Native American Heritage Month: Celebrating Indigenous Influencers In Tech

November 23, 2022, 12:00 PM EST

CRN celebrates executives and pioneers from Lockheed, IBM, P3I, TICOM, Aqiwo and Cetan.

A Cherokee rocket designer. A Chippewa wireless mesh pioneer. A Native Hawaiian systems integrator CEO, and an Adai Caddo researcher of virtual reality.

Mary Ross, David Petite, Janice Guy and Stephanie Carnell are just a sample of the Native Americans who have made a mark on technology history and continue to serve influential roles in IT and the channel.

But while we celebrate these contributions, it’s important to remember how much work remains to create greater equity in tech.

Despite more than 600 Native American and Alaskan Native tribes in the U.S. making up more than 1 percent of the population, indigenous people are less than .005 percent of the tech workforce in the country, according to Cisco.

Organizations that strive to create more opportunities in tech for Native Americans include the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES), Natives in Tech, Sisterhood of Native American Coders (SONAC), The Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) and Native American Capital (NAC).

Here are some of the Native Americans CRN is featuring this month for their achievements in technology.

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Wade Tyler Millward

Wade Tyler Millward is an associate editor covering cloud computing and the channel partner programs of Microsoft, IBM, Red Hat, Oracle, Salesforce, Citrix and other cloud vendors. He can be reached at wmillward@thechannelcompany.com.