I just want to take a moment to recognize that dd cannot join us tonight to talks leadership in the cia and the careers at the agency and one was even recruited out of high school we will hear about that. And please make sure you are listening to beverly kurt. Also if you are tweeting tonight please use the. The fire alarm goes off i will be here to escort you were to go. Now i will handed over to the executive Vice President for global government and then to help to amplify the voices with the International Business and development. [applause] thank you kathleen for joining us tonight for the smart women in smart power series. We are so excited weve had some really great panels. But i think this will be one of the best ones we have tonight. We are proud to call ourselves a and with the distinctive lines of business that gives us a unique Vantage Point of political climates around the world. So as we confront those challenges we do so in a way that enables us to provide Financial Services and those are confronting with those challenging issues that the world has to offer and im comforted by the fact that we have women that the unique and measured perspective and to introduce all of our panelist to have five women in equally women the first woman director on the agency. There is no coincidence they find more great women for senior roles. So as a strive to make their own progress for gender diversity. So im excited to hear about their experience from the panelist. And also to celebrate International Womens day i will turn it back over to kathleen. [applause] thank you for those who are trailblazers and tonight is no exception first cia Deputy Director for science and technology, cia Deputy Director for support, and the deputy associate director for diversity and the chief diversity and inclusion officer at cia and the moderator of the program beverly kirk. Just everyone knows our regular moderator is out on travel on the west coast and will be back for the next event coming up on march 26 to talk about the 1 million arab women in the meantime we have a wonderful conversation tonight talking first about their jobs and their roles and then we talk about leadership there are cards on your seats you can submit questions. One caveat ive already asked the the questions you have heard about in the news in a 40 to me backstage they will not answer those questions. Fair warning. [laughter] so what does support mean at the cia . And then the second half as director of support . Thank you very much. Thanks for being here today we are very excited. I will talk about my part of the organization you have to run that infrastructure run the city the range from facility to security and accounting there is political and professional psychologists , we are the most diverse director in the cia with racial diversity your gender diversity so 33 different occupations and as mentioned as a Technology Analyst right out of school but then i moved over to the support side. I like to enable the mission so thats what i did doing recruitment for a number of years and found out how incredibly rewarding it was for the next generation of cia officers and then worked with the dod at the management role. So i am a youngster in the crowd. [laughter] but i have been at the agencies six years and how they are willing to engage with people at various points in their career but i have the honor and privilege to be the equivalent of q if you are familiar with that. If those are not . Now its not zero zero seven it is ethan hunts all of those missions that they talk about and all of that is the responsibility of my organization and partnership and the other thing that i provide information to policymakers that help them make policy decisions so the other thing my organization does that those are the two incredibly cool things i get to do in the organization. The cia recruited you right out of high school how did that happen . We had a great recruiter from the washington dc area from the ripe old age of 17 came to high school and had conversations and i will tell you at that particular time the agency was higher reading clerical support and administrator opportunities so thats how i ended up entering but i will tell you for those who have gone through a polygraph i was fortunate enough to have that on my 18th birthday. [laughter] i could not do so until a turned 18 and worked at the agency several weeks later. For my career i was fortunate enough to have some great sponsors who provided the opportunity for those that would be really great in this field working and recruitment over 12 years but i can tell you right now as the chief diversion and inclusive of one inclusivity officer from diversity recruitment everything through the talent process its about creating a sense of belonging and inclusion for every Agency Officer so we try to make sure everyone can see them and then intentionally devote those officers to those opportunities so as we move on to other assignments that talent can come in behind us to represent the audience here today. Talking about ethan hunt versus zero zero seven did you Work Together . We do it overtly and also because its the only way to get things done there are great capabilities that we provide unless somebody make sure that they show up we can have great ideas but to make sure that they actually show up so we do a lot of integration and collaboration across the organization because it takes the entire team. So lets talk about leadership coming out with the private sector how does leadership at the caa change over the years from when you first arrived until now . Thats a great question i was thinking about that on the way over here. 1520 years ago we had our people into leaders but today we have substantive leaders that when they were firstline supervisors and then focused on what is meant to bring a Team Together and that objective because thats what i have seen over the decades i have been at the cia really giving people who want to be part of that leadership role and to bring that expertise. First they have to bring that expertise and then we say what you want to do with that . And with the supply Facilities