Tag Archives: Judith Bitterli

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Women in Tech Speak Out at SXSW

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I am in awe of the women who came to my conversation “Boardroom or Baby” at SXSW this past weekend. They were bright, energized, passionate and very engaged in the conversation.

I started the session by asking the women to team up and decide what they believe to be the single most important issue to help women succeed in tech.

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Judith Bitterli Boardroom or Baby Session Highlights from SXSW

As you are probably aware, currently women comprise about only 30% of the tech workforce and make roughly 77 cents on the dollar of what a man makes in tech.

We have a lot of work to do to close the gender gap, but based on the energy coming out of room # 407 at SXSW, I am very hopeful we can get there! I am committed to helping and one of the ways I will contribute is to take each of the items put forth by the group and write a blog offering up counsel on how to successfully navigate the issue. I will be bringing in subject matter experts and life experts to help. Below is the list. If you feel I missed anything please get in touch via Twitter @judyatAVG.

My question to the group was: What is the single most important thing we can do to help women succeed in tech?

Here are their answers in their own words below:

  • Make your career goals known.
  • Speak up and stand up for what you think is right.
  • Don’t let men talk for you; make sure your voice is heard.
  • Work hard.
  • Gain people’s respect.
  • Build and use your network
  • Find a strong female leader in the workplace as a mentor. Break the “Bro” club.
  • Fight against confidence loss when you’re in a room of male leaders.
  • Female diplomacy – speak up
  • Mentorship: Be a mentor to other women and girls. Find a female mentor higher up.
  • Find a sponsor.
  • Create formal sponsor programs, so that men can mentor women without social stigma.
  • Build resources for keeping and supporting a woman’s ability to stay working after she has a baby.
  • Stand up for what we need, realizing the value you bring.
  • Own your own career path to success.
  • Don’t operate from a place of fear.
  • Make people understand that flexibility does not equate to laziness, so don’t be afraid to ask for it.
  • Create awareness on the issue.
  • Make it an issue all care about, not just women.
  • Show the value to the bottom line or success to the business, so everyone is onboard with empowering women.
  • Strip names off of resumes.
  • Reach and speak out to younger girls in elementary school and middle school.
  • De-genderize toys.
  • Speak up in meetings and having a point of view.
  • Build more STEM work in elementary school for young girls.
  • Don’t be the first to tear another woman down.
  • Connect with other women below and beside you and find what you can do to help them achieve their goals.
  • Women should support women.
  • Have a support system in place for mothers.
  • Mentor other women.
  • Find male allies.
  • Get in the mix (female diplomacy).
  • Talk about issues.
  • Remove negative stigma on the term “emotional”.
  • Have more forward conviction in the forward progress we want to see.
  • Educate girls at a young age – letting them know the opportunities are there (Girls who Code).
  • Start off strong. Ask for what you deserve.
  • If you think you can do it go for it!
  • Inner belief: skills, ability, desire.
  • Attitude: stop apologizing, be assertive, and take charge.
  • Maternity leave.
  • Making a “girl playground”.
  • Start girls young in tech.
  • Encourage women not to be afraid to go into a male driven field. Make it welcoming in both culture and environment.
  • Create policies that give flexibility to maternity leave.

I was struck by how many individual issues were highlighted. If you would like to hear about any of these in particular on Twitter, please let me know and I will try to prioritize it.

I plan to address these issues on Twitter as well as a dedicated Facebook page as well as here on the blog.

Remember, change happens when like-minded people band together for a common cause. This is our cause:  removing gender bias from the workplace and not allowing women to be penalized for having a baby.

To all the women in tech attending my session at SXSW- and beyond, I thank you and encourage you to stay strong and continue to speak out!

Judith

AVG

Women in Tech: The Conversation Continues at SXSW  

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I was struck by the mea culpa issued last week by former Huffington Post and Washington Post manager-turned entrepreneur Katharine Zaleski. Her commentary, posted on Fortune.com on March 3, was entitled: “I’m sorry to all the mothers I worked with.

Zaleski said: “I didn’t realize how horrible I had been, until I had a child of my own.”

Then, she recounted the eye rolling and “silently slandering” that she participated in with colleagues – aimed at working moms who couldn’t make end of day meetings or meet for drinks after work.

