Vandebergh Manon

Manon Vandebergh (1995), COO at Phished, demonstrates that operational leadership is as critical to the tech ecosystem as software engineering. Leading a global cybersecurity SaaS company, she has been instrumental in its transition from a start-up to a scale-up enterprise.

Vandebergh joined Phished early on and has overseen a period of aggressive growth, with the company now training over 1.5 million users across 6,000 organizations. Under her operational leadership, the company has reportedly doubled its Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) every year. Despite a non-technical background in Law and Business, she leads highly technical departments including Customer Success and Account Management, dealing with API integrations and complex client needs.

Her management style is deeply rooted in the belief that diversity drives innovation. Vandebergh highlights that two-thirds of the Phished board are women, a statistic she actively maintains by challenging the status quo in recruitment. Her ambition is to prove that reskilling into tech is a viable path for anyone possessing curiosity and empathy, actively working to make the sector more accessible.

‘You don’t need a degree in computer science to make an impact’, she argues, positioning herself as a role model for commercial leadership in ICT. ‘For some, women and technology still seem an unlikely combination. Yet, the most forward-thinking tech companies already know: innovation thrives on diversity. You cannot build the future if everyone at the table looks and thinks the same. I actively search for female talent, encourage women to grow into leadership roles, and show that difference is a strength, not an exception.’ But she believes inclusion must go beyond gender. ‘Diverse teams are simply better teams’, Manon Vandebergh states. Vandebergh I also a member of the VOKA Women in Leadership community.