Join WITI in the Silicon Valley for the Biggest Event of the Year

WITI (Women In Technology International), the world’s leading professional organization for executive women in technology, will truly inspire “Collaboration, Strategy and Growth” through hands on speaking engagements and panel discussions at the Annual WITI Women and Technology Summit in San Jose, CA September 12-14, 2010.

Top technology leaders from Clean Tech, Mobile, Search, Cloud, Social Media, and Business teach WITI Summit attendees how to capture and target more customers, build stronger relationships with existing customers and take advantage of the applications and tools to build a stronger web presence, increase revenue and streamline costs for their companies.

WITI represents the ideal market for business Networking - CIO’s, executive women and men as well as leaders in technology from around the world converge at WITI’s Annual Women and Technology Summit to discuss and collaborate on innovative solutions to common business challenges, and explore new business opportunities.

Speakers and Panelists will Include

Sandy Carter, Vice President, Software Business Partners, IBM
Nilofer Merchant,Entrepreneur,CEO & Chief Strategist, Rubicon Consulting
Kathy Chou, VP, PSG Americas Sales Strategy & Operations, Hewlett Packard
Bernadette Nixon, Senior Vice President, Global Field Marketing, CA
Bernard Golden, CEO, HyperStratus
Sally Jenkins, Vice President, Worldwide Marketing, Symantec
Vanessa Alvarez, Industry Analyst, Frost & Sullivan
Ghennipher Weeks, Co-Founder, Applied Connectioneering, Inc

Click Here for a Complete Schedule of Events!

ASOCIA Group is a top-tier provider of information technology consulting, staffing and executive search services to clients nationwide. ASOCIA is a woman-owned enterprise(WBE) certified by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC). www.asociagroup.com/WBENC

How Women Can Become CIOs

Denise Coyne is a 28-year veteran of oil giant Chevron and has been one of its CIOs for the past two years. She’s also one of the few female CIOs at big companies. Forbes caught up with Coyne to discuss her career and challenges facing women in IT.

Forbes: What are some of the challenges that you’ve faced as one of the few female CIOs of a major corporation?

Denise Coyne: Actually, I think that it’s the same kind of challenges that any woman in business faces, especially starting when I did. But I think, in some ways, it was a little easier for me. I grew up in a military family. And the military is a very male-dominated, hierarchical kind of organization, just like Chevron was when I started. So I would say, when I started, I was usually the only woman in any meeting. Now, probably half the meeting is women.

Being focused on what you want and determined–not letting things overwhelm you, but just keep going–is one of the major ways you stay focused and get ahead.

Why aren’t there more women in CIO roles at companies?
I think the CIO role is a very demanding role. And trying to balance all of the different family, children, extracurricular activities in your life with work is a tough juggle. So I think that’s one of the reasons that people come to points in their life when they have to make a decision, “Is it going to be work or is it going to be something else?”

What made you aspire to be a CIO?
I always like to say that I took the circuitous route through life. My undergraduate degree is in criminology, but I wrote a paper on police use of data banks and information. I went back to school and got my master’s in business administration and got a marketing job with IBM. And they trained me in information technology.

From there, I went into Chevron. And an early mentor of mine basically said, “Denise, if you want to be a top executive, keep that focus and determination on that, and then plot your career, but be willing to be really flexible. If you come to a roadblock, know that you can take a sidestep; know that you can take a lateral. Maybe you need to take a lateral to get more breadth to prepare yourself to have that broad perspective for a top job.” And I think that I’ve done that.

What advice would you give to women who are interested in becoming a CIO and advancing their careers in IT?

I actually mentor quite a few young women that we hire into Chevron. And I tell them the same thing: Ask for what you want. If you think, “I’m working really hard; why isn’t anyone noticing me,” that’s the wrong thing. But if you’re putting it out there, “I want the next promotion. I want more responsibility. I want more challenge,” I think it’s amazing the kind of things that come to you.

Are there any things that you wish you had known more about the CIO job before stepping into it? And how would you have prepared differently?

Making sure that you have a core of self confidence walking into meetings is critical. So, being very clear on your personal values, on your personal beliefs, on your beliefs about the company and the direction of the company is a way to prepare yourself to act confidently in those meetings.

www.forbes.com Full article courtesy of Forbes.

Asocia Group is a woman-owned(WBE) enterprise certified by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council(WBENC). www.asociagroup.com/WBENC.

Asocia Group provides information technololgy consulting, staffing and executive search services to clients nationwide and was ranked as one of top ten diversity businesses in the US in 2009. In 2010, Asocia Group launched S.W.I.T., an organization to help create more executive-level career opportunities for women in technology.

