Need to bridge gender gap in technical roles

It starts with the women themselves, the ones who have paved the way for us, for people like me to rise to executive roles. It is because of the other women before me, who dared to challenge the status quo so that I was able to follow this path. It is also because for the last 5-10 years, companies have had no other choice but to be more accepting of gender diversity inside organisations. Customers care about companies with which they can relate and feel represented by. When it comes to the tech industry specifically, there are more and more women in key roles, but we still have to bridge the gap in the more technical positions.

Most challenging

Managing such a large number of teams and individuals remotely. Keeping them engaged and highly performing. At the beginning, I had to prove myself to be trustworthy, probably even more because I am a woman in such a key position. It is also challenging to bring loyalty when managing such a large team remotely because people do not know you. For some people, unless they meet you, they will never feel like you are part of their circle.

Most engaging     

Coaching hundreds of highly motivated employees and knowing that by sharing your experience and through your leadership, several of them will become leaders someday too, they might become the next Vice Presidents. Inside Sales is a highly visible and impacting department as it creates direct results, which is easily measurable. Seeing my teams perform, going above and beyond, being passionate about what they do and knowing that we are the backbone of the company makes me proud.

Katya Ivanova, Vice President Inside Sales, Acronis

Leading the global Inside Sales workforce of Acronis. Growing the business from existing customers and converting new leads into stable sources of revenue for the company. Ivanova is on the board of executives in which they take all the strategic decisions linked to the company’s direction and plans.