That was before her personal journey and becoming a mother herself. “Empathy is a great teacher,” she said.

Zaleski has since founded PowertoFly, a job matching platform for women in highly skilled positions across tech and digital that they can do from home, or in an office, if they choose.

The time commitment to parenting contradicts office culture, Zaleski noted in her video interview with Fortune that runs alongside her column.  “We need to end the idea that work value is based on physically being there.”  In other words, she advocates, that we need to value output over time in office.

As Zaleski acknowledges, work at home and/or flexible work schedules is one solution to the problem for moms – though not the only one.

On that note, I am super excited to have the conversation “Boardroom or Baby: The Choices Women have in Tech,” at SXSW this Saturday (3:30 p.m. JW Marriott Room 407) which delves into the heart of this topic.

There are many considerations and questions women need to ask themselves if they are considering having a family and a career in tech. I’m fond of using the analogy of wedding planning:  Many of us carefully plan for our wedding day – a one day event in our lives – but don’t plan for the critical decisions we must make about our careers and our families.

As Zaleski noted in her interview: 1 billion women will be coming into the workforce in the next 10 years – 80% of which will be mothers (based on U.S. Census Bureau estimates). Yet, as she also noted, today we also see more women dropping out of the work force, more than at any time since the 70s. As she advocates, “We have to find a way to allow women to careers while they also have lives.”

You don’t need to be a woman, or to have a child to understand this is a problem that we need to address.

This is why I believe ‘women in tech’ has become one of the major discussions at this year’s SXSW- and of our time. As I noted in my previous blog, there are quite a few sessions and conversations taking place on the topic of women in tech, gender equality and diversity. It underscores that the time is finally now for this issue in our industry.

In preparation for my talk, we interviewed nearly 20 Silicon Valley women in tech, along with some men, for their perspective on gender equality in the tech workplace today.

 

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Boardroom or Baby?

 

We received some amazing and thought provoking insights, which I will be sharing in my session, here and on Twitter and Facebook.

I also want to thank all of the remarkable people who participated in interviews for my session, among them: Julie Hanna, entrepreneur and board chair at Kiva; Robin Abrams, veteran tech CEO , and her daughter, Libby, a new entrant in the tech workforce. Also, Sheila Brady, former engineering director at Apple, and Barbara Krause, Silicon Valley PR pro, and her daughter Emily, another new tech workplace entrant. Also, Stephanie Boudreau, program manager for Google Hangouts, and Robin Starbuck Farmanfarmaian, a health, IT and bioscience executive and entrepreneur.

Finally, I want to call out that we at AVG are also delighted to be the sponsor of the Mothers’ Room for SXSW this year, for the entire festival. If you are a mom attendee, come check it out.

It’s located in Room 1 in the Convention Center. It’s a quiet comfortable place to feed and change your baby, entertain yourself, and keep siblings busy.

We at AVG know that for moms and all parents, looking after our families is job number one. Not only physically but in cyberspace as well…

I look forward to continuing our conversation at SXSW Interactive and beyond.

Join us in person or at @judyatAVG #techwomen #SXSW.

AVG

Let’s ‘Make It Happen’ for Women in Tech

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The first International Women’s Day was held in 1911. The day is actually celebrated worldwide, and not just on one day, but from late February through March and beyond.

This year, thousands of events are occurring to mark and encourage the economic, political and social achievements of women. Organizations, governments, charities, educational institutions, women’s groups, corporations and the media celebrate the day. The activities span the realm of possibilities for women, including women in tech.

Make it happen

There were more than 340 events scheduled to take place in the United Kingdom alone to celebrate International Women’s Day. For example, an event on March 6, focused on women’s work in creative and technology industries was scheduled in London’s tech hub.  And in a variation of Girls Who Code, in Luxembourg they were holding “Mums and Girls Code”– a fun introductory workshop in coding for mothers and their daughters.

Here in the USA, 186+ events were scheduled for International Women’s Day.  You can see a complete list here. The list of events is inspiring, promoting awareness, culture, and learning for women and girls across the nation. Many of the IWD events are also online, including webinars, for people who don’t have time to visit a particular event.

