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As Bergeron’s career has unfolded, she
has found herself as one of only a few
women who are top leaders in the
technology field. That’s why she and her
husband, Doug, have endowed a scholarship
fund of $1 million at the Robinson
College of Business to attract women to
the field and make it easier for them to
pursue careers in technology leadership.
(See related story, Thinking Outside the Blue Box.)
The gift involves not only money – annual
tuition for five students who demonstrate
a potential for technology leadership – but also time and expertise
through a mentoring component. She is assembling a group
of female CEOs of significant companies to serve as role models
and provide advice to the Robinson scholarship recipients.
Women in particular face challenges in the workplace when it
comes to raising a family, says Bergeron. “When I was single,
I could work 80-hour weeks and be on a plane three weeks
out of four. However, with a family,
it’s not the same.
When faced with
the demands of a family in concert
with those of significant leadership,
most women feel compromised in
both aspects.”
As the mother of a three-year-old
and twins, now two, Bergeron has
retired from the corporate world.
However, even while she is hard at
work to, as she says, “raise three
good human beings,” she keeps her
mind engaged on emerging issues
in her field by serving on several
boards – as chair of the board at
TraceSecurity and as a director at
ArcSight, Qualys, and TriCipher. She
also is a venture advisor to Trident
Capital and sits on the board of
advisors at the Robinson College.
“Women can have it all,” Bergeron
says, “just not at the same time.” She considers herself lucky
to have had the right skills at the right place at the right time.
If luck is indeed the intersection of preparedness and opportunity,
Bergeron is passing it on. With a little luck and a lot of
tenacity, recipients of the Bergeron Women in Technology and
Leadership Fund may just change the face of the next generation
in technology leadership.
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