Asocia Executive Search is a division that specializes in retained executive search for CIO positions.

Most Influential Women In Technology 2010

Fast Company’s List of the Most Influential Women In Technology 2010 is impressive to say the least. Here is a list of the top women arranged by categories.

The Executives: Susan Lyne, CEO Gilt Group; Julie Lee, SVP Vevo; Sheryl Sanbert ,COO Facebook; Ursula Burns, CEO Xerox, Rebecca Parson, CTO Thoughtworks, Virginia Rometty, SVP IBM; Ann Livermore, VP HP; Carol Bartz, CEO Yahoo, Teresa Carlson, VP of Microsofts US Federal Business, Genevieve Bell, Director User Experience Intel, Marissa Mayer, VP Google, Judy McGrath, CEO MTV.

The Activists: Shela Krumholz, Executive Director Center for Responsive Politics; Ellen Miller, Cofounder Sunlight Foundation; Leslie Harris, CEO Center for Democracy; Lelia Chirayath Janah, Founder Samasource; Jessica Jackley, Founder Kiva; Cheryl Contee, Founder Fission Strategy, Sarah Durham, Founder Big Duck; Gwen Bell, Social Media Guru.

The Media: Allison Lewis, Creative Innovator Switch Craft; Darlene Liebman, Cofounder and Vice President of Production Howcast Studios, Laura Brunow Miner, Founder Pictory, Elizabeth Spiers, Media Consultant The Cut; Pim Techamuanvivit, Food Blogger; Lisa Stone, Cofounder BlogHer, Liza Sabater, Publisher Daily Gotham and Culture Kitchen; Meredith Artley, Managing Editor CNN.com.

The Entrepreneurs: Jen Bekman, Founder 20×200; Clara Shih, Founder Hearsay Labs, Tina Sharkey, President and CEO BabyCenter, Claire Boonstra, Cofounder Layar, Danae Ringelmann, Cofounder IndieGoGo, Sam Reich-Dagnen, Cofounder Braincandy; Tan Le, Founder and President Emotiv; Caterina Fake, Cofounder Hunch

The Evangelists: Shireen Mitchell, Founder Digital Sisters; Shaherose Charania and Angie Chang, Founders Women 2.0; Allyson Kapin, Founder Women Who Tech; Molly Holzschlag, Web Standards Advocate; Debbie Weil, Corporate Blogging Expert; Cindy Padnos, Founder Illuminate Ventures, Addison Berry, Document Team Lead Drupal; Susan Scrupski, Founder and CEO 2.0 Adoption Council; Pamela Jones, Founder Groklaw, Laura Fitton, Founder OneForty; Gina Trapani, Project Director Expert Labs.

The Gamers: Susan Wu, Cofounder and CEO Ohai; Jane McGonigal, Director of Games Research & Development Institute for the Future; Lucy Bradshaw, Electronic Arts, Nicole Lazzaro, Founder XEO Design; Shinyoung Park, Founder Funji, Kate Connally, VP Addicting Games; Annie Chang, Cofounder and Head of Products LoLapps, Trina Schwimmer, Founder GamingAngels, Sara de Freitas, Director of Research Serious Games.

The Braniacs: Elizabeth Stark, Cofounder Open Video Alliance, Sheila Campbell, Head of the General Service Administration’s Web Best Practices Team, GSA’s USA.gov, Melissa Hathway, Cybersecurity Expert; Jayne Poynter, Cofounder Paragon Space Dev Corp; Amber Case, Cyborg Anthropologist; Fernanda Viegas, Cofounder Flowing Media; Robin Murphy, Professor of Computer Science and Engineering Texas A&M University; Jill Tarter, Director SETI; Maria Alovert, Biodiesel Advocate; Alexis Ringwald, Cofounder Valence Energy Corp

ASOCIA Group would like to congratulate these amazing women for their great contributions and leadership in technology.

ASOCIA Group is a woman-owned enterprise(WBE) certified by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC).www.asociagroup.com/WBENC.

ASOCIA Group is top-tier information technology consulting, staffing and executive search firm.

Full article at Fast Company

U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce Reports Georgia Women-Owned Business’ Market Share Dropped Over Last Decade

America’s leading economic advocate for women begins aggressive Georgia activities to support women’s businesses and fuel revenue growth.

In light of troubling new data which shows Georgia women-owned businesses revenues-based market share dropped over the last decade, the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce announced strong new activities in Georgia to significantly increase women’s business revenues. The kick-off of these activities will begin in Atlanta on Tuesday, August 17th 2010.