Later this March, I’m personally very excited to be speaking at SXSW Interactive on the subject of furthering women’s roles in technology.   My session at 3:30 p.m. March 14 (JW Marriott Room 407), “Boardroom or Baby: The Choices Women Have in Tech” will address closing the gaps in opportunities for women in technology and achieving work/life balance. If you can’t join in person, you can join the conversation at @judyatavg  #techwomen #SXSW.

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Boardroom or Baby?

 

It’s actually very encouraging to see that there are many conversations on the topic of women in technology scheduled for SXSW Interactive 2015: Among them:  “End To Brogramming” with Re/code and Elle.com, which takes place from 5-6 p.m. on March 13;  “Geek Girls Are Chic!” on March 15 by Girls Who Code and IBM, and “#OurTimeToLead: Why Tech Needs More Women” by the Anita Borg Institute on March 17. You can see the SXSW schedule here.

We’ve all done the math. But women in tech (or the lack of such) is not just a pipeline issue, it’s a retention issue and a culture issue as well. It’s encouraging to see major tech companies are recognizing this. It is for everyone’s own good: we need a smart tech workforce and can’t dismiss half the population, and on the consumer side, women represent significant adopters when it comes to technology.

So progress is happening. Good moves are being made. Though more must happen. I think International Women’s Day is a great day to see how far we have come, and serve a fantastic spark to light and then pass the torch to following generations to empower all women, our sisters and daughters.
Speak_IA

AVG

The choices women face in tech

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Whether it is for equal career opportunities or equal compensation, the technology industry is in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons (as highlighted by this Newsweek cover a few weeks back)

With several years’ experience at the senior level in the technology industry, I’ll be sharing my thoughts and advice on how women can forge a successful career in tech.

I’ll aslo discuss the boardroom vs baby debate and underline the crucial importance of a career roadmap for women. Many of us carefully plan for our wedding day – a one day event in our lives – but don’t plan for the critical decisions we must make about our careers and our families

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Boardroom or Baby At SXSW Interactive 2015

 

If you are going to be in Austin, please do come by and join in the debate.

Boardroom or Baby?

SXSW Interactive 2015

Room 407, JW Marriott

3:30pm, March 14th

AVG

AVG Technologies CMO Judith Bitterli Tackles Issues for Women in Tech at SXSW

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AMSTERDAM and SAN FRANCISCO – February 26, 2015 – AVG® Technologies N.V. (NYSE: AVG), the online security company™ for 197 million active users, announced

CMO Judith Bitterli will present a Core Conversation session at SXSW Interactive in Austin, TX Feb. 13-16. Her session, “Boardroom or Baby? The Choices Women Have in Tech” takes place 3:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 14 at the JW Marriott Hotel Room 407. It’s designed to explore gender issues confronting women in tech jobs and to encourage women to make plans to actively manage their careers and life goals.

“We are at an inflection point. The recent Newsweek cover on ‘What Silicon Valley Thinks of Women,’ along with recent research from Harvard to Stanford to Babson College and diversity reporting, brings gender issues out of hibernation and into the forefront once again,” said Bitterli. “These studies underscore the indisputable gap between the career opportunities afforded to women in technology compared to men.

“Advancing careers for women in tech is a topic I’m passionate about. But it’s not enough to just talk about it, we must take action,” Bitterli added. Among key advice she will share: “Don’t work for companies that do not support women – in their policies, practices and programs.”

Bitterli’s session is designed to leave the audience inspired for careers in tech, as well as arm them with tools that will help them navigate career paths and choices – including critical questions they need to ask themselves, and tools to create a career roadmap and work/life plan.

“Many of us carefully plan for our wedding day – a one day event in our lives – but don’t plan for the critical decisions we must make about our careers and our families,” added Bitterli.

Bitterli, who leads marketing and customer services for AVG Technologies, the online security company with more than 197 million active users, has more than 25 years of executive level experience at tech companies, including RealNetworks, Micron, SoftBank and CompuAdd. She is also an entrepreneur and the former owner of three businesses.  Before her career in technology, Judith was in the U.S. Army for 7 years as a parachute rigger and then testing parachutes and large-scale weapons and missiles. She became the first certified female jumpmaster in the military. Read her blog at now.avg.com, where she regularly blogs on the topic of women in tech, technology for Boomers and small business strategies.

