Ledena Cayetano knows how to establish a commanding presence in front of a crowd. After all, the current Consortium program manager for Toshiba America Business Solutions learned an abundance about case building during her time as a practicing attorney specializing in entertainment law. If it sounds like a huge career transition, that’s only because it’s true.
In this case, the portables Cayetano brought with her to Toshiba were less about clients and more about people management. Blending the psychology of engagement with a flair for presentation, she’s found, can make all the difference in the court of public opinion.
“A significant part of my job is presenting and communicating our Consortium program to our resellers and partners,” said Cayetano, a 2022 ENX Magazine Difference Maker. “For each presentation or workshop, I always try to gauge the audience’s interest, have the presentation framed correctly, and tell a story. This is all done with the goal of creating mindshare with our resellers, which is very important to our program success.”
She vividly recalls introducing the program for the first time four years ago during Toshiba’s annual sales conference, where more than 500 clients, sales professionals, vendors and media convened. It was also Cayetano’s first sales conference, and she confessed to being more than a little nervous about debuting the program. Her fears soon turned into complete confidence, and since then, she has led numerous presentations, training sessions and workshops. These experiences have stoked her love for Toshiba and the industry.
Shifting Lanes
It was an unlikely destination, given her start. With a degree in business administration from Cal Poly Pomona and an emphasis in marketing management, Cayetano added a Juris Doctor degree from Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles—setting the stage for a long career as an attorney. But after a few years in the legal world, she was itching to try something new and apply her skills to a different field. Cayetano just happened to know someone at Toshiba—her husband, Chris—who recruited her to join the ranks.
It was a fortuitous decision, and she was able to tap into all of her skills—not just legal—in a meaningful way. “I use my legal background to help interpret and adhere to the strict requirements that Consortium contracts often present,” Cayetano said. “And I use my marketing degree to help coordinate contract launches and promote awareness to our resellers and partners.”
Cayetano credits her boss, Khanh Pham, with helping craft how she approaches her work. Pham stressed the value of simplicity, to avoid overthinking. That begins with taking an idea and building and improving it over time. However, Cayetano loves the leeway it also provides.
“It has allowed me to be much more creative,” she noted.
Building Momentum
Cayetano is coming off a 2021 in which she exceeded sales KPIs consistently during a three-month stretch. This entailed onboarding additional resellers onto the program and increasing revenue and pipeline opportunities through Toshiba’s independent dealer channel. She’s also proud of the company for securing a contract earlier this year with the largest health care group purchasing organization in the country. Cayetano’s plan is to leverage the partnership to grow additional revenue in the lucrative health care market, and she’s developing a vertical strategy to make it a reality.
“While we’ve always had contracts with buying groups dedicated to the public sector, the health care industry represents a different type of customer that has its own pain points and compliance standards,” she said. “It’s doing our homework and understanding who we’re talking to.”
On the home front, Ledena and Chris have four children—Caleb, Dylan, Emma and Isla, all under the age of 12. Thus, it’s not surprising that the Cayetanos can usually be spotted attending their kids’ activities, ranging from soccer and softball to dancing and martial arts. What free weekends remain are usually spent surfing at the local beaches or snowboarding at Mammoth Mountain.
