What it takes for a smart woman to succeed

RIZA MANTARING, chief of Sun Life of Canada’s Asia-Pacific information systems division, has the combination of brains genes and the passion for excellence. And the impeccable timing of entry into the lucrative IT industry.

As a child, she wanted to be an architect, then a doctor, then a writer. Born to parents who were both Chemical Engineering professors and board exam topnotchers, she didn’t know at first what course to take and thus tried to follow her parents’ footsteps.

“I quickly realized I didn’t want to be a chemical engineer. At that time, interest in computers was just starting to pick up and it seemed like a great course to take, so I shifted to Electrical Engineering (one of the only two girls in her batch), which was the closest course to Computer Science, which no one yet offered, at that time. So I’m obviously very far from my original dream, but no regrets,” Mantaring says.

But her parents couldn’t have been any less proud. After graduating as valedictorian of her high school class in the all-girls St. Scholastica’s College, she graduated from UP Diliman cum laude in 1982 and proceeded to get her MS in Computer Science at the State University of New York.
“I never realized it as a child, but my parents really drove the value of excellence into us without making us feel pressured,” Mantaring says. “We had a very simple childhood, very few luxuries but we always had a lot of books, which is probably why we all did very well academically. We had our first TV, a tiny black and white set, when I was nine years old,” she reminisces.
The eldest of five children, she and her siblings were also encouraged by their parents to get involved in whatever caught their interest. So while she admits she was a bit of a nerd in school, she wasn’t bereft of extra-curricular activities.

“At one point in high school, I was probably a member of almost all the clubs. My sister graduated valedictorian of her batch, but she was also a medalist on their track team,” she says.

Career start

Mantaring started her career as a computer programmer at Computer Information Systems (CIS). When she got her first job, her father gave her the book “Passion for Excellence” -- which has obviously been her personal battle cry since then.

At that time, CIS was “the” place to work if you wanted to be in IT, she says. Fresh from graduate school in the US, she was only too glad to be surrounded by brilliant minds.
“My first bosses were very smart, and working with them and the rest of the people around me immediately set pretty high standards of job performance for me. The atmosphere was quite good, challenging but with great camaraderie,” she says.

It was this atmosphere of excellence in CIS that she would later try to recreate in Sun Life.
Her next job was also in IT, as part of a group which had spun off from CIS. She was initially lead designer of a system being built for a multinational IT firm to sell commercially.

“And that was really a tough project. The platform was unfamiliar, but we had to deliver on time or we risked losing tons of money and all future contracts with them,” Mantaring says.
She was pregnant with her second child then but still working long hours.

“I was already in labor but was still in the office trying to finish test plans, until I finally stood up at lunchtime and said I had to leave because I was giving birth,” she recalls.

“That caused quite a panic in the office! I just had time to go home, shower, go to the hospital and was immediately wheeled to the delivery room. I gave birth just three hours after I left the office!”

Forty five days after giving birth, she was back working for 16 hours a day Mondays to Saturdays and even going in to work on Sundays.

“At that point, I decided I wasn’t going to stay in that kind of job much longer. I had a family to raise and I barely saw my son for the first few months of his life,” she says.

With Sun Life

When she started in Sun Life in 1983, she basically had to figure everything out as her team was setting up a shared services group supporting IT for Asia.

“We had no models to follow. When I think back sometimes, some of the things we did were probably quite risky, but all of us were quite young then so we just forged ahead with the boldness of youth and luckily, we succeeded.” she says.

She also thought she would have a less taxing job when she joined Sun Life.
“But I soon discovered that wasn’t the case. My husband says, though, that I would never have a relaxing job because I would drive myself and everyone around me,” she says.

From this company, she learned to better deal with foreigners and to be more assertive, having to deal with people in the regional and corporate offices of this multinational company.
What she says she likes most about Sun Life is its strong corporate governance.

“They say you can tell a person’s true character by what he does when no one is looking. That’s the same for companies. Sun Life does what is right, even when no one is looking—pays the right taxes, treats its people well, gives its clients what they are due and more. It is also a company where the atmosphere of excellence is palpable.”

Family bonding

Outside of her hectic office schedule, Mantaring enjoys sports with her husband, who is also an engineer (they have been married for 23 years) and her three kids, who are all in college now and all athletes. The youngest, 18, has won several medals representing his school in swimming in the NCAA.

“They are also all highly adventurous and very well rounded. And best of all, they’re all good kids, they treat others well and they do a lot of outreach activities even as students,” she says.
The proud mom also says her children are all top students holding leadership positions.
At one time or another, Mantaring herself has taken up golf, bowling and badminton regularly. Nowadays, however, she has very little time for anything but regular workouts, three to four times a week.

She also enjoys reading, surfing the Internet and traveling with the family.
“Traveling is probably our only real luxury. We’ve even gone on adventure trips quite a bit—hiking, rapelling, whitewater rafting, and have done things like jumping off a bridge, walking on hanging bridges,” she says.

The family tries to have dinner every night, even if it’s very late.
“We have great conversations with the kids, and now that they are old they can be as diverse as how the market is moving and what subprime is all about to the ZTE deal, who we think will win in the PBA, NFL or NBA, to who we want to win the Democratic nomination in the US, to what’s happening in campus elections.”

She says it wasn’t easy balancing home and family when the kids were younger as she and her husband both had challenging jobs. Fortunately, they had a good support system.

“When my husband and I both had to travel at the same time, my parents took in our kids. I also have a helper, Emma, who’s lived with us for almost 20 years, and she has been a gem in terms of running the household,” Mantaring says.

“Despite our schedules, however, we made sure to always be there for our kids in the important occasions in their lives. You don’t want your kid to be the only one in class with no parent at a school activity!”

“We also set aside time for vacations every year—traveling was not only educational for them, it also allowed us to bond with no distractions around us,” she says.

At one point, she decided not to be active in extra-curricular organizations so she could spend whatever free time she had with the kids.

Aspirations

“I guess you just have to decide what things really matter and spend your time on those, because you just won’t have time for everything,” she says.

Asked what it takes for brilliant women to succeed in the corporate world, Mantaring says: “It’s the same as for males—work hard, do your best, always act with integrity, treat everyone with respect no matter what their level in the organization, follow the Golden Rule—do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

“Work as if you’re not afraid to lose your job, because then you do what is right rather than what is convenient or expedient,” she says, noting that she never planned to be an “executive.”
Mantaring had been into situations in the past where a supplier was threatening to get her fired if she cut their contract, because his boss was a golfing buddy of the CEO. But the CEO backed her up, realizing that her team had studied it carefully and was shifting technologies for the right reasons.

For her, it’s also a must to always sharpen the saw.

“Always keep trying to improve yourself and continue to learn because the world never stops progressing. What I knew when I started out, or even just 10 years ago, is now obsolete.”
“I’ve been raised to always do my best in whatever I do, and I realize when you do that then the rewards come naturally.”

She also considers herself lucky working in organizations that were fairly nonpolitical and promoted people for talent and accomplishments regardless of sex.

And for someone who has accomplished so much, there’s no sign of slowing down.
“I used to think I’d retire early, but then I see my dad, he’s 80 and he’s still working (as a consultant) and in many ways I think it has kept him young. He recently had an operation and his recovery time was remarkable -- he was back at work less than three weeks after the operation. Amazing, given his age!”

So where shall Mantaring be in the next 10 to 20 years?

“I think I’d like to be like him, still working but maybe no longer in as demanding a job. I’d like to teach, and hope that someone will hire me. I’d also like to do some consulting. I feel that I’ve learned a lot and would like to be able to give back by teaching and helping others.”