I thought I’d take the opportunity to introduce myself as the new Executive Director of TechWomen.
For the past year and a half I have been working at NZTech as Strategic Programmes Director, overseeing all our events and conferences and key strategic programmes aimed at encouraging more people into tech. As part of this role I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know the amazing TechWomen team and have been inspired by their passion for encouraging and keeping more women in tech. So when the opportunity came along to take a more active role as the Executive Director I jumped at the chance. I’m excited about getting stuck in and helping to support and grow TechWomen.
Prior to joining NZTech I had over 15 years’ experience in events, marketing and project management within the New Zealand business and technology sector, in publishing and the IT market research sector.
In 2018 I completed a Masters in Technological Futures, at Tech Futures Lab in Auckland. It was certainly my busiest year to date, balancing a full time job while studying and also expecting/having a baby (not recommended but totally achievable!). My baby is now about to start school, so outside of work my partner and I are busy trying to keep up with a very active preschooler, and starting to worry about how on earth we are going to manage school holidays! I also have a keen interest in women’s sport and just about manage to still play soccer and gaelic football, so am super excited about the upcoming FIFA women’s world cup.
So what will my role at TechWomen involve? Our purpose is to help address one of the major challenges for the successful growth of technology in New Zealand – a shortage of women in tech roles.
Only 27%* of the New Zealand Digital IT workforce are female. The recently released Digital Industry Transformation Plan (ITP), which NZTech has helped develop with industry and government, has called out a target to lift female participation to 50% of the tech workforce by 2030. That is one seriously big hairy audacious goal, so a big part of my role will be to see how TechWomen can help to achieve that. To do that we need your support.
Immediate ways that you can help are to support ShadowTech Day 2023. A massive thank you to our sponsors Deloitte, Nui Markets and WellingtonNZ who have made it possible to get the programme up and running. However, we still need more support to be able to run ShadowTech in as many locations as possible.
We are also looking for Foundation partners to support all of the amazing work that TechWomen already do, including events, ShadowTech and Mentoring Circles, and help us to do even more. Thank you to Deloitte for coming on board as our first Foundation Partner.
I join TechWomen alongside two new Executive Council members Jemma Simmonds and Tash Bettridge. They are all extremely passionate about supporting women in tech and are excited to join the TechWomen team. You can learn more about them here.
If you are keen to find out more about how you can support TechWomen in our work to lift female participation in tech please get in touch with me.
*Source: Digital Skills for our Digital Future Report 2021
Ngā mihi
Yvonne Gill
Executive Director, TechWomen
Read full news here: Introducing our new Executive Director