For a preview of her session and talk, go to: the SXSW schedule, now.avg.com and the AVG YouTube channel. Join her in conversation at judy@avg #techwomen #SXSW.

 

About AVG Technologies

AVG is the online security company providing leading software and services to secure devices, data and people. Over 197 million active users, as of December 31, 2014, use AVG´s products and services. AVG’s Consumer portfolio includes internet security, performance optimization, and personal privacy and identity protection for mobile devices and desktops. The AVG Business portfolio – delivered by managed service providers, VARs and resellers – offers IT administration, control and reporting, integrated security, and mobile device management that simplify and protect businesses.

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

www.avg.com

Contacts:

US

Katie Han

Waggener Edstrom for AVG

[email protected]

+ 1 (212) 551 4807

UK

Samantha Woodman

Waggener Edstrom for AVG

[email protected]

+ 44 (0)20 7632 384

AVG

Is momentum gathering for women in tech?

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Many of you who didn’t see the Oscars will have no doubt heard about Best Actress winner Patricia Arquette’s acceptance speech. In a rousing call to arms she demanded equal pay for women.

She said, in part, “To every woman who gave birth, to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody else’s equal rights, it’s our time to have wage equality once and for all, and equal rights for women in the United States of America.” (For those who missed it, you can see a clip here.)

Her brief acceptance speech galvanized the Hollywood audience. Although I believe she had the right intentions, her after-Oscar remarks also earned criticism in some camps, specifically African Americans and members of the LBGT communities, who faulted her choice of words for being insensitive, and for not calling out “all” women specifically.

But the essence of the remarks resonated this week at the first-ever, sold-out “Lead On Conference for Women,” held in Silicon Valley.  It certainly resonated with keynote speaker Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State and presumptive candidate for the U.S. presidency.

Said Clinton in her keynote, “She’s right — it is time to have wage equality once and for all.”

The one-day Lead On Conference had more than 100 speakers, including tech industry luminaries such as Kara Swisher of Re/Code, who interviewed Hillary, and others who have made their mark elsewhere, such as Jill Abramson, best known as the first female executive editor of the New York Times. The agenda was full of many more extraordinary women – and a few men sprinkled in as well :).

Hillary Clinton Lead On

Image courtesy of recode

 

But the killer keynote came from Clinton, giving her first public speech this year.

Clinton is no stranger when it comes to Silicon Valley and is a strong supporter of Girls Who Code, a national nonprofit dedicated to closing the gender gap in tech.

In her keynote, among other points, she voiced concern about the dearth of women in tech and the lack of a pipeline. She focused on the numbers, which do not lie: including the fact that currently, women receive only 18 percent of computer science degrees — which is, amazingly, less than half of those awarded in the 1980s, when women earned 38 percent of those degrees. “We’re going backwards in a field that is supposed to be all about moving forward,” Clinton said.

As for pay parity, both inside and outside of tech, it’s a big issue.  According to the most recent surveys by the BLS, women made 82 percent of the median weekly earnings of male full-time wage and salary workers.

For the tech industry, we see pay gaps and opportunity all around us. In fact, in a recent study last November, Glassdoor found that of 25 tech companies surveyed, “At most of these companies, men report earning a higher base salary than women for the same role.” (You can see a chart breaking compensation down by company and job title.)

It’s encouraging to be seeing momentum building for pay parity and a major political player who gets the importance of tech, and, moreover, the importance of women in tech. Bravo to both Clinton, and to Arquette.

Although we have a long way to go…there are baby steps happening!

As for myself, I am looking forward to continuing this conversation as a speaker at the 2015 SXSW Interactive program with a Core Conversation on “Boardroom or Baby” on March 14th.

For a preview take a look at the accompanying blog post. And, if you are going to be in Austin – join me there!

Title image courtesy of Chicago Tribune

AVG

Cybersecurity is a “Shared Mission”

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In his speech, before a hall full of business and tech leaders, students and professors, the President again emphasized the importance of the government and private sector working together.

He pointed out, “So much of our computer networks and critical infrastructure are in the private sector, which means government cannot do this alone.  But the fact is that the private sector can’t do it alone either, because it’s government that often has the latest information on new threats.  There’s only one way to defend America from these cyberthreats, and that is through government and industry working together, sharing appropriate information as true partners.”

