Dora Vell
Dora Vell is the Managing Partner of Vell Executive Search, a boutique executive search firm in Boston focused on recruiting technology executives and board members. Vell has successfully completed numerous board member and C-level executive searches, including CEOs, COOs, CIOs, and Vice Presidents - at both public and private companies.
Prior to founding the firm in 2005, Vell was a Partner at Heidrick & Struggles' Technology practice for seven years. Before her career in executive search, she worked at IBM for 11 years, managing software engineering organizations of 100 people and software sales organizations with revenues of $150 million. She has also served as an executive assistant to the CEO of IBM Canada for one year.
Vell holds seven worldwide software patents. She has published several Business of Leadership reports on governance and leadership and has been quoted in numerous articles including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Business Week, Fortune, Agenda Week, MSNBC, Mass High Tech, the OPUS for the World Economic Forum, Boston Business Journal, The Globe & Mail, CIO Magazine, and IEEE. She also has been a featured speaker on leadership at numerous conferences and at Columbia University's MBA program.
Vell is a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), the Boston CEO Roundtable. She has served on the boards of Framingham State, Entrepreneur's Organization, Goodwill, Mary Centre for developmentally handicapped adults, garage.ca, and RBC Capital Partners.
She has received an MBA from the University of Toronto, a Master in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo, and a Bachelor in Computer Science from Carleton. She has also completed the MIT Entrepreneurial Master’s program.
Website URL: http://www.vell.com
Thursday, 23 May 2019 02:00
54 Tech Exec Appointments & 39 Available C-suite Roles
May 22nd, 2019
Welcome to the 62nd Edition of the Open Tech Roles newsletter. This newsletter covers open technology roles as of May 20th, 2019 and technology appointments for past 38 days ending May 20th, 2019.
Published in Open CIO/ CTO Roles & Latest Appointments
Thursday, 09 May 2019 02:54
27 Open Tech CEO Roles and 29 Tech CEO Appointments
May 8, 2019
Welcome to our Technology CEO Transitions Newsletter for April/May 2019.
We research and catalog all open technology CEO roles we can find (as of 5/2) and also the latest appointments for March 18th to May 2nd. We use Capital IQ industry classifications and US census geographic regions.
Summary Trends: Global Tech CEO Availability
There are 27 Open Tech CEO Roles and 29 Appointments. The activity seems to have slowed down significantly, also noticed in trends from March.
Here is their geographic distribution:
Published in Open CEO Jobs & Latest Appointments
Tuesday, 23 April 2019 11:10
Across the Globe, 58 Tech Appointments and 36 Open Tech Officer Roles
April 22nd, 2019
Hope you had a wonderful long weekend!
Welcome to the 61st Edition of the Open Tech Roles newsletter. This newsletter covers open technology roles as of April 12th, 2019 and technology appointments for past 31 days ending April 12th, 2019.
We want your opinion...
Reasons for CIO/Tech departures & effective retention methods
Would love your commentary on the following questions...
(1) What are the reasons CIOs/other heads of technology leave companies?
(2) What are some of the challenges that CIOs/other tech execs face that their CEOs should keep in mind?
(3) What are some best practices organizations should follow in order to keep their CIOs / other tech execs on board?
Email your thoughts to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. We will summarize and share the responses.
Published in Open CIO/ CTO Roles & Latest Appointments
Friday, 22 March 2019 01:28
31 Open Tech CEO Roles and 26 Tech CEO Appointments
March 20th, 2019
Welcome to our Technology CEO Transitions Newsletter for March 2019.
We research and catalog all open technology CEO roles we can find (as of 3/17) and also the latest appointments for February 18th to March 17th. We use Capital IQ industry classifications and US census geographic regions.
Tech CEO Summary Trends
There are 31 Open Tech CEO Roles and 26 Appointments. The activity seems to have slowed down significantly.
Here is their geographic distribution:
Published in Open CEO Jobs & Latest Appointments
Saturday, 16 March 2019 10:31
New Tech Officers For Hire: CIOs, CTOs, Chief Data Officers and CISOs
March 15th, 2019
Welcome to the 60th Edition of the Open Tech Roles newsletter. This newsletter covers open technology roles as of March 10th, 2019 and technology appointments for past 28 days ending March 10th, 2019.
Titles are evolving and are specializing:
- The head of technology (IT) role has different titles, historically a CIO, is now either CIO, CTO or Engineering (including CIO role) and a Chief Digital Officer titles (or combinations thereof). Note: sometimes the head of IT is the EVP Tech & Ops with CIO type roots.
