Today, we celebrate the 10th year of the Women on Boards campaign, the 3rd year of the Seattle conversation on board diversity, and of course, the 100th  anniversary of women’s right to vote.

Women In Cloud community had an opportunity to participate and explore ways to impact the board’s diversity and inclusion. 

In the world we live today, corporations significantly impact the society we live in. However, these organizations are never run by one single individual. There is an established board that determines the future of the organization and its impact on the people. As a board member, you are given the opportunity to support the initiatives that resonate with your personal mission, expand your network, and contribute to the growth of the organization. 

The percentage of women on Russell 3000 boards has steadily increased over the past four years, going from 16.0% nationally in 2017 to 22.6% in 2020. Over the same period, the percentage of women directors on Russell 3000 companies headquartered in Washington has increased from 19.3 to 24.9. Washington compares quite favorably against the US average. Checkout Gender Diversity Index Report.

We loved the takeaways shared by Emily Carrion, Chief Marketing Officer at Rubica from the Seattle’s 2020 Women on Boards event:

From Jessie W:

✨Pivot from networking to fellowship – what can you give, how can you serve

✨Prepare yourself for luck so when it presents itself you’re ready

✨Cultivate your power lane – know what you’re awesome at

✨Do your homework & know how you align with what the company is trying to do

✨ Be clear on what YOU want, your personal rubric

✨ If this opportunity isn’t right, share it with others

From Jocelyn Mangan:

✨There is no pipeline issue! 

✨Refuse a candidate slate that isn’t diverse

✨A source outside your immediate network

✨Let your network know you’re ready for board service

From Magdalena Yesil:

✨Be open to getting your hands dirty, hiring, finding customers

From Charlotte Guyman:

✨Follow great people, find places to learn from, & be open to serendipity

✨The job of the board is to ensure the right people are in management, they are managing well, & risk mitigation

Programs that are available:

  1. Foster Women Board Directors Development Program
  2. OnBoarding Women
  3. Athena Alliance – A Virtual Community of Women Leaders
  4. Get on Board – Online Workshops

Loud Shout out to Joanna Lohkamp and Kelly Breslin Wright! Click here to learn more.

Women are at the forefront of change! The recent US Election results clearly state that it is time for women to take the lead and influence change. With the landscape changing Women in technology are leading the industry to initiate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity conversations.

Women in Cloud is a community of women from technology who are at the forefront of driving change by creating access to opportunities and resources to empower female-technology entrepreneurs to economically impact the world.  This effort is being recognized by Insight Success Magazine.

Insight Success Magazine launched the “Top 10 Most Influential Women in Cloud 2020” edition, commemorating women leaders and executives from the technology industry in the US. We are very excited to announce the “Top 10 Most Influential Women in Cloud 2020” from the Women in Cloud community.

Gretchen is working towards Microsoft’s US acceleration of its Artificial Intelligence, Cloud, and Sustainability initiative to become carbon negative by 2030. Gretchen is a 25+ year tech industry veteran with vast experience in commercial, public sector, industry, and partner sales and marketing. 

Senator Patty was first appointed to the House of Representatives in September of 2015 and won her first election to retain the seat the following year. In January 2017, Patty was again unanimously appointed by the King County Council to fill the vacant Senate seat in the 48th Legislative District and was selected by her colleagues to chair the new Senate Housing Stability and Affordability Committee.

Gavriella is currently revolutionizing the Partnership Channel at Microsoft. As corporate vice president for the One Commercial Partner business, Gavriella Schuster leads the Microsoft partner business strategy, across all commercial partners. She has extensive experience in sales, marketing, product management, and partner development, with a strong track record of managing customers, partners, and teams.

  • Christine Puccio | Vice President | Global Cloud Alliance & GTM Program | F5 Network

Christine is a seasoned leader in the technology industry and a champion for diversity and inclusion. Over the past 25 years, Christine has led high-performing sales teams and has built strategic partnerships for Fortune 500 companies such as F5, Red Hat, Sun Microsystems, AT&T, and Lockheed Martin.

Karen Fassio leads the strategy for digital marketing engagement that serves the global Microsoft Partner Ecosystem.  She has held multiple marketing roles over her 21 years at Microsoft including her work in global technical readiness, licensing, sales excellence, audience, and channel marketing. 

Chaitra Vedullapalli is recognized as an Influential Business Leader with a passion to enable digital equity and access to achieve economic prosperity in our communities. Using the power of AI, Cloud, and IoT, Vedullapalli Is fiercely committed to empowering business owners to access the digital economy.

Renee oversees AppSmart’s strategy, sales, marketing, service delivery, and business development. A thought-leader in the technology industry for more than 25 years, and a channel veteran, Renée is a driving force behind propelling AppSmart and its partners’ next phase of growth through digital services.

Lani brings over 20 years’ experience in the technology industry as a technology executive. Lani currently serves as Vice President of Channel Sales at Microsoft Corporation. Her team supports our customers’ digital transformation efforts by accelerating co-selling partnerships with the Microsoft partner ecosystem representing a $40B business.

  • Kimberly Smith | Global Vice President | Cloud Innovation Services | IBM

Throughout her career, Kimberly has launched products and services for a multitude of technology platforms, industries, and sectors leading at organizations such as The Bank of New York, Microsoft, Adobe, Capgemini, and IBM as well advised thousands of startups toward profitable businesses. With over 30 years of global experience as a Fortune 500 executive, Kimberly Smith has pioneered cloud and digital innovation.

Gina is a Managing Director with Accenture, the world’s largest consulting firm. In her current role, she manages a team designing complex solutions to solve business challenges for her Fortune 1000 clients. Over her 25 year career, she has global powerhouses like IBM, where she ran sales for their North America Customer Care Practice, Genpact – where she ran their Hi-tech sector globally, EDS, and Leo Burnett.

