IT Brief New Zealand - Technology news for CIOs & IT decision-makers
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VMware ANZ up for Women Leading Tech award
Thu, 19th Mar 2020
FYI, this story is more than a year old

VMware Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) is a finalist in this year's Women Leading Tech Awards, which has been postponed until June 2020.

The Awards celebrate women's achievement in the tech industry and aims to ensure that women are part of history, not forgotten.

VMware's advocacy nomination represents the company's commitment to diversity and inclusion, evident through several key initiatives.

Those initiatives include an overarching strategy to improve the representation of women and minority groups across the business.

The company's Equal Pay for Equal Work was one of the company's first established initiative, followed by work closer to home in Australia alongside the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA). VMware has received citations from the WGEA's Employer of Choice for Gender Equality for five consecutive years.

The company works closely with schools and universities to develop tech talent through mentoring, networking, and leadership programs.

VMware's graduate program requires all graduates to work with mentors to guide them through their career. Many female employees also volunteer at Girls in Tech functions.

VMware also states that every employee must take unconscious bias training, which is designed to minimise workplace bias.

Women and men can also take advantage of company policies regarding remote and flexible work, job share, part time and family leave.

Mothers receive 16 weeks of paid maternity leave. Mothers can then take advantage of ‘returnship' programs when they are ready to return to work.

“In an industry where recruiting and retaining female talent can be a challenge, these programs and policies have seen VMware's women-to-men ratio increase over the past four years, and average tenure for women in the business sits higher than the industry average,” the company states.

Finalists in the Women Leading Tech Awards:

Data science

  • Anjuli Bedi - Edelman Epic
  • Fiona Milne - Eliiza
  • Janene Sproul - Murdoch University
  • Katherine Tuinman Neal - Fire - Rescue New South Wales
  • Mohadeseh Ganji - Mondo
  • Stephanie Morris - Quantium

Design

  • Jessa Jakovljevic - 86 400
  • Julia Carter - Domain Group
  • Kate Linton - Thoughtworks
  • Ronnie Golec - Canceraid
  • Sally Woellner - Canva
  • Sarah Sweeney – Akqa

Engineering

  • Ellie Shin - Canva
  • Kate Andrews - Tyro
  • Olena Aleksieieva - Quantium
  • Paulwyn Devasundaram - Canva
  • Sharina Nisha - Vodafone New Zealand
  • Sijia Chen – Rokt

Entrepreneur/founder

  • Alexandra Watson - Code Like A Girl
  • Emma Jones - Project F
  • Jodi Stanton - Sendgold
  • Judy Sahay - Crowd Media Group
  • Kath Blackham - Versa
  • Lauren Crystal - Your Creative Agency

Executive leader

  • Helen Souness - RMIT Online
  • Joanna Wong - 90 Seconds
  • Kate Quirke - Alcidion
  • Kathryn Carter - Snap Inc
  • Michelle O'keeffe - Engaging.io
  • Rachelle St Ledger - EML Payments

Marketing

  • Danielle Grant - Paypal Australia
  • Jade Meara - F5
  • Liz Mckenzie - Canva
  • Rachelle Mcdermott - Blackmores
  • Sara Palmieri - Lenovo
  • Stephanie Brown - Intuit

Mentor

  • Claire Bath - The Opportunity Collective and City Of Newcastle
  • Hayley Smith - Verizon Media
  • Jessica Box - Girls in Tech Australia
  • Jo Gaines - Salesforce
  • Lisa Miller - Canva
  • Miranda Kovacic - ANZ

Product

  • Christine Sou - Transferwise
  • Georgia Vidler - Canva
  • Greer Ambrose - Foxtel Media
  • Inga Latham - Siteminder
  • Kimberly Dowsett - Tyro
  • Sarah Anderson - Telstra Corporation Limited

Sales

  • Annie Lemaire Brooks - Playground Xyz
  • Brooke McGregor - Quantcast
  • Kristine Celona - Verizon Media
  • Natasha De Mallet Hawes - Pubmatic
  • Sophie Hicks Lloyd - Network 10
  • Stephanie Famolaro - The Trade Desk

Advocacy (for technology companies that have demonstrated a holistic and long-term commitment to females in the business)

  • ANZ
  • Canva
  • Carsales.com LTD
  • Domain
  • Sourced Group
  • VMware ANZ.