SOUTHFIELD – Diva Tech Talk was honored to chat with Michelle Billingsley, Vice President and Chief Information Officer for nonprofit Blue Care Network. In her role, Michelle manages a team of 105 full-time IT professionals, supplemented by 150 consultants/contractors, and directs information technology operations and solution delivery to meet the dynamic business needs of Michigan’s largest HMO, serving over 800,000 members.

Michelle’s advice for aspiring women technology leaders is:

  • Make your communications “relatable.” (“Remember how they hear you.  Forget acronyms; use analogies.”)
  • Be courageous, but recognize that part of courageousness is being vulnerable. (“You have to be able to accept help.”)
  • Have goals for yourself and for your family. (“Then you know what you are working for.”)
  • Build a broad network of people inside and outside your organization. (“You need it so that you have people you can reach out to as resources; you need a subset of it for feedback.”)
  • Get a mentor. (“My mentors have been invaluable for me.”)
  • Take risk with your career, it stretches you. (“Take on things that are really hard.  It’s sometimes scary, but it’s like riding a bike.  You get used to it.”)
  • To listen, click on http://www.divatechtalk.com/blog/ep30