We congratulate our leaders for their continued effort to build a sustainable and inclusive technology industry.

Bengaluru, India: The Women in Cloud in partnership with SHEROES is hosting a live session ‘The Golden Cloud Opportunity in India No One is Talking About’ on 7 November 2020. This live session will primarily focus the corporate involvement in creating an inclusive economy, policy advancement in India, and entrepreneurship advancement in the enterprise market. 

Women in Cloud’s colossal goal to generate over $1B in global economic access by 2030 focuses on WiC operations expansion across eight different countries and various regions. India, one among the  eight, hosted a Curtain Raiser in 2019 initiating Women in Cloud’s operations in India. Over the last year, Women in Cloud has planned and built strategic partnerships with organizations like SHEORES to advance the mission. 

Since, Women in Cloud’s partnership with SHEROES to advance economic access and opportunities for female-tech founders and leaders in India; this will be the first joint event. The ‘Golden Cloud Opportunity in India No One is Talking About’ will initiate a very important conversation in the Indian technology space and the lack of women leaders and entrepreneurs in the space. The speakers for the session are;

The virtual event will also host networking sessions with access to interact with the innovative minds behind technology giants in India. The Women in Cloud also has some exciting announcements in store for our Indian audience. 

Click here to register. There are limited seats available.

Date: 7 November 2020

Time: 7 PM – 9 PM IST 

Networking Sessions: 7.00 PM – 7.30 PM (IST) & 8.30 PM – 9.00 PM (IST)

Sign up for the Women in Cloud Digital Network to learn about the Women in Cloud Accelerator and get exclusive access to industry experts from all over the world! This is a global, larger than life movement with over 100M women dedicated to making their mark in this world. 

What if female technology entrepreneurs and leaders created over $1B in global economic impact? The audacious dream is Women in Cloud’s mission and purpose. 

Three years ago, Women in Cloud was an idea on a tissue paper, drafted by women of Corporate America exhausted by the lack of female figures they could call role models. The idea was to create an empowering community of female technologists, entrepreneurs, leaders, and policy-makers to ensure an inclusive technology industry. 

Time and time again, women are told there is not enough pie to go around for all. So what? We will just make a bigger pie. Women in Cloud has taken action with global leaders and policy-makers to help women entrepreneurs create $1 Billion in economic access by 2030. The community focuses on creating Access to customers, funding, and resources, to drive Action to create innovative solutions, partnerships, and communities and helps businesses Accelerate with policy resources and readiness. 

The community organization hosts over 100M women from all over the world through global partnerships with organizations like UN Women, SHEROES, EQUALS Global, Microsoft Alumni Network, WIT Network, and 18 other global organizations. This allows all the parties involved to access various resources, some unique to a particular organization, and build a strong dynamic global community of women.

Currently, the Women in Cloud Global Expansion plan is underway focussed on bringing women technologists and entrepreneurs from all over the world to the table to create an inclusive, sustainable, and transformative technology industry. India is one of eight countries where Women in Cloud will expand its initiatives to further our mission. 

On this journey, we are extremely happy to call SHEROES as our strategic partner in India. We are looking forward to achieving the following joint goals:

  1. Launch The Women in Cloud India Accelerator to boost economic access in the enterprise sector through inclusive procurement strategies.
  2. Host CloudInnovateHERxIndia Pitch Challenge to showcase enterprise-ready solutions.
  3. Inspire women to participate in the Global Solution Marketplace for generating customer leads.
  4. Engage women to join #EmpowHERAccess campaigns to create awareness about women’s contribution to the economic prosperity in India and across the globe while advancing and modernizing economic empowerment policies.

We are looking forward to connecting with all of you on this platform to transform the technology industry. Join our digital network today to get exclusive access to technology leaders and entrepreneurs from all over the world! 

Meanwhile, let us know ‘What does Economic Access and Empowerment mean to you?’

Join the conversation below. 

It is a special day to celebrate female leaders and entrepreneurs in technology! Today, Gavriella Schuster was awarded the ATHENA Global Leadership Award, previously bestowed upon icons like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Condoleezza Rice, and Christina Koch, just to name a few. One among us broke the “glass ceiling” and is carving a path for women in the technology industry and we could not be more excited about this. 

Gavriella Schuster is the Corporate Vice President of One Commercial Partner at Microsoft. Over the last 24 years, she has held 14 roles across six disciplines – Operations, Marketing, Sales, Training, Enterprise Services, Licensing, Product Management to now leading Partnerships at Microsoft. While her professional accolades are remarkable, she is constantly trying to bring her personal mission to make the technology industry an accessible space for women to explore. Gavriella guides communities like Women in Cloud, and The WIT Network to ensure women are given a seat at the highest table in the industry.

“My inspiration to incorporate and advocate inclusivity, equality and equity in technology was my daughter. It was a simple dream, to be her role model. However, as time went by, my journey was not just about her, but thousands of women who I realized were held at bay despite their capabilities. Today, I am honored that what started as a personal mission is my ingrained passion which impacts women around the world” said Gavriella, while receiving her award at a virtual ceremony. 

We at Women in Cloud are honored to have Gavriella Schuster as our executive and founding sponsor, a mentor and a team member. On this day, we celebrate Gavriella and all her achievements and are proud that she represents our community and millions of women from the technology industry across the globe.

“The times are crucial and it calls upon all of us to #BeTheChange. I request everybody to step up, take on challenges, drive inclusive conversations and be the change in our society,” Schuster added in her closing statement. 

On the powerful note, we urge you to join us to congratulate Gavriella and join our movement to be the change today!

Read more about, Gavriella Schuster’s incredible contribution to the tech industry here.