Recognizing and Celebrating Women’s History Month

Women’s History Month is personal to QED National. President and Founder of QED National Colleen Molter has led the firm as a certified Women-owned Business Enterprise (“WBE”) for nearly 28 years. Colleen’s career as an information technology leader has led the firm to earning significant contracts with Fortune 500 companies and State and Local Government agencies. Colleen’s passion for advocacy work positions her on a number of respected boards and councils. Most recently Colleen has focused her efforts on the NYC Office of the Mayor’s MWBE Council and NYC Department of Education’s IT Commission, where she has advocated for increases in discretionary spending, and her leadership led to the formation of a first-of-its-kind cybersecurity curriculum for NYC Career and Technical Education schools, respectively.

“When Women’s History Month was first announced in the ‘70s, I was in college studying electrical engineering,” Colleen said, “We only had three women in my graduating class.”

As both an electrical engineer and information technology professional, Colleen is a rarity, since women represent only 25-percent of the workforce in those industries. While more and more women pursue information technology and engineering professions, celebrating Women’s achievements gives example to other women, young and wizened, that it’s possible to lead information technology organizations, hold political office, and increase opportunity for unrecognized communities – among any other objective women decide to pursue.

“Women’s History Month marks a time when women celebrate their accomplishments,” Colleen said, “It’s important for women to recognize the accomplishments of their peers and themselves, as motivation to keep advancing.”

Women trailblazers have broken barriers in every industry. This includes but is in no way limited to fields such as physics (Katherine Johnson), aeronautics (Amelia Earhart), engineering (Emily Roebling), finance (Isabel Benham), etc. Today’s women in leadership are proud to stand on the shoulders of great women who came before them, and lead by their example of being fearless in entering uncharted territory and leaving doors open for the women who will come after them.