Vanessa Sorenson

Vanessa began her career at Wang New Zealand, starting out as the receptionist and quickly moved into sales before landing a management role. Over the next two decades, she climbed the ranks at Spark NZ, eventually becoming General Manager. In 2017, Sorenson transitioned to Microsoft as an enterprise sales director before becoming NZ managing director and chief partner officer in 2020. Her leadership is grounded in authenticity, shaped by overcoming adversity, and she is known for advocacy for diversity, especially encouraging Maori, Pasifika, and women to pursue IT careers.