Over three decades, Linda Fitzgerald has accumulated a broad arsenal of skills in Canada’s technology industry – as technician, marketer, senior manager, and industry leader. It’s all been a rehearsal for her current job – as the first female president of NCR Canada Ltd., an old-line subsidiary with new-line attitudes about innovation and research. She explains her career path and what she’s found out in her first year on the job.
Did you always plan to be a technology company president?
I had no clue of what I would be. How did I pick marketing and computer science at McGill? Marketing certainly looked like the fun stuff, but who would pick computer science? I can’t think of why I picked that. Yet that combination led me into information technology – and I did love math and sciences.
So I started on the technical-engineer side, and I did it for about a year, and I was helping out the sales teams. I thought, ‘I can sell,’ so that’s how I ended up in sales – and I kept moving upward.
You have worked for seven employers. Is that unusual?
Not so much in this business, and I was with the same company for 17 years, a large [IT] reseller which in the end was part of GE Capital. When I was a reseller, I felt I was missing a couple of things to round out my expertise. I hadn’t done software, so I did that. I hadn’t done services only, so I did that. I hadn’t worked for a manufacturer so I did that. I chose one [manufacturer], and then a larger one – and then I figured, ‘Okay, now I’ve got what I need.’ It was calculated in a sense.
So you didn’t have a clue on graduation but you soon decided you wanted to rise?
Absolutely, I knew that pretty early.
When you set out in the computer industry, did you see many women?
There were very few. I remember in my early 20s, going to a meeting and there were 400 people in the room – and 10 were women. I noticed it, but then I put it aside forever. I was pretty used to working with men – I was in McGill commerce on the IT side and there weren’t that many women. Also, I am an avid athlete, and in those days I played a lot of squash, but I never played against girls. So I never thought about it again and, along the way, I had a number of role models who were women. And I had a few mentors in the business.
So what is the role of your ‘women’s network’ inside NCR?
I’m trying to promote a way for women to expand their networks and to understand where they want to go and help them get on that route. We get together and I help by sharing my own experiences, or anybody else’s, around the table. We talk about leadership books, or somebody may have taken some training and we share these things among about 30 people.
You run a Canadian sales and distribution organization for a U.S. parent, but is there a research component?
In Canada, we have an R & D group of over 100 people. They’re located in Waterloo, Ont., which is a great area to get talent. It’s very strategic location for that reason. The plan is to have this research expertise spread out around the world.
