Technology leader Verushca Hunter, has combined her passion for healthcare and providing a healing touch with technology – and business strategy – bringing her career full circle.
Last year, CIO South Africa caught up with Veruscha Hunter, the then-CTO of Altron HealthTech. At the time, Verushca had recently joined Altron HealthTech, bringing more than 25 years’ experience in leading and implementing digital and technology solutions across various industries.
Towards the tail end of 2024, however, Veruscha decided to take a career sabbatical to focus on personal growth, passion projects and family.
“After years of working in dynamic leadership roles, I felt it was the right time to pause, reflect and reimagine the next phase of my career,” she explains. “During this time, I’ve self-published two books, been approached by publishers interested in distributing them globally in the coming months, and have been ghostwriting as well. I’ve also focused on building my online network and writing LinkedIn posts – things I never had time for before, which has been incredibly fulfilling.”
Veruscha is currently giving back to the IT industry in a new way – as a thought leader. However, for a true techie, staying on the sidelines isn’t easy. The pull of digital transformation remains strong, and she’s already setting her sights on her next big assignment!
“I’m excited to make an impact by contributing to our country’s digital journey in meaningful ways,” she says.
From medicine to tech
Disruption in Verushca Hunter’s career sent her on a path that’s gone from dropping out of medical school to entering the tech industry. While studying medicine, Verushca soon found a new passion in technology after helping a friend who was studying engineering with coding and programming-related work. This changed the course of her professional life.
“I was also very ambitious very early on and dropping out of university was massive for me. It was probably my biggest failure in life at that stage,” she noted. “Since then, I’ve always felt like I had something to prove. So I literally took on this IT world with both hands and started crafting my career.”
Fortunately, healing others seems to run in Verushca’s genes – her daughter is a medical student now, she said. “My dream was to be a doctor and, you know, it didn’t quite work out. And just to give back in this manner, is quite humbling and interesting,” she added.
She studied and trained in coding and programming and, years later, eventually furthered her studies to obtain business and technology qualifications from GIBS, MIT and UNISA.
She began her career as a programmer at Absa and Infoplan, progressing through various strategic technical roles within notable organisations. She later became head of digital technologies and innovation at Absa, where she held key leadership roles in the bank’s tech division for nearly nine years before joining Altron Health in June 2024.
Technology business and strategy
Over the years, Verushca found her sweet spot of interest between technology and business, which led to the pursuit of an interest in business strategy. “I realised what a big impact technology had on business and the lives of people,” she said, “and how it translates in a technology strategy – like what is the strategy and how do you align it with the business strategy?”
Her interest in business technology strategy was a topic that few understood at the time but an issue that has since become a central theme in the industry. “And then I decided to go back to school and I did a business degree,” she says.
“It was like nobody understood what I was saying at the time. I was like, ‘It’s not about the tech. It’s about the business strategy – having that link,’ and so on,” she recalls.
The limited understanding of the industry drove Verushca to lead by example. “I decided to start my own business. And I remember I did a business plan and I sent it to the Innovation Hub in Pretoria,” she says. She was accepted into the business incubation programme to grow her initiative, Maxim, a business incubator.
“I was there for about three years and it went relatively well. I built up a team. I tried to bring this whole concept around strategy to businesses. But what I learnt there was how little I knew about running a business,” she explains.
“Entrepreneurship is a completely different ball game and I quickly realised that I actually didn’t have the right business experience at the time,” she says.
Though she closed the business after three years, she found opportunities for employees with the clients she worked with. “I placed everybody, closed everything and I went back into employment.”
Building her business skills, Verushca remained intentional about the roles she worked in, actively seeking particular roles and organisations that would cater to her career vision. “I didn’t just take a job because it’s the next job. I always looked at it: how can it help me create better products and services and solutions?”
An alternative approach
Having worked in male-dominated roles in the industry and noting the importance of empowerment programmes for women, Verushca has a different approach to women’s roles in industries dominated by men. Highlighting a need for an alternative approach to deepening women’s participation in these industries, she stresses a need to come from a place of empowerment.
“If I join a movement to uplift something, it’s almost like admitting that I’m weak or that I need help and I just don’t think that’s the case for any woman. I almost don’t want to lean into this: ‘There are no women in tech. Women need help. You need a seat at the table. You need to be lifted while we rise.’ It sounds a little disempowering to me. In fact, you find there’s nothing wrong with us as women, right? Our approach to things is just different,” she pointed out.
“I think women are a lot more well-rounded leaders than men. You know, that’s my personal feeling. But because we’re not as technical as men, we think that we’re less.”
She stresses the need for “holistic, well-rounded leaders” in the industry. “Women have the advantage of the softer skills, which are just as important in leadership.”
Describing herself as a “complete introvert”, Verushca believes in maintaining a positive attitude, something that also helps her as a leader, and finding inspiration through reading and listening to audiobooks, mostly business books.
“Something that is also quite close to my heart is spirituality. Whatever your thoughts are, that is what you attract,” she adds.
When she’s not working, Verushca unwinds and recharges by shopping and decorating. “I love a good shopping spree. My favourite thing to do is to invade the malls and just to shop around for things,” she said. “I also enjoy decorating my house and creating a beautiful space that my family and I can enjoy.”
