CIO Leadership Live with Christine Bongard, CEO, Co-Founder, The WIT Network and Lee Rennick

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Welcome to CIO Leadership Live.
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I’m Lee Rennick, executive director
of CIO communities for cio.com,
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and I’m very excited and honored today
to welcome Christine
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Bongard,
CEO, co-founder of the WIT Network.
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Christine.
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Please introduce yourself
and welcome to the show.
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Hi there.
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Lee, thank you so much for having me on
today.
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Yes. Christine Bongard,
CEO and co-founder of the WIT network.
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I have been a woman in technology
my whole career.
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I had the fortunate, fortunate experience
of being part of a Techstars
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up in the New York metro area
and, had the opportunity to grow business
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from start and learn all about everything
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technology, how to manage teams,
how to run a business.
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It was just such an incredible opportunity
for me
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and, that
that led me to being a woman in tech.
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And I got to build a great network,
over all of that time and,
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have the fortunate
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experience to then take my, career
as an entrepreneur
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and in the tech industry and build
a global network for women in tech.
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as my my second part of my career.
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So loving it.
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Wow. Wow, that sounds really amazing.
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And we’ll dive into that
a little bit more.
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And, you know, I’m
a member of the Witt network.
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Our organization is, I’m so proud that
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we have that connection
with this organization.
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and all that
you do to ensure that women have a safe
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place,
a place to network and learn and share.
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And, so I’m looking forward
to having this interview today.
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So I really do appreciate you
joining us today.
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Christine, thanks so much.
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We have created this series
to support diversity in technology
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and really listen to women
working in this space.
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and how, you know, they’re building
and supporting out,
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other women in, in, in our industry.
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And so the first question
and I ask everyone this question,
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could you please tell us a little bit
about your own career path and maybe
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provide some insights or tips on that role
path, especially as a women woman?
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Excuse me, are there any lessons shared
that you could, you know,
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any lessons learned that you could share?
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So a couple of things.
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You know, as
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I mentioned, just a great opportunity
to come up in tech throughout my career.
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And I will say that
just about the whole way through,
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I was, consistently one of the only women
in the room, whether we were
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with a customer, a partner,
at a conference, at networking events,
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you know, leads to feeling isolated.
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and, you know, some of those events
were golf events and whiskey tastings
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and cigar, events, and those were things
I really couldn’t relate to.
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And, you know,
it was hard to break into conversations
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with people and I thought,
where were the women?
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You know, we have to
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the technology industry is such
an incredible place to be.
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And, you know, just felt like,
how do we bring more women into this
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and, and make, you know,
bring gender parity to these events?
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so that you mentioned the word safe,
you know, so that that women feel
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more comfortable, you know, being in,
being in the room and being present.
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So, you know,
I really took those experiences that
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that fueled, my need to, to want to be
a part of starting this network.
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But you asked about, you know,
what are some lessons learned?
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And I would say, you know, given
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that we haven’t seen a ton of change
in the numbers for gender parity,
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in this industry,
you have to really be bold and go for it.
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And, you know, I think, you know,
sitting back and kind of waiting for
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career paths to materialize
in front of you or for your manager
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to take the time to help you build it out,
or for even HR teams to, to do that.
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We’re we’re in a,
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we’re in a place now in the world
where they just don’t have the time
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to do that stuff. Right.
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So I think we have to really inspire women
to get clear on their vision.
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Where do they want to go?
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What skills do they want to build,
and then look at the networks around them,
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look at, you know, look at where
they can take advantage of learning.
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You know, we’ve got lots of stuff
on LinkedIn learning, and there’s lots of,
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technology companies and organizations
like the Witt network that provide
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skills training and different,
you know, educational opportunities.
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And so I just really encourage women
to be bold.
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Go for it.
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You know, get out there and and capture,
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you know, the skills that they need
to help accelerate their careers.
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Yeah, I think that’s great advice.
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I was just speaking to a friend
and colleague about just this very thing.
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I have my own personal like networking
bank book that I have on It’s
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a rainbow and it’s on my desk,
and it’s like I look at it and when I
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need those moments to kind of plan and,
you know, speak to others.
