CSSP Event November 15, 2018 

Why is Culture and Diversity Important in Organizations

Jen Peck, Gravity

It's no secret that the technology sector isn't diverse. Just look around. Study after study shows diverse tech teams make better decisions and have higher success rates, so what stops us from getting there? In this talk, Jen will walk you through the research and conclusions on why diversity is important, how you can advocate for others, and what a diverse culture can bring to us all. 

Devops Evangelist and Righteous Feminist, Jen Peck is the Director of Engineering for Gravity Payments in Seattle, Washington. A thought leader and speaker, Jen has dedicated her career to trying to make the technology sector more diverse by hiring highly-qualified engineers from diverse backgrounds, advocating for better HR policies at the companies for which she’s worked, and mentoring women and people of color who are trying to find their way into technology. 

A self-taught engineer, Jen has held a variety of leadership positions, primarily focused on retail and payment-software development. In her time at both Nordstrom and Starbucks, she was instrumental in modernizing development practices with a focus on creating lean, self-guided teams who are motivated by quality.

Under her leadership at Starbucks, her teams supported all in-store payment hardware and software nationwide. In her current role at Gravity, she heads up the strategy for the company’s product lines aiming at developing easy-to-use and scalable payment technology products.

Jen prides herself on being a mentor and advocate for the engineers on her team by creating an environment the promotes collaboration and innovation by encouraging people to take risks, offer feedback, and challenge the status quo.