Black women continue to be woefully underrepresented in corporate leadership. And when it comes to the technology industry, which is largely a man's world – and a white man's world at that – women of color made up about 11% of the computing and mathematical workforce in 2019 with Black women only comprising just 3% of the total, according to the National Center For Women & Information Technology 2020 study. That number shrinks to less than 0.5% when looking at Black women in tech leadership positions.

Amid the backdrop of a hellish year under the pandemic – which has disproportionately impacted marginalized communities –  it has become increasingly critical to not only confront the deeply embedded systemic racism that exists in this country, but begin the national conversation to listen, provide space and resources, and advocate for personal and professional wellness of the BIPOC (black, indigenous, and people of color) communities.

SDxCentral (virtually) sat down with Rani Johnson, CIO for TIBCO, to discuss her new role with the company and how the technology industry might better understand, acknowledge, and create opportunities for BIPOC communities.

Can you tell us a bit about your backstory and what put you to this particular career path? 

Johnson: It's been a journey. I'm an electrical engineer by education and found my way into IT in the first 10 years of my career generally because there was either something not going as I needed it to in IT, and or I had some curiosity around operations. So I am now a proud IT professional.

I've been a CIO now for seven years, I spent the last three and a half [years] at Solar Winds, and then another three prior at the Lower Colorado River Authority, which is responsible for critical infrastructure, water and power for Central Texas. 

What initially drew you to this role at TIBCO? And what are your priorities in this new role?

Johnson: I actually happened to live in Palo Alto back in 1999 at the time TIBCO IPOed, and I remember being so excited for the energy around such a significant IPO – that was what initially kind of made me aware of TIBCO. 

I intend, in pretty short order, to ensure that our resources are allocated to the things that return the highest return on value or investment back to the company. So I'll be focusing on strategic alignment, making sure that we are enabling our internal business stakeholders with the technology and insights to make the best decisions for the company. And then from there, figuring out how to continue to tune our operations.

Talking more specifically about women: pre-COVID offered its fair share of hurdles and inequity of all types. And now we now face additional challenges in the wake of the pandemic. Between the global pandemic and the grassroots uprising and support for the Black Lives Matter movement, it seems like the world is finally beginning to wake up and pay attention. Do you see this as an opportunity to usher in an era of real change? What's your hope for how we can emerge from this moment, and what do we do now to get there?

Johnson: I am one very hopeful. In my first week I joined our employee resource groups, and there's one that focuses on African Americans and people of Caribbean descent. I've been listening to their threads and the history in the Slack channel, and I think that there's a hopeful sentiment there as well.

As I’ve joined multiple of the different employee resource groups, I am not just hopeful, but I see the actions that people are taking, and I see the support that's coming from at least from our TIBCO leadership around making sure that there is equity and inclusion. So I'm excited to partner with them and get my hands dirty, and see how we can move the needle here.

It’s hard to overlook the importance of Black female leadership in the advancement of social justice movements, and I think over the years many of us have come to realize that it is the responsibility of people with privilege to support Black women and to follow your leadership. What action or show of support would you say is most critical to realizing representation in leadership and a future we hope to see?

Johnson: I think the very first thing is acknowledging where there is not a voice, attention to a voice, or where there's not an understanding. When you don't see Black women in the field or Black women in leadership, it's a time to take a pause and understand what's causing that. Is it a pipeline, it is opportunity, and then understand what your organization's goal is or what role you want to take in that. I think that's the starting space, baselining what the cause of that might be. It takes an investment to do something different, and oftentimes there are infrastructure issues to that investment.

There's an ironic complexity to women's presence in technology, and specifically women of color, where one can feel physically visible yet cognitively invisible. What advice do you have for the industry as a whole about increasing and retaining women and people of color? And how do we move forward from this complexity and address it in a positive way?

Johnson: I think one thing is having a dialogue with that community of women, speaking specifically with women of color and technology, to understand what the barrier is to them being in these roles or in that environment. But then also making sure that you are creating a nurturing environment to foster that presence. 

I’ll give you an example. When I first joined Solar Winds, my last company, I realized that my entire leadership team of VPs and even all of my directors were men. They were all white American men and all probably within seven years of age. When I’d join a conversation – this was in Texas so they were talking about welding, or sometimes something they did on their ranch – I would be like, “Did you see that new Beyonce song,” as a way of reminding them if you foster a culture where everyone thinks the same, you need to do something that creates invitation or that is more welcoming to people that are outside of that demographic that has historically been the majority.

So when I reminded them no, I don't weld, and I don't farm, it became so obvious that I was outside of their common community of things that they enjoyed, or how they spent their time, and asked them to participate in mind that it was uncomfortable, it created a different dynamic.

Across the board, 2020 has been a year marred by economic, social, political, and environmental decline. Yet we sit here at this pivotal point in time with the opportunity to reflect on and to rebuild from the chaos that we've endured. What is your most aspirational vision of the new world that can be created? And maybe what does that look like?

Johnson: I look to history and remember hearing Dr. King's speech that calls for a world where everyone has equal opportunity and bad people are judged for what they create, not what they look like or – I'll go further with – who they love. 

I feel like there's something beautiful about technology, that kind of democratizes the universe, and we just need more opportunities for people to change the trajectory of their lives through great careers in technology. It’s kind of what I love about TIBCO: data is also a great democratizer. 

When we have the data and we have the information, we force ourselves to look at it, and it means we get to make really awesome decisions about what the future should look like. And I hope we get to live in a world where we're honest with data, take an honest look at ourselves and say “what do we want to do differently?”