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And I have a business coach I work with,
you know, that’s super important.
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And I didn’t really learn this until, like
now in life or like, you know, when I,
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when I, started working with organizations
like the IT network.
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So, it’s really impactful to me.
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So maybe we could, we could
the segue as well into the next question.
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could you please tell our audience
a little bit about the Witt network,
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you know, what is it?
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How is it formed?
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And, you know, we talked about this
a little bit, but why it’s important right
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now, especially for women in tech,
to have organizations like.
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Oh, gosh, I could talk about this for,
for a long time.
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It excites me so much.
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So the network was formed
about six years ago.
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We just celebrated our anniversary,
and the idea was in the beginning
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that we wanted to build,
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a global network of women
around the, around the world, obviously
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in tech to have this safe place to come
and be with like minded people,
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to find other women that were facing
some of the same challenges,
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that they were right.
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Building peer groups, you know, connecting
to help one another, maybe
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get connections into potential prospects
or helping them with jobs.
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You know, there’s all sorts of ways
that your network can serve you.
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And so we thought, let’s build
this, this wonderful community
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where women can reach and connect arms
around the world to help one another.
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That turned into let’s start
to build education for women, for skills
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that we know they’re not getting education
on, either within their own companies
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or within their own communities.
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And so we built out webinars, workshops.
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We’ve got leadership development.
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We have technology training
consistently hearing from women.
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They don’t get offered the technology
training that their male counterparts do.
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I don’t know why that is still happening,
but they’re consistently telling us
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they’re still not getting, you know,
the same kinds of opportunities with that.
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So we’re trying to build technology
cohorts for women.
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We’ve got mentoring circles right
where global women can come.
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We’re talking about issues that are facing
women today, all sorts of topics
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like workplace balance, building
confidence, negotiation skills,
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you know, things that, you know,
the women can sometimes struggle with.
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But we want to help them.
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And we have incredible
speakers and facilitators.
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Come on, teach best practices.
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A lot of times there’s role playing.
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We do breakout groups.
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And, you know, it’s just another wonderful
way for women to build their network
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because they get to connect with the women
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who are
in all of these different programs,
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and you make friends and,
you know, also help one another.
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We also have 53 communities
around the world
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who are getting together in person.
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So I like to say a membership to the women
network is really two pronged.
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You have all the virtual education,
and then you have the in-person
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networking where you can get together
in your local community.
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They do all sorts of things
like charity events.
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They have book signings,
they do wine tastings, they do crafts,
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they do speed networking,
you know, all different,
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whatever the community feels like,
they are independently, run
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and they plan their events and they work
with a lot of the technology companies
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in those local areas to sponsor the events
and provide that additional networking.
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there’s also an
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in-person conference that we do every year
for International Women’s Day.
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We had to take a little hiatus
on that because of the pandemic,
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but we are bringing it back in person
in Dallas this year.
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It’s going to be incredible.
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It’s called Igniting Excellence.
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We’re going to have a celebration of women
to our Women of Excellence
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awards program
that’s brand new, that’s coming out, and,
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it’s going to be just a wonderful time
for us all to come together,
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celebrate our accomplishments, but also
get fueled up on what we still need to do.
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And so the subtheme of the conference
is all about
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kind of what I spoke to in
the beginning, is inspiring women
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to really take charge of their destiny
and their career path.
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And understand what skills they’ll need
in this new era of AI, which again,
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presents an incredible opportunity
for us to to level the playing field.
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There with regard to gender.
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And so we’re going to have an AI workshop
helping women build skills,
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and then we’re going to have a lot
of inspiring speakers
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that will all be talking about, really,
how to take your career to the next level.
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So I’m so excited about that.
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We have last thing,
we have almost 14,000 people
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in the network and we are in 80
countries around the world.
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And when we started the network,
I interviewed many women around the globe
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because it was really important
for me to understand.
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Did the needs of women differ
depending on where they were in the world?
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And it was really interesting to me
and fascinating to find that know.
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And they want all need
and wanted the same thing.
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They wanted access to education
and training, technology training.
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They need mentors
and they need to help build their network.
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And so those are our main pillars.
