| Tech and Business Videos |
|
|
|
| Women Needed in IT Leadership: Help is at Hand |
February 26, 2010 |
The CIO Association of Canada (CIOCAN) and CATA Women in Technology Forum (CATA WIT) announced today a partnership to provide an e-Mentorship program to help women aspiring to be CIOs move into IT leadership positions.
CIOCAN’s project leader Susan Doniz, Chair of the CIOCAN National Board’s Marketing Committee, and CIO Global Business Services at Procter and Gamble, Canada “ CIOCAN wants to give young women an up-close, one-on-one view of what it’s like to be in senior IT management. We want to encourage them, provide guidance and feedback on their challenges, and give them some tools to shoot for the top. We found an ideal partner in CATA’s Women in Technology Forum, a national community network that strives to help women advance in their careers in the technology sector. www.ciocan.ca
Dr. Cindy Gordon, Chair of CATA WIT Forum, and CEO Helix Commerce International Inc. “CATA WIT believes that mentoring is one of the critical ways in which women are coached in preparation for management roles. The focus of mentoring is imparting tacit knowledge that will aid in successfully navigating through the organization. Members of CIOCAN are unique in their position to advise mentees on success strategies for moving to the most senior technology roles in their organizations”. www.catawit.ca
Why are women needed in IT Leadership?
CIOCAN and CATA WIT research echoes the findings of every major North American report on the IT Talent Gap from the past three or four years - women are significantly under-represented in the IT profession. Not only does this problem accentuate the shortage of well-qualified workers in IT, it impedes innovation and the development of markets. Human capital is one of the four pillars of innovation, according to the Council of Canadian Academies’ publication “Canada’s Innovation Gap: Explaining Its Size and Its Causes”.
Why e-Mentoring for women?
Sandra Saric, VP, Mentorship, CATA WIT Forum “We know that women require mentoring opportunities so that they can make connections, share experiences, seek safe counsel and have role models within IT leadership ranks. Without this, young women lack a clear vision of a path to the senior echelons of business, and they often opt out of IT in their mid-thirties, just when their careers could be gaining traction.”
About the eMentoring Program
Under the program, once CIO women mentors and mentees are matched up, they will begin an on-line dialogue based on mentees’ stated areas of interest and on program elements built around the kinds of issues and experiences that aspiring IT Leaders can expect to encounter on the job and in their career paths. Because the program has been developed in consultation with memberships of CIOCAN and CATA-WIT, mentees can draw on a broad range of expertise through their relationships with their mentors.
Who are the mentoring CIOs?
They’re all senior executives working in Canada, mostly at the VP level. CIO is their profession, but they come from all industries: retail, banking, education, health, public utilities, executive consulting, primary industry, high-tech, and so on. Some have worked their way up through the ranks of IT departments, and some have switched in from different areas of business. Many will go on to become CEOs. In their private lives they run marathons, garden, ride motorcycles, travel, raise children, read, serve their communities.
Who is eligible to be a mentee?
CATA WIT Forum has an extensive network of young women in Canada aspiring or already in the IT profession. All members of CATA WIT’s network are eligible to apply for a CIO e-mentor.
e-Mentorship Partners
Microsoft Canada, www.microsoft.ca, Empowered Networks www.empowerednetworks.com, and Achieve Blue www.achieveblue.com believe strongly in the importance of building strong mentoring relationships for career success and have joined CATA WIT Forum and CIOCAN as partners in this program.
Contacts
Joanne Stanley
Executive Director
CATA WIT Forum 613-746-9291
jstanley@cata.ca
CIOCAN contacts at: national@ciocan.ca
|
|
|
|
