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Vice President of IT Services, Avineon

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By Katie Ford

“I realized that information technology was going to play a big role in how engineering and design work would be conducted in the future,” she says. “We were using a lot of computer systems and developing custom applications to aid in the design of the ships.”

Rambhala agrees that the dynamic nature of the IT environment presents an ongoing challenge.

“Continuing education helps employees at all levels to better prepare for and react to these changes and challenges, and at the same time, it helps the company differentiate itself from the competition,” he says.

Choung says that in those early years with the company, she needed to learn more about using technology to work within integrated product teams. After a conversation with her supervisor, she was given a year of administrative leave in 1997 to attend the University of Michigan and obtain her first master's degree. In addition to participating in the company's tuition reimbursement program, Choung received a small monthly stipend for serving as a research assistant for one of her professors.

When Choung returned to the company a year later, her former boss had left, but it didn't prove to be an obstacle. She was reassigned to a new supervisor, and together they agreed that her new title would be systems engineer. That job entailed more IT responsibilities.

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