology help enable business outcomes even more while using data insights.
Herbalife offers high-quality, science-backed products, sold in over 90 countries by entrepreneurial distributors who provide one-on-one coaching and a supportive community that inspires their customers to embrace a healthier, more active lifestyle. Through Herbalife Nutrition’s global campaign to eradicate hunger, it is committed to bringing nutrition and education to communities around the world.
Global Emotional Intelligence
Rhonda believes that communication, managing organizations through change, taking risks and leadership are key qualities businesswomen should possess. She considers managing through diverse industry background and global expertise as pivotal. She prioritizes receptivity, adaptability, dealing with conflict, and having crucial conversations.
Mobility is at her forefront – thinking outside of the USA and having global emotional intelligence is important according to Rhonda. She likes to take up hard assignments around the globe.
With over 25+ years of experience and having managed IT divisions of over 20k+ people across multiple continents, Rhonda has lived and worked all over the globe with people from a variety of culture and has managed up to 162 countries, she considers ‘global’ to be her middle name.
Empowering Women through Example
Rhonda’s work energy is focused on digital transformation and working on developing talent, focused on the next generation of leaders, succession planning and continuing to enable business outcomes through technology.
Her plan for the next significant impact on the world includes two large events: Race Across America, this is a bike race across America in June 2021 to bring awareness towards Veterans and those suffering from PTSD in silence. This Team is made up of industry leaders, Military personnel, Olympic athletes and more. This race will be 3,070 miles across America. In October 2021, her impact is focused on running across the Serengeti for young girls’ empowerment through sports and education. This is a 55-mile run for woman empowerment with armed guards and doing career fair with them as well.
Breaking through Barriers
Rhonda expresses that being one of the youngest female-Managing Directors in the financial sector was a barrier for her breakthrough, and with a proven track record, showing results and measuring them with the support of male leaders, she overcame it. She is willing to go to the ends of the earth to get things done correctly and efficiently alongside my team.
Servant Leadership
Rhonda believes that nothing is very perfectly balanced. One of her mottos’ is when you say “no” to something you are saying “yes” to something else. She learned later in her career that servant leadership is a priority and needs to be balanced in the calendar. Everything is scheduled in her life – often a year in advance. She appreciates opportunities to speak to students and contribute to professional and academic advisory boards.
Valuing the Role of a Mentor
Rhonda believes that social media is a distraction for aspiring leaders, and she suggests to guard against it. She considers that the next generation of female leaders need to focus on business outcomes and not get tied into the social media vortex. She emphasizes on the fact that instant gratification in one’s career does not happen overnight.
Rhonda considers it important to find a strong role model and a mentor who has a proven track record. She advises young leaders to have courage, speak up, take risks, take hard assignments outside of the US and find a mentor.
