When 10,000 companies around the world rely on your products to power their daily business operations, you understand how critical it is to keep your technology best-in-class and evolving with the times.
At ABBYY, that responsibility lies with our Product Management Team — the minds driving innovation and ensuring our solutions stay ahead of change.
In this article, you’ll meet three members of that team — Michelle Yurovsky, Beth Thomas, and Dallas James — who share insights into the strategies that have shaped their success and what leadership means to them…
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Michelle Yurovsky, VP of Product Management and Strategy
Beth Thomas, Director of Product Management, Operations and Strategic Initiatives
Michelle Yurovsky, VP of Product Management and Strategy
Michelle discovered ABBYY while working at UiPath, where she spent more than five years immersed in the world of robotic process automation. After a stint in cybersecurity and a brief foray into entrepreneurship, she found her way back to the industry she’s most passionate about - intelligent automation. Today, Michelle leads ABBYY’s product organization.
What does success mean to you?
Early in my career, I defined success in very tactical terms: Did the release ship on time? Did it meet the original scope? Now, I measure success by whether my team and I have shaped something that not only drives meaningful outcomes for our customers but also has a real impact on the company - whether that’s shifting how the market perceives us or influencing the business in a significant way.
And of course, it’s about the team. At the end of the day, I’m just an idea person. Nothing gets done without the product managers who work closely with engineering to bring our vision to life.
What qualities or skills do you think are essential when aiming for leadership roles?
What I’ve come to realize is that there’s no such thing as a “perfect” manager or leader. Different people thrive under different leadership styles. To me, being an effective leader is about adaptability and understanding how to work with each individual.
For my own style, I’ve found that being direct, honest, and rational has served me well. I try not to act on emotion, but instead to ground my perspective in facts. I believe it’s essential to make people feel truly heard before offering my own opinion or making decisions. That’s something I’m always striving to get better at. Leadership, in my view, isn’t about always having the loudest voice in the room; it’s about creating an environment where people feel respected, supported, and empowered.
In what ways do you see the landscape changing for people in tech and AI?
The reality is, you’re competing with people who are already figuring out how to make AI their productivity superpower. I use AI every day in my role, and honestly, I wouldn’t be able to get nearly as much done without it. For me, it’s not just about efficiency, it’s about unlocking new ways of thinking, problem-solving, and pushing projects forward faster. Understanding how to interact with large language models, how to prompt them effectively, and how to use them to your advantage isn’t optional anymore - it’s essential. Without those skills, it’s easy to fall behind.
Please share a fun fact about yourself.
I’m a bit of a word nerd and fascinated by etymology. I speak multiple languages, which is wonderful - but it also means I sometimes miss colloquialisms in English and must stop and ask what they mean or where they came from. The unfortunate part is that I run into the same problem in the other languages I speak, too. Every now and then I’ll use a phrase that doesn’t quite make sense in any language, which always makes for a good laugh.
Beth Thomas - Director of Product Management, Operations and Strategic Initiatives
Beth began her career in tech sales and business development before moving into UX design and product management. Today, she leads ABBYY’s product operations team, driving delivery, governance, and operational excellence.
How do you define success in your role, and how has that definition changed over time?
In sales and business development, success was about building relationships and driving revenue and adoption at an account level. As I moved into product and design strategy, success became about shaping vision, roadmaps, and customer experiences that supported business goals from a user perspective. Today, in operations, success means turning strategy into measurable outcomes: creating clarity, improving efficiency, and ensuring delivery directly supports customer and business value from a people and systems perspective.
What qualities or skills do you think are essential when aiming for leadership roles?
For me, the most important qualities in leadership are about being human. It’s listening, showing empathy, and collaborating in a way that builds trust. The best teams create relationships that last well beyond the time you work together, and that’s always been one of the most rewarding parts of leadership for me. It also means having fun along the way and recognizing you don’t need to know it all. Great outcomes come from learning about others’ strengths and creating space for everyone to thrive.
In what ways do you see the AI landscape changing?
I see AI as an invaluable assistant, not a replacement. It’s already become my go-to search tool, but it’s also how I organize my thoughts, make decisions faster, kickstart projects, and analyze data. More than anything, AI is evolving into a true thought partner, helping turn ideas into action with greater speed and clarity.
What is something you enjoy outside of work?
I spend most of my free time at the barn with my horse, Potato, and my dog, Curly. Long walks with Curly or time with Potato give me the chance to be active outdoors (even in the cold Montana winters), which fuels creativity, problem-solving, and the mental clarity I need for work.
What is something you enjoy outside of work?
Each year, my family and I make a “pilgrimage” to Buffalo, NY, to watch a Bills game despite being from the West Coast. Go Bills!
Dallas James – Product Manager
Dallas began his career as a software engineer, transitioned into product management at Ionic, and now applies his technical expertise to ABBYY’s FineReader Engine, shaping tools for the developer community.
How do you define success in your role, and how has that definition changed over time?
For me, success in product management is fundamentally about the ability to build products that genuinely meet the needs of users and deliver the right solutions at the optimal time. This means deeply understanding our users' challenges, anticipating their future requirements, and then strategically crafting solutions that not only alleviate their pain points but also create significant value. It's about ensuring that what we deliver truly resonates with the market and provides a meaningful impact.
Early in my career, success might have been more narrowly defined by the timely delivery of features or the technical elegance of a solution. I've come to realize that true success isn't just about what we build or when we ship it, but why we build it and what measurable impact it has on both our users and the business. It’s shifted from a focus on output to a focus on outcomes. Now, success also encompasses fostering strong collaboration across engineering, design, sales, and marketing teams, ensuring everyone is aligned to the user problem we're solving and the value we're striving to create.
Do you have any advice for someone considering a career in product management?
My primary advice would be to cultivate a profound sense of curiosity and empathy. This role is fundamentally about understanding people – your users, your internal teams, and the market at large. Develop a habit of asking 'why' repeatedly to uncover the true underlying problems and needs.
Beyond that, focus on honing your communication and collaboration skills. Product management is a highly cross-functional role, requiring you to bridge gaps between technical, design, business, and sales teams. Being able to articulate your vision clearly, actively listen, and build consensus is paramount.
Outside of work, what is something you are enjoying at the moment?
Right now, the thing I'm really enjoying—and I mean really enjoying—is The Expanse universe. I actually just finished reading the entire book series for the second time! It's truly a hard sci-fi experience, meaning they put a lot of thought into the physics and realism of space travel, which I absolutely love.
It's incredible how much thought and detail has gone into building out this universe, from the political tensions between Earth, Mars, and the Belt, to the nuanced characters and their struggles.
Please share a fun fact about yourself
I've been working for about six years now on building my own virtual tabletop web application called RPG Sessions. It's designed to bring people together from all corners of the world to play the specific role-playing system. What's really cool is that it's grown quite a bit – we now have over 50,000 users!
Since moving into product management, I naturally get to do less hands-on coding, so RPG Sessions give me that outlet to continually build, innovate, and experiment with new technologies. It's been incredibly rewarding, blending my technical skills with a personal passion, and it's awesome to see so many people connect and create stories together through something I've developed.
Curious to learn from our ABBYY Experts?
We invite you to watch the fall edition, ABBYY Ascend 2025.2, now available on-demand. You can expect updates on product enhancements, demos from ABBYY, Ashling and IBM, and expert insights on ABBYY’s vision for new AI capabilities that are both powerful and production ready.