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Gambling on women technologists in Las Vegas

14.04.2006
Last year, Laura Fucci attended a conference that recognized the achievements of women in a variety of fields. That event led Fucci to wonder whether there were any professional associations for female technology professionals in Las Vegas, where she is vice president and CTO at MGM Mirage. Her research led Fucci to discover Women in Technology International (WITI), a professional association for tech-savvy women that was established in 1989 by Carolyn Leighton. The Las Vegas network, which Fucci helped launch, will hold its first meeting May 3 at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino during the Interop 2006 conference and has already signed up 50 members through word-of-mouth promotion.

Computerworld's Thomas Hoffman spoke to Fucci Thursday about the goals that she and other founding members envision for the new chapter.

How did this all come about? Once I found out about Women in Technology last summer, I contacted David Leighton, the president of WITI. As it turns out, he had travel plans to Las Vegas, so I had the first of several conversations with him and Carolyn [Leighton]. We formed a temporary leadership council. What we really want to do is have WITI Las Vegas be representative of all of the different industries in the area. Las Vegas is more than just gaming and hotels, there are a lot of industries here, such as utilities and construction companies.

Who are some of the people on the temporary leadership council? Carol Pride, CIO for Pinnacle Entertainment; Tracy Austin, former CIO at Mandalay Resort Group, who is currently a consultant; Jamie Chambers, a sales executive for Dell; Sharon Brooks, a professor at Southern Nevada Community College; and Norbert J. Kubilus, CIO at Sunterra Corp.

What do you hope to achieve as a chapter? We're hoping to create a network within Las Vegas where we can help each other achieve common goals, help people learn how to grow and develop, change perceptions of women in Las Vegas, educate through scholarships, internships, mentoring and act as role models. And [we want to] show that you can get into this business without being geeky. What I hear is that by the time girls hit high school, it's already too late to change those perceptions.

That's one of the challenges I face, finding women who are moving into this field. I just don't get enough resumes from women.