Each quarter, this podcast releases our research data on the demographic makeup of IT leadership, broken down by race and sex. By surveying public websites, we’re looking to track the change over time.
This quarter, we surveyed 300 companies and four thousand one hundred fifty four humans. 48% vendors, 48% technology providers. This quarter, we found that 87.0% are White, and 2.8% are Black. The breakdown is also 78.2% male. The data remains similar between vendors and tech providers. When we look at publically traded or Fortune 100 companies do the numbers improve for women, remaining at 26%. The racial divide remains within 2 percent.
This data is essentially identical tall of the data reports for 2024, keeping us on track for little movement.
Axios provided additional data here. Women executives face increasing challenges in securing leadership roles as the momentum for diversity in hiring diminishes. Recent data shows the jobless rate for Black women has risen to 5.8 percent, up from 5.3 percent a year ago, overtaking Black men’s jobless rate of 5.6 percent and highlighting ongoing disparities in the job market. According to Lindsay Trout, a talent consultant, the criteria for executive searches have become more rigid, often excluding nontraditional candidates, which affects the representation of women and people of color in top positions. After a surge of diversity appointments in 2020 and 2021, companies are now reverting to previous practices, resulting in fewer women appointed to boards. Catalyst, a nonprofit advocating for women in the workplace, warns that scaling back on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts can lead to legal risks and a loss of talent. Additionally, investing in companies that prioritize gender diversity is proving profitable, with the SPDR MSCI USA Gender Diversity Exchange-Traded Fund up 5.4 percent this year, outperforming the S&P 500’s gain of 2.2 percent.
And congratulations to OITVOIP, which has been awarded the Advancing Diversity in Technology Leadership Award at the 2025 GTIA Spotlight Awards, recognizing its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the technology industry.
Why do we care?
The IT industry’s leadership pipeline is broken—and pretending otherwise is bad business. As large companies scale back efforts, they risk alienating top talent, which is an opportunity for smaller firms, including MSPs, to differentiate themselves by building inclusive cultures.
I highlight OITVOIP because their community sentiment matches their award. From an analysis of our Channel Chatter data, OITVOIP maintains a solid base of loyal partners and is recognized for white-label flexibility, good commissions, and transparent leadership. That shows investment in culture, and shows what smaller firms can do and lead by example.