WITI Hall of Fame

Founded in 1989 by Carolyn Leighton, Women in Technology International (WITI) is a leading worldwide authority on women in the technology business.For nearly 30 years, WITI has consistently offered a clear voice advocating women’s contributions to the tech industry, inspiring them to pursue STEM careers and actively working with corporate partners to create a culture of equality.

Founded in 1989 and based in California, WITI rapidly became the leading organization in the U.S.A., and then the world for women in technology. WITI's mission was to increase the number of women in management and executive level positions, to help women become more technologically literate as well as financially independent and to encourage young women to choose careers in science and technology.

At the time of WITI's founding, Leighton was building her third and most successful company, Criterion Research, which she started in 1984. She vividly remembers the day the idea for WITI was born. "I was sitting in a coffee shop waiting for a colleague and friend, Terry, who was also building a small company. We had become friends and met regularly to help each other with business ideas, etc. While I waited for Terry—who was running about 30 minutes late—I started reading the cover story of a business magazine I'd brought with me. The story was about why women were not making it to the top, reporting that there was a mere 2% increase of women into middle management positions during the previous 10 year period. It was a statistic I found startling, even though it supported the stream of incredible stories I was hearing from women in technology at my client companies."

WITI started out as a series of small meetings with women in southern and northern California talking about issues, ideas for the network, and how WITI could use the network to help other women. When Sun Microsystems hosted the first WITI meeting, WITI was expecting about 50 women to show up. Instead, the room was overflowing with about 250-300 women and things just started spiraling out of control. In 1995 Leighton founded the annual WITI conference series to help actualize the ideals of WITI's mission.

At their first conference, WITI sold out the exhibit floor and had standing room only for their 1257 attendees. Gloria Steinem was secured as their first keynote speaker. Steinem challenged WITI attendees to use technology knowledge to make the world a better place.

By 1998, the WITI conference had become the world's first Women in Technology Summit hosted in the United States in the Silicon Valley. 5,000 women from around the world attended the 1998 Summit with the attendees sent by every major leading high-tech company based in the United States. There were also over one hundred members of the international media in attendance.

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