Page 41 - San Diego Woman Magazine our POWER WOMEN

Power Women

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

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/

41