More Top Women in Storage

Despite a well-documented dearth of women in IT, Byte and Switch's recent article on the top women in storage highlighted a select group of execs who are bucking this trend and making their mark.

Since we published our first story, we have identified two more female movers and shakers whom we believe worthy of inclusion on our list. Consider these two more in an ongoing project to identify people whose contribution to the storage market is notable -- and who happen to be in the gender minority (at least, in the industry).

Do you have any candidates to suggest? You have our email addresses and numbers. You can post on the message board below. Or write to us anytime here.

Barbara Nelson, NeoScale

The NeoScale CEO is regarded as one of the prime movers in the storage security space, with her firm picking up a roster of big-name partners for its encryption technology.NeoScale tripled its sales between 2005 and 2006, although the vendor does not break out actual figures.

NeoScale has also been busy with VCs over the last few years, amassing around $60 million in funding.

The CEO, who took the helm of NeoScale in 2003, has racked up more than 25 years of IT industry experience. Previously, Nelson was executive vice president for corporate strategy, marketing, and IT at Quantum, where she oversaw the integration of that company's acquisitions. The exec also served as president of Quantum's DLT tape group and general manager of that vendor's $3 billion desktop hard drive business.

In addition to Quantum, Nelson spent 13 years at Intel, where she held senior positions in general management, marketing, engineering, and operations. Other roles include a spell as a director at wireless specialist Ace Technology and executive positions at Maxtor, Weitek, and Lumina.

Away from work, Nelson is a director of the Support Network for Battered Women non-profit organization.

Figure 1: Barbara Nelson, CEO, NeoScale

Paula Long, EqualLogic

Industry veteran Paula Long is the co-founder of SAN specialist EqualLogic, where she serves as executive vice president of products and strategy. After filing its S-1 a couple of months ago, EqualLogic's IPO is now said to be imminent, as the iSCSI vendor joins a growing list of public storage companies.

The exec has played a key role in the rise of EqualLogic, which is ramping up sales at a rapid rate. An amendment to the vendor's S-1, filed earlier this month, reveals that EqualLogic's annual revenues grew from $30 million in 2005 to $68.1 million in 2006. For the first six months of 2007, EqualLogic brought in $53.2 million, according to the SEC filing.

Although Long was unwilling to provide comment for this article, on account of the "quiet period" preceding EqualLogic's IPO, the exec is nonetheless regarded as something of a rising star.Last year, Long was a finalist in Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year competition, and she has worked in a number of roles during a 20-year career in IT. As director of enterprise products at software vendor Allaire, now part of Macromedia, Long was responsible for application load balancing, and high availability products. The exec also spent time as director of engineering at software developer Bright Tiger Technologies, which was acquired by Allaire in 1999.

At the start of her career, Long also held senior engineering positions at Digital Equipment Corporation, and she is still heavily involved in the engineering community. The exec reportedly travels around New England speaking to high school students as part of the Women in Engineering Forum, and she is a member of the advisory board for the Olin College of Engineering in Needham, Mass.

Away from the boardroom and the development lab, Long is also said to be involved with a soup kitchen in Nashua, N.H., where EqualLogic is based.

Figure 2: Paula Long, Executive VP Products and Strategy, EqualLogic

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