Smart CIO named one of IT’s most powerful women

Smart Communications Inc.’s chief information officer, Wilma Cruz, was recently honored as one of the 11 "most powerful women" in the Philippine information and communications technology industry by the Enterprise Magazine (formerly the Web Philippines).

Cruz received the award from guest of honor Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr. in awarding ceremonies held at the Dusit Hotel Nikko recently.

She was cited for her role as CIO and a key player in the planning, design, development, installation and continuous enhancement of Smart’s IT applications and technical infrastructure.

Smart’s IT infrastructure, which currently supports over 5,400 employees and over 10 million subscribers, is one of the largest IT installations in the country today.

All of Smart’s IT systems have been developed and implemented only in the last four years. Smart’s custom-developed prepaid platform is the largest online transaction processing system (OLTP) in the world.

Enterprise Magazine conceptualized the awards project and conducted a survey among the country’s top 50 IT corporations. This served as the basis for the selection of the 11 most powerful women in the ICT industry.

"By doing the survey, we hope to publicly recognize the efforts and accomplishments of women in the ICT industry, who still comprise a minority," said Heinz Bulos, Enterprise Magazine editor.

The other awardees were JITSE Philippine Foundation president Ma. Corazon Akol; Bayantrade CEO Carol Carreon; Eastern Telecom CEO Nenita Lim-Cruz; Microsoft Phils. director for enterprise services Dittas Formoso; Bureau of Internal Revenue Deputy Commissioner for Information Systems Group Lilia Guillermo; Hewlett-Packard Phils. Imaging and Printing Group country manager Rose Marie Hwan; Sun Microsystems Phils. president Cynthia Mamon; Philippine Internet Commerce Society president Mary Anne Tolentino; Mod.Net.Ph Internet Infrastructure Inc. CEO Judith Duavit-Vasquez; and Pacific Internet Phils. Inc. president Jojie Yap.