Jackie Ferguson is an author, multicultural marketing consultant, certified diversity executive, global business specialist, lead course writer and human rights advocate. and the author of this month's guest blog - Privilege is Not A Dirty World. As a diversity professional and a teacher, uncomfortable conversations are part of my job. Every day is a new opportunity to explore the words and topics that make people feel awkward, to think about why that discomfort exists, and to lead the teams I’m working with toward more inclusive language and actions. We talk about racism, disability, unconscious bias, microaggressions, and exclusion. We talk about prejudice and otherness and identity. That is such vulnerable and emotional work. But I’ll tell you, privilege is the one word and topic that always elicits a strong allergic reaction.

NC TECH Chair Mark Dirks, President of Beacon Technologies, is the inaugural participant in our new "Meet A Leader" series. Click to view the entire blog. Describe your day job. I get to be the head coach of a very talented team of creative, technical and business professionals that enjoy working together to help other businesses successfully utilize web technology.  After working 15 years with big corporations, I am part of a team that gets to see the direct impact and value of our work on a daily basis.  It really doesn’t get any better than that for the last 22 years.

Founded in 1996, Raptek is a boutique consulting firm. Rapid Technologies (Raptek) provides expert level ServiceNow implementation & services with a mission of building community in 3 areas: Community of Clients: Providing our clients with the highest level of service and expertise for ServiceNow solutions. Community of People: Taking great pride in the longevity and experience of our employees. Community to support a Cause: Partnered with the Children's Miracle Network to support Children's Hospitals across the US & Canada.

Kurt Merriweather, Head of Products at The Diversity Movement and a Certified Diversity Executive (CDE), is an accomplished product strategist and marketing executive with a passion for helping leaders and organizations identify and implement growth strategies. Innovation requires exploring, and sometimes ignoring, what is around us and imagining a new future. Organizations and leaders that are able to blend proven product development practices with new ideas and perspectives are able to create breakthrough business ideas and outcomes. Building an engine for creativity requires cultivating multicultural, multigenerational teams that have access to information and possibilities to reach customers in new ways. This is the key to delivering sustainable business results and this is where diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and innovation intersect. The heart of diversity, equity and inclusion is to have the right people (diversity), supported by the right policies (equity) and integrated with collaboration practices (inclusion). Accessing the superior output of a diverse team requires inclusive leadership. 

Racepoint, an NC TECH member, provides a summary of the recent Accessibility Hackathon in partnership with their company Ablr. In October, our company Ablr had the opportunity to work with the North Carolina Technology Association (NC TECH) to shine a spotlight on digital accessibility. Together, we brainstormed to figure out how to engage NC Tech’s members in this effort. The big idea? Host an Accessibility Hackathon during the month of October, which coincided with National Disability Employment Awareness Month. Typically, a hackathon is an event in which developers or other IT professionals band together and, over the course of a short time period, set out to uncover bugs in a software project. In the case of the Accessibility Hackathon, we offered a website audit worth $5,000 to three randomly chosen NC Tech members. These website audits uncovered accessibility violations and identified barriers that would make it difficult for users with disabilities to fully utilize the site.

The School of Data Science is an industry-university partnership, committed to growing exemplary talent through research and education. As the only School of Data Science in the Carolinas, SDS offers several interdisciplinary graduate programs and the first data science undergraduate program in the state. The inaugural cohort of data science undergraduate students began classes in fall 2020.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (Blue Cross NC) is a mission-driven organization. Every day nearly 5,000 of us show up with one goal: to improve the health and well-being of our customers and communities. To fully achieve this goal, we must have a more equitable health care system.  We know that racism and discrimination lead to health disparities. Simply put, no community can truly be healthy until racism no longer exists. Our diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) work focuses on three areas: within our company, the health care system, and North Carolina communities.

NC TECH will host a Virtual Tech Job Fair on October 14 for tech employers to connect with job candidates. The ‘Live’ job fair will take place on October 14, utilizing an online platform, that will allow candidates to visit virtual rooms or ‘booth’ hosted by each employer to learn more about why it’s a great place to work and to view available job opportunities. Employers will be able to customize a virtual room to showcase their organization and job opportunities, access candidate resumes and connect via chat or zoom on the event day, and then view the traffic to their ‘booth’ and follow up with candidates post event.

