Kate Carruthers: Building Future Leaders in the Tech Industry

Kate Carruthers | Chief Data & Insights Officer at UNSW and Head of Business Intelligence for the UNSW AI Institute
Kate Carruthers | Chief Data & Insights Officer at UNSW and Head of Business Intelligence for the UNSW AI Institute

The technology industry is experiencing rapid progress, particularly in the fields of data and artificial intelligence (AI). This sector is characterized by its constant evolution, driven by innovations that transform business operations and societal interactions. The increasing importance of data governance, the ethical considerations surrounding AI, and the need for sustainable technology solutions are shaping the future of this industry. As organizations strive to stay at the top of these changes, the role of data and insights leaders becomes crucial in navigating and employing these advancements for strategic growth and competitive advantage.

Kate Carruthers, Chief Data & Insights Officer at UNSW and Head of Business Intelligence for the UNSW AI Institute, embodies this leadership. With an academic background in history, anthropology, and philosophy, her unconventional journey into technology underscores the value of diverse educational experiences in tech. Kate’s career spans various roles, including product management, database management, and IT project management, highlighting her adaptability and commitment to growth in a field traditionally dominated by men.

The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is leading this technological revolution, cultivating an environment that emphasizes the importance of AI and data governance. Under Kate’s leadership, UNSW has advanced its AI initiatives, integrating machine learning models into its operations and prioritizing sustainable AI architectures. The institution’s commitment to diversity and innovation reflects the broader trends in the tech industry, aiming to balance cutting-edge technology with ethical practices and inclusivity. This approach ensures that UNSW remains a leader in the tech sector, driving meaningful progress and setting benchmarks for others to follow.

Let’s explore how Kate is guiding the next generation of tech leaders through diverse expertise:

Journey from the Humanities to Technology

Kate currently holds the positions of Chief Data & Insights Officer at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Australia, and Head of Business Intelligence for the UNSW AI Institute.

Her academic journey began with studies in history, anthropology, and philosophy. She often humorously remarks that she is unsure how she ended up in her current field. Her career took a turn when she started working in finance and got involved in some technology projects, which she found to be truly enjoyable.

She believes that this field is an excellent career choice for someone with ADHD, like herself. When she began her journey in technology, there were few female role models. Fortunately, she notes, the situation has significantly improved today.

Promoting Diversity in Tech

Kate has had a diverse set of roles in technology throughout her career, ranging from product management to database management and data warehousing to technical support and networking. Eventually, she found a role that seemed to perfectly suit her skills in IT project management, and she has been managing projects in one way or another ever since.

Her previous experience on data warehousing projects has greatly benefited her in her current role as CDIO. One crucial factor was her willingness to say yes to the opportunity, even though she did not meet all the requirements. She had never led a data governance function before. When she applied for the job, she had to look up the term “data governance.”

Interestingly, she found many resources stating the importance of data governance but none explaining how to implement it. This is one reason why she has published so much content on how they built their data governance practice on the internet so that others can find some practical tips. She emphasizes that data governance is increasingly important in the age of AI.

One strong memory she has from early in her career when she was an enterprise architect for a major Australian financial services brand, is of being in a large board room and suddenly realizing that the only other woman in the room was serving coffee. This experience made her very focused on diversity.

She considers herself fortunate not to have faced overt discrimination because she is a woman, but she acknowledges that she missed out on opportunities and promotions many times when her male peers were advancing.

In one bank, she discovered that she was being paid $40,000 p.a. less than a man who sat next to her doing the exact same job. The bank refused to adjust her salary, stating that they were in the same “salary band.” She left that bank as soon as she found a job that paid her the same as that man.

Nurturing Talent for Innovation in AI

One thing that Kate always encourages her team to consider is where they need to be two years from now and how to start building for that future now. This approach ensures that they always stay on the cutting edge of their data practice. Of course, everything is about AI now.

However, they started on their AI journey several years ago and put their first machine-learning model into production in late 2019. Now, she is looking at sustainable architectures to support AI operations at scale.

She believes it is important to nurture the team. When one gets into senior roles, the secret to achieving anything is to work through other people. This means hiring the right people and building them up to be better than they thought they could be. It also means carving out paid time for them to develop their skills to the next level so that they can innovate together.

She observes that technology is at a kind of crossroads right now with AI. The companies that get it right and consider privacy, security, and scalability will be the ones who win big and who win in a sustainable manner. To achieve this, they are going to have to balance the new technology, cyber and information security, and the ethics of AI with the ROI.

Strategies for Success

Kate is a huge fan of mentorship, having greatly benefited from it in the past, and now seeks to give back. She expresses deep gratitude to her mentors for their generosity over the years. In addition to mentorship, she is also a proponent of sponsorship—having someone influential who will advocate for you when you are not present. She notes the importance of sponsorship, admitting that she became aware of its significance perhaps later in her career than she would have liked.

Another crucial aspect for her is the growth of her team and the transfer of skills—not just the hard skills, such as coding, but also the softer skills. For instance, she emphasizes the importance of sharing strategies for getting things done within an organization, how to write a compelling business case that will secure funding, and how team members can coach and nurture the next generation of talent.

Promoting Inclusivity in the Tech Industry

Kate has been a long-time advocate for diversity in the tech industry. Early in her career, she began running position descriptions and job ads through gendered language checkers and ensured that diverse groups were interviewed for positions.

She points out one of the biggest pitfalls organizations often fall into is hiring for what they call ‘culture fit,’ which often just means hiring people who look like the existing team. At one point, her data engineering team was comprised entirely of women. However, they realized that this was not truly diverse, and their next hire was a gay man.

Transforming EDI in the Tech Industry

Kate often observes corporate EDI programs that feature a token person of color (often a woman), only to have many white males in their tech teams. She strongly believes that this is not the right approach and that diversity needs to be genuine.

To achieve this, it is necessary to nurture diversity throughout the talent pipeline. There is a definite need to get more women into senior roles and to do this, it is important to understand the skills and experiences that they need to acquire to be fit for those roles.

To make all of this happen, she recommends the use of KPIs and public reporting of progress. She firmly believes in the old saying that you cannot manage what you do not measure.

Empowering Aspirations

Kate’s advice to young women aspiring to pursue a career in technology is, “It is a great area to work in; jump in and ignore the blokes who try to stop you.”

She reflects on her own career in tech, noting that it has been interesting and diverse. Moreover, it has provided her with opportunities to travel and experience global cultures as part of her work.

Navigating Work-life Balance in the Tech Industry

She believes that it is not possible to balance life and work at every moment. Everyone needs to make choices as to what to prioritize at any given time.

Her choices weren’t always perfect, but they were hers, made on the best knowledge that she had at the time, and she owned them. One thing she is glad she did was to contribute to the tech community by participating in volunteer roles in industry associations and as part of the startup community.

In recent years, she has received a fair bit of industry recognition and awards, which she finds delightful, albeit making her feel a bit old. She has delivered large and complex projects and knows the satisfaction of getting the job done.

She has run both cost centers and profit centers very successfully. But the thing that she finds great is the amazing people she has worked with to deliver cool stuff, with great camaraderie, many of whom remain friends to this day. Technology comes and goes, but good relationships last.