Judith Spitz, founder of Break Through Tech, has spent her career challenging the status quo in tech. In a recent podcast conversation, she reflects on the hurdles women face in the industry and her vision for creating a more robust tech ecosystem. Judy emphasizes that effective leadership requires balancing professional will and personal humility while inspiring trust and accountability in your team. She pointed to two alarming statistics—despite women making up 58% of undergraduates, only 1-2% pursue tech majors— and over 90% of the undergraduates trying to enter the tech ecosystem attend colleges that are overlooked by industry resulting in this high potential tech talent pool all too frequently ending up underemployed. There is an urgent need to address this “broken supply chain” of tech talent.
Judy outlines four compelling reasons to broaden the pipeline into the tech workforce: (1) we’re leaving half the talent pool untapped, (2) diverse teams lead to better business outcomes, (3) excluding half the talent pool is an economic injustice and will leave the nation less competitive in a tech-enabled world, and (4) addressing this talent issue is critical as AI is reshaping industries and the world we all live in. She identified barriers such as limited K-12 access to computer science education, stereotypes about tech roles, and inequities in opportunities to build real-world skills. Break Through Tech aims to bridge these gaps, offering programs like its SprinternshipsTM and their AI Studio in partnership with Verizon and many other companies – programs that make it possible to reimagine the role that industry plays in co-developing tech talent. The goal is to enable new innovative hiring practices that help fix our broken tech talent supply chain at a time when it has never mattered more to our competitiveness as a nation.
Looking ahead, Judy envisions a world where women are fairly represented in all the rooms where technology decisions are being made. She calls for bold action from industry leaders to reimagine hiring pipelines and invest in innovative programs like Break Through Tech. Judy’s message is clear: fixing the broken supply chain in the tech talent ecosystem isn’t just about fairness—it’s essential for building a sustainable AI future.
Listen to the full episode here:
