This is an excerpt from a column posted at BizOpinion
Working with professionals in the IT industry, Michelle Schuler frequently heard about the lack of available employees and the need to get more girls interested in technology careers. She talked with her college roommate and marketing consultant, Kathy Fredrickson, and Women In Technology, or WIT, was born.
“We wanted to bring women together to talk and collaborate on these issues and I looked around and really didn’t see any organizations out there that were doing what we wanted to do,” says Schuler, business development manager at Excelion Partners in Appleton. “We’re all about empowering women in the technology industry to achieve unimagined possibilities and transformations through technology, leadership and human connections.”
Schuler and Fredrickson, owner of iMark Consulting in Neenah, held two intro sessions to gather feedback and gauge interest and “the response was incredible. We had more than 160 women show up at our first event. Women came not only from the Fox Cities, but also Green Bay, West Bend, the Lakeshore,” Schuler says.
WIT’s main goals include providing a platform of connections, resources and opportunities for members; create a pipeline of women to fill leadership positions in the IT industry; influence leaders in government, education and IT; and encourage girls and young women to choose technology careers.