Clearly this is a president who recognizes the dangers and complexities of cybersecurity, and equally wants digital safety to be a cornerstone of his legacy.

As he said elsewhere in his speech, “…. it’s one of the great paradoxes of our time that the very technologies that empower us to do great good can also be used to undermine us and inflict great harm…  The same social media we use in government to advocate for democracy and human rights around the world can also be used by terrorists to spread hateful ideologies.” We are fortunate to have a president who “gets it”.

In his speech, the President outlined four basic principles for cybersecurity:

  • First, the shared mission, between private and public, mentioned above.
  • Second, both sides (public and private) need to focus on their individual strengths. As the President acknowledged, “it’s not appropriate or even possible for government to secure the computer networks of private businesses.” Likewise, private companies don’t have the wherewithal, bandwidth, or responsibility to alert other companies or industries to a cyberattack.
  • Third, cybersecurity needs to constantly evolve. As the President said, “We’ve got to be just as fast and flexible and nimble [as hackers] in constantly evolving our defenses.”
  • Fourth, and the most important, going about these protective measures in a way that protects the rights and privacy of American citizens. President Obama stressed, “When government and industry share information about cyberthreats, we’ve got to do so in a way that safeguards your personal information.”

(See a full transcript of the President’s speech here.)

The President followed his speech by signing an Executive Order that encourages and promotes the sharing of cybersecurity threat information within the private sector and between the private sector and federal government. As he stated, it will also “…encourage more companies and industries to set up organizations – hubs – so you can share information with each other.”

It’s no surprise that the President picked Stanford for his cybersecurity summit.

Besides being in the cradle of information technology and in the heart of Silicon Valley, Stanford announced a major Cyber Initiative in November that will address, through an interdisciplinary (and campus-wide) focus, the “crucial and complex opportunities and challenges raised by cyber-technologies.”

As regards the President’s speech, I like the practical realization that the government and business must work together; but most of all I like the fact that the President recognizes that the privacy of the individual is paramount. As a security firm our mission is to protect your data, but beyond that, it is to make sure that you, and your privacy, and the privacy of your loved ones, is secure. As we move forward, we’ll keep our eye on these policies and initiatives with that in mind.

AVG

Legacy Contacts and managing a Digital Legacy

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Emails, photos, random postings… We all have a digital footprint and depending on your privacy settings, it’s available to many people including strangers.  Not to mention our passwords to accounts, and other digital assets, including financial ones. Who can access them when we pass on? What happens to the data?

In the world of Internet services, digital legacies and the policies around them have been murky at best.

Because of our position as a leading provider of security for data, devices and people this is an issue we at AVG have long been concerned about. And that’s why we’ve been focused on educating our users on this sensitive topic and advocating for people to provide a digital codicil to their wills, specifying a digital executor to act on their behalf.  (You can see our most recent article here. We also published an ebook dealing with digital death.

 

Today, different sites have different policies, and requirements vary on the actions that can be taken, and the forms of identification and proof that are required in case of a user’s death.  Twitter has a policy to deactivate accounts after six months of prolonged inactivity, but also will work with authorized individuals to delete a deceased user’s account and or certain imagery. Until last week, Facebook’s policy was to allow users to specify if they wanted to “memorialize” or permanently delete their accounts. Last Thursday, Facebook moved to a step further to allow account holders to appoint what it calls a “Legacy Contact” to manage their memorialized accounts.

Facebook legacy contact

 

You can read the full announcement here that Facebook released Feb. 12.

But briefly: Facebook now allows the appointee to write a post for your profile, and update your profile picture and cover photo. It also allows the appointee to respond to new friend requests, for example a friend who hadn’t been on Facebook at the time of the user’s death. The Facebook executor, however, can’t go back and delete material, log into the account or remove any of your friends.

In its statement, Facebook said: “By talking to people who have experienced loss, we realized there is more we can do to support those who are grieving and those who want a say in what happens to their account after death.”

The Facebook move is good news, in many ways, not the least of which is that it helps bring this important issue of Digital Legacy to the forefront in one of the largest social venues, where many of us are living our digital lives. It also recognizes that users need more control of their accounts, including deciding how they want them managed when they pass.

