2015 Women of Color | SPRING - VOL. 14, NO. 1

WOC STEM Marks 20 Years of Inspiring Change

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For Today’s Career Women In Technology & Business

Renu Thomas

WOMEN

Senior Vice President, Technology and Operations Disney/ABC Networks Group

IN FINANCE,

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

THE MAKING OF A CEO: ONE ON ONE WITH MONDELEZ CEO IRENE ROSENFELD DIVERSITY GURU TED CHILDS ON SILICON VALLEY SPRING 2015 | www.womenofcolor.net

CAREER OUTLOOK: WOMEN IN TECHNOLOGY n e m o W on ls ee h W Photo by Craig Sjodin/ABC

Career Communications Group’s

For Today’s Career Women in Business and Technology

VOLUME 14 NUMBER 1 SPRING 2015

CONTENTS

FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS

14 COVER STORY

5 People and Events

TOP WOMEN IN FINANCE Financial services and information technology are two fields in which women

Build diversity in the biomedical research workforce

7 One on One Seeing the world from different perspectives: Irene Rosenfeld, CEO of Mondelez

have been making their talents known for some time. Meet a few of these trail blazers.

9 Career Voices From IT to energy: Chevron’s Carla FairWright on making it into the mix

12 Corporate Life

22 WOMEN CONTINUE TO BE

Learning the nuances of effective leadership

UNDERREPRESENTED IN STEM INDUSTRIES

41 Education

Figuring out why women remain underrepresented has proven to be difficult. But coming up with an answer is a central challenge underlying efforts to increase the number of people in STEM.

STEM interns happy for the chance

25 SILICON VALLEY AND DIVERSITY Silicon Valley’s firms have earned a spotlight on their diversity performance. They are not, however, deserving to be the sole recipient of this negative attention.

33 THE SCHOOL-TO-IBM PIPELINE Growing the talent pipeline in early-college high schools goes hand in hand with another IBM program that has had a lot of traction.

35 WOMEN ON WHEELS

45 First Steps Capital One covets interns with passion, vision for STEM

49 Career Outlook: Spotlight on women in IT • Job Horizon • Where are the top IT jobs in 2015 and beyond? Here, there and everywhere

• 20 leaders in information technology

The automotive industry is an exciting work environment for those with the right skills, talent, drive, determination and vision.

37 WOMEN IN THE AUTO INDUSTRY

Women are finding themselves right at home at various automakers. Here are a few whose leadership today will be instrumental in our driving experiences in the future.

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Career Communications Group’s

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EDITORIAL PAGE

For Today’s Career Women in Business and Technology EXECUTIVE OFFICE Tyrone D. Taborn, Publisher and Editorial Director Jean Hamilton, President and CFO EDITORIAL Lango Deen, Technology Editor Rayondon Kennedy, Assistant Editor Michael Fletcher, Contributing Editor Gale Horton Gay, Contributing Editor M.V. Greene, Contributing Editor Frank McCoy, Contributing Editor Garland L. Thompson, Contributing Editor Roger Witherspoon, Contributing Editor GRAPHIC DESIGN Sherley Petit-Homme, Art Director Bryan Clapper, Graphic Designer CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT Eric Price, Vice President, Recruitment and Training Rod Carter, College Relations Ty Taborn, Corporate Development Imani R. Carter, Corporate Communications Specialist Genevieve Kester, Recruitment Specialist Aisha Eversley, Receptionist SALES AND MARKETING Alex Venetta, Associate Publisher, Manager of Partner Services Gwendolyn Bethea, Vice President of Corporate Development ADMINISTRATION Ana Bertrand, Conference Coordinator CONFERENCE AND EVENTS Rutherford & Associates 17304 Preston Rd Suite 1020 Dallas, Texas 75252 ADVERTISING SALES OFFICE Career Communications Group, Inc. 729 E. Pratt Street, Suite 504, Baltimore, MD 21202 Phone: (410) 244-7101 | Fax: (410) 752-1834 Women of Color (ISSN 1937-0555) is a publication for today’s career women in business and technology.

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You’ve probably read the report everyone’s talking about this spring. “Double Jeopardy? Gender Bias against Women of Color in Science” was published January 2015. According to the study, subtle — and not-so-subtle — bias shapes the daily work lives of women in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Other major findings are that Black women are more likely (77 percent) than other women (66 percent) to report having to prove themselves over and over again. The stereotype that Asians are good at science appears to help Asian-American women with students — but not with colleagues. Asian Americans reported both more pressure than other groups of women to adhere to traditionally feminine roles and more pushback if they don’t.

Hispanic women who behave assertively risk being seen as “angry” or “too emotional,” even when they report they weren’t angry; they just weren’t deferential. Latinas also reported being pressured by colleagues to do admin support work for their male colleagues, such as organizing meetings and filling out forms. Both Hispanic and Black women report regularly being mistaken as janitors.

Although the study says the implication is women leave STEM in response to pervasive and persistent gender bias, the report introduces a new approach to organizational change to interrupt gender bias.

The Metrics-Based Bias Interrupters uses a four-step iterative process: 1) Survey women to find out whether they think gender bias is playing out in basic business systems (recruiting, assignments, evaluations, etc.)

2) Develop objective metrics to test whether women’s perceptions are accurate 3) implement “Bias Interrupters” to interrupt bias in real time 4) See whether the relevant metric improves and, if it doesn’t, strengthen or modify the intervention In a blog post by Rebecca Blank, current chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and former acting United States Secretary of Commerce, she wrote about a meeting with around 100 women from across the U.S. financial services industry at the White House.

The forum included business executives as well as stewards of institutional funds.

“I’m an economist by training,” Blank said. “And I’ve studied the role that women play in the workforce. When it comes to decisionmaking, in the boardroom or anywhere else, the best decisions get made when there is more diversity of perspectives and opinions at the table.”

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BE EXTRAORDINARY

in all that you do At Abbott, we recognize that diverse ideas, perspectives, and expertise allow us to successfully face the world’s healthcare challenges. Through our work in nutrition, diagnostics, devices, and pharmaceuticals, you can have a life-changing impact.

Join our diverse and inclusive work environment, connect with other talented professionals, and do work that matters.

Learn more at www.abbottcareers.com Connect with us: An equal opportunity employer (EOE Minorities/Females/Protected Veterans/Disabled), Abbott welcomes and encourages diversity in our workforce.

PEOPLE AND EVENTS

BUILD DIVERSITY IN THE BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH WORKFORCE

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Investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for diseases will need the best minds in America. That’s why the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded $31 million in 2014 to enhance diversity of the NIH-funded workforce.

Last fall, Morgan State University received a $23.3-million Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD) award, one of 12 announced by the NIH. Researchers from Maryland’s public urban university won the award for training that allows students to engage in biomedical research in creative ways.

Unlike apprenticeship models, Morgan’s “A StudentCentered Entrepreneurship Development” or ASCEND training model gives students room to take ownership of their training by proposing and selecting their topic of research, developing the research methods, writing small grants, and moving the project forward. The model has been tested in international environments with great success.

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Morgan State shows how it is done “Morgan [State University] has a very good track record of enhancing diversity in the sciences in Maryland and around the country and this is the goal of the NIH initiative,” said university president David Wilson. “We believe that winning this competitive award is recognition by NIH and others that the best way to bring more minorities into the sciences is with best practices, programs that work. And Morgan has surely proven that it has the ability to show how it is done.”

Morgan State will establish a dedicated environment, where student researchers can exchange ideas and enjoy peer support. Additionally, using this award, the university plans to strengthen its training and research, create active learning centers, improve science curricula, and acquire educational technology, all aimed at providing enhanced training in science and biomedical research.

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PEOPLE AND EVENTS

Test new models of training and mentoring Morgan’s research partners include the National Cancer Institute, Johns Hopkins University, University of Maryland, College Park, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Tufts University, Lehigh University, Northeastern University, and Fusion Partnership, Inc. The award calls for $2.9 million in the first year and more than $5 million in each of the next four years. Successful execution of the project may allow for a potential five-year renewal.

“The NIH and Morgan, along with its partners, are of one accord when it comes to the goal of this five-year award,” Wilson added. “It is to increase diversity in biomedical research by implementing innovative methods to train students from underrepresented minority backgrounds. We believe in the mission and understand how very important this is today.”

Substantial research has shown students from underrepresented backgrounds enter early biomedical research training in numbers that reflect the general population but are more likely to exit the training pathways.

“While past efforts have had significant impact on individuals, we have not made substantial progress in supporting diversity,” NIH director Dr. Francis Collins said. “This program will test new models of training and mentoring so that we can ultimately attract the best minds from all groups to biomedical research.”

Proud partners Sen. Barbara Mikulski, chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which funds the NIH, said the partnership between NIH and Morgan State is a smart investment in the future of Maryland life science jobs.

“The impact is in our communities where new leaders in research and innovation will develop new ideas becoming new businesses that support jobs today and jobs tomorrow,” Sen. Mikulski said.

Sen. Ben Cardin lauded the opportunity to foster next generation biomedical researchers, scientists and clinicians.

they strengthen their STEM education programs and reach into our communities to make a difference in people’s lives. Diversifying our biomedical workforce will help mitigate many of the inherent disparities of our health care system,” he said.

U.S. Representative for Maryland’s 7th congressional district, Elijah E. Cummings, and a member of Morgan State’s Board of Regents, said he looked forward to the positive impact on both students and the broader community.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski is the senior senator from Maryland and chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee that funds the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

A range of views “Promoting diversity in biomedical research ensures a range of views is always present in the important studies undertaken in this field. This award will support the training of bright young minds who are often underrepresented in biomedical science,” he said.

According to Dr. Victor McCrary, Morgan State’s vice president for research and economic development, the NIH BUILD Award affirms Morgan’s commitment to research, “leading to innovative outcomes as we focus on the future in creating a biomedical workforce with the technical prowess to make critical research contributions to our nation’s challenges,” he said.

Dr. Farin Kamangar, the lead investigator of the project, said they were pleased that the NIH reviewers agree that this is a radically novel program.

“We aspire to be leaders in training a new generation of biomedical researchers and to make a substantial impact at the national level,” Kamangar said.

Morgan State University is one of top five universities nationwide in the number of undergraduate degrees awarded to African Americans each year.

“I’ve been a proud partner with Morgan State University as 6

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ONE ON ONE SEE THE WORLD FROM DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES: IRENE ROSENFELD, CEO OF MONDELEZ

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Irene Rosenfeld leads more than 100,000 employees in a global snacking powerhouse. The Financial Times and Fortune magazine have ranked her on their lists of the “Top 50 Women in Global Business” and “50 Most Powerful Women in Business.” In Forbes’s “Power Women,” she ranks number 15 on the list.

Mondelez International, Inc. operates in 165 countries in chocolate, biscuits, gum, candy, coffee and powdered beverages, with billion-dollar brands such as Cadbury, Cadbury Dairy Milk and Milka chocolate, Jacobs coffee, LU, Nabisco and Oreo biscuits, Tang powdered beverages and Trident gum. According to one market monitor, Mondelez International holds the No. 1 position globally in biscuits, chocolate, candy and powdered beverages as well as the No. 2 position in gum and coffee.

Since Rosenfeld became CEO, then chairman of Mondelez International in March 2007, she has changed the face, footprint and prospects of the company by reinvigorating iconic brands, transforming the portfolio into high-growth snacks categories and strengthening its presence in vibrant emerging markets.

A close look at her biography shows that it’s not much of a stretch to think Irene Rosenfeld grew up knowing how money works.

Her father was a Long Island, New York accountant and her mother a homemaker. The story goes that young Irene Blecker dreamed of being president of the United States.

In 1975, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology — the first of three degrees from Cornell University.

Two years later she earned a master’s degree in business, followed by a Ph.D. in marketing and statistics in 1980.

She began her career learning from consumer data before joining General Foods Corporation’s marketing department in 1981. During the first 14 years of her career, she managed brands ranging from Kool-Aid to Maxwell House coffee to Oscar Mayer meats.

In 1985, General Foods was bought by the Altria Group (parent company of Philip Morris) and over a decade merged with Kraft Foods, another Altria acquisition.

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Irene Rosenfeld, chairman and CEO, Mondelez International Inc.

The making of a CEO A decade later, Rosenfeld was put in charge of Kraft Foods’ Canadian division. She also worked on integrating the biscuit products of Nabisco into Kraft Foods. In 2001, she was part of a committee that prepared Kraft Foods for its first public stock offering. Three years later, Rosenfeld left Kraft for Frito-Lay to serve as CEO and chairman, during which the company extended its product line by introducing a number of low-salt, low-fat snacks.

In 2006, she returned to Kraft Foods as CEO and became chairman of the board in 2007. She set about introducing products, entering expanding markets abroad, and reorganizing the selling of mature American brands. Four years later, she succeeded in an aggressive takeover of British confectioner, Cadbury, and then moved to split Kraft Foods into two companies, one selling grocery items in North America and the other — Mondelez International — marketing snack products around the world.

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ONE ON ONE

Collecting different experiences

cows are still producing milk.

“As I look back, every experience has taught me something I have been able to draw upon,” Rosenfeld said.

“Collecting different experiences, both good and bad, makes one a broader, more well-rounded leader. Many people ask me what kinds of experiences are best for their career. And my answer is those that will enable you to see the world from different perspectives.”

Take risks.

Rosenfeld sees the world from different perspectives but she consistently returns to one theme in her career: Five “rules of the road” she considers relevant when one is part of a team or a leader.

• Get the right people on the bus! Make sure you have the right people in the right places to help with the challenges at hand.

• Give people a roadmap so you can share where you’re going.

You simply cannot hope to steal second base with your foot firmly planted on first! You need to be prepared to stand out from the crowd — to take on risky jobs or make tough decisions. So, while I know that it can be scary, I encourage young people to take smart risks — and see what happens.

Seek out mentors.

A mentor should be someone who can give you the inside scoop, help you avoid landmines and otherwise teach you the unwritten rules of company politics. Take advantage of anyone whom you respect with good insights about the company, proximity to key decisionmakers and a willingness to coach you in the unwritten rules of your company.

Ask for what you want.

• Engage people’s hearts and minds – reinvigorate, invent and engage with people.

• Move quickly…even if it makes you uncomfortable.

• Communicate frequently, consistently and honestly.

Greatest challenge Her greatest challenge in teamwork and/or leadership are two attributes she has found will either help or hurt you more than any others: honesty and authenticity. Undoubtedly, honing the two over her career have helped her climb to the top.

Rosenfeld’s best pieces of advice are the same tips she shares with others looking to progress their own careers.

Make a difference.

A business needs to be better for your having been there.

One of my favorite sayings is, “If you do what you always did, you’ll get what you always got.” I’ve always challenged myself and the people who work with me to take new approaches to traditional business challenges, to push the envelope and constantly ask whether our sacred

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Some of my most significant promotions were for jobs that I had expressed a strong desire for. But that boldness doesn’t always come naturally. I can’t guarantee success — even if you ask very directly — but it’s certainly worth trying before going through the aggravation of changing jobs. I hate to see people frustrated or leave a company for an opportunity they could easily have had at their current company if they had only asked.

Practice the Golden Rule.

Treat people with the respect, dignity and candor you’d like to be treated with in kind.

“I’m here to help the organization accomplish its objectives rather than they are here to meet my needs,” Rosenfeld concluded. “Once you recognize that, you can engage the hearts and minds of your followers. And they are able to deliver the kind of results you are looking for.”

Rosenfeld is active in industry and community organizations, including The Economic Club of Chicago, the Board of the Consumer Goods Forum and The Business Council.

by Lango Deen, ldeen@ccgmag.com

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CAREER VOICES FROM IT TO ENERGY: CHEVRON’S CARLA FAIR-WRIGHT ON MAKING IT INTO THE MIX

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The list of career moves, academic credits, certifications and training completions scrolling under the name of Carla Fair-Wright, project consultant, ITC PAD Project Management and senior IT project manager for Chevron, in Houston, Texas, is long and daunting.

Fair-Wright has authored three chapters on case studies and applications of web-based energy information and control systems, six sigma measurement and verification, and maintenance information systems. She’s made 38 presentations and public appearances, speaking before diverse groups including the Society of Women Engineers; the American Society of Mechanical Engineers; the Project Management Institute; Toastmasters International; a Schlumberger Faculty for the Future Fellows Forum at Rice University; the American Society of Indian Engineers; the National Society of Black Engineers; and many others not named here.

Oh, yes, and she also does work.

At the energy major Chevron, Fair-Wright notes that she is “responsible for the management of complex projects” valued between $1 million and $6 million, as well as “mentoring other ITC PAD managers on Chevron Project Managers on Chevron Project Development and Execution Process for IT methodology, cost estimating, and other challenges.”

Drilling down, we see that Fair-Wright is now managing Chevron’s California Cogen Information Technology Project, which is focused on the upgrade of network infrastructures for six recently acquired Left Coast power generation plants. There, she’s responsible for integrating all existing software applications and database conversion activities on the $4 million project, with, as she says “headcount of up to 30 resources (30 percent contractors and 70 percent internal).”

Still with us? She is also project manager, Gas Turbine Reliability, Availability and Maintainability (GT RAM) standardization project. Its purpose is to provide a standard process for the collection, analysis, visualization, and distribution of GT RAM data across the Chevron fleet.

Experience, insights get noticed Now you see why Carla Fair-Wright has been tapped

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Carla Fair-Wright, project consultant, ITC PAD project management and senior IT project manager, Chevron

Carla Fair-Wright • Certified Project Management Professional • Microsoft-Certified Technology Specialist • American Society for Quality-Certified Software Quality Engineer • Six Sigma Greenbelt training • Functional Consultant training at Milestone Institute in high-powered SAP database software management and development skills.

• Graduate of the Community College of the Air Force, not once, but twice, with associate’s degrees in electronic systems technology and management information science.

• Still another associate of science degree from Texas’ Vernon Regional Junior College, in occupational technology.

• A bachelor’s degree in computer science from Troy State University, Montgomery, Alabama, with further work in a master’s degree program.

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for all those presentations and appearances. With America in the midst of a hydrocarbon energy revolution, rapidly shifting from coal-fired electric power generation to gas-fired co-generators, there is a high demand for technology professionals who are driving similarly rapid advances in equipment reliability and the harmonization of monitoring and reporting systems between legacy operations technology systems and business-oriented IT systems. And it is clear from her career track that Fair-Wright is one of those hot hands in the highest demand.

After her Air Force service, Fair-Wright worked as a software consultant in Houston, helping Shell Oil to prioritize and develop a custom-developed parking management system, among other assignments. Then in 2002 she joined Cameron, a Houston-based provider of flow-equipment products, systems and services to worldwide oil, gas and process industries.

“Take on extra duties, have a positive attitude and always do a little bit more than asked. It takes commitment. Building a social network is important, but building a reputation for excellence at your job in the early years is crucial for success.”

Answers readers can use With all that perspective, Women of Color (WOC) magazine asked Fair-Wright to help readers understand her high-profile career and learn from her how they can emulate her example. Her answers were insightful:

Broadening her reach That seven-year stint led to a step up, to project management consultant at Optimal Consulting LLC, a Houston-based consulting and corporate training service provider.

At Optimal, Fair-Wright worked a contract to manage a dispersed team supporting a $40 million Tiburon software upgrade project for more than 6,000 users working for state and local government agencies.

She also provided training services for the China National Petroleum Corporation, the Asian giant’s largest oil and gas producer. On that contract, Fair-Wright provided yearly project-management training to 80 Clevel executives as part of a project management professional certification program hosted by the University of Houston’s Asian Affairs department.

Still gong strong, Fair-Wright managed, developed and led implementation of custom training for some 1,000 British Petroleum employees and contractors, including classroom sessions as well as a self-paced online class.

And in 2013, she parachuted out to Chevron.

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WOC: How did you choose a technology career, and how did you come to focus on energy?

FAIR-WRIGHT: I graduated from college with a B.S. in computer science and spent the first 13 years of my career working as a computer programmer in the U.S. Air Force. I left active duty in 1995 and moved to Houston, where I worked as a consultant for Shell Oil. I enjoyed consulting, but was offered an amazing opportunity as the technical design authority on Cameron’s computerized maintenance management system. For seven years, I worked in Cameron’s Maintenance Technology, designing software systems used in the planning and scheduling of maintenance on large industrial engines and compressors.

WOC: Would you say you had good guidance as you entered this field? Have you had mentors who helped you build the skill set and exposures that have helped you progress?

FAIR-WRIGHT: As a member of Society of Women Engineers (SWE), I had the good fortune to be mentored throughout my career in Houston. I was lucky enough to have two fantastic mentors, Jeannie Gardner, a past

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CAREER VOICES

president of Women’s Energy Network (WEN) and Lindsay Laskowski Forsyth, a brilliant young engineer and past president of SWE Houston. From them, I learned how to influence others and self-manage myself.

very serious war for talent, especially in the STEM area.

STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math. This driving need for technical talent transcends all gender and race lines.

WOC: How does one go about finding and linking up with a mentor? Does Chevron have programs that make it easier?

WOC: It’s very clear that the rapid progress in IT fields is driving new approaches to the use of process technologies in the energy field. Harmonization of interfaces and reporting systems, to permit smoother working relationships between the engineers and technical workers in the production and processing fields and the managerial heads in the business offices has been signaled as the way to go. How has this new impetus affected your work?

FAIR-WRIGHT: I hear people often say their company doesn’t have a formal mentor program. There was no formal mentor program at Cameron, so I would target certain people that I saw as role models and simply ask them. Most people are flattered by the request.

Mentoring doesn’t always mean a formal one hour face-to-face. It can be a question, an email, or a conversation over lunch. Successful people are often time constrained. I had several mentors that I would interact with in various ways. Chevron has one of the most well developed mentoring programs that I have ever participated in. My Chevron mentor provided me with guidance and advice and has been instrumental in my success at Chevron.

WOC: The American Petroleum Institute has published reports on the employment outlook for African Americans and Latinos in both the upstream oil and gas industry and the downstream refining and chemical manufacturing industry, predicting a “big crew change” as many experienced personnel leave the workforce and many new entrance show up from very different backgrounds.

How does it look to you? Do you see many energy companies, majors like Chevron, but also major independents, working to make their doors more open to career entrants from minority communities?

FAIR-WRIGHT: No competitive company can ignore the research that is coming out on the benefits of diversity. Studies have shown that diversity on teams has a positive impact on profitability. I recently read that workplace diversity has been shown to improve employee morale. As a result employees work more effectively and efficiently. I have recruited for several organizations in the energy industry and there is a

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FAIR-WRIGHT: I believe it was Peter Drucker who coined the phrase “knowledge worker.” This is the age of the knowledge worker. Aided by the tools of technology, the ability to collaborate and share information has grown exponentially in the last few years. We are connected to each other globally. To be effective, I had to learn to communicate across different social norms and cultures. I invest my time in becoming better at communications and growing as a leader.

WOC: What insights can you offer a young person looking to develop a career in IT work in the energy field? How can a person get in to work on, say, internships as she works to complete her degree studies? Are there some do’s and don’ts you’d offer?

FAIR-WRIGHT: This a great time to be in IT. If you are looking for internships, set yourself up for success by doing just a few very important things. First, you need a competitive GPA. You don’t’ have to be a 3.8 or higher, but anything less than a 3.6 is not going to cut it. You need to show leadership experience. Don’t just join a club, take an officer role and lead a committee. Once you have the internship, you need to deliver.

Take on extra duties, have a positive attitude and always do a little bit more than asked. It takes commitment. Building a social network is important, but building a reputation for excellence at your job in the early years is crucial for success.

by Garland Thompson,gthompson@ccgmag.com

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CORPORATE LIFE LEARNING THE NUANCES OF EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP

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Leadership has many faces, and up-and-coming leaders would be wise to acquaint themselves with the many nuances of leadership as well as identify and enhance their individual leadership style.

That’s the advice of three women executives who say being an effective leader involves understanding how to influence and motivate others, engender trust and serve the goals of one’s company or organization.

Shelley Mills-Brinkley, a partner in global business with IBM, said her strategy is to take a “win-win” approach to leadership.

The book, “says that ‘trust is the essence of leadership and can be defined as the willingness to be vulnerable to the actions of a leader based on the expectations that the leader will take action in a manner that is important to the employee,’” said Mills-Brinkley.

“It does not necessarily mean that it will do exactly what the employee wants. And the reason I bring that up, it gets back to my leadership strategy, which is one of always win-win.”

LaSonya Berry, chief executive officer of McPherson Berry, an HR consulting service company, describes leadership as a journey, a process, which has four key quadrants: idealized influence, inspirational influence, intellectual stimulation and individual consideration.

“One thing about the win-win strategy is you want people to walk away with both sides getting something,” Mills-Brinkley said. “Maybe not everything, but it is a place where both people can feel that She concurs with Mills-Brinkley and said they’ve got something, and they can go the quickest way to influence people is back to their respective organizations and to build trust. be able to say, ‘We did quite well. We got these three things. I wanted nine, but I “‘Because without trust, do you think got three, but they were the key three you’re going to have any followers?”

Shelley Mills-Brinkley, partner in global things.’ And even though they may not Berry asked. “No.” business, IBM have been the key three things, it allows the people to save face in their organizations.

She added that managers must know their people well enough to understand what motivates them.

“I am a social worker by education,” said Mills-Brinkley. “I have a master’s degree in social work from the University “The mistake leaders make is assuming that everybody is of Connecticut. However, I knew I couldn’t do direct serinfluenced by money. As the manager, as the leader, part vice, but I wanted to impact the lives of many. So I comof your responsibility is to get to know your people on an bined technology and social services, and I’m responsible individual basis to find out what makes them tick, what for implementing large-scale systems integration projects are their career aspirations,” said Berry. that really focus around health and human services.”

“You have to help them understand they [have] got to Mills-Brinkley recommends a book titled “We” by Rudy align their interests with the company’s interest, with Karsan and Kevin Kruse that she said she lives by and your department’s interest. All of this has to be in alignhighly recommends to young people. ment. If it’s not in alignment, you will not be what? Successful. Because you cannot do it all by yourself.”

“It is an interactive book that has links online,” said Mills-Brinkley. “It allows you to assess your own leaderBerry suggests analyzing the attributes that individual ship skills. It tells you to be CEO for your own life, [about] employees bring to the workplace. those kinds of interactions that will help you become CEO of your own life, and the things that you need to do to “What do they bring to your team? If you are a good become a good leader.” leader, you are assessing your employees, your teams, your cross-functional teams, and you’re trying to figure She added that trust is an essential element of leadership. out who has what skill,” she said.

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CORPORATE LIFE

She also stressed the importance of creating a personal vision statement, leading by example, collaboration and coaching others. Focusing on the success of employees is also crucial.

“What is it going to take for them to be successful?” asked Berry. “You will quickly gain their trust and their influence if they know that you’re concerned about what them and them being successful.

Berry also cautioned women leaders to learn from male counterparts and be more circumspect in the sharing of personal information.

“So many times we think that we’re doing the right thing, we’re not flexible,” said Nelson. “We think that we know the true vision, but we don’t know the vision. So he may have had an ineffective way of being a manager, but when I think back on a lot of the things that he wanted me to do, I think that would have really helped my career propel. But I did not take advantage of that.”

Nelson reiterated the importance of embracing an organization’s vision and one’s role in it — sometimes even if that vision isn’t completely clear.

“How much do you really know about the men in your organization?” Berry asked. “You know about what they do at work, right? You know how they perform at work, but how often do you really see them crossing over the line? You really have to get close to them before you find out other things about them.”

“So in a long, long career, we may have managers that have these [difficult] traits. You have to learn how to accept some of things, as long as he or she is not asking you to do something that’s unethical. You may not agree with it, but you may not know the entire plan so it’s really important for you to embrace that if you want your career to propel.”

She added that organizations don’t really care about an individual’s children or home life.

All three women agreed that leaders need someone to turn to for counsel, coaching and when the road gets rough.

“Now don’t get me wrong. They’re family-oriented, but how does that impact the bottom line? They care about how it’s going to impact the company.

Said Mills-Brinkley, “Now, the one thing that I have learned in being in different leadership roles, either military or my civilian career, is I can’t do this alone. Sometimes you need someone to either vent to or someone to coach you. A true, true friend, regardless if they’re male, female, black, white, blue, green, that will give you honest answers and will listen and digest what you say, think about it and then come back to you with answers that are unbiased.”

“What you do on your personal time will impact your professional life. That’s why they say certain things you keep out the workplace. Keep your marital information out of the workplace. Keep your religious preferences out of the workplace.”

And she added that emerging leaders would be foolish to think that personal information shared between colleagues isn’t going to make its way to others.

“People don’t keep their mouths shut at work,” said Berry. “They’re going to share. They’re going to use whatever’s necessary to get where they want to go.”

Veronica Nelson, campus relations manager at Northrop Grumman Corp., said that earlier in her career in the 1980s she worked in manufacturing and had an “ineffective” supervisor who micromanaged. She said she was immature at that time and responded by bucking against his leadership and not doing what he asked her to do.

She said it almost derailed her career.

www.womenofcolor.net

“We all need to do some soul searching,” said Nelson.

“Sometimes going through rough times you start to doubt yourself. You don’t see the value within yourself, but it’s good to have that network and people who will help you through rough spots and when you’re dealing with these managers who have these traits.”

Berry said turning to the right people is crucial.

“I don’t know how many times I’ve called peers outside of where I work to give me advice, so that I could tell them how I really feel, so I wouldn’t have to worry about things staying confidential,” she said “’Because they had no stake in the game where I worked.”

by Gale Horton Gay, ghorton@ccgmag.com

WOMENOFCOLOR | SPRING 2015

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TOP WOMEN IN FINANCE AND TECHNOLOGY

DIVERSE EXPERIENCE PREPARED VP WELL FOR CURRENT ROLE

By Gale Horton Gay

R

enu Thomas oversees the technical and operational strategic direction and management of all television functions across U.S. Domestic Disney Channel, Disney XD, Disney Junior, ABC Family, Disney ABC Domestic Television and Radio Disney. Additionally, Renu provides support and collaborates with teams in Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Canada on operational and technical activities involving production, channel origination, satellite asset management, foreign language dubbing, and duplication, distribution, advanced technology, studio operations and technical affiliate relations.

Thomas joined The Walt Disney Company in 2007 as vice president of operations, responsible for setting the overall strategy and leading the operations for studios, control rooms, editing and graphics for all ABC News programs such as Good Morning America, World News, Nightline and 20/20. She graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Science and master’s degree in engineering in operations research and industrial engineering degree. She is involved in alumni activities including the President’s Council of Cornell Women and Engineering College Council.

Women of Color magazine asked Thomas to give more insight into technology and operations and how she achieved success in the field: WOC: Sounds like your position involves a complex range of responsibilities at Disney and supporting teams internationally, how do you juggle so many duties?

RT: I have a great team who are experts in their fields. That makes all of us successful.

WOC: What is the most challenging part of your job?

RT: The television industry is going through fundamental changes right now—everything from what the consumer watches to how. In my role in Technology and Operations, I need to lead the transformation of workflows and leverage technology in a much more agile manner. Implementing the technology is the easy part, but for real transformation, the challenging part is changing the culture.

14

WOMENOFCOLOR | SPRING 2015

Renu Thomas, senior vice president, technology and operations, Disney/ABC Networks Group

WOC: What is the most rewarding aspect of your job?

RT: The most rewarding part of my job is seeing people develop and grow and providing that mentorship and leadership to help them.

WOC: Many young people want to be out front, in the limelight, talk about the benefits/opportunities of working behind the scenes?

RT: Being in Technology and Operations, you get to work with all parts of the organization - programming/production/marketing/finance/HR etc. There is no better way to understand a business than to get that kind of exposure.

WOC: What got you interested in operations?

RT: I have an operations research and industrial engineering degree, so I have always looked at things as a process and how to optimize that process. Being able to do that at The Walt Disney Company and work in television is the best combination.

WOC: What type of career did you envision for yourself when you started college and when you ended college?

www.womenofcolor.net

RT: I thought with my degree I would end up working in consulting or manufacturing. I stayed for my master of engineering degree at Cornell and my first job was on a factory floor being a manufacturing engineer for circuit boards in the aerospace industry.

WOC: Tell us a little about your career path.

RT: My first job was with GE at a plant startup and then I traveled full time internationally with GE audit staff, which was more of an internal consulting group, as well as financial audit team. I see that as my “on the job MBA” and that led me to NBC which GE owned. I started out as a Six Sigma project manager at NBC and one of the leaders there saw something in me and promoted me to director of studio operations running all the news and entertainment studios at 30 Rock [30 Rockefeller Center]. I then went to PBS News Hour where I was director of production and that is where I learned all aspects of television production. I ended up at Disney after that working for ABC News running operations. We went through a digital transformation during my tenure there and built the first automated control room for Network News. I met my current manager

Vince Roberts during that time and he offered me the opportunity in Burbank. I never thought I would move from NYC but took the risk and am learning even more areas of television and working in a more global role.

WOC: What advice do you give to young people interested in reaching your level?

RT: Learn from everyone in the organization, not just those in senior levels. My greatest learning experiences have been from the operators on a manufacturing floor to the control room operators. They helped me truly understand the industries I was working in.

Take risks and take those lateral roles versus just waiting for the promotion. Everything happens for a reason and those type of experiences will probably help you grow and learn more.

WOC: What advice do you give to young women interested in a career in technology?

RT: Technology is probably one of the best fields to be in, not only is it being in the forefront of change, but it is also fun. Don’t be intimidated and don’t forget the other women who are coming behind you.

TOP WOMEN IN FINANCE AND TECHNOLOGY Elizabeth A. Duke Elizabeth A. “Betsy” Duke, a former member of the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System, was elected to Wells Fargo board of directors in November 2014. Duke will serve on the board’s risk committee. She has served in various senior leadership roles in banking, including as chief operating officer of TowneBank, chief executive officer of Bank of Tidewater and as a senior officer of SouthTrust Bank and Wachovia Bank, N.A. She served on the board of directors of the American Bankers Association (ABA) from 1999 to 2006, becoming the first woman to serve as chair of the ABA in 2004. Currently, Duke is an executive-in-residence at Old Dominion University, where she received her MBA.

Audrey Choi Audrey Choi is chief executive officer of Morgan Stanley’s Institute for Sustainable Investing and managing director and head of Morgan Stanley’s global sustainable finance group. She oversees the firm’s efforts to support resilient communities and promote economic opportunity and global sustainability through the capital markets. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, she held senior policy positions in www.womenofcolor.net

the Clinton administration, the Commerce Department and the Federal Communications Commission. While at the White House, she served as chief of staff of the Council of Economic Advisers and domestic policy advisor to the vice president. She is currently a member of President Obama’s U.S. Community Development Advisory Board. She is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Business School.

Tal Payne Tal Payne has served as chief financial officer for Check Point Software Technologies since June 2008.

She previously was chief financial officer at Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd., a provider of products and services for satellite-based communications networks.

During her tenure at Gilat, Payne was responsible for the WOMENOFCOLOR | SPRING 2015

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strategic planning, development and leadership of the finance organization and held the role of vice president of finance for more than five years. Before joining Gilat, she was employed at PricewaterhouseCoopers, a professional services company specializing in accounting and consulting.

as a vice president and was named managing director in 2008. Prior to joining the firm, Yung worked for seven years at JPMorgan Chase. She also worked in Singapore, London and New York.

Angela Lai

Lori Beer is a managing director at JP Morgan Chase.

Previously she worked as executive vice president, specialty business and information technology for WellPoint. She’s also on the executive advisory board of the National Center for Women in Information Technology and the board of directors for Vantiv.

Angela leads the Knowledge Engine team in Search at Google. In the mobile world where the ten blue links are no longer sufficient, Knowledge Engine acquires structured data to understand the world and the user’s context, and gives relevant and informative answers on-the-go. Previously, Angela led various teams in the commercial part of Google, including AdWords and Payments, where she led generations of infrastructure development as well as many innovative and impactful products.

Prior to Google, Angela was founder of a video technology startup called Generic Media, and before then a Principal Engineer at Silicon Graphics.

Angela holds a Master’s Degree and a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, and Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from the Wharton School.

Susan Yung Susan Yung is the co-head of Bangalore operations for Goldman Sachs. She serves as co-chair of the Bangalore People Development Committee and is a member of the Bangalore Executive Committee, the Operations Operating Committee and the Operations Risk Committee. Yung also sponsors the Bangalore Operations Women’s Network and is a member of the India Diversity Committee. Prior to assuming her current role in 2014, Susan was the global head of position management and Americas regional head of securities operations. She joined Goldman Sachs in 2000 16

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Lori Beer

Meg McCarthy Meg McCarthy is executive vice president, operations and technology at Aetna. She is responsible for clinical innovation, technology and service operations. She also has been responsible for process and performance improvement, procurement and real estate services.

McCarthy has served as vice president and head of business solutions delivery at Aetna, which brought together IT project management, development, quality engineering and IT-related business-process reengineering functions necessary to create, develop and deliver end-to-end business solutions. She has served as Aetna’s chief information officer. Prior to joining Aetna in 2003, McCarthy was senior vice president of information technology at CIGNA Healthcare. She has 30 years of information systems and health care operations experience.

Catherine Lesjak Catherine A. Lesjak has served as executive vice president and chief financial officer of Hewlett-Packard (HP) since 2007.

www.womenofcolor.net

She was interim chief executive officer of HP from August 2010 through October 2010. Lesjak joined HP in 1986 and has held a broad range of financial leadership roles. Before being named CFO, she served as senior vice president and treasurer, responsible for managing the company’s worldwide cash, debt, foreign exchange, capital structure, risk management and benefits plan administration. Earlier in her career at HP, she managed financial operations for Enterprise Marketing and Solutions and the Software Global Business Unit.

Carla Harris Carla Harris is vice chairman of wealth management and senior client advisor at Morgan Stanley.

She was chair of the Morgan Stanley Foundation from 2005 to 2014, and sits on the boards of several community organizations. In August 2013, Harris was appointed by President Barack Obama to chair the National Women’s Business Council. She is a gospel recording artist and a popular public speaker who gives career guidance to corporate audiences based on her books, “Expect to Win and Strategize to Win.” She joined Morgan Stanley in 1987 after completing a bachelor degree in economics from Harvard University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Edith Cooper Edith Cooper is global head of human capital management. She has been an executive vice president of Goldman Sachs since 2011. She is a member of the Management Committee, serves as vice chair of the Partnership Committee, and is on various other committees at the firm. Previously, Cooper was in sales management and led several businesses within the Securities Division. She first joined Goldman Sachs in 1996 to build and lead the firm’s Energy Sales Group in New York. In 2002, she was responsible for the firm’s futures business and, prior to that, she was co-head of the commodities business in Europe and Asia. Cooper was named managing director in 1998 and partner in 2000. www.womenofcolor.net

Ileana Rivera Ileana Rivera is the Senior Director of IT for Computing and Client Productivity Services for Cisco Systems. Rivera leads the teams responsible for desktop, mobility hardware/ software, mobile applications, eStore, email/messaging and cloud productivity apps for Cisco’s global workforce (70,000+) and manages a budget of over $70M and a team of 125 employees. Previously at Cisco, Rivera was the IT Regional leader for Latin America. She and her team were responsible for managing all IT related client interactions for the Product Sales and Services Sales organizations and to the overall user community in Latin America which account for over $2.4B revenue. Rivera is a Board Member for the Hispanic IT Executive Council and advisory board member for the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT). At Cisco she is an active member for Conexión, Cisco’s Latino Employee Resource Group, and Senior Women in IT Council, organizations dedicated to the advancement, mentoring and promotion of Latinos and woman at Cisco.

Latasha Gary Latasha Gary is global IT director at Hewlett-Packard and has been a 25-plus-years veteran in the IT field. Much of her experience has been leading a team of global IT professionals. She has provided support to a wide variety of business and functions including direct and indirect sales, order management and supply chain, services procurement, financial services, financial management, sales compensation, portfolio management and more. Gary began working at Hewlett-Packard in 2002, rising through the ranks. Previously she was with Compaq Computer Corp. for 13 years as IT systems analyst and senior manager. She has received several recognitions including Information Technology Senior Management Forum Member of the Year.

Jean Chu Jean Chu is channel technical manager at IBM. She is the leader for cloud and smarter infrastructure for the IBM software group and is responsible for account management of 12 top Tivoli Channel partners in North America, a group that includes value-added resellers WOMENOFCOLOR | SPRING 2015

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and distributors, system integrators, and solution providers.

In this role, she provides pre-sales technical enablement and product positioning, solution construction, implementation, and system integration within the technology, industry, or business specialty. Chu has been recognized by her firm with the Plateau Award, which honors employees reaching a plateau of invention activity.

Myrna Soto Myrna Soto is senior vice president and chief infrastructure and information security officer at Comcast.

In this role, Soto is responsible for enterprise information and infrastructure security strategy at Comcast. She oversees several security teams focusing on the protection of customer data, the security of Comcast’s enterprise and delivery infrastructure as well as all technology compliance-related activities. She joined Comcast In September 2009 and brings more than 20 years of focused information technology and security experience from a variety of industries. These industries include financial ser-

vices, hospitality, insurance/risk management and gaming/ entertainment industry. She is also vice president of the Hispanic IT executive council.

Karen Atwood Karen Atwood is executive vice president of Health Care Service Corporation responsible for information technology, service delivery and operations, overseeing the company’s technology needs and claims, customer service and membership administration. Before assuming this position in 2015, she served as president of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois (BCBSIL). Atwood joined BCBSIL in 1979 and headed its National Accounts Division, as well as served as HCSC’s chief underwriter and in various roles in financial operations, cost and budgets, and financial reporting. Atwood received a master’s degree in business administration from DePaul University and a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Illinois, Champaign/Urbana. She is a certified public accountant.

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It takes the best and the brightest to

be L-3

L-3 is a top ten U.S. defense prime contractor, Fortune 250 company, and key provider of mission-critical technologies to military and commercial customers.

But more than anything else, L-3 is its people. Every individual in our company brings a unique background, perspective and set of abilities. These differences improve our creativity, innovation, agility and execution. Diversity is a key part of our business strategy — and a big factor in our ongoing success.

We have assignments in the U.S. and around the world in Engineering, Program Management, Business Development, Cybersecurity and more! Share your ideas and help us develop the game-changing technologies of the future.

Learn more and apply at www.L-3jobs.com

L-3 Communications Corporation is proud to be an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. L-3 provides equal employment opportunity for all persons, in all facets of employment. L-3 maintains a drug-free workplace and performs pre-employment substance abuse testing and background checks.

We encourage minorities, women, protected veterans, and disabled individuals to apply for any open position for which they feel they are qualified.

RAYTHEON PEOPLE

INNOVATION.

DRIVEN BY DIVERSITY. As one of the world’s foremost technology leaders, Raytheon takes on some of the most difficult challenges imaginable. Meeting those challenges requires a diversity of talent, ideas, backgrounds, opinions and beliefs. Diversity helps our teams make better decisions, build stronger customer relationships and feel more inspired, supported and empowered. It is both a catalyst and an essential advantage to everything we do.

Raytheon.com/careers Connect with us: © 2015 Raytheon Company. All rights reserved. “Customer Success Is Our Mission” is a registered trademark of Raytheon Company. Raytheon is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer and welcomes a wide diversity of applicants. U.S. citizenship and security clearance may be required.

WOMEN CONTINUE TO BE UNDERREPRESENTED IN STEM INDUSTRIES W

By Michael A. Fletcher

omen constitute close to half of the nation’s workforce and they account for 57 percent of the nation’s college graduates. What’s more, surveys have found, women are on average more attentive and more serious minded students than their male counterparts.

So why, then, do women continue to be underrepresented in most science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) professions?

So far it is a puzzle. But coming up with an answer to that question is a central challenge underlying the nation’s efforts to increase the number of people working in STEM professions that are critical to future prosperity.

Figuring out why women remain underrepresented in STEM professions has proven to be difficult. Almost everyone has dismissed the idea suggested in the past that women 22

WOMENOFCOLOR |SPRING 2015

somehow are not mentally equipped for the work. Instead, most researchers have come to believe that at least part of the solution lies in complex and deeply ingrained notions of gender roles, societal expectations, self-confidence, as well as how men and women measure success and deal with failure.

There also is the problem of a shortage of role models and the reality that some women receive a cool reception in STEM classrooms and on the job. Part of the problem might even have to do with what women think about when looking for a mate.

www.womenofcolor.net

“The striking disparity between the numbers of men and women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics has often been considered as evidence of biologically driven gender differences in abilities and interests,” said a report from American Association of American Women commissioned by the National Science Foundation. “The classical formulation of this idea is that men ‘naturally’ excel in mathematically demanding disciplines, whereas women ‘naturally’ excel in fields using language skills.”

But, the report noted, there is nothing at all natural about the STEM gender disparity. Instead, the report said, the disparity has much to do with culture and learning environments and how our society cultivates interests and abilities.

One thing for sure is that the gap starts early. Males are falling behind women academically overall. Yet, they continue to outscore women on the math portion of the SAT. Things only grow more disparate from there. Women account for 41 percent of science and engineering graduates, and from there men tend to pursue STEM careers in greater numbers.

The Department of Commerce has found that women with STEM degrees are less likely than their male counterparts to work in STEM jobs even those women who take those jobs, earned 33 percent more than comparable women in nonSTEM jobs.

The outcome is predictable: roughly three in four STEM professionals are men, the Census Bureau reports. That is an improvement from four decades ago, when women accounted for just 3 percent of the engineers and 15 percent of math professionals and computer programmers. But it is also true that the share of women in computer occupations has declined since the 1990s.

Continuing disparities have led to concern at the very top of the government. Race to the Top, the federal education initiative launched under President Obama, has as a central goal increasing the rigor of STEM education while broadening the participation of women and girls in the growing and well-paying field.

“One of the things that I really strongly believe in is that we need to have more girls interested in math, science, and engineering,” Obama has said. “We’ve got half the population that is way underrepresented in those fields and that means that we’ve got a whole bunch of talent…that is not being encouraged.”

Addressing the shortfall is easier said than done.

Maria Klawe is a woman who has broken through STEM’s glass ceiling and has since been an advocate for other women to follow her lead. She is a mathematician and computer scientist, former dean of engineering at Princeton University and now president of Harvey Mudd College, a highly regarded science and engineering school in southern California. www.womenofcolor.net

Maria Klawe, president, Harvey Mudd College

Since taking over as Harvey Mudd president in 2006, Klawe has helped boost the proportion of women at Harvey Mudd from about 32 percent to nearly 50 percent. Women accounted for 54 percent of the senior class last year, and when it came to computer science — a STEM profession with notoriously low female representation — she had raised the enrollment from 10 percent to 40 percent.

For society to get where it needs to be, she said, we need to change how we think about fields like computer science.

Through the years, she said, she found three main reasons why women shied away from many STEM fields. One, they found them boring. Two, she said, “all those computer science guys are geeky guys with no life. And I don’t want to hang out with them.” Thirdly, she said, women, more than men, are more apt to say, “I wouldn’t be good at it anyway.”

The key to changing that, she said, was to make the courses fun and interesting, although no less rigorous. She said women need to be shown that many other “cool women” are in the field. Finally, she said, “you have to take way the intimidation factor and make it fun and not scary.”

Sometimes the changes were mostly semantic, Klawe said, WOMENOFCOLOR | SPRING 2015

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such as changing the name of a course from “Learn to Program in Java,” to “Creative Problem Solving Using Computational Approaches with Python.”

On a larger level, getting more women into STEM will involve getting women to be more comfortable with courting failure and even getting lower grades.

Researchers have found that science and engineering courses end with fewer students getting top grades than, say, humanities classes. And other researchers have found that the prospect of getting lower grades is why women are abandoning those classes. Men, it appears, are not intimidated by stingy grades, in large part because they are less likely to define themselves by the grades they receive. They still think they are smart, even if they get a “C.” Also, they seem to focus on the certainty that many STEM fields will lead to lucrative careers, even if they do not receive an “A” in every class.

Women are pushed aside “at every step of the way,” along a STEM career path, said Carol Greider, the 2009 winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and a professor and director of the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at John Hopkins University School of Medicine. “There are lots of different layers” — the post-doc level, the assistant professor level — for women to leak out.

That is compounded when women themselves doubt their own abilities — something that also has to change. More than men, women worry that they are really failures and that their achievements are only momentary breaks that come before they are found out as imposters.

“It’s a confidence level thing,” said Nancy Hopkins, a professor of molecular biology at MIT, speaking at a conference.

“It’s not so much [women] aren’t doing well, it’s that they don’t think they are doing well.”

Also, experts say, more needs to be done to encourage women along the way even when they pursue technical careers.

They say women who go into STEM careers often encounter obstacles—often subtle—ranging from being overlooked by professors, to being overlooked by bosses, or at meeting, or when it comes time for promotions, that leave them discouraged.

University of Pennsylvania researchers have found that professors “ignored requests from women and minorities at a higher rate than requests from white males. The report found a 25-percentage-point gap in the response rate to Caucasian males versus women and minorities.

It was hardly the only research to find such bias. A couple years ago, Yale researchers published a study showing that many scientists—physicists, biologists, chemists—were more likely to see young male colleagues more favorably than women with the same qualifications. The study presented 24

WOMENOFCOLOR |SPRING 2015

Carol Greider, professor and director, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

scientists with summaries of the accomplishments of two fictional applicants, professors at six major research institutions were significantly more willing to offer the man a job. If they did hire the woman, they wanted to pay her less. Even women scientists showed the same bias.

For many, the study said a lot about continuing bias against women in the sciences. Changing that is important not just to women, but to all of society.

“Every single problem that faces society today, whether we’re talking about health care, or poverty, or anything else, education, is going to involve computing technology as part of the solution. It won’t only involve it. They’ll be lots of other disciplines,” Klawe said at a Washington conference, adding: “If the only people who are working on those problems are white and Asian males, I’m sorry; we will not get the right kinds of solutions that our world needs. We need diverse people with different backgrounds to come at it.”

www.womenofcolor.net

SILICON VALLEY AND DIVERSITY

By Ted Childs

I

initially wrote this piece as a response to the October 4, 2014 New York Times (NYT) editorial entitled “Silicon Valley’s Diversity Problem.” The article was an indictment of Silicon Valley’s lack of performance in the diversity space, not just in technical jobs, but in all jobs.

Silicon Valley’s firms are modern day growth engines, and they have earned a spotlight on their diversity performance.

They are not, however, deserving to be the sole recipient of this negative attention.

With clarity, the NYT Editorial frames a picture of the skills the IT industry needs, and where the Silicon Valley goes to seek those skills, as well as the apparent lack of interest in going where diverse students populate classrooms.

Silicon Valley is getting more attention than they deserve for what they have not done. While guilty as charged, more established companies have done in the past what they are not doing now. I will say more about that later, but it is this collective vacuum of leadership that is contributing to our declining national performance in both the development and employment of gender and minority STEM talent.

I would hope that the eastern United States, particularly the HBCU network, would be seen as a critical resource — as most of the people in the nation live east of the Mississippi.

There are, however, women, Black, Hispanic and Native American students in the western United States. If they have not been deemed worthy of employment, then in my view they were not wanted. While we have had a half century of, “periodic” national interest in students of color, in the Silicon Valley, the message has been interpreted as “Students of color need not apply.”

The opening paragraph of the NYT editorial, in referring to Silicon Valley, said that “Most of their employees are white and Asian men. Among technical employees, few are women, and even fewer are Latino or African American.”

Noteworthy is a paragraph dedicated to Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and student performance leader in technical career paths in the east. But the inability of these students to be sought out in Silicon Valley, however, is shameful. For the record, UMBC has the highest number of minority students go on to achieve a STEM related PhD of any university in the United States. Freeman is a dear friend, and it is particularly gratifying to see the results of his work highlighted in such a prestigious forum.

www.womenofcolor.net

Vacuum of leadership This is yet one more example of a sometimes regional, sometimes national vacuum of leadership.

The 15 HBCU’s with an accredited school of engineering represent four percent of America’s engineering colleges, but produce 30 percent of her Black STEM graduates. The organization that represents their collective interests is AMIE, Advancing Minority Interests in Engineering. Companion to

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AMIE are four organizations that represent college students majoring in STEM, and comprised of college chapters around the nation: AISES/ Native American; NSBE/Black; SHPE/ Hispanic and SWE/Women. This is a collective “talent well” where when you retrieve the bucket, you will be assured of the quality and taste of the water you get.

I reference the vacuum of leadership comfortably because we still get the same questions today that we got in the ‘60s and ‘70s regarding affirmative action and life/work issues. Even in the Silicon Valley, where we have had senior line executives who were graduates of HBCU’s, and where we now see women in senior executive roles. Our nation, not the Silicon Valley, but America, is in a talent crisis, and these issues have not made it to the crisis solution agenda.

While the NYT editorial, and other recent articles make it timely to single out Silicon Valley, there is a growing number of available minority and women technical talent.

The nation has an insatiable appetite for their skills, and quite honestly, if Silicon Valley is not interested, it is their loss.

they face today is simply chickens coming home to roost.

You cannot be successful in today’s business world, be a U.S. based company and avoid being placed under the diversity microscope. If people of color representing the U.S. population have not been part of the journey, it is silly to complain that today, they are not found at the destination. It is, however, also fair to ask, “Where have the inspectors been who today find it fashionable to criticize.” The firms in question did not get bad recently; their performance has been consistent.

A look at Silicon Valley fairly captures the contemporary social challenges and opportunities for U.S. business leaders, and we can speculate on the contribution that community might have made to our national diversity business performance.

Had they done so, much more employment progress might have been possible on the employment goal line.

Their contribution, however, has not been a factor. The goal line is elusive and not in sight. Rest assured that a few women and minority CEOs, a Black President, and a legitimate woman [presidential] candidate in waiting, are not examples of “mission accomplished,” or justifiable hope.

No doubt, Black, Hispanic, Native American and women STEM talent will be employed somewhere. We have, J.T. (Ted) Childs, Jr., principal, Ted Childs LLC however, much work to do to increase the pipeline of talent, and to match that talent to job opportunities — and it is in Poverty, income, housing and healthcare our national interest to get on with it. Our global competitors inequality, and the failure of our public schools to produce are producing more technical talent than the United States — the talent we need to compete in the global marketplace and technical talent wins economic wars. are modern day examples of Senator Moynihan’s “benign neglect.” Our business community owns a good piece of the Situation Perspective responsibility for these failures. Leadership that is driven by The following comments represent my perspective, and others greed, getting every dollar they can, are planting the seeds of should not be painted with my brush. I have tried to frame a tomorrow’s tragedy. picture that is not limited to the Silicon Valley, a situation that is national in reality, opportunity, and responsibility, but a chalCorporate Leadership lenge that is global in risk, necessity, and potential reward.

I worked at IBM for 39 years, and after 15 years in the role, retired in 2006 as Vice President for Global Workforce Diversity.

Although I have been disappointed in the written commenDuring my tenure, I was actively engaged in the company’s tary that has appeared in response to the NYT editorial, in view of, and response to the national and global technical talparticular from a Black perspective, we cannot just identify ent challenges, and the aggressive approaches to developing Silicon Valley as a key symptom of a national problem without and leveraging talent from diverse communities. framing a picture of a broader set of issues in which the Silicon Valley, and national business leadership must decisively My generation of IBM executive was able to do this not engage. because of our personal, internal moral compass, but because of the course set by the founders of the company in the early Under the Diversity Microscope 20th Century. We inherited an expectation and obligation to Although part of the Information Technology industry, when be leaders in the diversity space. it comes to diversity, the Silicon Valley is not, nor has it ever been a leader. Excluding the founders of HP, diversity in genThe IBM founders defined their expectations. The HR team, eral, and people of color in particular—Black, Hispanic and led by Walt Burdick, delivered on those expectations. For a Native American — have not been part of the talent vision of 17-year period, beginning in 1969, IBM’s general counsel was late 20th Century west coast industry leaders. The inspection Nicholas Katzenbach.

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For reference, Nick was the United States Deputy Attorney General who was sent by President Kennedy to Alabama during the Civil Rights struggle. Accompanied by U.S. Marshals, on the school steps, he confronted, and intellectually disarmed Alabama Governor George Wallace on the issue of school integration.

These two executives (Burdick and Katzenbach) formed the moral conscience of the company. In today’s Corporate America, HR leaders do not lead on these issues, and legal staff are formidable adversaries to diversity progress.

The current leadership of IBM, and other U. S. based global companies would not have sparked that interest. And, unfortunately, using the air cover of a focus on global talent, particularly women, and needs of the business, they have proven unable to sustain the focus they inherited — a focus of interest in, and commitment to, America’s ethnic minority communities, particularly Black and Hispanic.

Frankly, this generation of corporate America’s leadership will preside over a business and social decline by ignoring the necessary investment in, and development of diverse talent, particularly the failure of our public schools. They saw the need as declining, and the costs as unaffordable in the face of growing global competition. Executives who evaluate others on their ability to think and act strategically should get an “F” for both.

In 1983-84 I left IBM on a paid leave of absence to serve as the executive assistant to Dr. Benjamin L. Hooks, executive director of the NAACP. While I served in that role, Dr. Hooks had an experience that helped frame my view of the behavior of our business community.

Dr. Hooks was invited to address the Business Roundtable, a membership group of America’s top 200 CEOs. He had addressed them on previous occasions, and formed some relationships that he valued.

That day, in a private discussion with a CEO with whom he had developed a respectful relationship, Ben expressed his personal frustration with the lack and pace of progress. He felt that the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and the social disruption and legislative debates of the 60’s had made these issues a priority on the agenda of the national business, government and institutional leadership.

The CEO’s response was “Ben, you have to understand that we only discuss your issues when you are here.” Ben was stunned. That comment was reflective of the prevailing CEO view, then and now, and the interpretation of his comment was ‘we have ‘been there/done that. You rioted and we gave you jobs. You marched and we gave you voting and civil rights. That is yesterday’s agenda.’

Today’s Agenda Well, what is today’s agenda? Are today’s riots “Occupy Wall www.womenofcolor.net

Street” and “the streets of Ferguson?”

What are today’s marches? In 1965, it was led by a Nobel Laureate; in 2015 it was led by a Black President. Whether it is “Choice” or equal pay for women, access to housing or health care, income inequality, the right to vote, equal education, even if it is separate, fairness in employment standards if you have a disability, or marriage equality, there is still a list of issues not receiving the necessary attention to address, and the people who can do so still won’t step up. We cannot forget that throughout U. S. history, in any civil rights struggle, those who seek, must get from those who have.

When seeking talent, if you do not go where people are, you are assured of not finding them.

What “those who have” must accept is a cold fact: even if they step up to address these issues, even if some pay more taxes, including corporations, those with the most money today, will have the most money tomorrow — but they will be making an investment in the ability of the nation to be competitive, and for them, and their heirs to continue to be at the top of the money pile. They will still be rich, but others will be able to contribute, and survive.

The leaders of today’s business growth engines and our established old line firms were either not yet born, or not yet in business during the ‘60s. Our growth engine businesses did not yet exist.

It is clear that the teachable moments of, and evolving from the 60’s have not led to coaching, sharing, or the accountability necessary for our times. Marketing strategies, “some” procurement practices, “some” ethical practices have been passed down through management generations. Approaches to effective talent management, the development of the women and minority talent that was joining the workforce — those approaches were not developed, and the recognition of the need for aggressive hands-on involvement in addressing our decaying school systems at the source did not happen — such challenges were not seen as tactical or strategic.

What has proven to have sustainability is our corporate leadership’s “benign neglect.” It is why I believe that “The Black experience in Corporate America has come and gone.” The hiring that took place in the ‘60s through the ‘80s yielded a talent pool that produced a pre-turn of the century executive population. Those executives began to retire in the ‘90s, and there has never been a pipeline of talent to replace them — “been there/ done that.”

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have neither been there, nor done that. The test will not be their apparent discovery of women, or the Black, Brown and Red mine of talent. The test will be what they do after they have stirred the pot to respond to current media attention.

One Company’s Journey: IBM The focus of current leaders on global women is appropriate given the global talent landscape and marketplace, but as an expansion of the historic focus. Abandoning the historic focus is not. The IBM history is strong and firm:

Because of strategic reasons, and the planned growth of the company, he wanted to have locations in the south. He wrote the letter to the IBM management team, stamped it confidential, and arranged to have it leaked to the press.

• 1899, CTR Corporation, the predecessor to IBM, hired its first three women — Emma K. Manske, Nettie A. Moore, and Lilly J. Philp — 20 years before women got the right to vote in the United States

Realizing that he was serious, both governors sent word to “bring the payroll and manage your people anyway you want to.”

• 1899, the company hired its first Black man, Richard MacGregor, 36 years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation and 10 years before the founding of the NAACP • In 1914, Thomas J. Watson, Sr. joined CTR, and the company hired its first disabled person. Mr. Watson became the CTR president in 1915, and changed the name to International Business Machines, IBM, in 1924.

• In 1935, IBM hired its first professional women, 25 college seniors recruited for Systems Service. In an interview with the New York Sun Newspaper, Mr. Watson, Sr. said that “Men and Women will do the same kind of work for equal pay.

They will have the same treatment, the same responsibilities and the same opportunities for advancement.” This was an equal pay commitment forty years before legislation.

• In 1943, IBM named Ruth Leach its first woman vice president • On November 29, 1944, IBM became the first corporation to make a cash contribution to the newly founded United Negro College Fund • In 1946, IBM hired Black salesmen to sell the company’s products to the Black College community • On September 21, 1953, IBM President, Thomas J. Watson, Jr. wrote what I believe was corporate America’s first Equal Opportunity Policy Letter.

Years after his retirement, I interviewed Mr. Watson and asked him, “Why did you write that letter, one year before the Brown Decision and 11 years before the Civil Rights Act? You could not have been under any political, or activist pressure to do so.

Mr. Watson said, “Ted, no one has asked me that question.”

He told me a story that I found riveting.

He explained that he was negotiating with the governors of Kentucky and North Carolina to build plants in their states.

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These were two deeply southern states anchored in the social mores of the old south. Tom said that he told both governors that he would not tolerate “separate but equal racial policies” in his facilities. He said he did not think the governors believed him.

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Further in our conversation, I asked Tom Jr. what was the basis of his father, and, later, his commitment to equal opportunity.

He told me that his father had in his early life been poor and remembered it. He spoke of his father living in poor circumstances, and having had to stuff newspapers in his clothing to keep warm. He also shared with me his father’s human relations philosophy. He always referred to Watson Sr. as Father, and said that “Father told me, Tom, always take care of the people, and they will take care of us.” It was clearly Tom Jr.’s interpretation that this guidance was a reference to all people, not just white men.

• In 1968, IBM established its Equal Opportunity Department, and hired George Carter from the Peace Corps as the director — IBM’s first Black executive; and established the Minority Supplier Program which has progressed to now being one of the handful of supplier diversity staff that spend more than a billion dollars a year with diverse suppliers • In 1971, Patricia Roberts Harris was named to the IBM Board of Directors, the second Black, and first Black woman, to be named to a Fortune 500 Board. Earlier that year, Leon Sullivan was named to the General Motors Board. In 1977, Ms. Harris was joined on the IBM Board by William Coleman.

Dr. John Slaughter, American Express Chairman and CEO Ken Chenault, and Rensselaer Polytechnic President Shirley Ann Jackson have followed. Since 1977, there have always been at least two Black members on the IBM Board of Directors.

• In 1972, IBM was a founding member of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund • In 1974, IBM CEO and chairman, Frank T. Cary, joined fellow CEOs from Exxon, General Electric, General Motors, HP, Intel and others to become founding members of NACME, the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering.

Those business leaders understood the importance of engineering talent to competing in a 20th Century marketplace.

For IBM, the NACME relationship has included IBM Executive Vice President Nicholas Donofrio serving as NACME Board Chair, IBM Senior Vice President Rodney Adkins serving as www.womenofcolor.net

a board member, and former IBM Board Member, and first BEYA (Black Engineer of the Year Award) winner, John Slaughter serving as NACME CEO and president.

• In 1976, the partnership of IBM’s Frank Cary and GM’s Tom Murphy, in support of Rev. Leon Sullivan led to the first set of Sullivan Principles which ultimately led to the dismantling of Apartheid employment practices in South Africa.

A core example of IBM’s lineage of respect for, and association with Black technical talent is the company’s relationship with the annual BEYA event as both a sponsor and source of employee honorees. In 2000, thirteen years after Dr. Slaughter, then chancellor of the University of Maryland, won the initial Black Engineer of the Year Award, the BEYA went to IBM Fellow, Dr. Mark Dean, holder of three of the initial 9 patents for the PC, and the third Black inducted into the Inventors’ Hall of Fame after Dr. Percy Julian and Dr. George Washington Carver.

Dean was followed in 2001 by Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, IBM Board Member, first Black and first woman to chair the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and current president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI); followed in 2007

by IBM Senior Vice President, Rodney Adkins. And of course Nancy Stewart, having retired after a 30-year IBM career, was selected as the 2005 National Women of Color Technologist of the Year.

Interpretation of That Journey While the comments above about IBM may be interpreted as an endorsement that is not the intent, but it does reflect a superb heritage. That brand led by the Watsons on the issues of the racial and gender challenges faced by America, helped lead the way to visionary corporate leadership in the 20th Century.

To be fair, it is clear that on a broad array of social issues, the national leadership within the IT industry came from IBM. That is not the case today, not because of “Mission Accomplished,” but because of a disconnect between leadership’s assessment of contemporary social challenges, and their role in addressing them.

While the right thing to do, absent social disruption that threatens the ability to do business, corporate America does not see value in sustaining the historic business community link to addressing deep, inner-city challenges and their strategic business future.

Uniquely different and favorable about IBM is their recent leadership focus on using technology to improve student performance in America’s public schools, particularly inner cities. Critical and important, their performance in that area has been exemplary.

The IBM history is, however, one example of visionary leadership and hands on involvement. It is a history created in one www.womenofcolor.net

company by two generations of family leadership. They created a culture in their vision, and imposed their will on that culture for seventy years. They did so with such force that the immediate generations that followed them believed they were doing the right thing, and were loyal to their teachings.

They did not, however, have the impact on the business community that some in the external community may have hoped. Admired, yes, but limited following. Before the turn of the century, even some of those who held the key leadership roles at IBM felt such commitments were an impediment to good business performance, not a contributor to long term talent management and business success.

The Watsons’ behavior never became the accepted benchmark for business conduct, and addressing the social challenges of the day. The business leaders in charge of the U. S. business community following the ‘60s civil disruption, Tom Watson, Henry Ford II, Coy Eklund, Reg Jones, Tom Murphy and their generation did their best, but they could only impose their will for a moment, could only make decisions for their time, not for all time.

The leaders of today’s business growth engines, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Walmart and others, are not leading on these issues, and the ultimate assessment will be the judgment of history — they, and the leadership of our older traditional businesses, will have presided over a business decline sparked by ignoring the necessary investment in, and development of diverse talent. What our corporate leaders have not done hurts---it hurts because they are too smart not to know the impact of their inaction, and that may be interpreted as “they don’t care.”

Vacuum of Leadership There is an old adage, “Those who know how will always work for those who know why.” The common thread of ‘those who know why” is access to information, and they must be pressed hard on the question, “What did you know, and when did you know it?” Fifty years ago, our leadership — government, institutional, and particularly business, began to receive a series of messages that defined, with what we now know was precision, the challenges we face today, and greed has prevented them from taking action. Four key examples of that information flow are as follows: 1. In 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson established the 11 member National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders following the 1967 race riots to investigate the causes of a series of social disruptions in our major cities. Led by Illinois Governor, Otto Kerner, and known as the Kerner Commission, one comment, then and now, rings clear —“Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, and one white — separate and unequal.”

A 2014-2015 example of the reality of that prediction is the current discussion about the disconnect, city by city, between our Black community and their local police departments.

