The GCA Women of Cybersecurity

As we bring Cybersecurity Awareness Month to a close around the world, it’s time to talk about diversity, particularly the important role women play in the technology and cybersecurity industries. While progress is being made to bring more women into this field, including at the executive level, there is still a long way to go. 

With women still only making up 24% of the global cybersecurity profession (up from 11% in 2017), GCA wants to do a bit of bragging: women make up 50% of our executive leadership team, 48.5% of our staff, and nearly 30% of our board membership.

Women have roles at GCA that range from executive positions across various specialties, including legal, financial, communications, and technology, to women who have just joined the organization and are already playing critical roles in managing programs and stakeholder relationships.

Earlier this year GCA further bolstered its female roster by hiring women into two significant roles: Global Technical Officer, Leslie Daigle and Global Finance Director, Anna Hardy. Leslie has held numerous technology leadership roles, including serving as Chief Internet Technology Officer at the Internet Society where, among other duties, she led a team whose successes included the World IPv6 Day and World IPv6 Launch. Anna comes to GCA with expertise in developing and growing financial systems for nonprofits. Prior to joining GCA, Anna was CFO at the Charities Aid Foundation America, an international grant making organization with subsidiaries in Canada and the UK. 

Much has been written about making the cybersecurity field more diverse, especially for women. GCA has been able to gather talented women (and men) from all over the globe by providing a flexible work environment, challenging assignments, and growth opportunities.

It is time to carve a broader path for women in the cybersecurity field. How will we be judged by women in the future? How can we make a more diverse cybersecurity field that benefits all of us? It starts with intention.  We focus on hiring the best person for the job – which has helped support creating a diverse organization. We’ve set intentions around a culture of respect that also celebrates each other’s differences. It’s an environment that fosters diversity and brings people into the fold rather than excluding them.  

GCA has made building an inclusive, diverse organization a priority — an organization that is built on respect, equality, and transparency— and we commit to increasing its diversity and equality.  

You can learn more about our stance on diversity here: https://globalcyberalliance.org/diversity-inclusion-statement/