Ahold Delhaize N : Celebrating Women’s Equality Day

Today we celebrate Women's Equality Day. While the day formally commemorates the 1920 adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which prohibits the government from denying the right to vote to citizens on the basis of sex - it has come to represent even more today. It is a symbol of women's continued fight for equal rights.

We have come a long way since then, but there's no denying that there's still some way to go. In this interview with Florence Mottay, SVP Global Information Security, she shares her experience of working in a more male-dominated field and how she has successfully managed her career and is keen to see more women and diverse people in her sector.

Can you describe how you became interested in IT Security?

I've always worked in more male dominant-fields. When I moved from France to the US to pursue a degree in Mathematics with mostly male fellow students, I met a professor in Software Engineering who felt I had a lot of potential and offered me a scholarship if I decided to get a master's degree in Software Engineering. So I took him up on his offer and, at that time, I was the only woman to study this subject at my university. The funny thing is, I didn't know anything about Software Engineering while the others did. I had to study much harder to get to the same level. But I was eager and keen to learn. This same teacher had grant programs at different companies such as Microsoft and HP, and was hiring top students to do research. I was selected to be one of the researchers and it was in that context that the topic of security started popping up. This was the late '90s. As I graduated, my professor had started a company that focused on Software Security and offered me a job. This is how I became an Ethical Hacker.

Can you tell us about your career path, and how you progressed in this fieldthat is typically dominated by men?

While I had knowledge of Software Engineering, I had no idea how to hack. I decided to learn and studied until 3 am every single night for six months - and I became really good! I wrote exploits for US government agencies for a few years until I was asked to open the European branch of our company. And so I arrived in Europe and again, I was the only woman in the company. It was not for lack of trying to recruit female talent, but it was difficult back then.

In terms of the female to male ratio, it has always been some work to onboard women. When I started my career, in the ethical hacking company, the emotional intelligence in the team was fairly low and it meant two things: it was difficult for women to join and when they did, we had to pay particular attention to their integration in the team. Learning to communicate with each other became of primary importance to overcome some of the issues that can arise in teams with low emotional intelligence. It was learning for both sides. But we grew in ratio! Not to 50/50, but we grew.

I think there are a couple of reasons behind the ratio still being low. The first is that five or seven years ago computer science/security studies were not attractive to women. The stigma was that it really was a 'man's thing'. Now techies and hackers are seen as cool. But back then they were just geeks always depicted as men sitting behind a computer somewhere in a dark room. The second is that women don't tend to stick to this field. And I am not sure why. But while I do see both male and female talents start in junior positions, as they advance in their careers more women than men tend to step out of this field and start working in a different field. Maybe they don't feel the support or can't grow as they wish.

How did you come to be in your current role?

Later down the track, I met Ben Wishart, Chief Information Officer at Ahold Delhaize, whom I noticed I could learn a lot from. So, I became the Chief Information Security Officer for Europe within Ahold Delhaize and after that took on the global role. What we do at Ahold Delhaize is fascinating and a lot of fun. If you ask a security expert what industry they dream of working in, you will rarely hear that they want to work for a retailer. With that, we need to advertise what we do externally and show that we are a company with a strong modern tech foundation - and a company that takes security very seriously. Along the same lines, we need to show that diversity - including gender diversity - is of great importance.

What would you like to say to all young women starting their careers within IT?

I would tell them what I also tell my two daughters, which is that you always need to give your best and not limit yourself. Ask yourself the question: what is the worst thing that could happen? In fact, throughout my career, I've always individually coached women, whether they're in security or not. And I often see hesitations to take on new challenges or try something new professionally that they are not comfortable with (yet). It tends to help to think about the worst outcome, as the worst is usually not that bad once you express it. And if you fail, that's okay. You can just learn from it and start again.

I grew up hearing from women in my family that I should be able to take care of myself and my kids, no matter what life brings. They told me that I could be whatever I wanted and always supported me. For example, when I told others I wanted to study Mathematics, their reaction was: 'but you're a woman!' I didn't care. I knew it was a harder field, especially back then, and my family was fully behind me.

What do you want to focus on now?

When it comes to D&I, I've worked throughout my career on bringing diversity into my teams but feel I could have done more. Maybe it's because it has always been a 'side of the table' type of thing for me as I was living in the minority. Regardless, I still want to do more and I'm searching for ways to do that.

From an overall professional perspective, I have been in security my whole adult life and absolutely love it. Of course, there are other subjects that could be interesting to work on at some point in my life, but I'm very happy where I am. Opportunities come and go and I am sure I will be pursuing interesting ones in the future. Throughout it all, my biggest priority remains my family, particularly my daughters whom I want to support as much as possible.