The U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce™ report titled; “Women’s Businesses Struggle for Market Share,” finds, during a decade of strong growth in the number of women-owned firms, U.S. women’s revenue-based market share shrank ten percent.

USWCC | Two Reports from USWCC | 360 on Vimeo.

Newly released data from the Preliminary Estimates of Business Ownership by Gender, Ethnicity, Race and Veteran Status: 2007, from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2007 Survey of Business Owners alarmingly finds, even though the number of U.S. women’s business grew 44% between 1997 and 2007, our already small revenues-based market share declined over 10% – dropping from 4.41% in 1997 to 3.95% in 2007. And, even though the number of Georgia women-owned firms nearly doubled between 1997 and 2007, and even though women owned over 30% of all firms in Georgia, the revenues-based market share for Georgia women-owned firms declined from 4.35% to 4.28%.

“Georgia women own over two hundred seventy-eight thousand firms (30.86% of all Georgia firms), but secure only 4.38% of all revenues. Across the United States, women own over 7.8M firms, (28.75% of all firms in the U.S.) but secure only 3.95% of all revenues. The opportunity loss and unrewarded risk, loss of job creation, market demand, tax revenues, and potential retirement assets greatly impacts America’s financial future,” says U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce CEO, Margot Dorfman.

“The media hype about the growth of women’s businesses continues to emphasize the number of women-owned firms, rather than our grossly stunted financial success,” continues Dorfman. “This report highlights the growth challenges women business owners face and the opportunity loss our country experiences as we fail to support women as entrepreneurs and business leaders. One third of all businesses – a huge segment of our total business base – are declining instead of growing. We cannot afford to not help women business owners.”

The U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce | Georgia Economic Council is beginning aggressive activities to bring improvement to the revenue growth of Georgia women-owned firms. “We’re taking Georgia women to the heart of economic development, to the sources of business funding, and to the mainstream business marketplace to turn the tide and bring new revenue and market share growth,” says Dorfman.
The U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce finds failure to access affordable capital, failure to access markets, and segregation from mainstream business development and leadership have contributed to the failure of women’s businesses to achieve acceptable market share growth and has contributed to America’s economic decline.

The USWCC has provided a full report to Congress with a detailed list of recommendations and is initiating aggressive regional activities to support women’s businesses and fuel revenue growth.

MEETINGS: Atlanta - August 17, 2010 from 1:30 pm to 4:00 pm at Centergy Building 75 – 5th St., NW, 3rd floor Hodges Room Atlanta, GA 30308. Virtual Meeting/Webinar (for those unable to attend in person) – August 18th 2010 from 1 - 2:30 pm. Registration is complimentary; details available at http://www.uswcc.org or by calling 888-418-7922.

Georgia women and community leaders interested in supporting women’s business revenue growth are encouraged to contact the chamber through the USWCC web portal (http://www.uswcc.org) or by calling 888-418-7922.

Asocia Group, a leading information technology and staffing services provider, is a woman-owned enterprise(WBE) certified by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council(WBENC) since 2007. www.asociagroup.com/WBENC. Asocia Group’s headquarters are in Atlanta, GA.
www.asociagroup.com

Senior Technical Women: A Profile Of Success

New Report Outlines the Attributes of Success for Senior Technical Women; Offers Recommendations for Companies to Advance Women in Technology and Facilitate Diversity.

A new research report released by the Anita Borg Institute for Women in Technology (ABI) outlines the attributes of success for Senior Technical Women who, at only four percent of the 1,795 technical men and women surveyed for the report, represent a rarity in the technology industry.

The report, titled Senior Technical Women: A Profile of Success, examines the characteristics of high-ranking women in technology, how they perceive themselves and their top attributes for success, and what organizational practices they most care about. The ABI report is publicly available at www.anitaborg.org.

Senior Technical Women: A Profile of Success explores the demographics and attributes shared among women who defy the odds and achieve senior level positions on the technical track. It also makes recommendations for companies looking to retain senior technical women and for women seeking to advance to senior level positions.

A growing body of research has documented the underrepresentation of women in technical
positions in US companies. Women hold 24 percent of technology jobs, yet represent half the total workforce. This underrepresentation persists even though the demand for technical talent remains high: computer occupations are expected to grow by 32 percent between 2008 and 2018.

Companies are increasingly aware of the benefits of diversity for innovation, and are looking for solutions to recruit, retain,and advance women.