Last week, we all learned of the news of the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsberg – a true leader, patriot and pioneer. Her death has given us the opportunity to reflect, especially as we at NC TECH launched our inaugural Summit for Women in Tech over the past couple of days. While opportunities for women have certainly improved over the past few decades, there is still a lag in job opportunities, promotion and pay – especially in the tech sector. North Carolina ranks 1st among the states in the percentage of women in IT positions, but the total percentage, 35.5%, is not where it should be. There is much work to be done to fill our tech jobs pipeline with more women, especially women of color.

Stacauto, founded in 2020, is a digital platform enabling consumers to test drive vehicles on their own at local dealerships without requiring in-person contact. They are a distributed team, founded and organized in North Carolina.

In February 1980, President Jimmy Carter issued the first Presidential Proclamation declaring the Week of March 8, 1980 as National Women’s History Week. President Carter wrote, “From the first settlers who came to our shores, from the first American Indian families who be-friended them, men and women have worked together to build this nation. Too often the women were unsung and sometimes their contributions went unnoticed. But the achievements, leadership, courage, strength and love of the women who built America was as vital as that of the men whose names we know so well.”  Seven years later, Congress declared March as National Women’s History Month. The month is set aside to honor women’s contributions to American history. Since it is National Women’s History Month, it seems only fitting to take a look back at some of the amazing women who have made significant contributions to the world of technology.

Founded in 2014, Linker Logic Technologies is a software development company based out of Raleigh, North Carolina. We help startups and enterprises launch their products by providing award-winning consulting, design, development, and support services. Since its inception in 2014, Linker Logic Technologies has helped hundreds of founders bring their vision to life.

Founded in 2012, Apparo bridges Charlotte's corporate and nonprofit communities, enabling corporations to fulfill their corporate social responsibility priorities by delivering affordable, sustainable technology solutions to nonprofits. As a result, lives in Charlotte are improves, as nonprofits can do more towards fulfilling their missions.

NC TECH Director of Programs and Sponsorships Tracy Sternbig gives a recap of our June Virtual Diversity + Inclusion in Tech Summit.

HaystackCRM was originally created to manage our customer relationships for our software company. We quickly realized this fresh approach to customer relationship management would be valuable for other small businesses, particularly for sales professionals that tend not to work from an office. It offers a clean, intuitive layout that is approachable for users of all technical abilities.

June's Guest Blog is written by Kim Chapman, President of Network Services Inc. on Women in Technology Leadership. The technology industry has historically been a difficult industry for women aspiring to executive positions. For those of us who started our careers in the ‘80’s, we have certainly seen a shift in the direction of more inclusiveness and a growing diversity in upper management. But there is still a long way to go. Read more...

Describe the journey that eventually led you to your current company? I founded Xtern Software in 2002. I started the business out of my townhouse in NW Greensboro, and soon found a demand for custom software within the Triad and well beyond. The company continued to grow consistently each year, ultimately bringing on additional staff to support the growth of the business. Five years ago, my wife, Jennifer Davis, stepped into the role of VP of Sales & Marketing. Xtern has continued to grow and is planning to bring on two additional software developers in the next few months to support its robust growth. Read the full blog....

People are up to all kinds of things during the pandemic; perhaps even starting companies. Our April Guest Blog explores entrepreneurship in times of crisis -- from business considerations to mindset. Editor’s note: Billy Warden is a writer and the co-founder, with Greg Behr, of the p.r./marketing firm GBW Strategies.

Stromasys virtualizes and modernizes IT operations by migrating vital operating systems and applications to modern platforms or the cloud…and away from aging legacy hardware. Legacy systems pose an increasing cost and risk for organizations due to lack of support and parts availability. We were founded in 1999.

In February 1980, President Jimmy Carter issued the first Presidential Proclamation declaring the Week of March 8, 1980 as National Women’s History Week. President Carter wrote, “From the first settlers who came to our shores, from the first American Indian families who be-friended them, men and women have worked together to build this nation. Too often the women were unsung and sometimes their contributions went unnoticed. But the achievements, leadership, courage, strength and love of the women who built America was as vital as that of the men whose names we know so well.”  Seven years later, Congress declared March as National Women’s History Month. The month is set aside to honor women’s contributions to American history. Since it is National Women’s History Month, it seems only fitting to take a look back at some of the amazing women who have made significant contributions to the world of technology.