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That’s what we built a network on access
to education and training,
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access to the global network
and then also mentors.
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We have a new program called Wick Connects
that provides real time
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AI, mentor
matching for everybody in the network.
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So that’s a lot to make.
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But that’s what we do.
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Wow. That’s incredible.
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That’s, that’s really wonderful. And,
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what I love about it is the
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opportunity to connect, you know, online,
but also connect in person.
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you know, because, well, we find
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is that, often we’re just,
you know, so busy in our roles.
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And then there might be an event
that we can attend in person.
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And that’s just a way to
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meet people face to face
that you might have connected with online.
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I love the training aspect.
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I love the, upskilling aspect.
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You know,
I talked to a lot of CIOs right now
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about the ways in which they’re
looking at, how their staff need to learn
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about Chennai, what implementation
they want to put in around that.
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So, you know, I thank you for being ahead
of the curve on that and making sure
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that those resources are available
to women who are in the tech space.
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I really appreciate that.
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well, thank you for that description.
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And we’ll make sure we have a link
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to it, in our in our post on social media
and on our website.
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so one of the mandates of it
is to enable more women to attain
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leadership positions
and career advancement.
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Now I speak with several next generation
leaders,
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and I don’t even know
if I want to call them next gen leaders.
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I just feel that there’s a group
of individuals who are leading in tech
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right now who have, you know,
there’s sort of a longevity of that.
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But I do speak to a lot of women
who are building up their careers.
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And, you know, they say they often come
to a conference and it’s just to see if
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suits and and men,
I feel that way when I go to conferences.
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I bet you you you talked about it earlier,
you felt that way as well.
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So, we’d love we talked a little bit
about the ways it supports networking
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and but also, you know, that idea
of building the leadership skills.
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I know you had the weight
management program,
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so maybe outside of weight
and within weight maybe.
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What are some of the tips
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you could provide to women listening
in on how to broaden your networks?
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Yeah.
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So I think
this is this is one of the areas
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where when you look at the data,
you know, we we are still losing ground.
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And in some way, you know, going negative
with regard to representation
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at all the levels of leadership,
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I guess is this is something that’s
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just going to really take a lot of time,
you know, to chip away at.
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So what we try to focus on is
how do we help the women,
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you know,
skill themselves up to be best prepared
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for those opportunities to get
put into the to to the leadership spots.
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Right.
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Like I’ll give you an exciting
storytelling example.
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I had met with, a colleague of mine,
and I went to his board
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of directors page
and they were all white men.
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And I said, You know, this is interesting.
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You know, where are the women?
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And he said, oh, Christine, Christine, we,
we believe
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in appointing people to the role
based on skill, not by checking boxes.
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I said, fair enough.
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I think that is the right way to do it.
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But where is your pipeline of women
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that are, ready
getting ready to step into roles like.
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And how are you nurturing them
and how are you preparing them for it?
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And he went,
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oh yeah, we don’t have that.
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Okay.
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So for companies out there yeah.
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You know that’s number one right?
We get it.
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We’re not asking to be put into roles
that we’re not ready for.
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But what is the process for helping women
prepare for that and to get helping them
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get ready for those roles. Right.
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So that’s the one side on the
on the on the side of the individual.
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It’s we’re looking at
how can we help them build those skills.
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So we have a ten week leadership cohort
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that we partner
with Athena International on.
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And that’s a great way for women
to go through and helps them assess their
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skills, understand their strong points,
understand the areas that they need.
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What are their goals like,
what is that dream?
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And so that’s the process
that helps them discover.
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And then I think the second part of it is
they need to work
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with allies, within their company.
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And so I would encourage
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women to it goes to you said
how do they build their network.
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Networking externally is very important.
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We all think about that going to events.
Right.
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getting out
and meeting new people that way.
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But I like to coach folks
to also have an internal networking plan.
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What are you looking at?
You know, internally,
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just not your manager,
but your manager’s manager.
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What about the C-suite?
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People across the C-suite, right?
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Or the SVP roles?
Can you reach out to them?
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Can you ask for 15 minutes
for coaching a mentor session and phrase
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it under the guise of you want to learn
more about what their role is?
