Meet the team: Justine Thompson
Justine Thompson was the first full-time employee focused on the Microsoft ACTS initiative. Today, she serves as a business program manager for ACTS. Her responsibilities include the Asia Pacific region and behind-the-scenes functions like executive and public-facing communications and the ACTS website.
What excites you about the ACTS team?
Everybody’s genuinely committed to the work, which is really inspiring. There’s a strong alignment to our company mission and the belief that Microsoft can make an impact. There’s also Microsoft’s leadership commitment around this initiative, which is something that makes our work really special.
What makes Microsoft uniquely qualified?
I think Microsoft has such a broad portfolio of products and solutions. A part of Microsoft Research also focuses solely on societal resilience, as in using their research to help address societal challenges and having an impact on the world. It’s part of the Microsoft mission of helping everybody achieve more. I’ve heard Satya (Microsoft CEO) say that we’re in the business of making other people look cool. We want to enable other organizations to achieve their strategic goals.
What has ACTS tried to do that’s different?
We’re talking to governments and learning directly from them the issues they want to focus on. We are building solutions that people need. We also focus on getting a working prototype in people’s hands. It gives them something tangible to interact with that helps serve as a tool for a conversation about whether a solution meets a need.
Why does ACTS cite data mobility as one of its focal points?
Data enables insight. A lot of data is siloed, however, and in different formats. We’re trying to focus on a common structure that you can plug anything into and have data sets talk to each other to get whatever insights you need.
What kind of feedback is ACTS getting?
People are really excited about it. They’re seeing the potential. They like that we’re doing a proof of concept so that they can see and interact with ideas.
Where do you think the initiative can grow?
We’ve made a concerted effort to go out and talk to our stakeholders and get their points of view about what helps. We need to do that more because they’re the ones that have the real information about how our ideas resonate and what they need.
What makes you proud of working at ACTS?
I get to be a part of something that is translating to helping countries achieve what they want. I feel really lucky to be able to be a part of that.
Will the initiative ever reach an end?
I don’t think so. There’s always something to learn, something else that we can do, which is both overwhelming and amazing.
What lies ahead?
I think we’ll be talking more about beneficial ownership, demonstrating where it applies beyond procurement. And we’ll continue to form the narrative for our initiative, illustrating how the things we do help and fit together. We want to make sure that’s clear.
