Dr Vimi Ramasamy

Business Optimization & Transformation

Dr Vimaleswari or Dr Vimi is the CEO and founder of STRAVIK Sdn Bhd, a company which offers business optimization and business transformation using digital technologies. Together with her team, she provides strategic consultation, embedded with strong analytical and operational expertise leveraging the Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, data analytics, software and cloud technologies.

One of her STRAVIK success stories includes helping an American data analytics multinational company start its global business services location in Penang within 6 months!

Some of her recent milestones include:

• Appointed as Adjunct Professor of Data Analytics and Market Intelligence by UNITAR in January 2022
• Honoured to be one of 9 recipients of the Pioneers of Change 2022 award, presented by the Penang Women’s Development Corporation in their inaugural award ceremony in March 2022
• Having her story featured in a book published by Penang Women’s Development Corporation in June 2022 titled “Step In True Stories of Women Blasting Barriers, Prepping Pampers and Slaying Stereotypes” with 23 other notable women of Penang as a way to highlight women who are breaking boundaries and stereotypes.

She understands the nuances and challenges of organisational operations, having had more than 25 years of experience in the areas of leadership, engineering, human resources and management honed from her years in IHS Markit Global, Intel Technology and Hitachi.

Prior to starting STRAVIK, Dr Vimi was formerly the Managing Director of the Malaysia operations of the UK-based IHS Markit Global. This role came after decades as an engineer as well as an HR practitioner. Her appointment made her the first Malaysian female MD for a multinational company.

She grew the IHS Markit team to a 600-strong workforce in 3 locations in Penang, Petaling Jaya and Kuala Lumpur in less than 5 years. While at IHS Markit, she developed a Data Platform Strategy for the IHS Markit Global Technology Business Line to build a comprehensive vision and actionable foundation to tap into data-related or data-dependent capability.

When she was the managing director of IHS Markit Malaysia, she grew the organisation 3 times in less than 5 years. Some of her strategies included working with the local and federal government through training and other subsidies for her organisation without needing to depend on corporate funding. She also established strategies to leverage the best cost locations and drive business optimisation, enabling global cost savings in millions. She developed a 5-year strategic roadmap and brought higher-value functions specifically data analytics to Malaysia.

The IHS Markit Malaysia site was recognised by its global headquarters as the role model site for diversity and inclusiveness with a ratio of 5 women to 4 men in a balanced multi-ethnic environment. Its attrition rate was less than 5% with team engagement scores well above the corporate benchmark. Under her leadership, IHS Markit Malaysia delivered more than 90% of its KPI. It was also the only site certified for ISO 9001:2015 across all business lines. She was also instrumental in promoting its products to the rest of Malaysia especially making inroads into the technology and finance industries.

Big Data & Growth Leadership

Her engineering background and her vast experience in R&D, Operations and Business Services enable her to quickly and creatively solve problems on any organisational level. Be it strategic or operations,  she contributes valuable expertise and insights to any CEO or organisation interested in achieving excellence through smarter growth strategies.

Dr Vimi received her PhD in Gender and Organization Business Development (University Science Malaysia) and a B.Eng with Honors in Electrical & Electronics Engineering, also from the same university. She holds certification from Harvard Business School Executive Education in the areas of business analytics and big data, strategy and leadership.

She was named as one of the top women leaders of University Science Malaysia during the 50th Women’s Day celebration in 2019. She sits on the university’s Industry Panel for Technical Review Committee and on the Talent Advisor Panel for TalentCorp.

In 2018, she was appointed by Tun Dr Mahathir as one of the 11 Independent Committee Members to review policies regarding foreign worker management. She was also part of the Malaysian Human Resources Thinktank driven by the Ministry of Human Resources.

Speaks on Leadership & Technical Topics

Dr Vimi is much sought after to speak on leadership, innovation, data analytics, industry 4.0 and diversity management due to her extensive experience in these areas.

Other distinguished events she has spoken at, online and offline:
FB Live: Penang Women’s Development Corporation (PWDC), 2020
Big Tulip Summit, 2019
AMCHAM Malaysia Penang Dialogue, 2019
Penang Skills Development Centre (PSDC) Innovation Conference, 2019
AmBank BizConference, 2017
Universiti Sains Malaysia Forum Industry 4.0, 2017
Gender Gaps in the Workplace & Beyond, 2017

She has also been featured in the media:
Women in Leadership: The Importance of a Career Break
Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Women In Research, 2019
Penang Chief Minister Visits IHS Markit, 2019 and Video
Lessons From The Experts 2017
IHS Global Malaysia: Diversity Matters, 2015

She is frequently invited by local industries, SMEs, universities and Government agencies such as Invest Penang, NAWEM, PWDC, PSDC, MDec, USM and UMT to share her thoughts on growing people and growing businesses.

For a credible, authentic speaker to keynote your business event, contact Dr Vimi.