Deenah Patel
Marketing & Communications Leader
Global Business Services
IBM Canada Ltd.
Biography
Deenah Patel is the Marketing and Communications Leader for Global Business Services responsible for managing strategies to promote and enable growth for IBM’s consulting and application management services division. Interlocking closely with the Canadian, Americas and world-wide organization, she drives integrated marketing programs to advance the agenda and drive business results. Deenah brings over 17 years of marketing and sales experience to the role based on her diverse background and assignments.
Before rejoining the Marketing profession, Deenah was a Client Executive for the largest Canadian retail bank in Canada where she contributed to significant growth in Insurance, Retail Banking and Enterprise Corporate Functions. A consecutive-year member of IBM’s 100% Club for Performance, she also led IBM’s Financial Services Front Office Transformation initiative with focus on client centricity and multi-channel transformation.
Prior to that, Deenah spent 2 years in Human Resources managing IBM’s Corporate Diversity and Inclusion Office. Her mandate was to infuse diversity, as a strategic imperative, across the organization. Responsible for revitalizing IBM’s accountability framework and management system, she was IBM’s Employment Equity Officer. As an ambassador for diversity, both within IBM and in the community, she led inclusion programs and built a global diversity agenda. One of her career highlights includes the revamping of IBM’s Employment Equity Survey to include self identification for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender employees – and IBM world first. She was also the chair of IBM’s Joint Leadership Diversity Council.
Before joining IBM’s Corporate Division, Deenah was responsible for Executive and Internal Communications for IBM’s Integrated Technology Services. Providing executive support to the General Manager, she worked directly with the extended leadership team to build awareness and understanding of the strategy and business priorities. Prior to that, she was a Client Manager, in the Small and Medium Business market. Her understanding of client’s needs in Financial Services led her to achieve exceptional customer satisfaction and became a member of IBM’s 100% Club for Performance in her first year of Sales.
Prior to that, Deenah held several marketing positions in IBM including roles in Market Management, Market Intelligence, Strategy and Planning and Offering Management. Career milestones include: writing the 5 year growth strategy for Global Technology Services, spearheading a strategic marketing framework methodology that is used across IBM globally and the creation of a Canadian-unique services offering, diversifying the portfolio and increasing market opportunity in white space. Before joining IBM, Deenah worked at Digital Security Controls as a Brand Manager and Market Analyst – and started her career at a boutique consulting firm, Strongbar Industries, as a Marketing Coordinator.
Deenah is a speaker at the Women’s International Forum. Tags: canadian institute, Canadian Retail Bank, Deenah Patel, Diversity, equity, IBM Canada Ltd, market intelligence, marketing, planning, strategy, Women's Leadership Forum