Page 41 - San Diego Woman Magazine POWER WOMEN ISSUE

Power Women

hard to find these days. The core values “For our customers, one of the big- considering a career in IT–a notoriously
it was founded on over 20 years ago are gest challenges when it comes to cyberse- male-dominated industry.
still a very real part of how the company curity is how to prioritize efforts, because “There are more women graduating
operates today.” all aspects are important and you can end with STEM degrees than ever before,
Her first role at Burwood was to lead up spending a lot of money and time, but but unfortunately many end up chang-
its western region, which at the time was still be at risk,” Joanna explains. “We help ing fields after a short amount of time,”
an up-and-coming market for the compa- customers prioritize their technology Joanna says. “Many times this is due to
ny. She spent the next two years opening investments and identify their biggest the peer dynamics women face having
two new offices. risk areas. We also help them understand to work in environments that are not
cloud-based services and help them make diverse. My first piece of advice is to think
Helping customers solve complex IT the right choices for their organizations.” big and stick with it because the opportu-
problems nities are unbelievable for smart, capable
Caring for the community women in this industry.”
Joanna quickly made her mark and today
oversees Burwood Group’s technology Joanna lives with her husband, a police
practices, professional services, sales, and officer, whom she has been with for 16
technical architecture teams. Joanna also years and shares a passion for giving back
works closely with Burwood’s strategic to the community. The two run a basket-
technology partners and plays a key role ball ministry at their church in Orange
in the firm’s marketing functions. County on Saturdays.
“Our goal at Burwood is to help IT “We enjoy bringing people together
leaders design, use, and manage technol- and forming a kind of fellowship through
ogy to transform their businesses,” she sports. It combines two big areas of pas-
says. “Whether our customers are devel- sion for us.”
oping strategy, deploying technology, or At Burwood, she also spearheads vol-
creating an operational model, Burwood unteer initiatives with Project Linus, the
is a dedicated and trusted partner.” Boys and Girls Club of San Diego, local
Joanna has shaped Burwood’s key food banks, and more.
technology pillars in areas such as collab- “We had the privilege of adopting
oration, cloud and automation, network- a couple of families over the holiday
ing, and cybersecurity–all pressing topics through the Boys and Girls Club, which
in the tech industry. was such an amazing experience.” says
For instance, to help customers stay Joanna.
ahead of cybersecurity threats, the firm
advises customers on compliance and Empowering the next generation
governance, guiding them through the
process of applying the top 20 security My parting question for Joanna was
controls to protect their businesses. what advice she would give to women

“Be fearless. Fear often prevents peo-
ple from doing a lot of things in life, but
the quicker you remove fear from your
thought process, the more you’ll be able
to take those risks.”
Joanna certainly embodies her
own words of advice. In addition to her
impressive knowledge and capabilities,
she is a truly wonderful woman and the
epitome of what it means to be a POWER
WOMAN in today’s world. Thank you
Joanna for all you do!
Joanna can be contacted via email at
jrobinson@burwood.com or visit their
website at https://www.burwood.com/

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