Driving Force in World’s Largest Business Network
Joanna Pomykala has incredible drive and resilience. As senior director of sales productivity at LinkedIn, she’s a people leader who successfully forged a talented and diversified global team in the company’s largest employee group.
Pomykala is known inside the company as a strong leader equipped to handle virtually any situation. Outside, she’s an elite-level triathlete and six time Ironman finisher. She also loves her job. “I wake up excited to do my job, work with great people, and feel like I’m having an impact in my role, my company, and the world,” Pomykala said.
She lives by the words “keep putting one foot in front of the other.”
Her colleagues say she possesses a rare combination of skills that are valuable in the workplace and equip her to make a significant impact as a leader. “With confidence you can tackle big audacious goals, and inspire people to trust and follow you, which are all critical to being a great leader,” she said.
She manages multiple teams that span LinkedIn business lines in sales, marketing and talent across all of its regions. Her teams specialize in data and analytics, sales systems and world-class training and development. She straddles the line between sales and analytics, and has a natural ability to successfully translate her work in the data trenches into the world of sales.
She is an executive sponsor for Women @ LinkedIn (W@LI) and was also one of the founding members of the GSO Women’s Initiative. She is active in raising awareness and driving change around gender bias and inequality in the workplace. The career advice she would pass along is “don’t try to map out every step of your career. You never know what opportunities will arise and they may take you in very different directions than you expected. Stay flexible and trust your gut in making big decisions along your professional journey.”
Pomykala holds a BS in engineering and product design and an MS in mechanical engineering from Stanford University, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
