At our annual offsite in San Francisco, representation became an unexpected point of reflection. Across conversations and collaborative sessions, one theme continued to surface: women are increasingly present across technical and leadership roles at Varsity. The shift wasn’t dramatic or sudden, but steady, visible, and meaningful.
For Varsity, this is not a temporary development. It reflects a progression that has taken shape over several years. Today, women lead both our Sales & Marketing department and our Service department, roles that directly influence technical delivery, client strategy, and revenue outcomes. Their leadership is not symbolic; it is woven into daytoday operations. It shapes how we plan, how we make decisions, and how we support missiondriven organizations.
This progress has been incremental, emerging through intentional hiring, long-term retention, and internal advancement – not a single initiative or shift. Women at Varsity contribute across service delivery, engineering support, leadership, and strategic planning. At the same time, we recognize that increased visibility does not automatically guarantee equity. Representation is a foundation, not an endpoint, and progress requires ongoing focus on access, opportunity, and advancement.
Women in Tech: The Broader Industry Context
Varsity’s experience reflects a wider – though uneven – trend across the technology industry. Women remain underrepresented in technical and leadership roles, but participation has been gradually increasing.
Women in Technical Roles
Across the United States, women hold roughly 26–27% of technology jobs, despite comprising nearly half of the total workforce. Representation is even lower in traditionally maledominated technical fields:
- Software engineering: 22% women.
- Infrastructure, cybersecurity, and network operations: consistently below 20%.
- Data science and analytics: closer to 30–31%.
This gap is well documented in reports from organizations such as the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT), the U.S. Census Bureau, and McKinsey.
Women in Leadership
Leadership presents an even more significant challenge:
- Women hold 28% of tech leadership roles globally.
- Only 11–15% serve in Csuite technology positions (CIO, CTO, VP of Engineering).
- Representation tends to be higher in non-technical leadership roles.
This pattern – often described as the leaky pipeline – shows how representation decreases at each career stage, especially in technical leadership.
Gender Diversity in MSPs: A Unique Set of Challenges
Managed Service Providers face many of the same diversity barriers as the broader tech sector, often compounded by:
- Historically narrow hiring pipelines.
- Technical experience pathways dominated by male candidates.
- Skill requirements shaped by handson, infrastructure-heavy backgrounds.
- Limited access to mentorship within engineering leadership.
As a result, gender diversity within MSPs – especially in service delivery and engineering leadership – has tended to lag behind other areas of tech.
However, industry research indicates a gradual shift. Mid-sized firms, including MSPs, are seeing modest increases in female representation when they:
- Invest in structured mentorship.
- Build inclusive hiring practices.
- Create clearer pathways to technical leadership.
- Support internal mobility across departments.
Organizations with diverse leadership teams consistently report better collaboration, improved decision-making, and stronger longterm performance, according to studies published by BCG, McKinsey, and Deloitte.
Leadership Pipelines and Structural Barriers
While entry-level representation for women in tech has improved, advancement remains limited.
Common barriers include:
- Lack of mentorship and sponsorship.
- Limited access to informal networks where opportunities are shared.
- Unclear or inconsistent promotion pathways.
- Bias – implicit or otherwise – in evaluating technical readiness.
- Uneven access to highvisibility, career-advancing projects.
These structural issues explain why leadership diversity often stagnates even when early-stage representation improves.
Sustained progress requires a combination of intentional hiring, consistent development opportunities, and transparent advancement structures.
Reflecting Forward: What This Means for Varsity
The increased presence of women at Varsity’s offsite – and within leadership roles – felt less like a milestone and more like evidence of steady forward movement. It reflects long-term choices, team-level mentorship, and a broader cultural shift within the organization.
For Varsity, this moment reinforces several commitments:
1. Representation is foundational, not final.
Seeing women in leadership roles matters – but it must be paired with access, support, and opportunity.
2. Leadership diversity improves organizational performance.
More perspectives lead to stronger planning, healthier team dynamics, and better outcomes for clients.
3. Progress must be sustained intentionally.
Hiring is only one piece. Retention, development pathways, and equitable leadership opportunities matter just as much.
4. Diversity strengthens our alignment with the communities we serve.
As a mission-driven technology partner, our teams should reflect the diversity of the organizations we support.
Looking Ahead: Where the Work Continues
Progress in representation is not a standalone initiative at Varsity. It is part of how we approach hiring, leadership development, and organizational growth. As the MSP industry continues to evolve, we remain focused on:
- Creating clear, equitable pathways for advancement.
- Supporting women in both technical and leadership tracks.
- Ensuring mentorship and sponsorship structures remain accessible.
- Building teams that reflect a broad range of experiences and perspectives.
Having a seat at the table is important.
Ensuring that seat leads to meaningful participation, influence, and longterm growth is where the real work continues.