- The CTO role has multiple contexts and meanings: (1) CTOs that manage IT (where the CIO reports in); (2) CTOs that manage the tech infrastructure (a more traditional definition); (3) CTOs - Products/ Tech Strategy. They are essentially tech vendor CTOs and typically manage IT as well, but it is not their primary role or orientation.
- More exec titles in Tech: Data Science, Data Protection, CISOs, Chief Data Officers
Published in Open CIO/ CTO Roles & Latest Appointments
Friday, 22 February 2019 02:58
42 Tech CEO Appointments and 28 Open Tech CEO Roles
February 20th, 2019
Welcome to our Technology CEO Transitions Newsletter for February 2019.
We research and catalog all open technology CEO roles we can find (as of 2/17) and also the latest appointments for January 20th to February 17th. We use Capital IQ industry classifications and US census geographic regions.
New Summary Trends: CEOs in Tech
There are 28 Open Tech CEO Roles and 42 Appointments.
Here is their geographic distribution:
Published in Open CEO Jobs & Latest Appointments
Friday, 22 February 2019 00:47
81 Tech Executive Appointments & New C-level Role Openings
February 20th, 2019
Welcome to the 59th Edition of the Open Tech Roles newsletter. We have been tracking open technology roles and latest appointments, but have not published it as we have been looking at the breadth of technology executive roles. This newsletter covers open technology roles as of February 11th, 2019 and technology appointments for past 37 days ending February 11th, 2019.
Titles are evolving and are specializing:
- The head of technology (IT) role has different titles, historically a CIO, is now either CIO, CTO or Engineering (including CIO role) and a Chief Digital Officer titles (or combinations thereof). Note: sometimes the head of IT is the EVP Tech & Ops with CIO type roots.
- The CTO role has multiple contexts and meanings: (1) CTOs that manage IT (where the CIO reports in); (2) CTOs that manage the tech infrastructure (a more traditional definition); (3) CTOs - Products/ Tech Strategy. They are essentially tech vendor CTOs and typically manage IT as well, but it is not their primary role or orientation.
- More exec titles in Tech: Data Science, Data Protection, CISOs, Chief Data Officers
Published in Open CIO/ CTO Roles & Latest Appointments
Tuesday, 22 January 2019 08:41
55 Tech CEO Appointments and 30 Open Tech CEO Roles
January 21st, 2019
Welcome to our first Technology CEO Transitions Newsletter for 2019.
We research and catalog all open technology CEO roles we can find (as of 1/19) and also the latest appointments for December 1st to January 19th. We use Capital IQ industry classifications and US census geographic regions.
Summary Trends: CEO Transitions, Appointments and Open Roles
There are 30 Open Tech CEO Roles and 55 Appointments.
Published in Open CEO Jobs & Latest Appointments
Tuesday, 08 January 2019 07:27
Analog Devices, Walmart & Equifax Make Sweeping Changes
January 7, 2019
Happy New Year!
Welcome to the 58th Edition of the Open Tech Roles newsletter. We have been tracking open technology roles and latest appointments, but have not published it as we have been looking at the breadth of technology executive roles. This newsletter only covers open technology roles as of January 4th, 2018.
Titles are evolving and are specializing:
- The head of technology (IT) role has different titles, historically a CIO, is now either CIO, CTO (including CIO role) and a Chief Digital Officer titles (or combinations thereof). Note: sometimes the head of IT is the EVP Tech & Ops with CIO type roots.
- The CTO role has multiple contexts and meanings: (1) CTOs that manage IT (where the CIO reports in); (2) CTOs that manage the tech infrastructure (a more traditional definition); (3) CTOs - Products/ Tech Strategy. They are essentially tech vendor CTOs and typically manage IT as well, but it is not their primary role or orientation.
- More exec titles in Tech: Data Science, Data Protection, CISOs, Chief Data Officers
Published in Open CIO/ CTO Roles & Latest Appointments
Tuesday, 04 June 2013 16:39
How Much Do Entrepreneurial Board Members Take Home?
The Relative Importance of Cash and Equity
The Entrepreneurial Boards Composition Survey unveiled broad differences in the remuneration structures of public and private technology firms. In particular, the study revealed private companies are much less likely to use cash-based remuneration, such as cash-based meeting fees or a cash retainer. In fact, private companies are much more likely to either not pay their directors, or rely exclusively on equity awards, such as annual awards or awards upon appointment.
Published in Boards
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