The year 2021 is one we will certainly never forget. On behalf of Women’s Leadership Forum and all the AspenTech Diversity, Equality & Inclusion (DE&I) Forums we’d like to acknowledge and remember those taken from us during the pandemic. Unfortunately, as we all hope to see an end to these unprecedented times, COVID-19 variants continue to wreak havoc on people’s lives and our global public health system as they try to gain an upper hand on vaccines and boosters. We hope to see that 2022 brings us closer to a “newer normal.”

 

Bright Spots

While 2021 delivered challenges, as a company, AspenTech experienced some bright spots sprinkled throughout the year. In August, AspenTech celebrated its 40^th anniversary and we celebrated as best we could across the globe, given the circumstances. Another bright spot is that AspenTech made significant strides in its DE&I initiatives. Employee-led forums created in 2021 included the Black Leadership Forum, the Latinx Forum and the LGBTQ Forum. The development and growth of these forums were strongly led by the many accomplishments of the AspenTech Women’s Leadership Forum (WLF) and we are excited to welcome and work with the new forums and respective leaders as we move into the new year. I’ll touch upon these new initiatives in a moment but wanted to take a second to acknowledge the members of the WLF and the great work that continues to be done.

The WLF continued to hold events – both virtual and in-person – to help further its mission to create an inclusive workplace, increasing employee engagement, innovation and collaboration. In 2021, the WLF celebrated International Women’s Day across the globe, held several book club conversations, multiple roundtable discussions with female leaders throughout AspenTech, and we also held a Get to Know the WLF event to raise awareness about the group and to formally introduce our regional leads. We were impressed with the attendance, and most importantly, with the 35+ employees who joined the regional teams around the world, bringing the global team to almost 100 women and men!

 

DE&I Excellence & Growth

At our annual sales kickoff meeting, the first Diversity and Inclusion Award was presented to Houston WLF co-chair Suchi Badrinarayanan. As previously stated, there were three new forums formed and introduced in 2021, including the Black Leadership Forum, the LGBTQ Forum and the Latinx Forum. These new forums held several events throughout the year to help cultivate awareness and help educate the AspenTech employee base. And at the end of the fiscal year, the DE&I Team (which encompasses all the forums) was the recipient of the company’s CEO Excellence Award. In October, we held a Get to Know the DEI Chapter Leads and were invigorated by the turn out. A great way to end such an impactful year!

 

As we begin a new year, we look forward to continuing the great work of the Women’s Leadership Forum. We look forward to working with the other Forum leaders to share ideas, grow together, support each other and really create the most inclusive workplace possible for AspenTech for years to come.

Get to know the DE&I Forum Leaders