Lavin Exclusive Speaker
Being a transformative leader means having a fresh perspective. That’s how Minette Norman—a liberal arts major with no engineering background—became a high-powered female executive in the male-dominated tech industry. As the former VP of Engineering at Autodesk, Norman led a team of 3,500 software professionals and transformed the company culture from the inside out. Today, she’s a leadership consultant specializing in building diverse and inclusive cultures across countless organizations. Her talks demonstrate why establishing psychological safety is essential for unlocking creativity, collaboration, and a sense of belonging in the workplace.
As the former VP of Engineering Practice, Minette Norman directed collaboration at Autodesk, helping world-renowned engineers overcome silos and work together on common solutions. Norman—who holds degrees in Drama and French, not Engineering—was also serving in a position traditionally held by men. For some, this may have been an insurmountable challenge, but for Norman, having a different perspective was essential to her success. While spearheading state-of-the-art engineering practices, she focused on changing how employees interacted, collaborated, and listened to others’ ideas. Today, she brings her decades of experience leading globally distributed, multicultural teams into her own consulting business, where she helps develop transformative leaders and teams, leverage diversity in all its forms, and inspire the type of truly collaborative culture that leads to break-out innovation. We all have our biases. But by approaching them with empathy and curiosity, as Norman does, we can create an inclusive environment where everyone feels supported and empowered to contribute. Her dynamic presentations and interactive workshops are an invaluable resource for leaders, managers, and employees at every level.
Prior to Autodesk, Norman held a variety of technical communication and management positions at companies including Symantec and Adobe. Named one of the ‘Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business’ by the San Francisco Business Times, Business Role Model of the Year’ by the Women in IT Awards Silicon Valley, Norman is a recognized industry expert with a unique perspective. She often speaks at international conferences where she is asked to share her thoughts on leadership, culture, and collaborative behavior.
Norman has a broad approach to community service, working with local, national and international charities. She serves on the Board of Directors of D-Rev, a non-profit devoted to developing medical technologies for impoverished and vulnerable populations worldwide. Norman holds degrees in both drama and French from Tufts University and studied at the Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris.