PTC : Sponsors Boston Business Journal Business Pride Event

Recently, PTC sponsored the Boston Business Journal's Business of Pride event, which celebrated the top LGBT-owned and friendly businesses in Massachusetts. This comes as another example of PTC's commitment to inclusion & diversity, along with President and CEO Jim Heppelmann recently signing the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™ pledge, and EVP and GM of Augmented Reality Hillary Ashton having been named one of the Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Technology by the National Diversity Council.

Seven individuals from PTC attended the event, including Kathy Cullen-Cote, PTC's EVP and Chief Human Resources Officer, who spoke later in the evening. We walked into an already buzzing event and found our table. After setting our bags and coats down, we headed to the bar to do some good old-fashioned networking.

The space was beautiful and ornate: tufted leather couches, darkly lit, and a crowd of people orbiting around a large pink sculpture.

Between the bar and the booth, our group spoke with several incredible individuals. One of the most special things about going to events like Business of Pride is being in a room full of people who are passionate about inclusion.

We ran into Cheryl Katon, a non-profit executive and leader of the First Event Conference and Trans Club of New England (TCNE). The conversation quickly turned to the importance of Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) functioning for the benefit of the employees, not the business. An important distinction, and something I'm proud to say PTC does very well.

After some more talk about diversity (and Game of Thrones) we all weaved our way back to the tables for the awards portion of the evening. A warm welcome and first remarks were given by Carolyn Jones, Market President & Publisher of the Boston Business Journal. She, too, emphasized the focus of ERGs must be the employees.

Carolyn introduced the next speaker, Brian Piccini of Boston Urban Hospitality Group. He shared a story of when he was first contacted by the Boston Business Journal to be added to the list of LGBT+ owned businesses in Boston.

After Brian spoke, Jane Steinmetz from EY discussed championing equality and how vital it is to continue educating, networking, and advocating.

This led us to the next speaker, PTC's own Cullen-Cote. The tone and theme of her speech were the same: speak from the heart and share your story. She talked about Irene and Samantha Brank's recent event at our Boston headquarters, which had over 200 people in attendance at 121 Seaport and 500 people streaming online. She also emphasized that PTC employees are making our organization better and creating a space where everyone can be their true selves.

Matthew McTygue, managing partner of Locke Lord LLP, was awarded the 2019 Trailblazer award for his work as a tireless advocate of LGBT+ rights, including serving on the board of Pride in Our Workplace, which helps employers attract and retain top LGBT+ talent and customers.

Both McTygue and Eastern Bank, the 2019 Corporate Ally award winner, were pivotal in defending transgender protections while Proposition 3 was on the 2018 Massachusetts ballot.

The entire evening was incredibly special, and I am grateful to have been a part of it. To be in a room with people who accept you as you are and hope you do the same for them is unique and powerful.

Learn more about PTC's open, collaborative community of employees-and how we're making truly amazing advancements in what's possible now and in the future.

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• Industrial Internet of Things

Michelle Barbee-Vargas

Michelle Barbee-Vargas is the Customer Reference Program Manager for PTC, where she runs a program to allow PTC's customers to seamlessly share their success with the world. In addition to program management, Michelle has a passion for inclusion & diversity, and is a member of several LGBTQIA+, Womxn, and Latinx employee resource groups and networking organizations. Most importantly, she has two dogs.