A career devoted to transforming how enterprises work
From solutions architecture to enterprise AI leadership, I've spent nearly two decades helping organizations modernize with purpose.
I'm Elyse Dequiña, a technology and transformation executive based in Chicago. My career took a non-traditional path — starting in music, designing flyers and building websites for bands (including my own), then moving through graphic design, web development, software engineering, and engineering management into enterprise leadership.
Today, as Senior Director of Technology at ABM Industries, I lead client-journey and workforce-management transformation across a 100k+ employee operation — spanning Salesforce, UKG, Adobe CDP, Marketo, Microsoft Dynamics, and Azure, with AI woven into the operating model.
15+ years in, I still believe the best transformation leaders are translators — fluent in business strategy and technical depth alike, able to rally executives and engineers around a shared outcome.
How I lead transformation
Four principles guide how I build teams, make decisions, and deliver lasting change.
Outcomes over output
Every initiative is anchored to a measurable business result — not activity for its own sake.
Pragmatic innovation
Adopt emerging technology where it earns its place, with governance and value front and center.
Trust and accountability
High-performing teams thrive on clarity, psychological safety, and shared ownership of results.
Lead with the why
Transformation sticks when people understand the purpose and see themselves in the future state.
A professional timeline
Two decades of progressive leadership across consulting, engineering, and enterprise transformation.
- 2021 — Present
Senior Director of Technology — Client Journey + Workforce Management
ABM Industries
Lead AI-enabled workflow automation, Salesforce ecosystem modernization, and workforce management transformation across 100k+ employee operations — including a 7-site Webflow migration and a $11.3M/12.3x ROI MarTech strategy.
- 2020 — 2026
Technical Advisor — Board Member
The Difference Engine
Advise technology strategy and platform architecture across engineering, operations, and finance — mentoring 10+ developers into mid-level and senior roles.
- 2019 — 2021
Head of Enterprise Architecture · SFDC
Gorilla Group | Wunderman Thompson
Led one of the firm's early Salesforce B2B Commerce Cloud engagements for Skechers, directing architecture strategy across a distributed US and Spain team of 7–10 developers.
- 2016 — 2019
Director of Technology
Brady Corp
Directed Salesforce B2B Commerce Cloud modernization with a 10+ developer team, drove CI/CD adoption, and contributed to a 20.7% increase in EBIT supporting $37M in quarterly performance.
- 2015 — 2016
Engineering Manager
Brady Corp
Led migration from legacy systems to Salesforce B2B Commerce Cloud (CloudCraze) and reduced deployment cycles by 30% through technical debt reduction and process optimization.