A combination of factors helps to explain the dearth of women in technical positions:

• A shortage of women graduating with degrees in technical fields. Women earned 18.6 percent of Computer Science bachelor’s degrees in the US in 2007, and 18.5 percent of engineering degrees. For computer science, this represents a sharp decline from the 37 percent of women graduating with a bachelor’sdegree in 1985.
• For women who do enter technical careers in industry, persistent barriers to retention and advancement have been documented, including: isolation and lack of access to influential social networks and mentors;unwelcoming cultures; work-family conflict and family configurations that differ from male colleagues;organizational cultures that do not reward mentoring and employee development; and hidden bias andstereotyping that become embedded in organizational processes.
• The mid-career level has been identified by researchers as an especially difficult juncture when 56 percentof technical women leave their companies, representing twice the turnover rate of their male colleagues.Furthermore, half of those women leaving their companies end up leaving technical fields entirely.

What about the women who persist and advance past the mid level? Little is known about the women who defy these trends and achieve senior level positions on the technical track.

ASOCIA Group is a leading information technology consulting and staffing firm and is 100% woman-owned and certified(WBE) by the Women’s Business Enteprise National Council(WBENC).
www.asociagroup.com/WBENC

Asocia Group Launches S.W.I.T: An Organization To Support Women In Technology Careers

Atlanta, Georgia - Asocia Group, a leading provider of information technology consulting, staffing and executive services focused in the commercial, government and healthcare sectors, announced the launch of a new organization S.W.I.T. – Supporting Women in Technology. S.W.I.T. is solely focused on supporting women in technology careers.

There is a vast underrepresentation of women in technical positions in US companies. Women hold only twenty four percent of technology jobs, yet represent half of the total workforce. This underrepresentation persists even though the demand for technical talent remains high: computer occupations are expected to grow by thirty two percent between 2008 and 2018. Companies are increasingly aware of the benefits of diversity for innovation, and are looking for solutions to recruit, retain, and advance women.

S.W.I.T. will be partnering with other women-focused technology organizations and leading corporations to help offer and increase opportunities for women in technology.

Asocia Group is a top-tier information technology consulting, staffing and executive search services provider focused in the commercial, government and healthcare sectors. Asocia was ranked as one of the nation’s top 500 diversity businesses in 2009 by Diversitybusiness.com. www.asociagroup.com.

Asocia Group was named one of the Top 500 Diversity Businesses in the US in 2009 by Diversitybusiness.com. Asocia Group is a minority, woman-owned business (WBE), certified by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC). www.asociagroup.com/WBENC

For additional information about S.W.I.T or Asocia Group, please contact:
www.asociagroup.com/SWIT

ljohnson@asociagroup.com
1.800.481.0352

Dont Miss The Largest Women In Computing Conference: Grace Hopper Celebration- September 2010-Atlanta

“Collaborating Across Boundaries”
Atlanta, Georgia
September 28 - October 2, 2010

Co-founded by Dr. Anita Borg and Dr. Telle Whitney in 1994 and inspired by the legacy of Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, the Institute’s Grace Hopper Celebration (GHC) Of Women In Computing Conference is designed to bring the research and career interests of women in computing to the forefront. It is the largest technical conference for women in computing and results in collaborative proposals, networking and mentoring for junior women and increased visibility for the contributions of women in computing. Conference presenters are leaders in their respective fields, representing industry, academia and government. Top researchers present their work while special sessions focus on the role of women in today’s technology fields, including computer science, information technology, research and engineering.

Past Grace Hopper Celebrations have resulted in collaborative proposals, networking, mentoring, and increased visibility for the contributions of women in computing.

Keynote Speakers Include:

-DUY-LOAN T. LE, Senior Fellow & World Wide Advanced Technology Manager, Texas Instruments
-CAROL BARTZ, Chief Executive Officer, Yahoo!
-BARBARA LISKOV, Institute Professor Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, MIT
-AMY ALVING, Chief Technology Officer, SAIC
-KELLI CRANE, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Thomson Reuters

Registration

ASOCIA Group is a woman-owned enterprise(WBE), certified by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council(WBENC) since 2007. www.asociagroup.com/WBENC

ASOCIA Group provides IT staffing and executive search services. We strive to help support women in all levels in information technology careers, from entry-level to executive management.
www.asociagroup.com

Top Six Attributes of High-Ranking Women in Technology

A majority of senior technical women consider themselves to be assertive, collaborators, hard workers who work long hours, unafraid to question, risk-takers, and analytical in nature, according to a new report published today by the Anita Borg Institute for Women in Technology (ABI). The report, titled Senior Technical Women: A Profile of Success, examines the characteristics of high-level women in technology, how they perceive themselves and their top attributes for success, and what organizational practices they most care about. The ABI study is publicly available at http://anitaborg.org/files/Senior-Technical-Women-A-Profile-of-Success.pdf.

