Congratulations, Ning Ning Yu, VP of R&D at Taboola, has been named Best Technology Manager in North America by Tech in Motion (Timmy Awards)! Taboola also received the 2024 Community Choice Award for “Best Tech Workplace for Diversity.” As this year’s Best Technology Manager winner, Ning Ning was selected as someone who embodies leadership, innovation and positive influence throughout her team and at Taboola. This award celebrates Ning Ning as a technology leader and visionary who goes beyond “the job description” to empower, inspire and encourage the growth of her team.
Promotion of professional growth
Several members of Ning Ning’s R&D team, including Tracy Tan, Jun Xu, and Allen Wu, generously shared their feelings about Ning Ning’s leadership and how its approach made it a deserving winner of the Timmy Award They emphasized: “As a leader, he believes in his team’s abilities even before they do. She provides constant support and encouragement, and her belief in their abilities boosts their confidence and pushes them to achieve more than they thought possible.”
By balancing impactful business solutions with sustainable technology development, Ning Ning helps her team understand their roles within Taboola’s broader mission. He emphasizes the importance of continuous learning and rapid adaptation, pushing his team to acquire new skills and challenging them with complex tasks as he goes along. Identifies key employees for promotions, ensuring that individuals are recognized for their talent and performance. It also promotes professional growth by providing constructive feedback and making everyone’s contributions count.
Cultivate a collaborative team culture
“Ning Ning fosters understanding of cultural differences and fosters cross-regional collaboration, a vital component of our cross-functional team in the US, Tel Aviv and Taiwan, driving our culture where people feel motivated, empowered and valued to do the best possible work.” By clearly outlining Taboola’s vision and goals, your team can understand how their work contributes to the big picture, fostering a sense of collective purpose and drive.Most importantly, Ning Ning ensures your team has one safe space where they can feel comfortable taking risks, sharing ideas freely, and admitting mistakes without fear of repercussions (a remarkably common experience at Taboola).
A big part of his approach to leadership and cultivating collaboration is actively promoting diversity of thought, background, experience and people throughout his team. Embracing different perspectives and ideas is a crucial element in fostering innovation, another reason why Ning Ning implements Scrum processes, which encourages collaboration and breaks down silos. With this in mind, people can present their work, learn from each other and generate new ideas.
Inspiring innovation and high performance
“Ning Ning is a visionary with a keen sense of product development. He inspires innovation and problem solving by clearly articulating his vision for long-term strategic solutions in important initiatives. He always focuses on user needs, challenges status quo and accept risk-taking.”
At the core of Ning Ning’s leadership is a strong commitment to innovation. His vision has driven major projects such as the Taboola Newsroom product and cutting-edge GenAI products. He often talks with publishers, advertisers and agencies to understand what users need, and takes a hands-on approach with his team to align efforts with overall business goals. And of course, Ning Ning has supported several internal hackathons over the past year to boost creativity, which helps the team turn ideas into real products.
Congratulations again, Ning Ning!
Out of more than two dozen finalists for “Best Tech Manager,” Ning Ning was selected as this year’s Tech in Motion winner by a panel of industry-leading judges from various technology sectors and companies including AWS, Etsy, Oracle and Goal. Ning Ning’s award as the Best Technology Manager in North America is a testament to his leadership, a reflection of his talented team, and a great reminder of the significant influence impactful leaders can have on their teams and organizations. Congratulations, Ning Ning, on your exciting recognition and congratulations on your continued innovation and success at Taboola!
About Ning Ning Yu
Ning Ning leads Taboola’s product and R&D efforts in Los Angeles, California. Ning Ning held executive positions at numerous California technology companies and contributed to the sale of four of those companies to Taboola, Salesforce.com, MEI and Ask.com (IAC).
Prior to the merger with Taboola, Ning Ning led Product/R&D/Operations at Perfect Market, Inc., an Idealab company. Ning Ning previously provided the next-generation platform for managing physical resources to market leader Accruent. Prior to Accruent, Ning Ning was Vice President of Engineering at Sendia, a wireless enterprise application leader until the successful sale of Sendia to Salesforce.com.
Ning Ning also held executive positions at Vertel (VRTL) and Retix (RETX) and developed one of the first wireless data switches in the US. Ning Ning has a master’s degree. in Computer Science from UCLA and now serves on the UCLA Computer Science AAB board.
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