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That disconnect was a symbol of our environment in the 60’s, speaks to continuing challenges of our inner cities as places to live, develop talent, and do business.

2. On April 26, 1983, the report, “A Nation at Risk-The Imperative for Educational Reform” was presented to President Ronald Reagan. Its signature statement was “If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war.”

3. In 1987, the Hudson Institute issued its report, “Workforce 2000,” a vision of America’s future workforce; and followed it up with a sequel, “Workforce 2020.” In his endorsement of the sequel, former Republican U. S. Senator and Secretary of Labor for President Ronald Reagan, William E. Brock said that “This book is excellent. It’s a wake-up call in the same way “A Nation at Risk” sounded the alarm for education reform back in 1983. Hudson Institute is once again way ahead of the pack in describing how fundamental changes are altering the workforce of tomorrow. Just like Workforce 2000, its enormously popular predecessor, Workforce 2020 is the essential guide to understanding what our future workforce will look like. Business, government, and the general public will profit from the authors’ sharp-eyed analysis.”

4. PISA, the Program for International Student Assessment does a ranking of students in more than 60 nations every two years in three categories: math, science and reading. In the last two rankings, the United States has not been in the top 10 in any of the three categories, and Asian nations comprise half of the top ten in each category— in the most recent ranking, Singapore was number 1 in all three areas. Today, many of our major cities have a high school drop-out rate exceeding 50 percent. Given they are urban communities, the majority of those students will be Black and Hispanic.

The students who represent us in PISA like competitions will be from the communities in which we make our most substantial investments. We are flushing our Black and Brown students down a hole; and the students in our highest investment communities, often White, cannot compete with their international peers. This trajectory means that it will be those peers for whom they are destined to work — students who have a higher proficiency in math and science, and speak multiple languages.

Their failure to see, develop and leverage the full resources of our U. S. talent pool — people of color, the disabled and women, are the seeds of assurance of tomorrow’s non-competitive America — today’s greed for tomorrow’s decline.

In one of his last business interviews Tom Watson Jr. was asked what did he think was his most impactful decision on IBM’s future, and he responded, “I guess hiring all of the engineers.”

In the spirit of our diversity discussion, we need a new generation of CEO leadership who will bring that intensity of focus to our talent development and hiring practices — not to show up at awards events, but to be personally engaged.

One example of such leadership is Mike Mahoney at Boston Scientific. Last fall, Mr. Mahoney invited the Deans of the 15 Historically Black College and University (HBCU) accredited colleges of engineering to visit him and the Boston Scientific team at their Minnesota Campus.

Why? Because it was explained to Mahoney that those 15 schools represent 4 percent of America’s engineering colleges, but produce 30 percent of her Black engineering college graduates.

That meeting took place in October, and was hosted by Mr. Mahoney. Thirteen of the 15 deans attended, led by “Dean of Deans” Eugene DeLoatch of the Morgan State University School of Engineering.

Mahoney, and his team established “street cred” with the HBCU engineering community. He talked about his business, talent needs, and desire to have the talent on their campuses in his workforce.

Equally important, the Boston Scientific senior leaders listened to the Deans. That two day meeting has been followed by a series of individual calls with the deans to begin a step by step process toward the ultimate goal: jobs for students, and continuous access for their company to a rich talent pool.

The Opportunity

This is not a declaration of “CEO overcoming.” It is, however, a telling leadership example of 21st Century CEO perspective, vision, behavior and execution, not of writing a check, but hands on engagement.

President Lyndon Johnson said “You will find meaning only by sharing in the responsibilities, the dangers and the passions of your time.”

The Responsibility — Listen, Look, and Take Action

While today’s business leaders are working hard to merchandise their indifference as behavior driven by the global demands of today’s marketplace, history will judge them to have failed the real demands of their times, and the long term strategic needs of the United States of America, not the only, but still a key global marketplace and source of talent.

The generation of white leaders who led the late 20th Century technological juggernaut, the creators of what we call the Silicon Valley, have not seen the diversity of the talent pool as an enhancement to building their businesses, nor did they have a sense of social responsibility to sustain the work initiated by the captains of industry of the ‘60s.

Why should they?

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The lessons learned from civil rights battles of the ‘50s and ‘60s, and follow-on 60’s social disruption were not passed down as good for future business leaders to know; and, for the creators of the Silicon Valley, business has been very good. They see our ‘60s social and business, challenges, if they even know about them, as a “been there/ done that” phenomenon.

They do not see the demographic shifts in America as their challenge, or problem, not as a tactical or strategic issue. This is a pay me now or pay me later situation, and we approach a period when it will be too late.

I say to those leaders, “We are a nation experiencing rapidly changing demographics. Those changes are no longer predictable. They are here. We are an America that is within 30 years of being 400 million people, 50 percent white, but 50 percent or 200 million people of color.

Do you think you can get the talent and customers you need to sustain your businesses from a declining percentage of the white population?

Can you ignore that soon to be 200 hundred million people of color?

Can you ignore a population who will be central to our ability to relate to one another, and critical to our competitive necessity to relate to the people who populate the nations of the heritage of Americans — global customers?

To those who believe that this population transition is just a U.S. phenomenon, it is not.

In 2045, there will only be seven nations in the world with 200 million people, and we will have 200 million people of color.

Those seven nations, in order of their projected population size, are India / 1.6 billion; China / 1.3 billion; the United States / 390 million; Nigeria / 354 million; Indonesia / 292 million; Pakistan / 267 million; and Brazil / 224 million.

Note the nations — this “of color happening” is not a U.S. event — to those who preach global, this is global. Our global white population will decline substantially.

A comparison of the population shifts between the continents tells the story.

Between 1950 and 2050, Africa grows from 8.8 percent to 23.4 percent of the world population, and Europe declines from 21.7 percent to 7.2 percent of that same pie.

The big contributor in Africa will be sub-Sahara, which will grow 133 percent from 2010 to the 2050-2060 window when they will be 2.7 billion people.

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The big population story of the 21st Century is shaping up to be the global population reversal of whites and blacks, and the Indian baby boom.

In 1950 whites and blacks were respectively 27.9 percent and 8.9 percent of the world population. By the 2050-2060 window, those figures will almost reverse as blacks surge to 25 percent and whites shrink to 9.7 percent.

Action: Do not take this presentation of facts as an attack on our national or global white communities. They are critical to what has been achieved, and our future. Those who have heard me speak, or with whom I have worked know that I see Global Workforce Diversity through three lenses: Culture, Talent and Marketplace.

The message is that the U. S. and global demographic transitions must be seen through those rapidly changing lenses.

All over the world, the people are going to look different.

From a U. S. perspective, we have to leverage the concept of the “Melting Pot.” We are the only place with people from everywhere else, and that is a marketplace and talent advantage that is enormous, if used to advantage.

Whether it is the U. S. or globally, the high population growth areas are ripe for poverty. The common denominator of 1789 France, 1917 Russia, Nazi Germany, the U. S. riots of the ‘60s, and the current 99 percent vs. 1 percent debate in the United States is income inequality leading to poverty.

We are on track for people from multiple groups, worldwide, to conclude that the glue that bonds them is poverty— being on the short end of the stick when it comes to income, housing, health care and opportunity.

That is the substance of my strong view that corporations’ charitable giving should only address the environment, health and education, particularly reading, math and science.

They have limited resources, and we have limitless survival related needs.

Those three areas demanding educational focus represent the greatest examples of opportunity to enhance shareholder value directly linked to the long term survival of our businesses.

Poverty represents the greatest threat to our greatest needs: workers and customers. Our business community must be at the forefront of defeating poverty where it currently exists, and warding it off where it looms as a possibility. It cannot do it alone, but their resources, and voice can spark action, and establish expectations anchored in accountability.

Regarding my 2045 projections, for those who believe that 30 years is a long time, what were you doing in 1985, what WOMENOFCOLOR | SPRING 2015

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has happened in your life since then, and do you feel like it was yesterday, or 30 long years ago?

Summary I say to our senior white male business leadership, “Prior generations of leadership, who you now represent, have had as their business anchor, the ability to do business with people who looked like you. When you had to do business in “countries of color,” you sent “you” there to do, and manage it. Now it is important to build a talent pool, and leadership team who look like “us,” and “us” ain’t who it used to be, and never will be again.” And for those who interpret my

views as being overly zealous on behalf of people of color, my reference to them is to appropriately shed light on the changing demographics of America. We must, however, keep clearly in front of us that the largest group of poor people in the United States are white, and they do not all live in the hills of Appalachia. We no longer have a “those people” who can be assumed to be people of color — the 99 percent are real, and they represent all of the groups that make up America.

If strategic investment is the door through which business leaders look to ensure shareholder interests and the sustainability of their businesses, hear me clearly, “Other than investments in your product and physical assets, the only in32

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vestments of company dollars that have a link to shareholder value are in the environment, health and education. Where we live and do business, and how we honor the “Founding Fathers’ commitment to a quality public school education are critical to the survival of our society. Left to government, all three are destined to fail, and what will be your shareholder value then— nothing.”

Why am I so indicting of our business leadership?

Because failure must equate to a grade of “F.” They have failed in the defining of shareholder value, and that collective error in judgment has caused them to miss the value point of where to invest shareholder dollars for not just short term return, but long term survival. When it comes to the people of America, our business leaders have had nearly fifty years of consistent warnings directed at them, messages that should have been consistently on board room agendas, and, yet, per Dr. Hooks’s example, they have fought for a few minutes per year of calendar time.

The Kerner Commission, “A Nation at Risk,” “Workforce 2000” have all been validated — their predictions have come true. The bi-annual PISA results simply validate that the hole is getting deeper. To our leaders, the question, “What did you know, and when did you know it?” is relevant. The examples frame a picture of listening and not acting — the picture is of a nation’s government, business and institutional leadership paralyzed by an inability to interpret, think and take action. They have received multiple, impactful messages that speak to the very survival of our nation, and have not had the capacity to both take action and ensure that follow-on generations of leadership stay the course. When will I think they are serious about responding to our challenges? When two things happen: (1) at least, quarterly, each board includes an accountability discussion about diverse talent in all of the countries where that firm does business; and about what that business is doing to address the environment, education and health; (2) in addition to business results, every executive within two levels of the CEO has substantial income at risk for the failed development of diverse talent. Motivated by affirmative action/corporate responsibility? This is not urgent. Driven by the need for strategic, survival behavior? It is a shareholder value necessity. www.womenofcolor.net

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan working with a P-TECH student.

THE SCHOOL-TO-IBM PIPELINE GROWING STEM TALENT, BUILDING NEXT-GENERATION TALENT

By Lango Deen

E

arly in 2011, Sam Palmisano, then chairman, president and chief executive officer of IBM, and Joel Klein, former chancellor of the New York City Department of Education, sat down and came up with a plan to put New York City school students first in line for a STEM career at IBM. At the time, IBM wasn’t doing high school internships.

Over the next several months, IBM looked at post-secondary skill credentials, New York State and college requirements, and what was appropriate in industry.

Stanley S. Litow, former deputy chancellor of NYC public schools and president of the IBM International Foundation, was the key architect in designing a new model of education.

By December that year, New York City in collaboration with the City University of New York, IBM, and the New York City College of Technology had identified a host institution to award two-year degrees in applied science.

Pathways in Technology Pathways in Technology Early College High School or P-TECH is the first school in the nation that connects high school, college, and the world of work through college and industry partnerships, pioneering a new vision for college and career readiness and success. With a 9-14 model, the goal for a diverse, unscreened student population is 100 percent completion of an associate’s degree within six years.

“Four months from today, six students are on path to graduate,” said Rashid Davis, the founding principal of P-TECH, in January 2015.

Davis opened P-TECH after spending 15 years in New York City public schools as a teacher, assistant principal and principal of the Bronx Engineering and Technology Academy

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(BETA). Under his leadership, BETA rose to No. 143 on the Newsweek list of 1,500 Top American High Schools, also receiving accolades from US News and World Reports and Good Morning America.

“Game-changing, homegrown STEM talent can be produced even if students aren’t academically screened,” said Davis, who sees the urban New York City turnaround initiative as model for the kind of diverse representation corporations need.

The majority of the students at P-TECH in Brooklyn are African American and Hispanic males — students that weren’t expected to succeed.

“Many entered the school behind in reading and math, but now six of them are ready to graduate this spring two years ahead of schedule,” Davis said.

At P-TECH, it is all about open enrollment. Students take college courses as early as their sophomore year, work in teams, and learn critical thinking, presentation skills, and how algebra can be used in the real world. In addition, every student has a mentor. Employees at IBM work with their mentees in a secure online portal to provide guidance, tips, and advice on networking. Many of the students at P-TECH will be the first in their family to graduate college.

With involvement of higher education, IBM and the Department of Education, Davis aims to “change generations” through education that is aligned with college and the workplace.

“Good leadership is half the battle,” Davis noted. “Mentoring is relevant — pointing the way to what is possible.”

P-TECH’s Advisory board is tasked with finding paid skills internships for students. This past summer, the lion share were from IBM.

Building the Technical Pipeline

IBM sources many candidates from chapters of student-led university organizations like the National Society of Black Engineers, National Black MBA, Society of Women Engineers SHPE, Great Minds in STEM, and the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES). All these groups work to increase representation of diverse talent in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) studies and careers.

Tang said IBM does not disclose how many African Americans, Hispanic, women and other minorities are in the program or work at the multinational technology and consulting company, but she says IBM’s strategy is driven by its people, beliefs, clients and integrated business.

Insights from diversity data is enabling IBM ensure recruiting, development and career promotion programs work well. In addition, Tang says the company has moved beyond inclusion into active engagement of diverse talent at IBM, connecting with them in new ways. Diversity is at the core of IBM throughout its r history.

“At IBM, we embrace each other’s differences because we each share a common identity – we are all IBMers,” she explained.

“We are a global network of individuals unified by purpose, values and practices. We draw on the unique experiences, capabilities and expertise of IBMers around the world to reimagine how the world works. IBM diversity is the source of collective and varied intelligence, which when regularly and actively engaged, enables innovation that matters for our company and the world.”

Growing the talent pipeline in early-college high schools goes hand in hand with another IBM program that has had a lot of traction, said Belinda Tang, who was named IBM’s vice president, leadership and diversity in January 2014.

Diversity exists in infinite dimensions, she added. It has evolved past gender, race, religion, and sexual orientation – to include “dimensions” including generations, culture, countries, knowledge and expertise, just to name a few.

During her career at IBM she has worked in general management, finance and human resources. Previously, Tang was vice president, human resources, global business services, IBM growth markets, based in Shanghai. She was responsible for talent management in IBM’s consulting and application management services business in eight regions: greater China, ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), India, Korea, Australia, Latin America, Africa and Middle East, and central and eastern Europe.

“Our globally interconnected society produces an infinite number of interactions crossing what can now be defined as artificial barriers to engagement,” she said.

IBM’s technical pipeline program pairs emerging leaders with IBM coaches and executive sponsors for three years.

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“The program’s objective is to increase the number of highly qualified diverse candidates for IBM’s top technical leaders: distinguished engineers and fellows,” Tang said. “It begins with an education session at IBM headquarters in Armonk, New York, to align each emerging technical leader with a coach and executive sponsor and continues for at least three years.”

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IBM is a leading provider of global enterprise technology, hosting and consulting services in areas ranging from cognitive computing to nanotechnology. IBM has approximately 380,000 employees working in 170 countries.

As of 2013 the company held the record for most patents generated by a business for 22 consecutive years. Its employees have garnered five Nobel Prizes, six Turing Awards, 10 National Medals of Technology, and five National Medals of Science. www.womenofcolor.net

WOMEN ON WHEELS

SKILL AND KNOWLEDGE MAKES IT EXECUTIVE’S TRANSITIONS TO NEW INDUSTRY ‘DOABLE’

By Gale Horton Gay

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he automotive industry is an exciting work environment. For those with the right skills, talent, drive, determination and vision it can be a place where one can find tremendous success while ascending the corporate ladder.

Susan Goldblatt has a powerful message for professional women in the IT field.

Secure rock-solid IT knowledge, develop stellar communication skills and use everything that happens in the workplace to build one’s base of problem solving and overall experience. Then be confident about taking everything learned to reach achievements beyond one’s dreams.

Goldblatt did just that for 11 years, jetting around the world as an IT expert in the financial field. Her talents took her to Japan, Hong Kong, Paris, Singapore, Switzerland and Kuala Lumpur. It was a rich — but exhausting — experience. As a consultant, Goldblatt worked for MetLife, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Industrial Bank of Japan.

What happened after her decade of globe-trotting was something Goldblatt couldn’t have imagined.

She took a consulting assignment in a field she hadn’t worked in previously — the automotive industry — and www.womenofcolor.net

within two years she was working full time as part of management for an international automaker. Now Goldblatt is BMW North America’s IT manager of business relationship management.

“I am the face of the business for all things IT,” said Goldblatt, adding that she and her team of six provide assistance ranging from software to help desk interaction. She serves as a gatekeeper, ensuring that needs are properly communicated and appropriate actions are taken to meet the needs of those they serve.