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What are their goals
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for their team within you know,
how will it impact the business?
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Is there any way that you can help
being from the role that you’re in?
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Start those dialogs,
get to know those folks
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and and learn what is their experience
being on the leadership team?
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What do they think
are the most important skills
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that they contribute
to the leadership team?
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Like take it on as a research
project, right.
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And and use that information to help
build your roadmap
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to becoming a leader in that org.
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And also those relationships are key
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for when they’re they are looking at
who are they going to going to consider.
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Yeah, step and take some of the next
leadership roles in the company.
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Now you’ve established relationships
with everybody through your mentor
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sessions with them, you’ve been able
to articulate what projects
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you’re working on and what you’re
looking to do with your future.
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And that’s how you build a network
internally, and that’s how you help
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to make sure that your work is visible
across the leadership team
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and potentially get you poised.
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So it’s a lot of different.
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It’s a lot of different components, right?
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It’s at the company has to be open
and have a framework to support women
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to move up the pipeline.
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It’s a the woman has to build skills to be
ready for those leadership positions.
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And then also that the woman
has to build a network around her
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that will support her, lift her up,
pull her up, talk about her in the room
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when she’s not there in a positive way
and and in really help.
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00:16:06,366 –> 00:16:10,066
And so it’s kind of like that
three pronged magical approach,
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you know, that that I think women
should look for in terms of
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if that is an aspiration
that they have right to climb the ladder.
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I love that, you know, I really love that.
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And I was reflecting on what you were
saying about your internal network.
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00:16:22,566 –> 00:16:24,000
So that’s such great advice.
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you know, I think
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00:16:26,733 –> 00:16:29,733
I would add to that too,
that so many companies right now
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are struggling with profitability
and growth. And,
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you know, we’ve seen a lot of layoffs,
unfortunately, and things like that.
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So, you know, I, I also think just
if you’re in a role and you know,
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you see ways
of improving an organization, right?
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You can let people know, you know,
you can let your manager know.
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But if you if you’re, you know, on a call
with others that, you know, are different
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roles like marketing or, or other places,
you know, it’s okay to say, you know,
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I’ve been listening in.
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Here’s one way I believe we could improve
our output of our organization.
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Right.
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And I always find that people are
who are in the high, higher positions,
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are very open to learning and hearing that
because they want to learn from people
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that are doing work to build,
319
00:17:15,300 –> 00:17:18,300
you know, the organization
and looking at ways to improve it.
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00:17:18,333 –> 00:17:20,833
Yeah. Lee, I love that.
I love that advice.
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00:17:20,833 –> 00:17:22,500
I think you’re you’re
you’re dead on there.
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I mean, we’ve have had a lot of layoffs
and there’s still some going on right now,
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but I think a lot of that is still like
overcorrecting from the pandemic.
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Yeah.
We’re going to see that settle out. Yeah.
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and so I think for, for women
today, you’re right.
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It’s two things that
how can you look re-envision your job
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to be more of it, to be more efficient,
to be more productive, to serve
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customers better.
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Yeah, right.
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Like all of those things that will
potentially impact the bottom line.
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We know based on data
that comes from McKinsey and Gartner,
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that teams that have broader
diversity on them.
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00:17:58,633 –> 00:18:01,833
Yeah, will see greater profits, greater
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00:18:01,833 –> 00:18:05,033
customer sacrifice
into like all those statistics.
335
00:18:05,033 –> 00:18:05,800
Yeah.
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00:18:05,800 –> 00:18:09,933
I think we just kind of have to, you know,
a some of it is a little bit of timing.
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But the other part of it is
what can we control?
338
00:18:12,900 –> 00:18:15,766
They always say, right,
don’t focus on what you can’t control.
339
00:18:15,766 –> 00:18:17,366
Focus on what you can control.
340
00:18:17,366 –> 00:18:20,466
You can control how you do your job. Yeah.
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00:18:20,466 –> 00:18:23,466
And so I would say to your point,
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how can you tie
AI in to potentially re-envision
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00:18:28,700 –> 00:18:31,700
the work that you do and,
and help your company,
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00:18:31,766 –> 00:18:36,100
like you said, come up with fresh ideas
about how I could potentially
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be used to change some of the outcomes
for how your company does business.
