Winners and Learners

One of the great things about being involved in the Woman Manager of the Year last year was the opportunity to see the wealth of women managers in this country.
From women managing their own businesses, to women running government organisations, it was very useful platform from which to view the state of women in management here.
Besides, researchers estimate that there will be eight women to every 10 men in the New Zealand work force by 2011, so it’s quite legitimate to be asking where women are heading in our organisations, and especially in management.
But alongside the women in management story comes the women in technology story.
With the rise of the technology star Ñ notwithstanding some of the falls of the technology star Ñ women managers have been slow off the starter’s block.
But they’re making up for lost time, either setting up their own web companies and call centres, or running corporations.
As Paul Smith outlines in our cover story, women are relishing the challenges of these new business models Ñ people like Jane Freeman, who set up one of our first online banking organisations, BankDirect, and who has taken up new challenge with esolutions, running the corporate alliance of Telecom, EDS and Microsoft.
The new economy has been bit of baptism of fire for eVentures chief Cindy Mitchener, who remains wary of the over-hyped expectations. And SAP managing director, Viv Gurrey, who followed Geraldine McBride into the role, thrives on the challenge of running New Zealand’s operation of global technology firm like SAP.
To this end, it’s never been better time for women to take advantage of the opportunities in this new economic mainstream.