CIO Laura Clark shares her unique IT leadership journey

For women in technology, the path to leadership may not be a conventional one. For Laura Clark, CIO/CSO for the State of Michigan, a desire to help people combined with a keen intellectual curiosity were essential to navigating a career in IT. We spoke with Laura recently about her leadership journey.

Info-Tech: How did your leadership journey begin? Did you always plan to have a career in IT?

Laura: When I was in my first year of studies at Michigan State University, I was actually planning to become a nurse. An acquaintance happened to tell me about a job opportunity working on a GIS project at the State of Michigan. They were looking for students to help – all training was provided, and they paid twice the minimum wage. I didn’t have a college fund, so I just thought it was a great way to earn some money for school. When I started, I didn’t know anything about GIS – geographic information systems. On the job, I learned that you could connect information to an actual geographic location and use that to make decisions. That’s what lured me in – I am a very inquisitive and data-driven person. As a result, instead of pursuing nursing, I ended up earning a Bachelor of Science in Geography and getting hired on full-time by the state to work on GIS initiatives in an analyst role.

“At each opportunity, I weighed my interest in data and technology against a desire to help and manage people.”

Later, when a manager position opened up, I took my first step into leadership, managing the team that I had been working with. After a few years, I had an opportunity to become chief of staff for one of our IT deputies. I loved the GIS technology and the data, but I was still looking to grow. The chief of staff role gave me my first opportunity to get a view into the C-suite and see how information is used to make decisions and set the strategic direction for the organization as a whole. After that, I stepped into a director position for the CTO, followed by a move into cybersecurity and ultimately my current CIO/CSO position.

At each opportunity, I weighed my interest in data and technology against a desire to help and manage people. I like helping people accomplish their goals – that really drives me. I love technology, but it doesn’t keep my interest as much as the people side of the job. I was always a more natural leader, wanting to help and encourage people. Plus, I’m very growth-minded. I don’t like to feel that things are stagnating. If there are opportunities for growth, it’s natural for me to take that direction.

Info-Tech: What kind of career guidance have you had along the way? Any mentors or role models? Do you see yourself now as a role model for others?

Laura: I’ve had a lot of great mentors and champions at various stages in my career. To make the distinction, I see a mentor as the person who talks to me, guides me, and helps me see where I can improvement and grow. A champion is the person who goes out and promotes my strengths and pushes for opportunities for me. When I was considering the move into cybersecurity, I went to Info-Tech for advice – we had some good, non-biased career discussions. They helped me understand where the market was going, where the job was going, and what the opportunities would be. The open dialogue really helped. Sometimes a mentor or champion is biased in one direction or another. It can be valuable to have a neutral party to talk to.

“I realize that it’s my turn to lead by example and put myself out there as a role model.”

In terms of role models, one of my biggest influences was our CIO, Teri Takai. Teri was the Michigan CIO when I was hired as a college student. To have a female CIO in the early 2000s was uncommon, but Teri was a strong leader and mentor. We did have a couple of other female leaders within the organization, but it definitely was male-dominated on the GIS side where I was working. When I would represent the state as the top person for GIS, I was one of maybe five women across the country.

When I look back at what Teri was doing as CIO when I joined the organization, I know her leadership helped me tremendously. I’ve never felt comfortable being in the spotlight, but I’ve grown to understand why it’s so important. I realize that it’s my turn to lead by example and put myself out there as a role model. 

“I want to help young people understand, especially young girls, that there are areas in IT beyond coding, such as project management or technical writing or graphic design.”

Info-Tech: What do you think can be done to promote opportunities for women in technology?

Laura: We’re at a pivotal time right now in IT because there’s a huge shortage of qualified people out there. As leaders, we are looking for creative ways to recruit and build out our industry so that it has enough people – women or men – to support what we need to get done. I think it’s critical to help young people understand what IT is. There are a lot of roles and many ways that you can enter the IT profession. I want to help young people understand, especially young girls, that there are areas in IT beyond coding, such as project management or technical writing or graphic design. Many people think that they need to be a technical person to work in IT, but that is not the case. If you had tried to define me 20 years ago, I certainly wouldn’t have fallen into the technical category.

Thank you to Laura Clark for sharing her story with us. We look forward to bringing you more stories in this series as we chat with IT executives about their leadership journeys.