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Yeah.
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00:18:41,333 –> 00:18:44,733
Is that will definitely make
you stand out to the leadership as well.
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00:18:44,866 –> 00:18:47,133
Yeah. Love that. Love that.
Thank you so much.
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00:18:47,133 –> 00:18:47,600
All right.
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00:18:47,600 –> 00:18:51,933
So lastly Christine, I’m asking
because we’re we’re in 2024 now.
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Just hit November 1st.
352
00:18:53,300 –> 00:18:56,000
Actually
there’s a lot going on in the world.
353
00:18:56,000 –> 00:18:58,933
so you know
I really think thank you so much
354
00:18:58,933 –> 00:19:00,733
for all you’re doing to support women.
355
00:19:00,733 –> 00:19:02,566
Women in business, women in tech.
356
00:19:02,566 –> 00:19:06,166
You know, thank you so much for sharing
all of these experiences you’ve had.
357
00:19:06,166 –> 00:19:07,766
And what the network does.
358
00:19:07,766 –> 00:19:11,633
So listen, hey, for all those tech
companies out there listening in,
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00:19:13,466 –> 00:19:15,833
I would really love to hear from you.
360
00:19:15,833 –> 00:19:20,366
As to the types of things
they could look at initiating in 2025
361
00:19:20,366 –> 00:19:25,400
to support women in and to create
really safe, inclusive workplaces.
362
00:19:25,900 –> 00:19:27,900
Yeah, that’s a great question.
363
00:19:27,900 –> 00:19:31,100
I think, you know, many companies
have them, but like an employee
364
00:19:31,100 –> 00:19:34,800
resource group or a business resource
group or an affinity group, whatever,
365
00:19:34,833 –> 00:19:38,133
whatever they’re called,
that’s a great place to start, right?
366
00:19:38,133 –> 00:19:43,033
Build a place for women to come to be,
to want to be with one another.
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00:19:43,766 –> 00:19:46,966
have somebody that runs the erg that is
368
00:19:46,966 –> 00:19:49,966
into, in tune with the needs of the group,
369
00:19:50,666 –> 00:19:53,233
opens up, pulls, you know, dialogs
370
00:19:53,233 –> 00:19:56,766
with the women, often to understand
what are those needs.
371
00:19:57,433 –> 00:20:00,433
Look, we’re learning that employees
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really want to feel, that they belong
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to the organization, that they
they’re in an inclusive environment.
374
00:20:07,766 –> 00:20:09,666
We know that that’s important.
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00:20:09,666 –> 00:20:13,800
If you care at all about employee
retention, then, you know,
376
00:20:13,800 –> 00:20:19,200
I think it would be a mistake to not have
somebody responsible for looking at
377
00:20:19,766 –> 00:20:24,900
how inclusive is your organization,
how what sense of belonging
378
00:20:24,900 –> 00:20:28,800
are you fostering a culture,
you know, for the employees?
379
00:20:29,033 –> 00:20:32,100
Those employee resource
groups are a great start.
380
00:20:32,100 –> 00:20:34,866
They’re a great,
they’re a great way to do it.
381
00:20:34,866 –> 00:20:37,800
And, it, it it allows,
382
00:20:39,133 –> 00:20:40,333
what how do I say this?
383
00:20:40,333 –> 00:20:44,533
It allows, like,
a connection point to from there voice
384
00:20:44,833 –> 00:20:48,633
to leadership about things
that are happening in the organization.
385
00:20:48,900 –> 00:20:51,266
I also like to say, if you’re a leader
386
00:20:51,266 –> 00:20:54,566
in any way, shape or form,
get out and talk to people.
387
00:20:54,966 –> 00:20:59,366
You know, sometimes just taking 5
to 10 minutes, even virtually.
388
00:20:59,366 –> 00:20:59,700
You know,
389
00:20:59,700 –> 00:21:03,500
I know we’re not all back in offices yet,
but if you can have a virtual chat
390
00:21:03,500 –> 00:21:06,500
with somebody, you know,
what’s your experience like here?
