{"id":13600,"date":"2024-12-06T14:35:19","date_gmt":"2024-12-06T21:35:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zayo.zayowebservers.com\/?post_type=resources&p=13600"},"modified":"2025-01-17T13:24:02","modified_gmt":"2025-01-17T20:24:02","slug":"from-aspiring-economist-to-data-architect-spotlight-on-cindy-charles-vice-president-data-engineering-architecture","status":"publish","type":"resources","link":"https:\/\/zayoustrans.burbledev.com\/es\/resources\/from-aspiring-economist-to-data-architect-spotlight-on-cindy-charles-vice-president-data-engineering-architecture\/","title":{"rendered":"From Aspiring Economist to Data Architect: Spotlight on Cindy Charles, Vice President, Data Engineering & Architecture"},"content":{"rendered":"
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How embracing your strengths can lead to a fulfilling career<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Cindy Charles wanted to be the next Alan Greenspan. She double-majored in economics and math at a small midwest college, put herself on a path to a PhD, and envisioned herself running the Federal Reserve one day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She noticed the few other women studying math alongside her were doing it to pursue careers in academia. Even then, Cindy knew that, while she was passionate about economics and math, she did not want to teach. She began to wonder, \u201cWhat do I do if the job at The Fed doesn\u2019t work out? What will I do with this education?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rising Through the Ranks: From Accenture to Schwab<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

She got to work pursuing alternative careers and practicing recruiting on campus. Without any formal computer science training, she landed a job at Accenture (formerly known as Andersen Consulting<\/a>). In the 11 years she worked there, Cindy rose from consultant to senior manager and learned a ton. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Consulting years are like dog years. You learn a lot in a short period of time.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cConsulting years are like dog years,\u201d she says. \u201cYou learn a lot in a short period of time, and you\u2019re always thrown into things where you\u2019re not totally sure what you\u2019re doing.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So she leaned on the math training she had in school and applied all those problem-solving skills to this venture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doubling down on her strengths has become a go-to strategy for Cindy throughout her career, and it’s consistently brought her success.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Accenture, Cindy went to Charles Schwab<\/a>, where she spent 16 years, first with the Customer Account & Technology team and then ultimately becoming the managing director of Data Technology. At Schwab, Cindy encountered an unexpected twist: while a new leader on the data team, she ended up filling in for a departing manager. Over the next several years, she was promoted to Managing Director and played a critical role in the integration of Schwab and TD Ameritrade following their 2019 merger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blending Hard and Soft Skills to Drive Excellence<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The challenges at Schwab were similar to the rapid changes she would soon face at Zayo. In March of 2024, Cindy transitioned to her current role at Zayo, where she and her team are rebuilding the company’s data architecture from the ground up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once again she finds herself in a role that didn\u2019t really exist when she graduated college; but it\u2019s a role that allows her to work within her area of passion and expertise, a role that utilizes her skills in math and engineering, as well as her soft skills of understanding business and people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It is that combo, of hard tech and soft science, that makes data technology more compelling.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is that combo,\u201d she says, \u201cof hard tech and soft science, that makes data technology more compelling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keeping consistent with her lifelong theme of wielding her strengths to navigate the unknown, Cindy is currently leading her Data Engineering and Architecture team into the land of generative AI. She encourages her crew to focus on the skills they do have, rather than shying away from the unfamiliar. Exemplifying Zayo\u2019s principle of driving excellence, Cindy hopes that she and her team can set the gold standard for \u201cdoing more with less\u201d by utilizing the diverse wealth of tools now available \u2014 tools that can accelerate some components of the work that are time-consuming or monotonous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s Cindy\u2019s unconventional journey that has shaped her into the data rock star she is today. For Cindy, success has come not by following a predetermined path, but by staying curious, adaptable, and confident in her ability to solve problems \u2014 no matter the industry or role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cindy Charles, Vice President of Data Engineering & Architecture at Zayo has followed a unique path to her role. Learn more about her journey to leadership in this blog. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13018,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"2826,5744,1672,5760,13370,3932","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","resource-post-excerpt":"Cindy Charles, Vice President of Data Engineering & Architecture at Zayo has followed a unique path to her role. Learn more about her journey to leadership in this blog. ","footnotes":""},"resource-topics":[155],"displayed":[],"resources-categories":[44],"industry":[],"services-amp-solutions":[],"class_list":["post-13600","resources","type-resources","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","resource-topics-life-at-zayo","resources-categories-blog"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zayoustrans.burbledev.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resources\/13600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zayoustrans.burbledev.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resources"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zayoustrans.burbledev.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/resources"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zayoustrans.burbledev.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resources\/13600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13789,"href":"https:\/\/zayoustrans.burbledev.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resources\/13600\/revisions\/13789"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zayoustrans.burbledev.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zayoustrans.burbledev.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"resource-topics","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zayoustrans.burbledev.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource-topics?post=13600"},{"taxonomy":"displayed","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zayoustrans.burbledev.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/displayed?post=13600"},{"taxonomy":"resources-categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zayoustrans.burbledev.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resources-categories?post=13600"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zayoustrans.burbledev.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=13600"},{"taxonomy":"services-amp-solutions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zayoustrans.burbledev.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/services-amp-solutions?post=13600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}