Q&A with Jennifer Herman, Head of Marketing, ANZ

After completing a maternity cover contract in 2018, Jennifer signed on with a permanent more senior role 10 months later. As Fronde's Head of Marketing, ANZ, Jennifer works with most of our internal teams creating comms, planning campaigns and events with our partners and working on our brand. "It's a role I love as it covers all facets of marketing and it’s given me a great insight into all areas of the business."
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How long have you worked in the IT industry?

I have worked in IT for 5.5 years - and at Fronde for 5.5 years - so as you can see it’s my first role in a purely IT-centric company. 

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How did you get started in IT or what drew you into IT?  Have you worked in other industries?  How do they compare?

I’ve had a career mostly focused on marketing within the B2B tech space so Fronde was a natural fit when I returned to live in NZ in 2018 (after living in Melbourne for eight years).
Prior to Fronde I worked in the ad-technology space for seven years at a start-up that created technology to streamline the sale of digital ad placements. Before that I was working agency-side in marketing and comms.

Ad Tech and IT are very similar from a marketing perspective - as it's all about how technology of various kinds can create efficiencies and improvements for our customers. And to me, it's ALL about the customer. It's easy to create campaigns, design events and work on projects when what your company is selling/creating is designed to make the everyday work life better for the end user. 

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What do you remember from your first few days at Fronde?

My first days/weeks were a whirlwind, as unfortunately my line manager had an accident and had to stop work after my third day so he could recover. Everyone around me pitched in to help get me up-to-speed on all things Fronde - it was great that everyone supports each other in their roles and just wants everyone to succeed. Something that still occurs today. 

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What do you enjoy about working at Fronde? What attracted you initially, and what makes you stay?

It really is about the team and that we’re trying to make a difference with cloud technologies such as Google, AWS and Salesforce. The people here really care about our customers, and each other, so it makes it easy to stay.  

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What’s something you know now that you wish you knew when you started out in this industry? 

We’re all learning when it comes to technology, so listen to the experts, ask all the questions and no question is ever too silly to ask. After 12 years working in tech, I still have so much to learn, and that’s the way it should be.  

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What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given over your career? 

It’s important to take people on the journey with you - be it a campaign, a new technology roll out, or internal change. It’s all about the people behind the desk. 

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What technologies have had the greatest impact on your life, both personally and professionally?

It sounds simple, but the Google Cloud Collaboration Suite is something that really makes life so much easier when your primary focus is around comms. Being able to share and collaborate in real time, when my team is spread out over NZ is really a game-changer.  Does anyone else remember documents being saved with the string similar to “_final_edited_date_initials_FINALFINAL_Approved” ?

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Do you have any predictions for the industry?

Good old “Digital Transformation” will still be a priority for many of the larger enterprise-sized organisations as the remote flexi work/gig economy boom of the pandemic era continues. The accelerated need for technology to keep us all linked at work will be driving that priority. 

Overall - there will be an employee shift to ethical companies as the negative human impact on the world continues to grow. Companies that will rise to the top will be the ones trying to be as eco-friendly as they can and the ones that promote diversity and positive social outcomes.

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Have you experienced major life events during your time at Fronde? 

Outside of the pandemic (which has had enough airtime in all areas of everyone’s lives), I’ve recently returned to Fronde after six months’ maternity leave after having my daughter. Fronde is a really family-focused company and has made it super easy for me to return to work flexibly so I can also have quality time with my six-month old a few days a week until she turns one and is a little bit bigger to go into daycare full-time. Knowing that Fronde fully supported that decision is something that I don’t take for granted at all.

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Tell us a little bit more about yourself outside of work?

I’m a keen cook (blame my hospo days), so when I’m not playing with my daughter or hanging out with my partner and our friends, I love to create and share food with our friends - something I hope to get back into now that the newborn cloud is dissipating!

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