BCBusiness

PAUL JOSEPH 48 BCBUSINESS NOVEMBER 2017 J udi Hess supports a„rmative action. Since becoming CEO in 2009 of Vancouver- based Copperleaf Technologies Inc., she has increased the number of female employees from roughly 10 per cent to about a third. Over that period, the company's total staŒ rose from 29 to more than 120. "I think it's a big deal," says Hess, who is slender, with a mane of blond curls and an easy laugh. "I overtly, to everyone in the company, support the value and the bene€ts of diversity." She agrees with James Baldwin, the late American writer and civil rights activist, who said that people are formed by what they see: "so women expect men to be leaders, and men expect men to be leaders because that's what we see. And men and women both expect there to be more men inside these technolo"y companies because that's normal. That's what you see, so that's what you expect— that's what you absorb in your environment. I don't accept any of those things." The Toronto native has worked in the tech industry since joining MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd., a global aerospace and information company based in Richmond, as a software engineer right out of uni- versity in 1981. She has an honours bachelor of math- ematics from the University of Waterloo and a minor in business administration from Wilfrid Laurier University. In 1995, Hess moved to Creo Inc., a Burnaby com- pany specializing in printing technolo"y, where she held several management posi- tions, ending with president from 2002 until 2005, when U.S.-based Eastman Kodak Co. bought the business for US$1 billion. She became a corporate o„cer and VP of Eastman Kodak and in 2007 was also appointed managing director of Kodak Canada. At Copperleaf, which provides decision analytics software to help utilities like Ontario's Hydro One Ltd., the U.K.'s Northern Gas Networks Ltd. and Essential Ener"y in Australia manage critical infrastructure, "I'm doing the thing that nobody likes—I would actively like to hire women," Hess says. "Because I believe that diversity is your strongest hand, and there are not enough women in tech. If there were too many women in tech, I would try to hire more men." In addition to promoting gender diversity, she feels employing people who are from a range of cultures and speak a variety of languages brings Copper- leaf closer to its worldwide client base and contributes diŒerent ideas, concepts and ways of thinking that make the company stronger. Hess mentions that when recruiting, "I'll say, 'Can we €nd a woman on that?' and they all look at me with a frown. 'Can we €nd a person of colour? Maybe we need more Hispanics or some- thing.'" She chooses the person best suited for the position but feels strongly that a quali€ed woman is probably better than an equally quali€ed man in the L E A D E R S H I P Technological Progress As head of software developer Copperleaf, Judi Hess favours a collaborative leadership style. But she isn't shy about pushing to hire more women in a male-dominated industry What three things would you tell a young person who aspires to become a CEO? If anyone asks you to take on additional leadership, your answer should be yes. They probably know better than you. A collaborative approach to leadership builds in more resilience and more success and more happiness in an organization overall. If you take some time to grow into your leadership role over time in a more incremental fashion, that will improve your chances of being successful as a leader and as a better, stronger leader. 3 1 2

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