Debbie Gillotti

Chief Operating Officer
nVoq Incorporated

Deborah (Debbi) J. Gillotti offers a unique and valuable vantage point having served as an enterprise level global leader and advisor to the C-Suite on issues ranging from public company turnaround initiatives to incubation, evolution, and go-to-market cycles. Her expertise includes sales, marketing, organization development, product management and IT leadership for Fortune 500 and early stage organizations in Healthcare IT, retail and consumer product industries, including Microsoft and Starbucks. As a C-suite executive for many years, she has extensive presentation experience in the corporate boardroom. Debbi is well versed in governance matters having completed Northwestern University’s Women Director Development Program and through non-profit board officer roles in the Seattle area. She has been as a Trustee for the University of Pittsburgh (including serving as Chair of the Institutional Advancement Committee and Chair of the Nursing School Board of Visitors) since 2013, a mentor for the University of Washington MBA program since 1998, a mentor for the Pitt Forward program, and is actively engaged with the University of Pittsburgh Innovation Institute. In addition to her current role as Chief Operating Officer at nVoq, a provider of SaaS-based speech recognition services, she also serves as an advisor to Lumis Corporation (Pittsburgh), a medical simulation software startup, and has sponsored several fellowship programs for aspiring leaders at Pitt. Debbi served as an advisor and mentor to the Women in the Cloud Accelerator program in 2019. She is also an active community volunteer including current Board service in a number of Seattle-area non-profits.

Connect with Debbi on LinkedIn.

Debbi on mentorship

I have been a mentor for the UW Foster School of Business MBA program since 1998 as well as other structured programs. I enjoy giving back and sharing my experience with students. We all learn from each other! The topics I enjoy spending time discussing include: managing risk and return in career decisions, managing relationships involving different interpersonal styles, the role of the COO in a technology company, incorporating your personal passions into career planning, and much more.

Specialty topics

  • Strategic planning
  • Organization development
  • Branding
  • Value proposition development
  • Product management
  • Career planning

Favorite online news portals

  • WaPo
  • The Wall Street Journal’s business coverage
  • The Economist
  • The Week