Among the various responsibilities her IT position entails: • managing portfolios for all projects and requests within BMW Business • providing direction and leadership essential to keeping the process of managing multiple projects that are interconnected, providing conclusive results • ensuring integrated oversight and control

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She said her programming and project management background prepared her well for transitioning from one industry to another.

“It’s very different…different because of the level of prioritization…not so much focused on the sales but more customer centric,” she said. “In finance the primarily focus is supporting the product itself.”

At BMW the focus is on customers.

“It was a big shift for me,” said Goldblatt, who cites as her strengths delivering projects on time, multi-tasking and interacting with broad populations.

She tells other women interested in working in IT across markedly distinct industries to fully immerse themselves in IT, becoming “very comfortable” with IT procedures and practices.

“It will be a transition that is doable,” advises Goldblatt.

Goldblatt, who has associate and bachelor degrees in computer science and a master degree in finance, began her IT finance work at Germany-based Deutsche Bank Securities. She traveled the world gaining valuable experience, both about IT and various cultures.

“For me it was my maiden voyage,” said Goldblatt of her first international trip. “I had never been outside the country.

BMW Susan Goldblatt North America’s IT Manager of Business Relationship Management

“I learned so much. For me it was very enlightening,” she said.

These days, Goldblatt, who lives in New Jersey, travels to far less exotic destinations, but it is just as rewarding. On weekends, she often will take a BMW car from the company’s fleet and head to somewhere for the weekend with her husband and 10-year-old daughter.

She also explains to the girls she meets — often in a roundtable discussion format — that she did not come from a background of privilege. She grew up in an environment that she describes as poor and lacking in the things that many other families had. She tells the girls that she was still able to climb the corporate ladder and cross cultural barriers she once never imagined she could.

Quality time with family is very important to Goldblatt, recalling that there was a time when she was traveling the world and she wondered if getting married and becoming a mother would be part of her reality.

Asked what advice she offers for women dreaming of having similar success in finance and/or the automotive industry, Goldblatt said mastering communication skills is vital.

Goldblatt also believes in paying it forward and that executive women have an obligation to explain to others coming behind them how “you worked hard to get to where you are.” She is a major advocate of being involved with schoolage girls and sharing positive messages about what can be accomplished.

Another important step is having a thorough understanding of the products or services one’s company provides.

She volunteers at a school in the Bronx, not far from where she grew up.

“Just to let them know…there are so many opportunities out

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there for you,” she said, adding that getting a good education is the first step.

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“Speak well, understand their topic and present it well,” Goldblatt recommends.

“Research whatever company you are talking with,” she said, adding that with strength in those three areas, “You should do very well.”

And Goldblatt’s days of intense international travel may not be over. She said there’s been talk at BMW of sending her to India. www.womenofcolor.net

WOMEN IN THE AUTO INDUSTRY

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omen are finding themselves right at home at various automakers in areas ranging from design, engineering, manufacturing, sales, finance, information technology, customer experience, diversity, social responsibility and others. Here are a few of the women whose leadership today will be instrumental in our driving experiences in the future.

General Motors Angela Barbee-Hatter Director of Global Design Operations In 2013, Angela BarbeeHatter was appointed director of global design operations for General Motors. She oversees teams responsible for creative digital imaging, visualization, workload planning, talent acquisition, facilities, and budget for GM’s North America Design Center and is the global lead for Europe, China, Korea, Australia, and South America design operations. Barbee-Hatter has held numerous leadership positions while at General Motors in manufacturing, engineering, and test and development. She also has held the position of adjunct professor at Purdue University School of Mechanical Engineering. She earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Wayne State University and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue.

Ford Linda Cash Director of Manufacturing for Vehicle Operations in Ford of Europe Linda Cash is director of manufacturing for vehicle operations in Ford of Europe. Cash started her career 30 years ago as an industrial engineer and gained experience in maintenance and www.womenofcolor.net

management through various roles in several vehicle assembly plants up to and including plant manager. She has also served as an engineering chief for Final Assembly and in global positions in the Manufacturing Business Office and Manufacturing Engineering. Linda brings expertise in labor optimization, footprint analysis, strategy, planning, advanced engineering, launch, and tooling and facility planning and execution. She has dedicated much of her time to coaching, mentoring, and sponsorship to resource groups.

Toyota Latondra Newton Group Vice President and Chief Social Innovation Officer Latondra Newton serves as group vice president and chief social innovation officer of Toyota Motor North America and project general manager of the corporate citizen division of Toyota Motor Corporation. She is responsible for Toyota’s diversity and philanthropy functions across national affiliates).

Additionally, Newton is responsible for the establishment and operations of the Toyota Mobility Foundation, focusing on safety, access and ecology. Since 2009, Newton has held leadership roles at TMA, overseeing corporate planning activities, corporate image research, economic forecasting, competitor analysis and corporate marketing. She has worked at Toyota since 1999.

Ford Jamy Hall President and Chief Executive Officer, Ford Component Sales, LLC Jamy P. Hall is president and chief executive officer, Ford WOMENOFCOLOR | SPRING 2015

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Component Sales, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ford Motor Company.

Prior to her current position, Hall was director of the Global Service Business Office, Ford Customer Service Division where she developed business plans and strategies to drive global growth. She has also held positions as director of dealer development, regional manager at Lincoln Mercury and has worked in various marketing and engineering positions at Navistar International and General Motor Corporation. Hall has a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and a master’s degree in marketing from the University of Chicago.

Mercedes Benz Judy Brunson Powertrain and eDrive Executive Leadership Team Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America Judy Brunson is a member of the Powertrain and eDrive Executive Leadership Team at Mercedes Benz Research and Development North America. She has 20 years of experience in the research, design, development, and release of both conventional and alternative automotive propulsion systems.

One of her responsibilities as Head of Operations has been the proactive development of a bi-directional communications infrastructure interface for Mercedes Benz eDrive vehicles in the U.S. In addition, Brunson has current research, design, development, and release support responsibilities for all eDrive high voltage components, systems, and batteries. She is also responsible for the HV Safety Organization within Mercedes Benz Research and Development North America. Brunson holds electrical and mechanical engineering degrees, an MBA, one patent, and has another pending.

Fiat Chrysler Arvis Sutton Williams Head of Fiat Chrysler’s New Model Mid Cycle Action for Program Management As the head of Fiat Chrysler’s new model program manage-

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ment, Arvis Sutton Williams is responsible for the advance feasibility, development, design, process, construction and launch of new vehicle programs. She manages more than $100 million in capital assets to support the execution of manufacturing at Fiat Chrysler stamping operations facilities in North America and Canada. She has successfully achieved results for more than 26 years at General Motors, Toyota and Fiat Chrysler. Williams has directed activities for: advanced engineering, manufacturing engineering, assembly, body-inwhite, powertrain, machining, stamping, plant maintenance/ facilities engineering, project management and pre-production. Williams earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering technology and a master’s degree in administration.

General Motors Linda Gooden Retired Vice President, Lockheed Martin General Motors Co. added Linda Gooden, a former executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Corp., as a director, giving the board a fifth woman and second Black member.

She joined the board in February 2015 as its 13th director. Gooden retired from Lockheed as executive vice president in 2013. She also served on the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee, appointed by President Barack Obama in 2010.

General Motors Alicia Boler-Davis Senior Vice President, Global Connected Customer Experience Alicia Boler-Davis was named senior vice president, Global Connected Customer Experience, for General Motors in November 2014. Previously she was senior vice president, Global Quality and Global Customer Experience. Under her leadership, GM developed an enterprise wide quality strategy, and redefined customer care and its interaction with customers through social media channels and Customer Engagement Centers. She also served as plant manager at various locations. Boler-Davis began her GM career in 1994 as a manufacturing engineer and has held many positions of increasing responsibility in manufacturing, engineering and product development. She has a bachelor’s degree in chemi-

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cal engineering from Northwestern University and a master’s degree in engineering science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

General Motors Jocelyn Allen Director of Grassroots and Diversity Communications Jocelyn Allen has been appointed to lead General Motors diversity efforts. Currently working as the director of grassroots and diversity communications, Allen will now add on the role of helping lead the company’s marketing/communications diversity center of excellence alongside Megan Stooke. Allen has been at GM for 15 years and previously served as vice president of corporate communications.

General Motors Niharika Taskar Ramdev Vice President of Finance and Treasurer Niharika Taskar Ramdev is vice president of finance and treasurer at General Motors. She leads GM’s global treasury operations, including capital planning, capital market activities, worldwide banking and participates in business development, risk management and investor relations. Previously, she was chief financial officer for GM’s global purchasing and supply chain operation. From 2008 to 2011, she was assistant treasurer during which time she played key roles in GM’s restructuring. She also served as regional treasurer for GM Asia-Pacific operations from 2006 to 2008. Taskar Ramdev joined GM in 1996 after earning her Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard University. She also holds a Bachelor of Commerce in financial accounting from the University of Bombay.

at the executive level that lead to organizational change.

Chrysler Olabisi Boyle Director of Engineering Planning and Technical Cost Reduction Olabisi Boyle is director of engineering planning and technical cost reduction at Chrysler. She has 20 years of experience leading engineering, quality, manufacturing, and operations teams. She has worked at Chrysler since 2004 in various engineering positions.

Previously Boyle spent nine years at Ford. Boyle is co-chair of Chrysler African American Network board of directors. She earned bachelor’s degrees in physics and industrial engineering and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from various universities.

Ford Felicia J. Fields Group Vice President for Human Resources and Corporate Services Felicia J. Fields is Ford Motor Company’s group vice president for human resources and corporate services since 2008. Fields provides expertise in succession planning and talent management, strategic workforce planning, compensation and benefits, organization development, recruiting, and leadership and professional development.

She is also responsible for corporate security, travel and the company’s dealer policy board. Since joining Ford in 1986, Fields has held human resource leadership positions in manufacturing, research, information technology, finance, product development and corporate development. She is a thirdgeneration Ford employee.

Volkswagen Machelle Williams

Toyota Rosa Santana

General Manager, Diversity and Corporate Social Responsibility Volkswagen Group of America

Forma Automotive LLC

Machelle Williams is general manager of diversity and corporate social responsibility at Volkswagen Group of America.

In this role, which she has held since May 2013, she said she focuses on creating sustainable diversity and inclusion practices that will help Vokswagen of America reach its goals of becoming “both a top employer and the most admired automobile company in the world.” She has held various positions at Volkswagen since February 2003 as a diversity and customer experience leader. She cites as her specialties designing and delivering impactful diversity strategy workshops www.womenofcolor.net

Toyota recently announced that Forma Automotive LLC is one of two companies that will join its team of on-site suppliers as a result of continued high truck demand.

Forma Automotive is owned by Rosa Santana and is the first Hispanic woman-owned enterprise to supply Toyota and assemble Tacoma truck beds inside the Toyota plant. Forma Automotive is expected to hire about 50 people by June 2015.

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Nissan Diane Allen

Nissan Rebecca Barker Vest

Design manager, Nissan Design America

Vice President of Purchasing for Nissan Americas

Diane Allen is the design manager at Nissan Design America and most recently worked on the next generation Nissan Titan. Her area is part of an international team, receiving regular input from Nissan’s global design headquarters. “Growing up in Detroit, as I did, passion for all things automotive seeps into your blood,” said Allen in a Nissan press release. “I have enjoyed a 30-year career at Nissan that has allowed me to design some iconic and uniquely American vehicle types, including the Nissan 350Z, the Nissan Armada, and the first, and now second, Nissan Titan.”

Rebecca Barker Vest is vice president, Purchasing, for Nissan Americas. In this position, she oversees all purchasing activities for parts, materials, vendor tooling, logistics, services, machinery and equipment, media, aftersales and accessories for Nissan’s operations in the U.S., Mexico and Brazil. Her responsibilities also include supplier quality assurance, purchasing project management and supplier relations. She also serves as the North American operating general manager for the Renault-Nissan Purchasing Organization (RNPO).

Chrysler May Leng Yau-Patterson Director, head of World Class Manufacturing Mexico Operations May Leng Yau-Patterson is director, head of world class manufacturing Mexico operations at Chrysler, a position she’s held since 2012. She is responsible for leading the implementation of world class manufacturing, a production methodology that focuses on reducing waste, increasing productivity and improving quality and safety in a systematic and organized way. Previously she held positions at Chrysler as logistics director, head of manufacturing planning and control. She has worked at Chrysler since 2004. Before that, she worked at General Motors as group manager of competitive operations engineering for nearly six years.

Mercedes-Benz Financial Services Janet Marzett Vice President of Operations-Americas Janet Marzett, vice president of operations– Americas at MercedesBenz Financial Services, began her career working in administrative positions, advancing into increasing responsibility across many functional areas of the company.

Today she employs more than 500 people in the U.S., Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and Columbia. Marzett’s commitment to promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace is a trademark of her 35-year career with Mercedes-Benz Financial Services, and she is currently a member of the company’s Global Diversity Council. Marzett was most recently honored as “Executive of the Year” at the 19th Annual Urban Wheel Awards in Detroit, Michigan.

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Before Nissan, Vest worked for over 22 years at Toyota, where she held positions of increasing responsibility in purchasing including Parts, Materials, Facilities, Strategy and Parts Commodity Engineering. Additionally, she spent two years at the Toyota Technical Center, responsible for cost planning within the engineering organization.

Chase Auto Finance Thasunda Brown Duckett CEO, Chase Auto Finance at JPMorgan Chase Thasunda Brown Duckett is chief executive officer at Chase Auto Finance at JPMorgan Chase.She has worked at JPMorgan Chase since 2008, working in positions as national retail sales manager, senior vice president/ northeast regional manager home lending and senior vice president of emerging markets and affordable lending.

For eight years, Duckett was vice president at Fannie Mae. As manager for Mortgage Banking’s eastern region, Duckett managed more than 900 sales professionals who originated close to $10 billion in home loans in a year. She has accelerated the representation of diverse individuals in management and sales.

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EDUCATION STEM INTERNS HAPPY FOR THE CHANCE

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For the ambitious college student, there is no more Holy Grail than the internship.

“Personally, I got to see where my weaknesses were. In addition, I was able to get a feel for the different work environment and what my preferences were,” said Tiffany Bobb-Semple, an undergraduate student at The City University of New York Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, New York, who served as a manufacturing intern during the summer of 2014 at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

“What I liked about the internship was the network I have built and how they contributed to my growth as a young professional in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics),” said Bobb-Semple, who is majoring in environmental science.

As an intern with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Bobb-Semple, a 2014 Women of Color STEM Conference Student Leadership Award winner, wasn’t there for show. She rolled up her sleeves and got to work, creating a tagging solution for uncontrolled non-production materials and developing a best practice and storage solution for mercury tubes, according to her resume.

of the Chegg Inc. organization, 67 percent of undergraduate students in the Class of 2013 completed at least one internship during their time on campus. And 56 percent of employers surveyed by Internships.com said they were hiring more interns in 2014 than in 2013.

The news gets better for STEM interns when it comes to paid internships. An October 2014 study from Michigan State University’s College Employment Research Institute found that engineering interns commanded an average mean salary of $16.47 per hour, the highest amount compared with other professions in the survey such as accounting, business, social science, healthcare and humanities/ communications.

Additionally, engineering interns at very large companies with more 10,000 employees averaged a wage of $18.86 per hour, according to the Michigan State survey.

Those STEM students in the physical and biological sciences also fared well with an hourly intern wage of $14.31, third on the list.

Maria S. Ritchie, a 2014 Women of Color conference student award winner, participated in a 10-week internship at the University at Maria S. Ritchie, Towson University, majoring in moBuffalo in Buffalo, New York, in lecular biology, biochemistry and bioinformatics. the Collaborative Learning and Integrated Mentoring in the Altogether during her time at Biosciences Undergraduate ProMedgar Evers College, Bobbgram (CLIMB UP). The program Semple has had three separate internships. provides students the opportunity to conduct laboratory research under the guidance of a faculty mentor while “Approaching to an internship, I believe that any student also participating in professional development workshops who lands one should set goals. Your goal will be your ‘GPS’ and presenting their research. during your internship. It gives you direction and helps you figure out what it is you’re trying to gain during the Ritchie, a student at Towson University in Towson, Maryinternship. Whether it’s networking, learning, exploration or land, is majoring in molecular biology, biochemistry and gaining valuable experience, your goals will help you to take bioinformatics. Her internship in Buffalo fundamental, advantage of that opportunity,” she said. she said.

According to the website Internships.com, which is part

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“I learned the ropes of working in a laboratory,” Ritchie

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EDUCATION

said, of Cumberland, Maryland, in Towson’s Class of 2017.

Working under Department of Medicine research professor Dr. Jessy Alexander, Ritchie studied kidney disease, specifically CD11b and its role in immune complex-mediated glomerulonephritis, an inflammatory disease of both kidneys predominantly affecting children from ages 2 to 12 years old.

“By talking to coworkers, I learned what the processes are for becoming a lab technician, researcher, and primary investigator,” Ritchie said.

Her laboratory work during the internship included isolating DNA from mice skin samples, conducting PCR, conducting and analyzing gel electrophoresis, paraffin embedding and sectioning, handling mice, injecting mice, staining microscope slides, and cryosectioning.

“Apply as early in your undergraduate careers as possible.