“Our survey explored both men and women’s perceptions of what the key attributes are for success in technology,” said Dr. Caroline Simard, vice president of research and executive programs for the Anita Borg Institute and author of the study. “The findings have helped identify common characteristics of those who have been able to break through the barriers associated with climbing the technical ladder. By shedding light on these attributes and encouraging further research on the subject, we hope to facilitate greater diversity, which is so critical to innovation, at all levels of the technology industry.”

Attributes of Success: The study identified top attributes for success for senior technical women -

• Analytical: The majority of senior technical women perceive themselves as analytical. Indeed, all technical employees tend to see themselves as high on this attribute, as technical careers tend to first and foremost look for analytical and problem-solving skills.

• Unafraid to Question/Desire to Learn: A majority consider themselves as questioning – having the ability to ask the right questions, which is critical to problem-solving.

• Risk-Takers: A majority of senior technical women view themselves as risk-takers, which was identified by technical employees as one of the top four attributes of success. Moderate amounts of risk-taking are an important part of leadership, and senior women and men are equally as likely to perceive themselves as risk takers. This research shatters the stereotype that men are more likely to be risk takers than women are.

• Collaborative: Senior technical women are collaborators. A collaborative work style is perceived as a critical success factor in high-technology by both technical men and women, and is consistent with a culture that values innovation, which cannot be achieved without extensive collaboration. Collaboration is both a critical source of success but also a great source of career satisfaction.

• Hard-working/Long Hours: Advancement for senior women comes with long working hours. This finding is consistent with the culture of technology where advancement is tied to increased responsibility and significant availability. This can be a barrier for women who seek advancement while juggling family responsibilities in dual-career couples. 72 percent of the senior technical women surveyed reported cutting back on sleep to advance their careers and nearly a third have delayed having children.

• Assertive: A majority of senior technical women describe themselves as assertive – significantly more so than women at the entry and mid levels. In a professional culture that rewards speaking up, self-promotion, and ambition, senior women interviewed uniformly said they had to learn to be assertive and promote themselves in order to advance. However, research also shows that women have less freedom than men in assertive behavior. Because women’s assertiveness defy long-standing gender stereotypes, women often experience a “likeability penalty” when they are assertive.

About the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABI)
The Anita Borg Institute provides resources and programs to help industry, academia, and government recruit, retain, and develop women leaders in high-tech fields, resulting in higher levels of technological innovation. ABI programs serve high-tech women by creating a community and providing tools to help them develop their careers. ABI is a not-for-profit 501(c) 3 charitable organization. ABI Partners include: Google, Microsoft, HP, Cisco, First Republic Bank, Intel, National Science Foundation, NetApp, SAP, Sun Microsystems, Symantec, IBM, Lockheed Martin, Thomson Reuters, CA, Intuit, Wilson Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati, Yahoo, Amazon, Facebook, and Raytheon. For more information, visit www.anitaborg.org.

Anita Borg Institute Announces Women of Vision Award Winners

The Anita Borg Institute for Women in Technology announced the winners of its 2010 Women of Vision Awards recognizing women who have made significant contributions to technology. One winner is selected in each category: Innovation, Leadership, and Social Impact.

The honorees are:

Kathleen R. McKeown, Henry and Gertrude Rothschild Professor of Computer Science, Columbia University
Kristina M. Johnson, Under Secretary for Energy, U.S. Department of Energy
Lila Ibrahim, General Manager, Emerging Markets Platform Group, Intel Corp.

The Women of Vision Awards recognize women who make significant contributions to technology in three areas: innovation, leadership and social impact. To be selected for the award, women have to demonstrate “consistent, significant contributions to technology innovation and application”; effect positive changes in the way technology impacts society; or demonstrate leadership in the technology industry, according to The Anita Borg Institute.

McKeown’s contributions to natural language processing in artificial intelligence, information extraction and human-machine interaction distinguished her for the innovation category.

Johnson’s roles as Under Secretary for Energy and as dean of Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering garnered her a Women of Vision award in the leadership category. At the Department of Energy, Johnson is working on a plan to achieve an 83 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050. At Duke, she led the expansion of the engineering school.

Ibrahim’s work for Intel scored in the social impact area. She currently leads the research, definition, development and marketing of technologies specifically intended for education worldwide. Previously, Ibrahim led Intel’s Digital Village Initiative, which delivers technology projects that advance education, health and e-governance in the developing world.

The Women Of Vision Conference is being held on May 12, 2010.

Congratulations McKeown, Johnson and Lila! Thank you for your work and dedication.