Digital legacy is something that everyone online needs to consider. No one wants to consider their own death, but as the physical world morphs into the digital, it’s a very important part of our legacies. One we shouldn’t ignore.

AVG

New Concerns for Connected Car Hacks  

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Last week, we reported on news of remote hacking of BMW cars that opened car doors and windows.  That episode was followed by a CBS News 60 Minutes report on DARPA and concerns about Internet of Things last Sunday, which included a renegade, runaway car that had been hacked remotely causing it to crash.

In the CBS demonstration, the victims were only some orange traffic cones. But the implications were real: two tons of moving steel out of the driver’s control.

Granted this may be the worst-case scenario but there are also implications for hijacking your data that give us cause for concern.

In that vein, a new report was issued last week (Feb. 9) in the U.S. on broader security and privacy vulnerabilities in smart vehicles. The report by Senator Ed Markey (D-Mass.) called “Tracking & Hacking: Security & Privacy Gaps Put American Drivers at Risk,” identified risks and proposes new safety standards for smart vehicles.

Senator Markey is a member of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. His study is based on how 16 major automobile manufacturers responded to questions about how vehicles may be vulnerable to hackers, and how driver information is collected and protected.

Here are just a few excerpts of its data points:

  • All new cars on the market today include wireless technologies that could pose vulnerabilities to hacking or privacy intrusions.
  • Few manufacturers are able to report past hacking episodes or could describe any current effective capabilities to diagnose or respond to hacks.
  • A majority of automakers collect and use data on performance and driving history in their efforts to improve customer experience, and often share it with third parties.

The full report is available here.

 

In a statement about the report, Markey summarized: “Drivers have come to rely on these new technologies, but unfortunately the automakers haven’t done their part to protect us from cyber-attacks or privacy invasions. Even as we are more connected than ever in our cars and trucks, our technology systems and data security remain largely unprotected. We need to work with the industry and cyber-security experts to establish clear rules of the road to ensure the safety and privacy of 21st-century American drivers.”

The Markey report illustrates the data and cybersecurity implications for privacy and security in connected cars that we in the industry have been talking about for more than the past year. I’ve written about smart car security and privacy issues and have spoken about the subject at many venues, including last year’s Connected Car Conference.

Our cars are becoming another of our digitally connected devices. But as our cars evolve, essentially into computers on wheels, they are vulnerable to the very same threats and attacks as home computers, laptops and smartphones.

I applaud Markey’s report. As frightening as it may be, it is a call to action for all of us in the auto, tech and security industries.

AVG

Grandparents share great advice for a Safer Internet

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Technology has made it easier than ever before for extended families to connect with loved ones.

According to our most recent AVG Digital Diaries study among Boomers and Seniors, half of those surveyed who have grandchildren feel technology makes it easier to communicate with them.

They are utilizing email (50%), texting (40%), and video conferencing tools like Skype (35%) –to communicate over all distances.

As we celebrate Safer Internet Day around the globe, it is also encouraging to see that the grandparents we surveyed are also taking an active role creating a safer Internet for their grandchildren.

In our survey, we clearly noted grandparents are weighing in and contributing to safer Internet habits for young family members.

The research shows that one in two grandparents are vocal in encouraging their grandchildren to:

  • Not share too much information online
  • Avoid visiting dangerous sites
  • Talk to an adult if anything upsetting happens online.

Grandparent have recognized that today’s children and grandchildren face a vastly more connected world than the one they knew growing up and this is reflected in the advice that they told us they were sharing.

Among the prominent advice being administered by grandparents:

  • Remember that everything you post online has the capacity remain there forever (44%).
  • Be kind when posting comments or talking to people online (31%) – because what is said online has consequences.
  • But also, never mind what people say online (19%). Or as Taylor Swift might say: Shake it off. :)

 

Importantly, grandparents also advised for their grandchildren not to spend too much time online (44%). As easy as technology makes staying in touch — there is no substitute for real life.

All the more reason for families, and all of us really, to consider factoring in some regular—and positive—digital time-out. What better place to start than tonight at the dinner table?

Here’s to a better and safer Internet for our children, grandchildren, and all of us –today and everyday.