October 9, 2000

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Women In Technology
Leaders Among Leaders

By Marianne Kolbasuk McGee

t's no surprise to anyone who's ever attended an IT conference, gone on a technology-product sales call, or sat in a computer-science classroom on a college campus: Men far outnumber women in IT. An even lonelier place for women is the executive-team meeting at a large technology company.

That's because women hold only 8.1% of executive positions (senior VP and higher) at major technology companies, according to Catalyst, a nonprofit research organization in New York. That compares with nearly 12% of executive posts at major companies across all industries.

One of the reasons for the scarcity of women executives at technology firms is simply that there are fewer women in the technology-management pipeline. Although women represent 47% of the total U.S. workforce, they comprise just 29% of the technology sector workforce, according to a study released in May by the White House Council of Economic Advisors. There are also fewer women in the business pipeline: Catalyst reports that women make up just 30% of the MBA candidates among the top 12 business schools.

Meanwhile, even women who make it to the top ranks at technology companies don't necessarily have tech-related jobs, but rather "staff-side" positions such as heading marketing, sales, or human resources, says a Catalyst spokeswoman. Such is the case with Microsoft's VP of human resources, Deborah Willingham, the only female on the company's 16-member executive business leadership team. Willingham, who holds a degree in industrial and systems engineering, made the leap to this post from more technical positions at Microsoft and before that, at IBM.

InformationWeek reporters recently spent time with Willingham and nine other high-ranking women at technology firms. In contrast to Microsoft, some of these companies have more women executives than average, including newcomer System Management Arts Inc., where two out of three people on its executive team are women, and OracleMobile, where women hold three of five top executive positions.

Although these women come from different places and backgrounds, they have much in common. Besides a love for technology and business, and a strong, focused ambition, many of them say there has never been a better time for women to succeed in IT. Many of them attribute the historical lack of women among IT's highest ranks mainly to a decades-old problem: a lack of interest among girls and young women in math and science.

"The biggest problem we have is getting girls to study math and science in high school," says Janet Perna, general manager of IBM's data-management division. Perna is attempting to change that: She sits on the steering committee of an IBM program that operates computer camps for K-12 students.

Shaula Alexander Yemini, a founder and president of System Management Arts, which makes real-time network analysis software, says women in general bring a lot of important attributes to the IT table. "Women have the nurturing quality that helps people feel valued," she says. "That's a good fit for managing people in high technology. With intelligence comes a certain level of sensitivity."

Women executives also take an interest in helping their IT sisters move up the career ladder by acting as role models and providing guidance through formal and informal mentoring programs. Lotus Development Corp. CIO and IBM VP Chris Cournoyer credits female executives for helping her prepare for her professional accessions. "As you move up to the next level, the leadership skills you need are dif-

ferent," she says. Not only can female role models identify and help develop necessary skill sets, they can also offer tips on how to balance work and family, Cournoyer says.

Some of the executives profiled, including Cournoyer and AT&T's Kathleen Earley, have young children. Others are married without children or are single. Clearly, for the executives with children, supportive spouses (Cournoyer's works part-time, and Earley's works from home) ease the pressures of a life that includes lots of travel and long days at the office.

Finally, women who've made it to the top at technology companies are inspired by the Internet. Ann Livermore, president of Hewlett-Packard's business customer organization, hopes to use the Internet to spur greater diversity at HP, where five of the company's 15 top executives are women. "The Internet is all about invention," she says. "Anytime you have a set of actions that drive transformation, you need to have a diversity of views and opinions." The women featured in our package certainly do.

WOMEN IN TECHNOLOGY
Denise Lahey, OracleMobile	Anne Perlman, Moai Technologies
Chris Cournoyer, Lotus Development	Ann Livermore, Hewlett-Packard
Janet Perna, IBM	Kathleen Earley, AT&T
Linda Sanford, IBM	Linda Stone, Microsoft
Deborah Willingham, Microsoft	Shaula Alexander Yemini, System Management Arts Inc.

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