391
00:21:06,500 –> 00:21:09,966
You know, tell me, tell me candidly,
how are we doing?
392
00:21:09,966 –> 00:21:11,500
How do you feel safe.
393
00:21:11,500 –> 00:21:13,033
Do you feel that,
394
00:21:13,033 –> 00:21:17,100
you know, your work is contributing
to the bigger picture of what we’re doing?
395
00:21:17,100 –> 00:21:22,066
And and opening up those dialogs,
I think goes a long way towards building
396
00:21:22,066 –> 00:21:24,800
trust, building relationship
with your employees
397
00:21:24,800 –> 00:21:28,866
and ideally keeping them right,
especially if you know
398
00:21:28,866 –> 00:21:32,600
you get feedback that you’re able
to take action on partnering.
399
00:21:32,600 –> 00:21:36,500
I’d be remiss
if I didn’t start with that work.
400
00:21:36,500 –> 00:21:41,700
Yeah, you know, is a great way to support
the women in your organization because,
401
00:21:42,266 –> 00:21:45,366
somebody said
you’re like an outsourced DRG and we’re,
402
00:21:46,000 –> 00:21:48,700
you know, we’re this whole ecosystem
403
00:21:48,700 –> 00:21:51,900
that individual companies
cannot reproduce on their own.
404
00:21:51,900 –> 00:21:54,966
And we also have tons of programs
405
00:21:54,966 –> 00:21:58,233
that individual companies
cannot produce on their own.
406
00:21:58,233 –> 00:22:02,933
So why not partner with us and snap in
and connect
407
00:22:02,933 –> 00:22:06,900
the women in your org to this whole
framework of education and mentorship?
408
00:22:07,133 –> 00:22:07,766
Yeah.
409
00:22:07,766 –> 00:22:09,166
And I mean also for the people
410
00:22:09,166 –> 00:22:13,366
in the organization, like you’re
always looking for women in management
411
00:22:13,366 –> 00:22:17,200
and tech to present at,
you know, at conferences, at panels.
412
00:22:17,200 –> 00:22:19,266
So, you know,
if you’re a member of the network,
413
00:22:19,266 –> 00:22:22,466
I’m sure there’s that opportunity
to include the women in your space,
414
00:22:22,666 –> 00:22:24,766
you know, to be a part of the network,
but also to,
415
00:22:24,766 –> 00:22:28,366
you know, have the opportunity to present
and share what their own journey.
416
00:22:28,366 –> 00:22:30,866
So it’s it’s
yeah, it really is really great program.
417
00:22:30,866 –> 00:22:34,133
And thank you so much for founding it
and for all you do.
418
00:22:35,066 –> 00:22:35,900
Yeah. Thank you.
419
00:22:35,900 –> 00:22:37,566
It is an honor and a pleasure.
420
00:22:37,566 –> 00:22:40,133
And I enjoy every single day.
421
00:22:40,133 –> 00:22:43,933
because I get to work with incredible
people all supporting the network
422
00:22:43,933 –> 00:22:48,066
and our technology partners
and the women in the ecosystem.
423
00:22:48,066 –> 00:22:52,966
And we have so many volunteers and people
who help stand it up all over the world.
424
00:22:52,966 –> 00:22:57,033
So it’s not just me, it’s it’s
an army of people all working together.
425
00:22:57,033 –> 00:22:59,066
And I’m so proud to be a part of it.
426
00:22:59,066 –> 00:23:01,600
Thank you, Christine,
and thank you so much for sharing today.
427
00:23:01,600 –> 00:23:04,833
And as mentioned, we’ll
include a link on our post on our website
428
00:23:04,833 –> 00:23:08,100
and on our social media to the web network
if you want to learn more information.
429
00:23:08,533 –> 00:23:10,466
And thanks so much for being here.
430
00:23:10,466 –> 00:23:11,433
Thank you for having me.
431
00:23:11,433 –> 00:23:12,300
I really appreciate you
432
00:23:12,300 –> 00:23:15,566
giving me this time in the space today,
and it was a pleasure chatting with you.