{"id":42035,"date":"2023-10-20T15:18:16","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/how-locomotes-new-ceo-is-working-to-crack-the-tech-glass-ceiling-2\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:18:16","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:18:16","slug":"how-locomotes-new-ceo-is-working-to-crack-the-tech-glass-ceiling-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/how-locomotes-new-ceo-is-working-to-crack-the-tech-glass-ceiling-2\/","title":{"rendered":"How Locomote’s new CEO is working to crack the “tech glass ceiling”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"CEO<\/div>\n

The newly appointed CEO of Melbourne startup Locomote is placing diversity front and centre in the travel management company.<\/p>\n

Sandra McLeod has moved to Melbourne to take on the new role and says that diversity, especially in leadership, is critical for achieving better business outcomes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose who have a balance at the table of the decision-making in terms of gender tend to be more successful,\u201d McLeod tells  StartupSmart<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly going forward at Locomote, the management team that sit at my table will be a good balance of gender.\u201d<\/p>\n

McLeod has been involved with the technology and travel worlds for the last three decades and previously held an executive role at billion dollar commerce platform Travelport \u2013 which holds a 55% stake in Locomote.<\/p>\n

Over her 35 year career, McLeod says there have been two times when a male colleague or boss thought she couldn\u2019t do a job because she\u2019s a woman.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe glass ceiling exists across all industries in this world,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

And she believes it starts at school.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a throwback to tradition and the way that children were taught in schools 40 years ago but that\u2019s changing rapidly with every generation,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Recently, Tech Girls Movement founder Dr Jenine Beekhuyzen told  StartupSmart  <\/em> that  female students lose interest in tech around Grade 4<\/a>  due to gender stereotyping.<\/p>\n

At an industry level, the proportion of women in senior IT leadership roles is as low as 6% and in smaller businesses with IT budgets under $1 million, more than 40% of CIOs don’t have any women in their IT function at all, according to the  2015 Harvey Nash CIO survey.<\/p>\n

Having worked with various women’s groups during her time at  Travelport , McLeod says the tech world can make an active effort to inspire women, both young and old, to take on executive jobs and careers in the sector.<\/p>\n

She plans to invite young women interested in these fields and older women thinking of starting up their own businesses inside Locomote’s headquarters so they can get a taste of what the future may hold.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s something I need to explore and something I\u2019m very interested in,\u201d McLeod says.<\/p>\n

Looking back at her own career and how she got a foot in the door, she says it took a bit of luck and a lot confidence to try something new.<\/p>\n

McLeod joined Travelport under its former name Galileo in the early 90s.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I didn\u2019t want to leave the travel industry but wanted to do something different within it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Excited by its tech aspect, McLeod entered as a junior and worked her way up the ranks.<\/p>\n

As McLeod embarks on her mission to make Locomote the world\u2019s go-to platform for corporate travel, she says it\u2019s crucial for women to have confidence in their own ability.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou shouldn\u2019t let anyone tell you that you can\u2019t aim high and you can\u2019t succeed,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuccess is absolutely there for you to take.”<\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on Facebook<\/strong>, Twitter<\/strong>, LinkedIn<\/strong> and SoundCloud<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The newly appointed CEO of Melbourne startup Locomote is placing diversity front and centre in the travel management company. Sandra<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,6,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42035"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}