Women in Technology Series – International Women’s Day

March 8th is International Women’s Day. The central theme of this year’s campaign is “A challenged world is an alert world and from challenge comes change.” #ChooseToChallenge. 

I certainly support that sentiment and specifically within the technology world, have advocated the drive for gender balance and equity. It’s good for business, our industry, and the world.

At Liquid Web, we believe in the power of women in technology. Since acquiring Liquid Web in 2016, we have increased women within our employee base by 206%. We have women in leadership roles in every single function in the company, including Marketing, Sales, Finance, Engineering, and Operations. All teams and all shifts in our 24×7 organization have women staff. I am so proud of the work we’ve done and our continued commitment to gender diversity across all of our companies in our Liquid Web Family of Brands.   

As an entrepreneur, I’m passionate about putting together the best possible teams. I always look for the best employee for the role we are filling- without regard to gender! (Frankly, it feels silly to have to “say” that out loud.) In my experience, the women I’ve worked with within leadership roles have proven valuable to bottom-line performance. And there’s data to back up what I know from decades of personal experience—studies from MIT, Carnegie Mellon, and Harvard have all concluded the same thing: teams that include women perform better than those without them. Moreover, teams with an equal gender-balance perform better than male-dominated teams. I’m proud when companies I lead are supporters of “Girls Get IT” and “Women in Tech” initiatives.

It is an honor to be an advocate for having women prominently represented in our employee base as valued leaders in our organization. I have tremendous admiration and respect for women in technology. From a purely statistical standpoint, they have overcome great odds to get here.  Because we are in a technology industry, we have had to work harder than most to enable women to succeed in what are typically male-dominated fields. We’ve invested in the technical capabilities of our women with Red Hat Linux and Cisco Certifications. We’ve worked to create an environment where movement between functions like support, product, marketing, and IT comes with a willingness to invest in the person and the belief they can step into new opportunities and build on their proven skill sets. We are building a culture where women can shine, grow, and succeed.

I’m deeply lucky to have spent my life surrounded by strong women. I grew up with strong women, certainly including my mother and sisters; I married one,  raised one, and now a grandfather to one. And I am fortunate that I get to work with a bunch of amazing women. So, for me – and for Liquid Web companies – supporting, encouraging, and investing in women is woven into the fabric of our culture.

I want young women to see technology as a career path where they can engage and succeed. I want them to know they are welcome in this field. Visibility matters. Representation matters. It is vital that we #ChooseToChallenge and give voice to the stories of women in technology. In this spirit, a few years back we launched a series of blog posts profiling some of the incredible women that make our Liquid Web companies thrive, celebrating them and, hopefully, inspiring more women to join our ranks.  If you have a young woman in your life that may be interested in technology as a career path, I encourage you to share these wonderful success stories.