IBM Senior Vice President visits Dubai Women's College

Ms. Rometty shared valuable insights from her 30-year career with students at DWC and also spoke about her passion for working towards empowering women. Ms Rometty encouraged students to be "T-shaped" professionals and stressed the need to have both broad based skills and deep specialist skills to be successful.

Ms. Rometty also mentioned about the importance of inclusion in the workplace. She said,

"Diversity of thinking is the fuel for high performance teams. Great teams are made up of men and women, of individuals with different life experiences and career backgrounds. When teams like this come together to exchange viewpoints and experiences, you get new thinking and innovation."

Dr. Howard Reed, Director of the college said, "Unfortunately, there is a worldwide trend that fewer and fewer young people, particularly women, are studying ICT-related curriculum and taking up careers in ICT. Our students need to hear from successful female business leaders like Ginni Rometty and we need to work with ICT partners like IBM to attract and engage more students in this important industry."

IBM is an acknowledged world leader in its commitment to recruiting and developing women. IBM has seen a substantial growth in the number of senior women executives globally - from 185 in 1997 to more than 1,000 today. Women represent approximately 30% of IBM employees worldwide and 25% of them are managers.

Takreem El Tohamy, General Manager IBM Middle East and North Africa, said, "IBM's dedication to attracting and retaining its women employees is undiminished. We continue to concentrate on the development, advancement and recognition of technically proficient women and encourage girls and young women to pursue education and careers in the field of science and technology."