Women in Tech on Redefining Leadership in the AI Era

Just as AI innovations are redefining software as we know it, modern businesses are closing the gender gap and redefining leadership to match.  On this episode of Pure Signal, the team celebrates International Women’s Day by exploring the exciting momentum surrounding the gender shift felt throughout the industry alongside sobering realities still facing women in tech today.

Hosts Kevin Erickson and Ryan Medellin are joined by fellow Credera leaders Gail Stout Perry, Andrea Marshall Webb, and Slavina Racheva to hear their insights on these changing dynamics.

The discussion begins with reflections on the Women in Tech movement within Credera, including the creation of internal communities and a recent hands-on conference where technologists collaborated to prototype new solutions and build practical AI capabilities. From there, the conversation broadens to examine the structural challenges women continue to face in technology. You’ll hear about the “leaky pipeline” which still exists in tech careers, confidence gaps, representation in AI development, and the importance of mentorship and community in driving long-term change.

One big lesson from their conversations? Leaders throughout tech have the power today to shape diverse environments that will foster the next generation of talent while driving increased innovation and results for their businesses. The future of technology will be defined not only by new tools and platforms, but by who is empowered to build them.

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Quotes

“I want to encourage women to be very aggressive in this space. What we've seen over the last few years is really amazing momentum in women educating themselves about finance and investing, and we're seeing this gap being bridged. Once you give them the tools, they jump into it immediately because we are hungry for change. We want to see positive change in this space.” – Slavina Racheva

“I didn't really enter technology consulting until my late forties when I came back into work after having raised my family and taking care of my mother. I had women around me giving me the confidence that I could still do this job, and I could still be really good at it. I did have the support of people who had gone through a similar experience around me. Which was incredibly important because I had people that I could share my experience with.” – Andrea Marshall Webb

“We're really good at advocating when we do it on behalf of someone else. If you have others that you can draw upon, then you feel stronger. We're aiming to help our women figure out how to progress in their careers, to feel like they belong and to stay. Over 50% of women in tech leave their career between the 10th and 20th year. That's the leadership pipeline that's broken, right? So how do we get out ahead of that and prevent that? It's possible. It's been done in other areas of business, so let's do this for tech.” – Gail Stout Perry

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Time Stamps

00:00 Intro

00:25 Welcoming today's guests

03:50 Women in tech today

06:40 What's inspired this movement

11:30 Opening the door for others

16:45 The Women in Tech Conference

26:45 Results can already be seen

33:00 From risk to opportunity

43:00 Business transformation at large

44:55 Where ethics come into play

47:05 How to continue building momentum

51:55 Creating psychological safety across your enterprise

57:00 Closing thoughts

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Links 

Connect with the guest and hosts on LinkedIn!

• Gail Stout Perry

• Andrea Marshall Webb

• Slavina Racheva

• Kevin Erickson

• Ryan Medellin

• Jake Carter

Learn more about Credera