Session: Breaking the Glass Ceiling for Women in Tech Leadership
Breaking the Glass Ceiling.
The exodus of women in the professional pipeline, ranging from junior posts to executive ones, is dramatic within the Tech industry. Many bright minds falter in a male-dominated environment leading to biased work cultures lacking diversity, inclusion, and equitable benefits.
Despite remarkable innovations, women continue to face barriers persisting up to C-suite level jobs. The woman today needs to recognize and question the underlying issues which we encounter daily in order to find solutions that work. Despite spending equivalent time at similar jobs, women are 30% less likely than men to be promoted, and 60% less likely to move from middle management towards executive ranks. All these spearheads from most heard questions which are on merit-based hiring focusing on experience and skill set, and the importance of women in leadership roles.
The unfounded and biased root cause, usually cited as behind the drastic decline in gender-equality at workplaces, is “lack of self-confidence in women” insinuating that they are incapable of leadership roles where one needs to deal with conflicts and resolutions. However, contrary to these misconceptions, women are strong, empathetic, lead with humility and integrity, are compassionate, can wear many hats and are far better at conflict resolution.
I will engage participants to address why women inclusion is muted in the majority of leadership roles in Tech, as well as discuss creative ways to disrupt the work culture prevailing in the majority of organizations, to ensure that women have a place at the table where their voices are not muted.
Bio
Juanita De-Souza-Huletey is the founder and CEO of Dynamic Solutions Consulting Group Inc. (DSI). She is a trailblazer and has touched the lives of many since her arrival in Canada 30+ years ago. Often referred to as approachable, assertive, and adventurous, she wears many hats. As an industry and community leader, speaker, educator, mentor, life coach, and patron, she is a proven subject matter expert in driving change and organizational success using innovative and cost-effective solutions. Using her flair for result orientation, she has distinguished herself in different senior management roles over the years, and defied various odds to achieve outstanding success on high-stake positions and projects.
Juanita obtained her master’s degree from the University of Manitoba and successfully completed her course work there as a PHD Candidate. Her undergraduate degree with Double Honors in Computer Science and Economics was from the University of Ghana. She also holds several professional designations and certificates (PMP, Change Management, Advanced Law Enforcement Planner), and has published a few papers in international journals, and has presented papers/reports at international conferences.
She has nearly 30 years of outstanding leadership experience in Enterprise Information Technology (IT), project management, governance frameworks and management techniques, and business analytics. As Divisional Head of IT at the Winnipeg Police Service (WPS) and a member of the WPS Executive Management Team, Juanita led many projects including projects that led to cost reductions across 34 divisions/units amounting to estimated annual savings of over $1million. Leveraging her acumen for imparting knowledge, she facilitates regular leadership & personal development seminars for non-profit organizations and has been a seasonal instructor at both the University of Winnipeg and Red River college for several years.
In addition to her professional exploits, Juanita is a highly sought after thought leader with a passion for empowering immigrants, women, and girls in STEM, to break biases, grow beyond environmentally limiting factors and reclaim our own spaces for a better tomorrow. She chaired the WCB United Way Campaign for two years during which WCB achieved the highest participation rate and most donations in its history.
Juanita dedicates her time as a knowledge philanthropist on a number of boards at executive/advisory levels including founding member of Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS) Western Canada, Board Advisor to Scientudio Inc., Empower. Mom, Patron of Ghana Mission Queens Girls Up (UN Foundation), St. Paul High School Board of Directors, and Red River College Polytechnic industry advisor for the IT Strategic Council and Chair of both Project Management and BIT Advisory Committees.
Juanita is also a phenomenal pillar in the African and immigrant community, speaking on systematic issues impacting immigrants, coaching immigrant professionals, ensuring processes are in place for successful integration of immigrants among others. She has a passion for volunteering and was instrumental in leading / providing support a number of initiatives including establishment of ACOMI, Folklorama African Pavilion, Africa Fest Business Networking, Africa Fest Business Networking, and leading a number of fundraising activities.
Juanita’s goal is to influence those around her to succeed and be the best version of themselves. As a leader, Juanita always commits to serving with integrity, accountability, transparency and exceeds expectations in all undertakings.
Juanita lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba with her hubby Emmanuel Huletey, and her three adult sons, Ronald, Ernestho, and Pete. She feels blessed and grateful to be a Ghanaian Canadian living the Canadian dream for 30 years and counting.