The technology industry that has dramatically changed the way we live and work can take the lead in bringing greater equality, inclusion and opportunity to society, a group of leaders said Tuesday on the opening day of ChannelCon Online 2020, the virtual conference presented by CompTIA, the nonprofit association for the global technology industry.
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“Tech companies have changed the world over the last 20 or 30 years,” said Louis Stewart, chief innovation officer for the City of Sacramento. “Here is a huge opportunity to change the world again.”
Stewart was one of five executives – all current or former CompTIA board members – who participated in a virtual town hall meeting on “Diversity and Inclusion in the Tech Industry.” Moderated by CompTIA President and CEO Todd Thibodeaux, the session opened the association’s seventh annual virtual conference.
While speakers expressed hope that real change will come from the protests for social justice and equality that have occurred across America for the last several months, their hope is tempered by a history of past promises that went unfulfilled.
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“We’ve seen commitments before, but we haven’t seen anything come out of that,” said Aaron Woods, customer success executive, CEX Services, LLC. “This newfound direction to committing more money is great, but if no actionable items come out of this, it’s a waste.”
One of the ways the industry can demonstrate its leadership is to make a true, long-term commitment to diversify its workforce, panelists said.
At the end of 2019, white workers made up 63.5% of the U.S. tech industry workforce, while African Americans accounted for 7.6% of the total, according to CompTIA’s analysis of employment data from government and private sector sources.
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