It’s been an amazing year for the AspenTech Women’s Leadership Forum. We’ve run more than a dozen exciting and well-received events, made new connections both within the company and with other women’s groups and held our first elections! We’ve even expanded our vision and mission statements to reflect the many things we’ve learned over the past few years.

Highlights

Sessions focused on hot topics like imposter syndrome and unconscious bias, both of which we still talk about long after those initial sessions were held. There were lots of great takeaways and some solid, practical advice about handling one’s own insecurities and being aware of the unconscious ways in which we judge or classify others. 

We hosted coaching circles in collaboration with Women in Technology International (WITI) which provided attendees with the opportunity to sit in on four unique sessions, including one on negotiating skills and another on finding your purpose. Each session was run by professionals who are part of the WITI “family.” (Since it was an evening event, I thought I’d sneak out early, only to find myself one of the last ones there!) This event was so popular, we are planning to repeat it in 2020. 

Our largest and most engaged event of the year was International Women’s Day (IWD) in early March. It’s always a blast for the WLF and its supporters to get together to support women’s leadership at the international level. This year’s theme, Balance for Better, focused on gender balance. We shared message cards provided by the IWD organization and a pop-up banner photo booth so folks could take photos sharing their favorite messages. As part of a now annual tradition, our CEO Antonio Pietri took a selfie with the group, which is always a thrill.

2019 Firsts

The Women’s Leadership Forum had a few firsts in 2019. In February, our Latin American team kicked off their first Mexico City Town Hall and WLF meeting with opening remarks by our CEO. In March, our International Women’s Day celebration also marked our first women’s leadership event in Shanghai. And those were just the firsts. Our teams in Houston, Texas and Reading UK also ran many successful local events on topics like work-life balance and breast cancer awareness.

Additional firsts included a Birds of a Feather panel on Women in STEM at our biannual conference, OPTIMIZE, in May. The panel featured Rachelle McWright from our partner company, Emerson Automation, as well our own Chief Customer Success Officer Michelle Triponey and SVP Product Marketing Lina Liberti. The audience was enrapt as the panelists discussed their careers and shared some of their challenges and accomplishments. Rachelle was kind enough to share her ideas on how to start a Women in STEM group in other organizations.

And last, but not least, we participated in our first global Sales Kickoff event. We hosted a panel discussion among high performers who shared their strategies for taking charge of their careers, staying motivated and being effective. Our CEO introduced the panel and reinforced our commitment to the Women’s Leadership Forum as a group striving to help build a diverse and inclusive workplace that supports career and personal growth for all AspenTech employees.

What is Your Leadership Philosophy?

Our fall events started off with a leadership panel at our Bedford HQ in which AspenTech executives shared leadership philosophies developed over their careers. The panelists, CIO Bill Scudder, VP Brand & Communications Lucy Millington and Director of Operations, APM Fran Royer also shared insights and anecdotes from their recent experiences with the Thayer Leadership Development Program (TLDG) at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. (Pictured at right, from left: Fran Royer, Lucy Millington, session moderator Jessica Cannon, Bill Scudder)

Looking forward to 2020

We have a lot of events planned for 2020 and are excited about some of the new connections we have made locally. As members of the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council (MassTLC) we have more opportunities to connect with other women’s groups and participate in activities that include membership to Innovation Women, a “self-service database of female subject matter experts” connecting them with speaking and media opportunities that help build their personal brands, grow their businesses and advance their careers. 

We can also participate in MassTLC’s Women’s Program and have already agreed to host an event with them at HQ next fall. In addition, we also connected with the women’s group at Vistaprint and are planning a joint event around talent acquisition, inclusion and diversity with their team.

I’d like to take a moment here to thank all the wonderful men and women who have supported our Women’s Leadership Forum, as well as our dedicated, motivated Steering Committee. I think they would agree with me when I say that the AspenTech Women’s Leadership Forum allows us to express ourselves, share best practices, grow our skills and careers and most importantly, share our experiences, challenges and successes. Here’s to another great year – the best is yet to come!

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