Sponsor Spotlight: Meet Laura Ortman from Cologix

It’s hard to believe 2019 is almost over. As we take a look back on the year, one of the biggest highlights for us was our panel discussion around diversity & inclusion at our ITW 2019 event in Atlanta back in June. Our rockstar panel included the wonderful Laura Ortman. Laura is the President and Chief Revenue Officer at Cologix where she leads strategic sales, revenue plan, and focuses the company on deepening customer relationships and broadening the go-to-market strategy to include the fast-growing ecosystem of hyperscale cloud providers. She is also responsible for all aspects of how the company interacts with current customers and prospects.

Laura Ortman, President & Chief Revenue Officer at Cologix

Laura Ortman, President & Chief Revenue Officer at Cologix

With 21+ years of experience leading software and IT business operations, revenue management and client relationship management, pre- and post-sales, global support services, and customer experience, Laura is a treasure trove of professional anecdotes, advice, relatable frustrations, and admirable goals to make her work environment more inclusive.

It was truly a pleasure having Laura share her experiences with us. Get to know her with the below Q&A and video clips from the panel and check out her list of helpful resources down below!

What’s something that has helped you tackle the gender divide in our industry and succeed in your career?

Throughout my career, I have been very fortunate to work with strong male leaders, who have helped me navigate my career and cross the gender divide. These leaders were great role models for me, taking the time to help me develop and grow as managers or mentors while also working to change the behaviors inherent in male-dominated organizations.

Mentorship is a crucial factor in career development and growth. But what happens when someone takes the wrong approach to mentorship?

What’s one thing you wish you could teach your younger self upon entering your career?

To my younger self, I would say, “Spend time getting to truly know yourself as well as people who look at the world differently than you.” One of my pivotal learnings at work was about unconscious bias and its impacts on decision-making and actions—for all of us. Everyone has biases, both men and women. We see what we think, so it is important to know yourself and how you frame your thoughts and action. To change how the world works, we need to be aware of the lens we use to view the world and encourage others to do the same. Change is difficult. People go through this journey at different rates and they learn and adjust when they are ready, but an important first step toward gender equality is an awareness of the context that surrounds individual’s thoughts and actions.

What’s a positive experience you’ve had where you felt supported by an ally?

How do you see WTF helping the gender gap in our industry?

There is great power in women supporting each other. WTF is helping people to adopt positive attitudes about women in IT, push for equality for women in the workplace and in leadership roles. In addition, we heard about the importance of inviting men into the discussion, and encouraging them to help close the gender gap through positive actions as allies and sponsors. Through WTF, we have an opportunity to help each other by increasing visibility, sharing experiences and helping each other navigate the industry. This shared experience connects us, and through WTF, we can collaborate with a network of women to level the playing field for all women in the workplace.

What is a WTF (in the original meaning) moment you had to endure as a woman in your career and what did you learn from it?

As a young female executive in IT, I had strong male leaders and allies who believed in gender equality. Yet I faced gender biases, especially in meetings. While I had a seat at the table, my ideas were often ignored unless articulated from my male counterparts. For example, early in my career, I would share an idea and then a male counterpart would reiterate or re-phrase this same idea. Only then would my team members hear my point, delivered by someone else who often took credit for the idea too. Luckily, I had a male leader who recognized the issue, advocated for me and reframed the conversation with my peers. He was able to set new ground rules for engagement while pointing out these behaviors in action, in real-time to help others recognize and understand their biases.

What are some of the programs your company has implemented to support diversity and inclusion efforts and what outcomes have come from them?

What did you think of ITW 2019 this year in Atlanta/ any highlights from the conference?

This was my first time attending ITW. It was a really great experience. Along with my team members at Cologix, we had positive, aligned meetings and connected with customers, peers and partners. ITW is absolutely a must do conference for us next year. The Women in Technology Forum on Sunday was an amazing way to kick off the conference. It was powerful to have one evening with my female peers across the industry to celebrate our successes, learn from each other and make new connections.

Want to watch the full panel? Check it out here:

If you enjoyed this panel discussion, there will be more panels like this in 2020 like at our PTC event - RSVP here!

Resources from Laura:

On Sponsorship

Mentoring

Women at Work

Women in Leadership

Women & Negotiation

 

Women’s Tech Forum is a 501(c)(3) organization (EIN 83-3648822), and all monetary donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowed by tax laws. Please check with your financial advisor if you have more questions.