Latha Sukumar
GALA Board Candidate, 2027-2029 Term
Professional Information
Brief Bio
I am a lawyer, social entrepreneur and CEO of MCIS Language Solutions. Over the past three decades, MCIS raised me, forcing many learnings as we transformed from a two-person organization into a leading provider of language services to governments and the public sector across Canada. Through many challenges and transformations, I have learned the critical role technology can play in delivering human services. At this watershed moment, I see AI not as a replacement for language professionals, but as an opportunity to expand language access, bridge persistent gaps, and create a more holistic client experience, combining human expertise with technology.
Have you served on a board, committee, or working group before? What surprised you about it?
I’ve served on several boards, and what has surprised me most is how differently people interpret the role! Some connect the dots immediately; others need a little more coffee. The real challenge is finding the balance: thinking strategically, absorbing information, making sound decisions in a crisis, and knowing when to step in—and when to step back.
Which skills do you possess that would make you valuable as a board member?
I bring strategic thinking, governance experience, entrepreneurial problem-solving and an ability to navigate change with curiosity rather than fear. Having grown MCIS over three decades, I understand both the business realities of running a language services organization and the importance of keeping people and purpose at the centre of transformation. My legal background brings analytical thinking, governance and risk awareness; my social-enterprise experience brings a strong collaborative and stakeholder lens. I have considerable experience building partnerships, developing people and turning ideas into sustainable programs and services. Perhaps most relevant today, I am comfortable questioning established models. I see technology and AI as opportunities to rethink how our industry creates value, while remaining deeply committed to the expertise of language professionals and to expanding meaningful language access.
Describe your experience with setting strategy.
Having grown MCIS over three decades, I understand both the business realities of running a language services organization and the importance of keeping people and purpose at the centre. Strategy has been at the core of everything I have done. Today, at MCIS, we are questioning established models and envisioning the opportunities AI presents to rethink how our organization and industry creates value, while remaining deeply committed to the expertise of language professionals and to expanding meaningful language access.
Candidate Perspective
If you had to give GALA a new tagline to convey the association's future-readiness, what would it be?
Shaping the Future of Language Access
What should GALA look like in 3 years if change keeps happening at the current pace? Who should we serve? What should we offer? What value should we deliver?
In three years, I would like to see GALA helping lead the industry through three stages of transformation: modernization, language consulting, and trusted advisory.
First, GALA should help members modernize—adopting AI, automation and emerging technologies while strengthening the human expertise on which our industry is built.
Second, as traditional language services become increasingly commoditized, GALA should help members move up the value chain from selling words and minutes to providing language consulting—designing more effective, accessible and integrated multilingual experiences.
Ultimately, our industry has the opportunity to become the trusted advisor on language and communication. Customers will need guidance on when to use AI, when humans are essential, how the two work together, and how quality, ethics, accessibility and accountability are assured.
GALA should serve the entire ecosystem—language companies, professionals, technology providers, buyers and innovators—providing principles, knowledge, standards, connections and a collective voice. It should be the platform where the industry coalesces around better language access, shares information and learns from real-world use cases—helping us seize new opportunities while pivoting from models that no longer work.
GALA should not simply help members adapt to disruption; it should help shape what our industry becomes next.
Which GALA programs have you personally participated in over the past few years? Describe any volunteer roles you've had at GALA.
I was on the program committee of the Munich Conference (2019). It was a wonderful experience. I was on the closing panel of the Valencia conference (2024) and also presented a talk there.
What is GALA doing today that you would stop doing?
Rather than simply be a forum to let the industry have its say, GALA should play the role of provocateur challenging it to fundamentally restructure what clients buy, how value is created, and where language professionals fit. This will include difficult conversations about what industry should stop selling, what clients will still pay for, where human expertise should remain indispensable, and what entirely new services we should be creating. This will mean expanding the scope of its membership to include new and relevant stakeholders such as those signed on to the UN Social Compact to advance Sustainable Development Goals and at the other extreme blockchain and crypto.