DELL News September 12, 2006
Eight of Australia’s Most Influential Public and Private Sector CIOs and Technology
Leaders Mentor Female IT Professionals
Eight of Australia’s foremost public and private sector CIOs
and technology leaders have come together to initiate the second phase of the Women in IT
Executive Mentoring (WITEM) program, a cross organisational initiative aimed at addressing a
number of barriers to women’s advancement within the technology sector.
Phase II of WITEM involves senior technology leaders – with titles of CIO, CTO or IT
General Manager - mentoring female technology professionals from Centrelink, Deloitte,
Department of Finance and Administration, Ernst & Young, NSW Department of Education and
Training, Westpac and Woolworths.
The program has been launched following the success of the first WITEM
program, a 12 month pilot co-founded by Dell™ and established in
December 2005, in response to a call to action by Senator the Hon Helen
Coonan, Minister for Communications, Information Technology, and the
Arts. Phase II represents a move from the IT industry to the wider IT
profession and includes public and private sectors making it all
pervasive throughout Australian IT.
“The evolution and expansion of the WITEM program is encouraging” said Senator
Coonan. “I have observed the ongoing progress of the first program and am particularly pleased
this second phase involves key IT leaders from government as well as the private sector.”
The program focuses on the core benefits of cross organisational understanding and strives
to address a number of barriers to women’s advancement such as a lack of general management
experience, exclusion from informal networks and stereotypes about women’s roles and abilities.1
It also aims to accelerate the development of leadership competencies
in senior female technology specialists and professionals. "It's clear
through the Dell mentoring program that we as IT professionals have a
role to play in encouraging women’s participation in the industry.”
said Simon McNamara, Chief Information Officer of Westpac Banking
Corporation. “This is not just for the sake of numbers but because
there is a wealth of diverse skills and capabilities that we need in
our changing environment.”
John Wadeson, Centrelink Chief Information Officer, agrees. "Identifying common themes
in some of Australia's largest government agencies together with financial services, education and
retail industries will be both interesting and beneficial to the future of the WITEM program. We
look forward to learning and exchanging experiences across government and industry."
Female professionals from participating organisations have been carefully selected for their
experience, commitment and drive for progression. In turn they receive coaching and visibility
from senior executives, accelerated career development, improvements in existing skills and
performance, ongoing involvement in cross organisational networks, and a clear career path as
defined by them.
“Dell is pleased to be expanding the WITEM program with this second phase of growth,
and combined with the initial phase of the program, we now have the opportunity to positively
impact sixteen female IT professionals in Australia," said Joe Kremer, vice president and
managing director of Dell Australia and New Zealand.
All participants will work closely with Orijen, a mentoring specialist consultancy group,
who will facilitate the program to ensure maximum benefit is derived by both mentors and
participants.
Other public and private sector organisations across Australia continue to express interest
in the WITEM program and it is expected the program will expand to incorporate other companies,
government agencies and locations to meet demand.
Dell is actively leading a number of diversity and networking programs worldwide. For
more information please go to www.dell.com/diversity.
Participating Government Departments and Organisations
Centrelink
Deloitte
Department of Finance and Administration
Ernst & Young
NSW Department of Education and Training
Westpac Banking Corporation
Woolworths Limited
Women in IT Mentoring Program (Phase I)
WITEM Phase I, a 12 month pilot launched in December 2005, involves managing
directors from Dell, Altiris, Cisco, EMC, Ingram Micro, Intel, LAN Systems and Lexmark, each
mentoring a female executive from across marketing, sales, legal counsel and channel management
functions from an alternate company.
Women in IT Statistics
• The proportion of females of the Australian labour workforce is approximately 44% 2
• The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures show women comprise only 20.5% of the IT workforce 3, in comparison to:
o Accounting and Finance women comprise 42.2% 4
o Media and the arts women comprise 56.9 % 5 .
• In recent years the proportion of women studying computer science has been around 25 % and declining 6.
About Dell
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) listens to customers and delivers innovative technology and services
they trust and value. Uniquely enabled by its direct business model, Dell sells more systems
globally than any computer company, placing it No. 25 on the Fortune 500. Company revenue for
the past four quarters was US$57.4 billion. For more information, visit www.dell.com. To get Dell
news direct, visit www.dell.com/RSS.
About Orijen
Orijen is a specialist consultancy in mentoring and coaching services. Orijen draws on extensive
human resource management and consulting experience to help organisations address the needs of
the diverse and changing workforce. Orijen helps organisations develop strategies to retain and
motivate all their best and most talented people, from the retiring older workers to the emerging
next generation of leaders. Structured, measurable mentoring programs are a key to achieving this.
For more information on Orijen visit www.orijen.com.au.
1 Catalyst Research, 2003: Supplied by Orijen Consulting Group
2 Average calendar year 2003 – Source ABS LFS. Women in ICT education and employment. An Australian
Information Industry Association Information Paper
3 Source: ABS Labour Force Survey, Australia - year to February 2000 compared with year to February 2005.
http://jobsearch.gov.au/joboutlook/default.aspx?pageId=KeyInfo3&AscoCode=2235#gende
4 Source: ABS Labour Force Survey, Australia - average 2004.
http://jobsearch.gov.au/joboutlook/default.aspx?pageId=KeyInfo3&AscoCode=2211#gender
5 Source: ABS Labour Force Survey, Australia - average 2004.
http://jobsearch.gov.au/joboutlook/default.aspx?pageId=KeyInfo3&AscoCode=2535#gender
6 Women in ICT education and employment. An Australian Information Industry Association Information Paper