Career Watch: Lucy Sanders
Computerworld (02/27/06) P. 45; Hoffman, Thomas

While the US Labor Department projects that technology-related jobs will increase by more than 2 million by 2012, the proportion of women in IT has dropped 18.5 percent in the last eight years. Cisco has partnered with the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) to help reverse this trend. NCWIT CEO Lucy Sanders spoke in a recent interview about Cisco and NCWIT's attempts to boost opportunities and awareness for women in technology. Women hold about 29 percent of the U.S. technology jobs, though that number is declining, while the enrollment of both men and women in computer science programs in colleges and universities has fallen 18 percent, and just 15 percent of high school students are taking the computer science advanced placement test. Sanders says that NCWIT and Cisco are working actively to boost awareness by promoting the viability of technology as a career to parents and educators, attempting to dispel the widely held myths that a career in technology equates to a life of social isolation and meaninglessness. "I know firsthand that it's an exciting and creative and socially relevant career," said Sanders. CIOs at the world's best companies report directly to the CEO, according to the Hackett Group, noting that the elevation of technology to a top strategic priority is a key factor separating the average company from the world-class company. The Hackett Group reports that IT departments are managed centrally at 67 percent of world-class companies, where managers and staffers are also far more likely to have advanced degrees than their counterparts at typical companies. While the CIO serves on the primary management committee in just 56 percent of average companies, the CIO has a seat at the table in 100 percent of world-class companies.

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