Read about Maria Liz Vera Benitez

What brought you to a career in technology at the United Nations?

I joined the UN 24 years ago as an NCE (former name for YPP) in Electronic Data Processing. After a couple of years in the library, I moved to the programme, project and finance area where I started my career as a finance and budget officer, but I kept developing applications and producing dashboards and reports to facilitate decision-making.

What has been your favorite technology project or initiative at the United Nations and why? What was your contribution?

Protrack and Mission Reporting System. Back in the 2000s, Protrack app was created to link programmatic and project info to financial data (IMIS at that time), similar to what IPMR does now, and the mission reporting system. Each traveler had to do a mission report before claiming terminals. Forms were prefilled with info extracted from their treks in IMIS. I also loved working as Umoja Funds management expert and supporting migration, conversion and ramp-up activities.

What advice would you give women interested in pursuing a field in technology?

If you are gifted with IT or math skills, use them to help make other people's lives easier, regardless of your gender.