Many students think internships are for juniors and seniors, but freshman and sophomores can intern as well. Do not be afraid to apply due to lack of experience or coursework.

When beginning an internship, have an open mind. Observe the workplace, talk to coworkers, network and try to envision yourself as a fellow employee.”

Myela A. Paige of Baltimore, who has had two summer research internship positions along with a corporate internship during her time at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), proudly describes herself as ambitious and steadfast.

The Class of 2016 mechanical engineering major and Meyerhoff Scholar is also president of UMBC’s National Society Black Engineers Chapter.

Paige, whose goal is to earn a doctorate in mechanical en“I enjoyed learning how to search gineering, spent the summer databases and use published papers of 2012 in the Department of to gather information. This internMacromolecular Science and Myela A. Paige, mechanical engineering major, ship taught me how to indepenEngineering at Case Western University of Maryland, Baltimore County dently research a topic and utilize Reserve University in Cleveland, the information for experiments.

Ohio, researching thermoplastic This will help me throughout the polyurethane films; the summer rest of my academic and professional career. Interning of 2013 in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at challenged me to take on new challenges, and boosted my the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta researchconfidence in my ability to overcome them,” she said. ing ferroelectric nanostructures, and the summer of 2014 at Northrop Grumman Corp.’s in the Electronic Systems Ritchie, a member of Towson University’s Honors ColSector based in Falls Church, Virginia, as a manufacturing lege, the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, and the intern.

Golden Key International Honor Society, keeps a busy extracurricular schedule. For instance, she is vice presiPaige said all three programs benefited her greatly, but dent of a student organization called “You Got Mail,” perhaps her favorite was Georgia Tech — for sort of nonwhich writes letters and makes crafts for cancer patients; scientific reasons. a member of Baptist Campus Ministries, and winner of the Army Reserve Officer Training Corp (ROTC) Cadet “I was in a city that I enjoyed and in a school that loved. of the Semester Award for exemplary leadership, high This summer experience helped me professionally by pregrade-point average and physical fitness. paring me for public speaking. Every week, each student in the summer research program had to give a weekly upRitchie has this advice for students wanting internships: date. I had to speak on what I accomplished, what I was

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EDUCATION

supposed to accomplished, what were some problems that I had, and what I planned on finishing in the current week,” Paige said.

Campbell-Peterson said an internship as an undergraduate at Marist College helped position her for her eventual field of study Cornell.

Indeed, organizations seeking to bring on interns rate communications presentations skills as one of a number of key components for a successful internship. For instance, a list of tips to interns (http://www.siop.org/IOInternships/Outstanding%20intern.pdf) from the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology Inc. highlights

In her undergraduate sophomore year at Marist, she had the opportunity to gain experience shadowing a physician’s assistant on daily rounds at a hospital, and, as a junior, she spent internship time at a medical center. At the Vassar Brothers Medical Center internship in Poughkeepsie, New York, Campbell-Peterson experienced the clinical setting up close.

The news gets better for STEM interns when

“It was there that I experienced my first open heart surgery, viewed a complete hysterectomy, spent a harrowing eight hours in the emergency room, cuddled babies in the NICU and held the hand of a woman who while she was receiving her diagnosis of breast cancer,” Campbell-Peterson said.

it comes to paid internships. An October 2014 study found that engineering interns commanded an average mean salary of $16.47 per hour, the highest amount compared with other professions in the survey.

as a key attribute the “ability to communicate and actively engage with management and leadership without sounding academic or overly formal.”

That experience led her to make the decision to follow a path of research instead of medicine.

“I got a glimpse into a day in the life of a medical doctor from various specialties and realized that though I loved the background of medicine (the diagnosis, pathology etc.) I was not eager to live the life of a medical doctor.

My experiences in the clinical setting made me reevaluate my pre-medical path and ultimately choose research instead,” she said.

Paige understands that sentiment.

Her advice to STEM students who are candidates for internships is to “be open-minded.”

Campbell-Peterson, who received her bachelor’s degree in biology in 2009, thought she was on a path to be an obstetrician. She said students seeking internships should embrace them as a means of discovery. Now, she plans a career as an andrologist, a medical doctor or licensed physician who provides diagnostic and treatment services to men with reproductive health issues.

“I was never exposed to research. I took a leap of faith and applied to these summer programs.” Paige said. “I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but, by being open-minded, I traveled to Cleveland and Atlanta for two whole summers and never had any regrets.”

“By interning I was able to really tease out what it was that I loved about medicine, obstetrics in particular, and it had nothing to do with seeing patients. My love lied in the discovery and the explanation of disease, namely infertility,” she said.

These days, Kadeine Campbell-Peterson sees the internship experience from the rear-view mirror, given that she today is a doctoral candidate at the Cohen Lab for Genetics, Genomics and Development at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. So while her interning days are over,

Internships, Campbell-Peterson, help give students “the full picture of what a career entails so you are not wooed by the superficial.”

“These weekly status updates gave me a sense of confidence when speaking to a group of people, and, in the end, I accomplished more than I thought I would,” she added.

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by M.V. Greene, mgreene@ccgmag.com

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FIRST STEPS CAPITAL ONE COVETS INTERNS WITH PASSION, VISION FOR STEM

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These words should be sweet music to a STEM student’s ears: “We do spend quite a bit of time looking for ways to attract STEM students.”

That’s not a representative from a traditional tech company talking, such as a Google, Microsoft, IBM or any number of other organizations seeking to stock up on the talent in their STEM pipelines. Instead it’s Capital One, the diversified banking company that competes in financial services.

For science, engineering, mathematics and technology (STEM) students seeking that perfect internship, Capital One, founded in 1994, is saying “come do technology with us.”

Shavonne Gordon, Capital One director of diversity recruiting, leads the charge for her organization’s pursuit of STEM interns into the organization. Gordon, whose quote is above, wants students to know that McLean, Virginiaheadquartered Capital One has a compelling story to tell about technology.

“At Capital One, we really think of ourselves as more of a technology company. We don’t see ourselves as a bank.

We spend quite a bit of time helping students understand that. A lot of times on first glance they think of us as a bank. We truly are a technology company,” Gordon said, herself a trained technologist.

In a recent survey, Vault Inc., an organization that provides career information and solutions for professionals and students via its website vault.com, rated Capital One fourth on a list of Best Financial Service Internships for 2015. Vault surveyed current and former interns about their internship experiences with financial services firms based on criteria that included quality of life; compensation and benefits; the interview process; career development; and full-time employment prospects.

So when is a bank a technology company? When the year is 2015, and it is technology that is driving newage business through avenues like online and mobile, sophisticated applications development, and the mining of “big data” for marketing and merchandising. On big data, for instance, large U.S. banks are using technology in an effort to better understand how customers use their varying service channels, such as branches, ATMs, web,

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Shavonne Gordon, director of Diversity Recruiting, Capital One

mobile and call centers, according to a 2013 study from the International Institute for Analytics and SAS Institute.

Additionally, Capital One buttressed its technology credentials in 2011 when it acquired ING Direct USA, an online banking company, for $9 billion. The deal accelerated Capital One’s transformation from largely a credit card lender to a full-fledged banking company with the nation’s largest online banking portfolio — and placing it at the forefront of massive changes surrounding financial services as the industry shifts to an online/mobile banking business model.

Gordon said Capital One, as it evolves as an organization, needs to add professionals with superior STEM skills, which just a few years ago was the domain of those purely technology companies.

“While we tend to look for engineers or computer scientists, we also look for students who have a rich back-

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FIRST STEPS

ground in technology,” Gordon said. “So those students who are kind of working on that web page or working on those Android applications in their free time, we get really excited about them as well.”

“If you think of today’s college student, they’ve kind of grown up with this technology. So they can see things in a different light,” she added.

“We do spend quite a bit of time looking for ways to attract STEM students.

—Shavonne Gordon, director of

diversity recruiting, Capital One

Among programs, Capital One’s Technology Development Program is designed for STEM interns. It is a 10week program largely for rising seniors but also juniors and others and provides exposure for the student to complex operational projects, executive speakers, team building, presentations and discussions.

Capital One interns are placed into departments throughout the organization, such as finance, project management, commercial banking and brand, and interns may be placed at Capital One offices in McLean, Virginia, Plano, Texas, Richmond, Virginia, Chicago, Wilmington, Delaware, and San Francisco.

Gordon, who has worked in a number of technical capacities at Capital One before moving to her recruiting role, including as business systems analyst, project manager, technical lead and operations program manager, said the company’s technology development program seeks to place interns in key positions where they can contribute collaboratively to project teams and create solutions.

“For the students, it gives them a chance to come in and work on real projects. At Capital One, they can actually point to a place where they’ve added value,” Gordon

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said, who holds a systems engineering degree from the University of Virginia.

Capital One will even seek to place top internship students into the scrum master position on project teams to facilitate and lead the work of teams, Gordon added.

Gordon said Capital One puts a premium on intern candidates who demonstrate they are problem solvers and, simply, love doing technology. “We are looking for people who don’t mind rolling up their sleeves and digging in and solving those complex problems. We’re also looking for people who are truly passionate about technology,” she said.

In interviewing students for opportunities, Gordon said coursework and credentials are important, but she also is particularly interested in hearing about their personal technology projects, such as those who might create their own videogames or apps in their spare time.

“You can see their eyes light up and they sit forward in their seats and they start using their hands to describe their projects. That’s the kind of the person that we seek out in these roles. Not only do they have the background, but they have the passion for technology,” Gordon said.

Gordon said that as interns seek opportunities, they should be acutely aware of how technology intersects today with society. Keeping abreast of technology trends, such as emerging fields like cyber security, is another way the intern candidate can distinguish himself or herself, according to Gordon.

“Technology changes quickly in today’s world,” Gordon said. “That’s one of the reasons Capital One has moved to delivering software in an agile way. It allows us to get the technology to market a lot faster. We like to see interns who are also kind of up to speed on what the technologies are, and it is always great to come across the intern who is also familiar with how to deliver the technology.”

by M.V. Greene, mgreene@ccgmag.com

www.womenofcolor.net

START HERE.

DREAM We’re a Fortune 200 company with the attitude of a startup.

Begin your career with a bang—help us redefine the financial services industry as a Capital One hire. ®

jobs.capitalone.com/WomenofColor

EEO Employer/Protected Veteran/Disabled

The distance between certainty and… discovery

It’s a road imagined by many, but traveled by few. At Ford Motor Company, we built that road, and paved it with more than a century of American innovation.

When you join Ford, you’ll find yourself among people who are certain that ingenuity is always rewarded. You’ll learn success is as attainable as the quality products we create. You’ll discover the pride of serving millions worldwide, and the possibilities that come along with it. You can and will Go Further, at Ford.

Quality Engineers The distance between you and an amazing career has never been shorter. Join the Ford team today, and discover the benefits, rewards and development opportunities you’d expect from a diverse global leader.

Connect with us and be part of the growing Ford community at Facebook.com/FordMotorCompanyCareers twitter.com/FordCareers www.linkedin.com/company/ford-motor-company

www.careers.ford.com

CAREER OUTLOOK An in-depth look at a cutting-edge industry within STEM. We tell you where the jobs are, why you want them, and, most importantly, how you get them.

SPOTLIGHT ON WOMEN IN IT

INSIDE: INDUSTRY OVERVIEW  PEOPLE TO KNOW  TOP COMPANIES 

www.womenofcolor.net

WOMENOFCOLOR | SPRING 2015

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CAREER OUTLOOK

JOB HORIZON

WHERE ARE THE TOP IT JOBS IN 2015 AND BEYOND? HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE

By Frank McCoy

I

f even the Amish contract out their information technology (IT) needs, the expertise that STEM students and graduates possess is in demand. Check out the 10 IT trends below and decide which industry fits your skill set.

The 2015 Manpower Group Employment Outlook Survey is optimistic. The report says new employees will be heading to the following sectors and they all rely on IT: leisure and hospitality, wholesale and retail trade, transportation and utilities, professional and business services, mining, construction, durable goods, manufacturing, nondurable goods, manufacturing, financial activities, government, and education and health services.

The Internet of things (IoT) Cisco Systems projects that the “value at stake” of the Internet of Things—“the networked connection of people, process, data, and things “ could be $14.4 trillion in total, and $4.6 trillion for the public sector.

What is the impact of the IoT on jobs? Automation will cost them, but network proliferation will spike the demand for designers of user experience, software, the web, programmers, and data scientists.

The most desirable new hires will have analytical, quantitative, and technical aptitude, and prized majors include accounting, computer science, engineering, and computer engineering.

Hybrid vertical industries will be created. For instance, farmers will analyze weather, soil, and seeds, drive their equipment remotely, use drones to spray fields, products, prepare products for market, and handle taxes. Similar approaches will impact sectors like mining, manufacturing, and waste management.

Specialists will be needed to oversee each devices’ networks as machine-to-machine connections flourish. Municipalities already track sensors everywhere from water meters to red light cameras.

Robert Half, a professional staffing company, says employers seek out specific talent in big data, security, and mobile IT. In 2015, software engineer salaries will range between $96,000 and $147,250 and database manager salaries between $112,250 and $160,250.

3D printing If you have the right background, finding a 3D printing job is pretty easy. WantedAnalytics.com has reported the number of job ads requiring workers with the skills below increased 1,834 percent in the past four years.

Computing Everywhere WantedAnalytics.com, which provides workplace data analytics, notes that “the hardest-to-recruit of the most in-demand jobs” are for software developers, applications specialists, and computer systems analysts.

Demand in 3D printing is highest for graduates with industrial or mechanical engineering, software development applications, and commercial engineering backgrounds.

The National Association of Colleges and Association’s (NACE) 2015 Job Outlook Survey reports “employers expect to hire 8.3 percent more new college graduates from the class of 2015 than from the class of 2014.”

The Oxford Research Group predicts that 45 percent of U.S. could be automated by 2033. Maybe yes. Maybe no.

The coming reality of robot coworkers and increasing robot replacements is real, but millions of people will be needed to manage what they do.

After all the higher the skill level required for a job, the more

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valued IT specialists become.

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There are five industries looking for 3D printing hires immediately. They are computer peripheral equipment manufacturing, academia and professional schools, tire and tube merchant wholesalers, search, detection, navigation, guidance, aeronautical, and nautical systems and instrument manufacturing, and aluminum sheet, plate, and foil manufacturing.

Popular 3D printing job boards include 3D-Printing-Jobs.com, 3DPrintingIndustry.com, 3D Printing Industry Jobs Page, 3D

www.womenofcolor.net

CAREER OUTLOOK

Printing Job Board, and the MediaBistro 3D printing job board.

The major U.S. companies in involved in 3D printing are 3D Systems, Inc., ExOne, MakerBot Industries, Orgnavo Holdings, Optomec, and Stratasys Ltd. which is based in the United States and Israel.

Canalys, an analyst firm, says that by 2018 the global 3D printing market could grow from its current $3.8 billion to $16.2 billion.

Advanced Analytics Gartner Research says, “Organizations need to manage how

www.womenofcolor.net

best to filter the huge amounts of data coming from the IoT, social media and wearable devices, and then deliver exactly the right information to the right person, at the right time.�

Predictive analytics and data store specialists will support data usage to industries as connected as just-in-time industrial manufacturing and supply chain management.

Data rich insurance companies will hire specialist to merge actuarial information with government data, medical science, and demographic trends. Advanced and predictive analysis will assist mergers and acquisition teams to blend risk and reward forecasts to predict future outcomes. In December, Indeed.com listed 6,599 advanced analytics job postings.

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Context-Rich Systems This is the development of IoT systems in sync with advanced analytics. The resultant devices are aware of their surroundings and can, among other things, respond to user needs, maintenance, issues and security threats. One example is how your GPS reacts to changing conditions. In 2018, the global market for context aware computing may be worth $120 billion.

Smart Machines Will smart machines take our jobs? Not if you are one of the individuals that creates and develops such devices. Joseph Stiglitz, a Columbia University Nobel Prize-winning economist told the Associated Press “What has always been true is that technology has destroyed jobs but also always created jobs.

You know the old story we tell about (how) the car destroyed blacksmiths and created the auto industry.”

United States-based leaders in the smart sensor market are Analog Devices Inc., which has Co-Op and Interns programs.

The largest, Freescale Semiconductors Inc., an international leader in embedded processing devices, offers internships and new grad opportunities. Another company, AuthenTec Inc., a mobile and security company is now owned by Apple Inc. Cloud/Client Computing Wanted Analytics.com has reported that there are 3.9 million jobs in the U.S. affiliated with cloud computing today and 384,478 in information technology. IT professionals with cloud computing experience receive a median salary of $90,950 and $116,950 is the median for jobs that pay more than $100,000, which will help pay of anyone’s college loan.

Software-Defined Applications and Infrastructure Software, systems, and data engineers are vital to ensure that organizations have and maintain the digital flexibility of their application programming to compete. No exact forecast tracks job openings, but it is reasonable to believe there will quite a few.

Web Scale IT This is the model for applications that scaled up, or provided, to millions of Web users and used by cloud services firms. Various organizations use open-source hardware and software to respond with efficiency to rapid upward scaling, or growth. By 2017, such the service also known as hyperscale could spread

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to more than 50 percent of global firms.

