About

Gayatri Fernando is a seasoned professional with over 20 years of experience in the IT industry. She is a Lead Business Analyst at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, where she is responsible for Cloud-Based Data Analytics and Business Intelligence Enablement. Gayatri is a self-described "tempered radical" who loves working with organizations to navigate and make sense of the mysteries and complexities of their environments. She is passionate about driving innovation and transformation, and bridging the gap between lofty aspirations and seemingly unforgiving realities to bring lasting results. Gayatri has a keen entrepreneurial nous, modest technical understanding, and expansive networks. She is skilled in diplomacy and believes in the beauty of onlyness, of how every single person can add value and is unique. Gayatri is a game-changer, usually found working with teams delivering firsts or the new in terms of products, services, or practices. She is busy doing blue skies, system thinking, or catching the nitty-gritty details to get things done in organizations of various sizes, cultures, or speeds. Gayatri has worked with various companies in the past, including Oranga Tamariki—Ministry for Children, where she served as a Senior Information Analyst, and ACC New Zealand, where she was a Senior Business Analyst. At Oranga Tamariki, Gayatri worked from the Information Management Strategy, Data & Information function to develop an industry-aligned, public sector-friendly data valuation framework and repeatable process for the same. At ACC New Zealand, she served as Lead BA for the Digital Customer Connect function, where she enabled meaningful, targeted, and timely service interactions through digital campaigns underpinned by behavioral economics. Gayatri's key skills and experience include design thinking, business design, business/digital transformation innovation, business improvement, business/information systems strategy/planning, change management, product management, and business intelligence. She is proficient in AI, Javascript, product management, research scientist, infra, Spring, software engineer, Jenkins, NodeJS, test, MongoDB, backend, VueJS, and Java. When she can manage, Gayatri also volunteers to help start-ups, attend invitations by communities for insights, or help NGOs engaged in causes she cares about. In her personal life, Gayatri is a hippie at heart, a Yoga practitioner, vegetarian, drummer, occasionally dorky, and an HSP in love with the art of human expression.