Management to take that back with that medical expertise and apply it. For me when i think back to the agency as you mentioned the different construct is differen different. I feel more touch points and i feel more connected with the workforce. The communication is there so i can tell you without the agency i couldnt tell you the Leaders Within our work for so when i look at the image of who we reflect today with the mission just sitting in our seats and being in a place where we are not approachable that that has changed. And i work with dod and a lot of places john brennan accuse me of not being able to hold a job. [laughter] but working in a place where there was so much investment and training leaders that actually puts their training to work and i am humbled by how much time the organization puts into developing the expertise of their own leaders. So now there are women at the top level of the leadership . And going on down to your level . Yes. I dont know if it played a difference but to realize at some point in our career somebody use the word a little bit ago i never thought of it that way but to think of all the senior Deputy Directors we recognize that that happened so we need to identify the next generation and give them the right opportunities. I would say the only difference with this Leadership Team because we work so well together but we are almost in constant communication i instant message conversation at work i have these every single day whether its the new director of innovation. In the world constantly changing, the challenges are out there, how do you keep up . [laughter] there is a lot going on right now. Its the value of where the team comes together. That i dont have to personally maintain all my expertise and technology. And it is worldclass. And it is a Natural Inclination and then to make these decisions and thats a huge source what i need to be paying attention to. You talk about how your phone constantly goes off. It does. I worry a lot about information and keeping people safe and healthy. So finally i had to say i am going to turn off the alerts overnight so if you need me call me. I need at least five hours. Something that is unique about the time and place for the first time in a long time there is a real cadre of leaders for those that are in that role. So does that make a difference of how they function . And gets to the point early in our career so the fact one organization to the other so maybe not. And then to your point and then we understand how to connect and that another Government Organization and then make stuff happen. And then the point about sponsorship but a lot of it honestly science and technology were there when i came out with 400 electrical engineers and nine of them were women. And to be that way for a very long time and then to feel like it is our responsibility just because he is sitting here and has been a great sponsor throughout my career and he sponsored me when it wasnt the cool thing to do and they all have stories they could share. And with that sponsorship piece they are either white women or men. And then you go check that box to get the degrees you can be competitive with your peers and they had a program at that particular time and then went to school fulltime for the next two years while i worked fulltime but every opportunity that i have gotten but that lays the foundation for even before that with the opportunity at the dod to say come back and getting ready to leave and then to be introduced to other senior women and so to have that because she didnt have to invite me back to introduce to her network which is now my network as well. So the agency has done a phenomenal job and to make sure we acknowledge we have talent and then talk about succession planning because we have trust and respect for each other. And then we will have lots of questions for you. How important a message is that for the audience here in person and watching online that perhaps it wont look like them and then those thinking sponsors and what they want to do some day. Its very difficult in any organization and its opposed to what people want you to know. And that dont look like me in any sense for exactly what and for what is going on. And from what i work in but i wanted to be a real conversatio conversation. But i dont think it is ruined anybodys career yet so have those sponsors that can reap enormous benefits so one of the things is to make sure it with those individuals not that just look like you. And those that champion you four different things. And not to limit yourself and those that have a seat at the table and in the room so open your aperture for those of all demographics so just for a little bit longer, talk about what you are doing in terms of recruiting people and then to play a huge role to develop policies will not look like the current america but is way more diverse had you make sure there are people in the pipeline coming along . Right now we have recruiters that they recruit for each different directorate and those individuals will maintain relationships on the various campuses that we go to. We touch a lot of campuses we want to make sure they are diverse so women with minorities and with the Student Organization outreach and other key engagement for organizations within the communities and then based on where the talent is then to tap that strategy and plan with advertising and marketing with different venues so with the progressive base that may not be the traditional mainstream advertising and airports and the different metro stations and that allows us to hit and also with social media as a way of reaching out and the ways that they have got out there. And to increase our focus with the fusion of expertise and diversity. So my part of the agency of 20 percent of the we always havent done the best job as an agency into our culture but i really believe in eight or nine years it was 72 years and then to do that better job. How does that impact what you do . So i have to say there is a lot of hype out there right now. And with those analytic skills is what we have and what we hope ai can do and then to make better use of that expert and with