Dr Valeria Sadovykh

Picture this: you’ve spent a decade in tertiary education, following your nose from an undergraduate degree with a typically fuzzy focus to postgrad study with a narrower field of view, culminating in a fine-grained PhD thesis that sets you on a specialist career path.

But as you’ve progressed you’ve developed an affinity for the academic world such that when the time comes to exit the institution that’s been your seat of learning for more than ten years, you’re hesitant about giving it up.

Perhaps you don’t have to. More than that, maybe there’s a niche in the commercial world in which your academic bent gives you a special advantage.

Valeria Sadovykh, who came to New Zealand as a teen from Russia and ended up at the University of Auckland for 11 years, has found just such a unique role.

Via jobs in Asia, Oceania, Europe and the US she is now employed by Microsoft as a digital transformation technology strategist.

“I am a pracademic, blending academia and practical expertise,” says Valeria, using the term popularised by American public-administration professor Paul Posner describing someone straddling the boundaries of academia and practice.

At present, she is putting the academic into practice in the contentious world of artificial intelligence.

“At Microsoft, my focus is on transforming global companies into intelligent, adaptive and sustainable enterprises through the integration of cutting-edge AI technologies,” Valeria says.

“With previous experience at consulting firm PwC, I am committed to defining responsible AI practices rooted in ethics, fairness, transparency and accountability.”

It was at PwC, where she worked in New Zealand, Singapore and the US while also doing her PhD, that Valeria stood out by solving business management problems using the hypothesis model of academic analysis.

At the same time, she says, exposure to the corporate world made her ongoing academic work more robust and gave it a practical focus.

Valeria’s academic life began at the University of Auckland with a Bachelor of Commerce with honours in operations management and finance. It concluded with a PhD in information systems and a thesis comparing decision-making behaviour by people accessing health and finance online social networks.

Before a nearly decade-long stint at PwC, she paid her way through university with jobs at MediaWorks NZ and Orion Health, managing, as she puts it, “to pursue multiple ambitions simultaneously”, and successfully achieving her personal and professional aims.

“From early on I aspired to work for a global consulting company before switching to a top-tier technology firm,” Valeria says. She was intent on doing that without giving up her academic aspirations.

One of the accomplishments of which she is proudest is being granted the status of an “individual with extraordinary ability” by the US, with an EB1A green card entitling her to permanent residency.

While Valeria is pleased to have her academic and employment accomplishments recognised in that way, she acknowledges the part played in her career development by her mother, Alla Sadovykh, and her research supervisor at the University of Auckland, Professor David Sundaram.

“David has been pivotal as my adviser, friend, coach and supporter for more than 18 years,” she says.

That extended to him steering her towards her career progression and continues with his helping her “navigate the uncertainties of life”.

“He has been instrumental in shaping my career and personal growth, not only as a professional and academic but also as an ethical human being.”

Valeria says those ethics continue to underpin her work.

“As a pracademic dedicated to responsible AI practices, a researcher and a global professional, I’m committed to driving positive change, shaping technology strategy and making a lasting impact on the transformative enterprises of the future.”