Summary: AIS Network CEO Jay Atkinson has been honored by RVATech for his work to improve the diversity levels of women in technology in the greater Richmond area.
Richmond, Va. — November 18, 2021 — AIS Network CEO Jay Atkinson has been honored by RVATech for his work regionally to improve the diversity levels of women in technology and prioritize supporting their careers.
The Richmond technology council presented Atkinson with the prestigious 2021 Margaret Lyn McDermid Male Ally Award in an evening ceremony on Oct. 28. The award is presented annually to “a senior male figure who has gone out of his way to improve the diversity levels of women in IT within the organization and/or in the wider community. Male allies relentlessly work towards changing the prevailing mindsets and attitudes.”
“Jay has always embraced his role in advancing Virginia’s future, and to that end, has engaged actively as an ally of women in the IT field and as an ally of those who seek to make the world a better place through equity, diversity, accessibility and inclusion,” said AISN Vice President Laurie Head.
“Jay has used his deep reservoir of talent and expertise to promote the successes of women within the company and in the IT community and open doors for their advancement. He has positively impacted the careers of women in technology here in Richmond and the broader community over the last eight years, since AISN first built a presence in central Virginia.”
Within his Richmond-based company, Atkinson has strategically prioritized female success and has fostered the growth of women in their technology careers. More than a third of AISN staff consists of women, and half of those are in leadership roles.
In 2020, Atkinson founded and continues to sponsor the RVATech Equity Impact Award, which is awarded to an individual or team whose leadership and creative use of technology has benefited the environment for equity, diversity, accessibility and inclusion in the Richmond metropolitan area or the Commonwealth of Virginia. He has also been an active sponsor of the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Women in Innovation conference, providing financial sponsorship and content for the event. Additionally, he has successfully completed the Diversity and Inclusion Certificate program at Cornell University and serves on both the Governor’s Disparity Study Group as well as the Henrietta Lacks Commission Advisory Committee. Recently, he was named to the Henrico County Public Schools’ Equity Diversity Adversity Committee.
The MLM Awards recognize women technologists in the greater Richmond area. The program is named after Margaret Lyn McDermid, who has had a direct impact on central Virginia’s tech economy, Virgina’s image across the country, opportunities for women and young people in technology and RVATech’s continued growth as an organization.
About AIS Network
Ranked on the Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing companies, AIS Network is a Virginia SWaM-certified leader in cloud enablement, information security and risk management, managed services and award-winning application development with a wide footprint in the health care, government, financial and other corporate sectors. Solving complex IT challenges and managing digital risk to help clients thrive in an unpredictable world has been our core business for nearly 29 years. As the trusted and reliable partner of the Commonwealth of Virginia since 2012, we drive exceptional value through our deep knowledge of state agency data protection, compliance, governance and internal auditing procedures and controls. Our unmatched customer experience is rooted in decades of expertise engaging with Forbes- and Fortune-ranked global corporations, government agencies and other large enterprise clients to deliver these solutions in addition to multi-cloud managed services for the world’s leading platforms, data visualization and analytics, high security hosting and consultative reviews. Visit www.aisn.net.