Zehava Tyberg, Product Manager, began her journey with Avanti 22 years ago. Born in Montréal, Québec, Zehava spent a year in Israel before receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree from McGill University, where she studied Math and Computer Science.
Zehava has always loved math, problem solving, creating, and building. Because she has a very logical-thinking mind, going into development seemed the right choice. Zehava quickly discovered, however, that she needed human contact. “I simply couldn’t sit at a keyboard all day. As soon as there was an opening in support I immediately applied.”
The middle child of three girls, Zehava is a “born diplomat” as she likes to put it. She has three children; a son and two daughters, and recently adopted a 2 year old cat named Rocky, and has been married to husband, Michael for the past 20 years, whom she first connected with during a difficult implementation while the two both worked at Avanti. As Zehava puts it, “he came to my rescue and was my knight in shining armour!”
Michael was a developer at Avanti at the time Zehava was working in support. When Micheal left the company, Zehava stepped in and assumed his role as Development Manager. A month later the two were engaged and, as the old saying goes, “the rest is history”. In fact, Avanti founder Richard Wallen wanted their firstborn named after him! (Zehava quite diplomatically denied the request).
When asked how Avanti has impacted her life, Zehava was quick to point out how she has now overcome her fear of public speaking. “I was TERRIFIED, plain and simple”, proclaims Zehava. “Now, due to training sessions and the User Group conference, it’s not an issue. I’ve gotten great at winging it, whether it’s a social event or for business training.”
Having overcome her fears, Zehava now writes speeches and addresses groups from 10 people to 200. She has sat on the board of her synagogue and has become actively involved in committees and her children’s school’s parents’ association…all in an effort to push herself further and further. In June of 2016, Zehava was tasked with giving a speech in memory of her father. She attributed her ability to achieve this as a direct result of the skills she has learned over the years at Avanti. “I am fully confident in my abilities to step outside my comfort zone and push myself beyond my wildest imagination.”
Zehava began her journey with Avanti in 1993. At the time it was a much smaller company, about ¼ the size it is today. She has performed just about every role within the company over the years, including implementation, product management, development and support. She has even worked with sales and prospects. Wherever there was a gap, Zehava filled it; and continues to do so today. About the only role she hasn’t tackled is Marketing (hmmmm….we may have to do something about that!)
Over the years, Zehava has seen many changes in not just the industry, but in the software itself. What’s the most significant change she’s seen over the years?
“Things are done so differently from 20+ years ago. For one, there was no integration between the software and the actual presses. In the last 10 years there has been considerably more tie-in between the industry and the software, as customers streamline their processes. Today, people want to get as much done with as few resources as possible.”
So what has kept Zehava at Avanti after nearly a quarter century? “I love the people I work with. They’re an amazing team,. but most of all I love the new and exciting challenges that I face everyday. This allows me to continue learning new skills in a way that is helping both me as well as Avanti.”
When her children and work permit, Zehava enjoys photography, cooking, the outdoors and reading books, particularly historical fiction, science fiction and the classics. “Yes, I’m old school,” she jokes. “I like the feel of the book, the feel of the pages beneath my fingers.”
Certainly Zehava’s most memorable moment at Avanti was meeting her husband. Her most current memorable moment came after presenting sessions at Avanti’s User Group. “I walked out feeling like I was on such a high. I was able to share so much information and transport my knowledge to other people.”
It’s been an adventure…
