Anita Borg Institute Hosts Second Annual Top Company for Technical Women Workshop

PALO ALTO, CA--(Marketwire - Jun 1, 2012) - The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology hosted the second annual Anita Borg Top Company for Technical Women Workshop on May 10, 2012, at the Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA. The sold out Workshop featured speakers from top high-tech companies including the Anita Borg Top Company for Technical Women Award winner American Express, as well as CA Technologies, Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Microsoft Research, NetApp, Symantec and Top Company for Technical Women finalists Intuit and SAP. The Top Company workshop featured solutions that companies and managers can implement to increase the representation of technical women and improve their retention and advancement.

In her keynote, Jennifer Christie, Chief Diversity Officer and Vice President of Executive Recruitment of American Express, highlighted some of their key strategies for increasing the number of technical women including garnering senior leadership support for their initiatives and promoting from within the organization.

A consistent theme throughout the workshop was the need to raise awareness and tackle tough conversations about diversity and culture change at all levels of the organization. Panelists at the Top Company Workshop shared some of the recruitment, retention and advancement solutions their companies have implemented including:

• Developing clear career paths for technical contributors
• Fostering sponsorship opportunities for women
• Using goals and measurement to improve diversity efforts and drive change
• Establishing executive support and accountability

The Anita Borg Institute published a detailed white paper, Solutions to Recruit Technical Women, based on the 2011 workshop and will publish a second paper in the Solutions Series in fall 2012 that focuses on retention solutions shared in the workshops and through the Institute's work with companies.

"The Anita Borg Top Company for Technical Women Workshop focuses on how companies with large technology workforces can build the supportive programs and infrastructures necessary to increase the representation of women in technology," said Dr. Denise Gammal, Director of Research for the Anita Borg Institute. "As more companies seek to harness the benefits gender diversity can bring to innovation and the bottom line, they are actively developing practices that make their company cultures and structure more welcoming to technical women. The Top Company Workshop is a venue to cross-pollinate the best of these industry practices."

About the Anita Borg Top Company for Technical Women Award

The Anita Borg Top Company for Technical Women Award recognizes an organization that has demonstrated measurable results in the recruitment, retention, and advancement of technical women at all levels. Grounded in organizational research and based on quantitative data, the award measures the current representation of technical women as well as improvement in women's representation over time. The Top Company is widely recognized as a leader in leveraging diverse talent for greater innovation. The online application for the 2013 Top Company Award opens July 9, 2012.

About the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology

The Anita Borg Institute provides resources and programs to help industry, academia, and government recruit, retain, and develop women leaders in high-tech fields, resulting in higher levels of technological innovation. Our programs serve high-tech women by creating a community and providing tools to help them develop their careers. The Anita Borg Institute is a not-for-profit 501(c) 3 charitable organization. Partners include: Google, HP, Microsoft, CA Technologies, Cisco, Facebook, First Republic Bank, IBM, Intel, Intuit, Lockheed Martin, Marvell, National Science Foundation, National Security Agency, NetApp, SAP, Symantec, Thomson Reuters, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Amazon, Broadcom, Juniper Networks, Motorola Foundation, Raytheon, Salesforce.com, and Yahoo! For more information, visit www.anitaborg.org.