Donna DeWinter leads the largest corporate IT training provider in Canada. As the president of Nexient Learning, which was acquired late last year by Global Knowledge, DeWinter’s team is responsible for supplying the channel with the sharpest minds on Microsoft, Novell, Cisco, VMware, Citrix, Red Hat and many other vendor technologies on an on-going basis. The company also goes beyond just IT training and certifications to teach business analysis, project management skills, ITIL, and business leadership.
Click here to view Part One of our Women in the IT Channel slideshow.
Click here to view Part Two of our Women in the IT Channel slideshow.
DeWinter may have come from a more male dominated industry than IT. She got her career start in chemical engineering for asphalt. Until she got to Nexient, DeWinter was the only women executive in each of her career stops.
“When you’re the only female executive you have to be aggressive and you have to bring a large amount of conviction or desperation to every meeting. You have to speak loudly and work harder. You have to follow your ideas that you really believe in. I tried to make sure they saw things the way I see it,” she said.
Today at Nexient/Global Knowledge DeWinter tries to have a blended table. “I don’t want a room made up of all women. I don’t want it prominent to the extreme either way,” she said.
DeWinter has had to deal with gender unfairness during her career, but not so much in high tech. “There were a few times I was discounted early because I was female and I was in finance. How I overcame that was that I am not an emotional person. I’m not sensitive to it. You just plug away for the company with the right ideas. Don’t take it personally,” she said.
DeWinter advises people think of innovation as more than just software or a chip, but how it can be applied in the market place.
Follow Computer Dealer News on Twitter: @CompDealerNews.