the data they need to be aware of a more time thinking of understanding and we have been quoted to say 170 all through the organization there is a lot of work so the first step is tagging all of your data that takes a lot of expertise so that you can actually use it for anything else and a lot of forecast to go on there before we talk about replacing expert analysts and less time trying to find the needle in the haystack. Maybe this might be a question you cant answer but it with the private sector they may say see how it works. We have great partnership. So yes people are often interested in sharing with us and we look for it with a particular Academic Institution and it would be crazy for us not to take advantage of that. And partnerships were so much more pervasive just we could keep up with whats real and not reinventing things ourselves. So there is a much more vibrant conversation in terms of partnerships within the organization. And those that were working in your area for a longer period of time. I am aware that if you are a techie so we work very hard with recruiting do not seem mysterious we keep syria on secrets we try not to be mysterious because those that pursued managers and at that rate of the experts and the rate at which they were promoted so looking at these through various lands of diversity and inclusion and then we need to be more about addressing that know what we need to stay relevant. And geopolitical competition . We worry about all kinds of competition honestly amazon moving to this area probably they can make more money doing Something Else we all have life events like eldercare or kids starting college or whatever, those are the kinds of things it would be irresponsible for that to show up and hope that the mission is compelling enough that we are making every effort for those that we acquire and retain want to stay with us. I read an article we were quoted about the betrayal and you said you are less james bond but the jobs that come out of science and technology. I think they did a wonderful job. [laughter] at this point in the conversation i hope yall have questions you would like to ask. In the meantime what keeps you guys up at night . I said this little bit ago what does keep me up every night or wakes me up is a safety and security of our workforce for the facilities and the data and Information Technology that is hard to manage sometimes but up in my office we have key job elements in my number one is to keep people safe and healthy unpacking a lot of stuff in there but safe and healthy every day. Mine is definitely the workforce if they dont feel engaged or that sense of belonging if they dont bring a full cup to work they dont bring the ideas or being innovative and again we have that capacity to lose individual so how do we make sure we are connected where folks know that they are valued. Absolutely it is the workforce so first of all like medicine and how that comports with our values. I wish i could say that was true across the board because for any technology it can be used for good or ill and how you think about it that is really critica critical. Questionably there is room to run and how that gets employed in other areas. We have a question what can you tell us about the directors management style . A couple of things. First she lets us run our organization and we push that down as far as we can to the organization. Number two we see her. We see her with the workforce and walking the halls. The communication from her is decent in terms of what she is sharing with the workforce and she is in our corner not quite photographic memory but if you tell her something she will remember it. I love working with her because shes a very broad and strategic thinker but if you are not well prepared, she is demanding but given the job that she is in you absolutely love somebody like that in that job. I had the privilege of meeting with her on a monthly basis i will tell you its probably one of the most comfortable places to go in to meet with the leader there is that inclusiveness for her to put diversity and inclusion is one of her priorities it just says that in her messaging or her action or the database it comes out diversity and inclusion is included in that so to feel she really cares about the workforce. So can you discuss the agency so what about the study and what are the results . The women in leadership the whole purpose that they were not advancing at the same rate and were not being promoted at the same rate. But any single reason why that was happening so we had working groups around ten recommendations at the time and project teams as a grassroots effort with the workforce that really help to get this done, working groups who said come up with a solution and then we had pocket teams who led to the development of things and through that we can educate the workforce. So the title itself is we dont see ourselves ahead of a few volunteers so we were changing her title to make sure what we were doing was from all of the officers and not just women. And then to devote every officer to their potential talking about sponsorship and all officers. And those who were volunteering people start to learn from each other and also exposure and one of the things if you look at the metrics piece starting in 2012 we were at 31 percent at the agency now we are at 37 percent. We are still seeing an increase. So talk about succession planning and actionable feedback those were now woven into and those all came out and then to continue to move forward. 25 percent minority 6 percent with pete bowl with disabilities and working with the Talent Acquisition office and then as you mention to have these conversations and then to share the best practices and then throughout the different ranks at the entry level or midlevel the workforce is 44 percent women. One of the heartening things we have seen with the recommendations and to be implemented so succession planning is a great example of that because you see that doesnt command the time and attention from the director and right now we are scheduled at the end of this month we look at the top 25 or 30 jobs in the agency we are ready now