Risk-Based Security and Self Protection and Top Certifications Foote Partners, an advisory firm, reported that in 2014 for the fifth straight quarter pay rose for information technology professionals in 374 noncertified areas and 337 IT certified areas.

The increasingly valuable job- and product-focused certifications are for networking and communications, web development, applications development/programming language, systems administration/engineering, architecture/project management/process, and information security.

SANS.org, a cyber security research and education organization established in 1989, lists its top 20 Cool InfoSec and Cybersecurity Jobs. They are: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Information Security Crime Investigator/Forensics Expert System, Network, and/or Web Penetration Tester Forensic Analyst Incident Responder Security Architect Malware Analyst Network Security Engineer Security Analyst Computer Crime Investigator CISO/ISO or Director of Security Application Penetration Tester Security Operations Center Analyst Prosecutor Specializing in Information Security Crime Technical Director and Deputy CISO Intrusion Analyst Vulnerability Researcher/ Exploit Developer Security Auditor Security-savvy Software Developer Security Maven in an Application Developer Organization Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity Analyst/Manager

The demand for heightened cyber security at public, private, and nonprofit organizations is tied directly to the insecurity felt by their chief information officers and CEOs.

www.womenofcolor.net

C R E AT E

YOUR

ATLAS V OTV-3 PHOTO COURTESY ULA LAUNCH

P A T H

“At The Aerospace Corporation, I’ve had some wonderful mentors who’ve taken the time to share their experiences with me, giving me the opportunity to transfer my skills outside of a focused discipline.

This has allowed me to adapt my area of expertise in chemistry and laser technology and transfigure this knowledge, becoming a successful project manager for the next CubeSat mission.”

DR. ANDREA HSU SCHOUTEN Senior Member of the Technical Staff Propulsion Science Aerospace since 2010

“Aerospace gives me the

flexibility

to try new things.”

Your career is what you make it. At The Aerospace Corporation, we’ll give you the tools you need to enhance your current skills and the opportunities to discover new ones. Why? We know our people are our greatest asset, and we are committed to helping them reach their full potential. With multiple locations nationwide and a wide variety of scientific and engineering disciplines represented, we are sure to have goals in common. We offer wellness programs, career development opportunities, educational assistance, and a 9/80 work schedule as well as competitive and flexible benefits. View all our current opportunities at aerospace.org/careers We are currently hiring for the following positions:

ATLAS V AVIONICS ENGINEEER (requisition 6656) ANTENNA ENGINEEER (requisition 6817) at our El Segundo headquarters.

Visit aerospace.org/careers/current-openings

@AeroCorpCareers

©2015 THE AEROSPACE CORPORATION The Aerospace Corporation is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. We believe that a diverse workforce creates an environment in which unique ideas are developed and differing perspectives are valued, and that produces superior customer solutions. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, gender, gender identity or expression, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, or disability status.

Looking for past issues?

Find us on Google Books!

CAREER OUTLOOK

20 LEADERS IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

By Frank McCoy

T

he Merriam-Webster dictionary defines Information Technology (IT) as “the technology involving the development, maintenance, and use of computer systems, software, and networks for the processing and distribution of data.”

IT is a field that must hire millions of specialists. Well-prepared undergraduates, and recent grads, that can work with, on, and for the emerging digital world.

At the Consumer Electronics Show, Cisco Systems, Inc. CEO John Chambers predicted that the Internet of Things (IoT) may generate or save $19 for consumers, and private and public sectors. He also estimated that only 10 billion of the world’s 1.5 trillion digital things that could get an IP address are connected currently. Which means you will have a lot of work to do.

The digital transformation of families, communities, lifestyles, industries, and countries is revving up.

It will encompass sensors for your industry, job, home, and car.

There will be links to your municipality, favorite stores, and the healthcare system monitoring your body’s inside and outside.

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Degrees in IT, computer science, engineering, software designe, and related hard- and soft fields will be in demand, and your ascent will gain warp speed if decide to earn M.B.A. degree and know how both to save and generate capital.

Aspect Ventures Theresia Gouw Co-Founder B.S. in Engineering, Brown University M.B.A., Stanford University At Palo Altos, Aspect Ventures, Theresia Gouw invests seed and early stage funding in emerging mobile companies specializing in consumer internet, enterprise, software as a service, and healthcare IT. Gouw worked for 15 years at Accel Partners and helped create $10 billion in public market value. In Bizjournals. com, Gouw provided tips for entrepreneurs to woo investors: keep tight focus on things done well; research your investor’s www.womenofcolor.net

strengths; communicate often with your board to strengthen it; create an equitable vesting model; and ensure that capital goals and personal goals mesh.

Bank of America Rosa Ramos-Kwok Managing Director B.A. in Psychology and Classics, New York University Rosa Ramos-Kwok joined Bank of America in 2014 as an executive in the Technology, Global Wholesale Banking Infrastructure unit. She began her career in finance at Morgan Stanley in 1987 as an information technology trainee. She gained responsibility steadily in areas including Application Development, Technology Infrastructure Management, and Technology Risk Management, and rose to Managing Director, Global Head of Enterprise Production Management and the Enterprise Infrastructure Americas Regional Manager. Last year, the Hispanic IT Executive Council named Kwok as one of the top 100 most influential and notable Hispanic professionals in the IT Industry.

Barclays Maria Azua Global Head – Infrastructure Engineering B.S. in Physics and Mathematics, University of Puerto Rico M.S. in Computer Science, University of Miami M.B.A., Florida Atlantic University In 2013, Maria Azua was hired by global banking giant Barclays Wealth and Investment Management.

Her responsibility includes engineering strategy, design, and implementation of technology to support business units. Areas under her aegis include computer systems, mobile devices, voice solutions, BYOD, collaboration tools, data services and enterprise management, and private clouds. Azua worked the previous 21 years at IBM in positions of increasing responsibility culminating in Vice President of Integrated IT and Technology, Global Process Services. www.womenofcolor.net

Capital One Mave Houston Founder & Head of USERLabs and User Research Strategy B.S., Computer Science, Spelman College Ph.D., Computer Science & Software Engineering, Auburn University Since 2013 Mave Houston has led USERLabs at Capital One, a McClean, Va. listed on the Fortune 500.

The research teams Houston manages are located at several Capital One offices and include user researchers, technicians, and research strategists. In a Spelman College publication, Houston, who previously worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said Spelman’s Human Computer Interaction and Algorithm Analysis classes prepared her for graduate school, and an emphasis on communication and presentation skills aided her corporate ascent.

Cisco Systems Padmasree Warrior Chief Technology and Strategy Officer (CTSO) B.S. in Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi M.S. in Chemical Engineering, Cornell University In 2012, Padmasree Warrior became CTSO at Cisco Systems, a global networking company, and Forbes magazine called her one of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women. Her portfolio includes integrating business models, growing new technologies, and managing mergers and acquisitions and tactical partnerships.

Warrior told HuffingWOMENOFCOLOR | SPRING 2015

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ton Post that her secrets of success were: being authentic and approachable, mentoring, leaning into opportunities, integrating work, family, self, and community; avoiding guilt, being happy with decisions, and thinking long-term and focusing on relationship quality.

GE Healthcare Daphne E. Jones GE Healthcare Senior Executive Chief Information Officer (CIO) - Global Services M.B.A. in Management and Marketing, Illinois State University

Hewlett-Packard Latasha Gary Global IT Director B.S. in Computer Science, Texas A&M University M.S. in Computer Science, Howard University

As CIO of the $18 billion dollar GE Healthcare unit, Jones leads a business strategy to improve business, reduce costs, and advance engineering proficiency in customer markets globally. She is a member of the GE Healthcare Global Services Leadership Team and the GE Healthcare IT Leadership Team.

Jones is also involved in designing the company’s next generation cloud technology, implementing global portfolio investment management, and reducing legacy systems. Prior to GE, she was a Senior Vice President and CIO at Hospira.

Gary joined HP in 2002, after 13 years with Compaq Computer Corp., after the two companies merged.

Presently, she partners with the HP’s Business Unit CIO for Personal Printing Services and Enterprise Services to deliver service transition activities, supports more than 400 assets to ensure the production environment stability, and leads process improvements to advance production agility, reliability, and controls. Gary joined Compaq a month after earning her Howard University master’s degree in computer science.

Google Bonita Coleman Stewart

Intel Aicha Evans

Vice President, Americas, Partner Business Solutions B.A. in Journalism, Howard University M.B.A., Harvard Business School

Vice President - General Manager, Platform Engineering Group B.S in Computer Engineering, The George Washington University

Bonita Stewart is responsible for Partner Business Solutions in North And South America. Using Google products search, programmatic media, mobile, and DoubleClick technology, Stewart assists major clients in their strategy development and revenue growth plans. She also aids global publishers to earn money from their content. Since 56

2006 when Google hired Stewart, then Director, Interactive Communications at DaimlerChrysler, her career has soared.

Her previous Google posts included National Industry Director, Automotive, Managing Director, U.S. Sales, Vice President, U.S. Sales and Operations, and Vice President, Americas, Partner Business Solutions.

WOMENOFCOLOR | SPRING 2015

Aicha Evans is responsible for driving wireless engineering for multicommunication products and Intel platforms, including modems, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, and emerging wireless technologies. During her tenure at Intel, Evans has also worked in the Mobile and Communications Group, as general manager of the www.womenofcolor.net

Mobile Wireless Group, and began as software integration and test manager. Prior to Intel, Evans worked for Rockwell Semiconductors, Conexant and Skyworks. Last year, she was interviewed on the online show, AnandTech, answering questions about Intel wireless. (http://anandtech.com/show/7222/ ask-the-experts-intels-aicha-evans-talks-wireless-and-answersyour-questions)

Intel Geetha Dabir Vice President/General Manager Internet of Things (IOT) Group Application Ready Platform Group B.S. in Electrical Engineering, Bangalore University M.S. in Computer Science, Villanova University At Intel, when silicon, operating systems, applications, and security are combined, Geetha Dabir’s responsibility is to form and deliver Internet of Things (IoT) solutions.

Dabir joined Intel in 2014. She worked previously at Cisco Systems as Vice President and General Manager IoT Application and grew its IoT security and business intelligence business revenue to more than $100 million annually. In 2012, Business Insider listed Dabir one of the 25 Powerful Women Engineers in Technology.

Lockheed Martin Sondra L. Barbour Executive Vice President, Information Systems & Global Solutions B.S. in Computer Science and Accounting, Temple University Since 2013 Sondra Barbour has led one of Lockheed Martin’s five business units.

Information Systems & Global Solutions employs 26,000 professionals providing innovative information systems, and security and services that support missions for global customers. From 2008 to 2012, www.womenofcolor.net

Barbour was the Senior Vice President of the Enterprise Business Services organization and Lockheed’s Chief Information Officer. She is a director at Lockheed Martin Australia Pty Ltd and a member of the board of directors for 3M India Limited.

Lockheed Martin Stephanie C. Hill Vice President and General Manager Information Systems & Global Solutions Civil business B.S. in Computer Science and Economics, University of Maryland, Baltimore County The 2014 Black Engineer of the Year, Stephanie Hill, has a nearly 30-year engineering career at Lockheed Martin, a global security and aerospace company. Currently, Hill, a noted team builder and customer service expert, has responsibility for 10,000 employees. They provide systems and services in information technology and cyber security, finance, transportation, energy, citizen protection, health care, and space exploration. The civil business unit’s clients include nondefense U.S. government departments and agencies, foreign governments, and regulated industries.

Microsoft Jennifer Chayes Managing Director Microsoft Research New York City Microsoft Research New England B.A. in Biology and Physics, Wesleyan University Ph.D. in Mathematical Physics, Princeton University.

In 2012, Jennifer Chayes co-founded Microsoft Research New York City; four years earlier she founded Microsoft Research New England in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Chayes is the Distinguished Scientist and Managing Director of each facility where social and mathematical researchers collaborate.

Previously, she was the research area manager for Microsoft Research Redmond’s Mathematics, Theoretical Computer SciWOMENOFCOLOR | SPRING 2015

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ence and Cryptography division. In 1997 when Chayes joined Microsoft, she co-founded its Theory Group. It researched theoretical computer science, math and physics.

Peabody Energy Lina A. Young Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer B.S in Computer Science, Tulane University M.S. degrees in Information Management, and Telecommunications, Computer Science, Washington University in St. Louis At Peabody Energy “the world’s largest privatesector coal company”, Lina Young oversees strategic and operational aspects of Information Technology globally. Young has also served as SVP of Marketing Commercial Services responsible for Global Energy analytics and customer contract management, and VP of Enterprise Resource Planning. Away from work, she is on the boards of directors for the YWCA, and the Family Resource Center, and involved in various CIO councils.

SAP Gail Moody-Byrd Digital Governance Center of Excellence Lead B.S. in Economics, Spelman College M.B.A. in General Management, Harvard Business School Gail Moody-Byrd studied economics appreciating how it blended statistics, data, and nuances of human behavior.

Her new job, since January 2015, is also multi-disciplinary as she drives the strategy, policies, processes, and practices governing SAP’s digital channels. MoodyByrd lists IT trends affecting her area: the Internet of Things for its ubiquity, the cloud which changes hardware requirements and how IT services are paid for, and digital wallets which will expand opportunities for IT professionals in Retail.

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SAP Mary V. Ruiz Global Vice President, Strategic Customer Program B.A. in Economics, University of California, Davis M.B.A., Saint Mary’s College of California SAP hired Mary Ruiz in 2009 as a Vice President, Global Operations/Program Management. After two years of double-digit growth in the unit, Ruiz was promoted to her current position.

Her goal now is to improve customer satisfaction, loyalty, and increase global revenue. For four consecutive years, the Hispanic IT Executive Council selected Ruiz as one of the top 100 most influential and notable Hispanic professionals in the Information Technology industry.

SKJ Visioneering, LLC Sandra Johnson B.S. in Electrical Engineering, Southern University M.S. in Electrical Engineering, Stanford University Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Rice University In 2014, after nearly 30 years with IBM, Sandra Johnson opened a consultancy focused on IT and information communications technology environments, innovation, invention and intellectual property. In her last IBM post, Johnson, a Chief Technology Officer, had developed business between IBM and independent software vendors and systems integrators in the Middle East and Africa. Johnson, the first African-American woman to earn an electrical engineering Ph.D. was ranked among IBM’s top 1 percent of over 250,000 technical professionals.

The Aerospace Corporation Wanda Austin President and Chief Executive Officer B.S. in Mathematics, Franklin & Marshall College M.S. degrees in Environmental Systems Engineering and Mathematics, University of Pittsburgh Ph.D in Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Southern California.

Wanda Austin, CEO of the Aerospace Corporation, which “provides technical guidance and advice” to the nation’s space security space programs, is a renowned expert on satellite and payload system acquiwww.womenofcolor.net

sition, systems engineering, and system simulation. Austin, a math prodigy during her youth in New York City, received the 2009 Black Engineer of the Year award from Career Communications Group.

Wachovia, a Wells Fargo Company Theresa Wilson EVP and CIO – Consumer Lending Technology B.S. in Math, Howard University M.B.A., Queens College Theresa Wilson has been with Wachovia for more than 30 years and directs systems support for Consumer Lending Technology including transaction services, deposit and statement processing, quality assurance and risk management and compliance. She is also responsible for Consumer Lending Technology initiatives related to personal credit management, education financial service, and indirect auto collections. She began

her financial career in 1976 with First Union Bank, and is a member of the North Carolina Technology Association.

Xerox Ursula Burns Chairman and CEO B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Polytechnic Institute of NYU M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University.

Never underestimate the value of an internship.

In 1980, Ursula Burns was a Xerox mechanical engineering intern, and after being hired a year later began her corporate ascent. In 2009, she was elected CEO of $22 billion Xerox, the world’s leading enterprise for business process and document management company.

She is a founding board director of Change the Equation, which focuses on improving the U.S.’s education system in science, technology, engineering and math.

20

CELEBRATING

YEARS

OF MULTICULTURAL WOMEN IN STEM

October 15-17, 2015

2015 Women of Color STEM Conference Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center

Weaving the Stories of Women’s Lives Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/WOCITC Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/#!/woctechnology Career Communications Group, Inc. | 729 East Pratt St., Suite 504 | Baltimore, MD 21202 | (410) 244-7101 | www.womenofcolor.net

WE LIKE THE WAY

YOU THINK.

If thinking outside the box comes naturally to you, you’re what we call a “Pioneering Spirit.” We’re looking for innovative IT and technology professionals who dare to face challenges head on. Sound like you?

Visit us at Lowes.com/Careers.

©2014 Lowe’s Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Lowe’s, the gable design and Never Stop Improving are trademarks of LF, LLC.

CHARACTER, COuRAgE &

COMMITMENT. AT LOCKHEED MARTIN, WE’RE ENGINEERING A BETTER TOMORROW. We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace based on fairness and equality.

We know that to develop the world’s most advanced systems, you need the contributions and talents of all employees. We are proud to honor the Women of Color 2015 awardees — women who exemplify outstanding scientific and technical achievements with their leadership, innovation and inspiration.

Learn more at www.lockheedmartin.com/diversity

©2015 LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION VC646_042