The Big Interview: Dell's Cook on being the only woman in the room and a STEM pioneer

The Dell Technologies exec opens up on her early career as an engineer, being lured from a tech role to sales and why there is still much to do to attract young women to tech

Dell EMC's Cheryl Cook is blunt in her appraisal of the current state of the number of women in the tech industry. "We're making progress, but we are far from done," is her tidy summation on one of the longest-standing issues affecting the tech sector.

Like many women in her position, the VP of global partner marketing at the tech titan has the life experience to back this opinion up, starting her career as a pre-sales engineer upon graduating from the University of Florida with a degree in computer science in the mid-80s.

Cook was often the "only woman in the room" in those early years and has seen a noticeable upturn in the number of women entering the field since then, but more can and should be done in the tech industry to mirror the end user demographics, she said.

"There's still just so much more to do. If you look at the fact that technology is now in everything we do - whether you call it the consumerisation of IT or whatever -you can't hide from technology and this digital enablement," she stated.

"If the earth's population is half women, and I think our statistics in tech are something like 25 per cent women, we've got a long way to go to just ensure that the thinking, the collaboration and the innovation more accurately reflect the reality of our customers and consumers.

"It's ubiquitous, and everything we're doing - personally or professionally - is enabled by technology; if we're an industry that's helping to create that enablement, we should be more reflective of the users of it. [The number of women in tech roles] has improved, no question, but we still have a long way to go."

Selling up

Cook's career as a pre sales engineer didn't last long as she was seduced by the benefits and perks of a sales role.

"Early in my career, I found myself supporting the sales teams," she explained.

"I was giving the demonstrations, I was doing the pre sales architecture, I was doing the installation and implementation and my sales friends were making a lot of money and commission and they were going on sales incentive trips to Hawaii and I thought ‘I could do this'."

She joined US-based financial terminals manufacturer NCR Corporation in 1985, working her way up to director of sales before departing to Sun Microsystems in 1998. She was with that company for 12 years before it was acquired by Oracle in 2010.

Her time at Sun taught her some of her hardest-learned lessons in her career so far, particularly during the dotcom bubble crash in the early years of the millennium, she said. Despite that company's struggles, Cook felt herself blossom during those challenging years.

For sure, the hardest lesson was the dot bomb at Sun," she stated.

"When that unique experience happened in the market, there were no management guides or rule books on how to navigate through that.

"I think in many ways, it was an opportunity that I grew from because it just helped bolster my confidence in problem-solving and influencing because nobody really knew what to do.

"At that time I was helping bring recommendations forward to our executive team on how to reshape and restructure current arrangements and contracts with distributors in the channel and how to help navigate and sell through when there was enough capacity in the industry.

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger!"

Space odyssey

Cook's interest in technology developed early as she showed a talent for maths at a young age, which she said her father encouraged and fostered as her schooling progressed.

She added that her father's career at NASA working on the Apollo missions - including the historic Apollo 11 moon landing - inspired her to pursue a career in a STEM field. Did she ever feel a pull to follow in her father's footsteps?

"I can't honestly say that when I was a young girl I dreamed of doing what he did and go to space," she mused.

"He did always encourage me to pursue math and sciences, so I had that influence and support at home. My dad always felt that if you have a good science and maths background, that'll pay dividends in many different regards - and it did.

"I was very fortunate that I joined a really good company at a great time when the computing industry was just taking off and I had the benefit of the engineering background with a natural communicative capability and went with it from there."

Though she did not follow her father into space, Cook has been taking pioneering steps of her own. Her early days in tech and now as a senior exec at one of the biggest tech companies in the world she makes it her mission to advocate for more women in the industry and foster an interest in STEM subjects among young women.

She is the founder and the Dell Women's Partner Network which is an initiative to advance women in technology through access to resources, training and mentorship.

"I love engaging and empowering and supporting women in technology, whether it's young girls in STEM, our Women's Partner Network on how we create that community, or just helping to support women entrepreneurs and women-owned businesses for them to be able to flourish."

Cook has no intentions to leave Dell EMC any time soon but has an idea of what kind of legacy she wants to leave behind at the storage giant.

She is proud of her role in the huge integration process of EMC into Dell and her time as global channel developing the partner channel and relationships within that, but ultimately, it is as a vocal and forthright advocate for women in tech for which she would like best to be remembered.

"[I would like to my legacy] to be a team player and helping the company succeed," she said.

"But it would also be helping create those environments, giving back to women-owned companies and supporting and empowering women."