Women working in the IT industry have proved themselves in a variety of functions, including handling leadership responsibilities. However, you do not often come across women in the critical role of Chief Information Officer (CIO). Debra Martucci, the CIO of semiconductor company Synopsys, belongs to that rare, sparsely populated tribe.

She admits it is a small number. “You know, you have one at Cisco (Rebecca Jacoby),” she points out, trying to figure out who the other women in the exclusive group are.

In the city to rendezvous with the 59-member team in India that works under her, Martucci discounts the argument that the role of the CIO is diminishing. “It is not. In fact, their importance is growing with the security threats that the companies face — on themselves and on their clients,” she says.

She points out the attacks on Synopsys. “They have multiplied three times in the last nine months. That they (attackers) have not been successful is another thing. We even hired a third party to launch (dummy) attacks to find chinks, if any, and get prepared,” she said.

A PhD in Physics from the University of Houston, Martucci joined the company in 1992 as a member of its product releases team. The company’s revenues were $45 million then.

She chose to steer clear of the Silicon Valley trend where professionals make quick moves between companies. “I decided not to quit this company that gave me opportunities. I became Vice-President (IT) in 2000 and CIO in 2006,” she said.

Martucci heads a team of 340 IT professionals, about half of whom work outside of the US, handling the smooth integration of the myriad acquisitions the company has made in the last few years, apart from attending to other IT needs. Today, the company has a turnover of $2 billion, with a turnover of $483 million in the third quarter this year.

Recounting some of the hardest decisions she has taken, she says taking a call on off-shoring was one of the toughest. “The question was whether to give the job (some IT functions) to an outsourcer like Wipro or to off-shore the work outside of the US. I, however, firmly believed that the function should remain with the company,” she said.

The company kicked off its off-shoring work with small teams in India and China. The decision was vindicated over a period of time as the offshore teams evolved into good models, with the company utilising their services to replicate the exercise elsewhere.

>kurmanath.kanchi@thehindu.co.in

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