A Discussion with Toni Townes-Whitley

As President of US Regulated Industries at Microsoft, Toni Townes-Whitley will share with us her path to leadership in an industry so commonly underrepresented by women, especially women of color, as well as her hardships and triumphs that have led her to where she is today.

Her organization is responsible for executing on Microsoft’s industry strategy and go-to-market for both public sector and regulated industries in the United States, including Education, Financial Services, Government, and Healthcare. In addition to leading a sales organization, Townes-Whitley is helping to steer the company’s work to address systemic racial injustice – with efforts targeted both internally at representation and inclusion; as well as externally at leveraging technology to counter prevailing societal challenges. She has developed expertise and speaks publicly about “Civic Technology,” applying tech innovation for social impact.

About the Speaker:
With responsibility for the 4900+ sales organization and ~$15B P&L, Toni Townes-Whitley is one of the leading women at Microsoft, and in the technology industry, with a track record for accelerating and sustaining profitable business and building high-performance teams.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Townes-Whitley was president of CGI Federal, where she was responsible for a portfolio of more than $1 billion, leading 6,600 employees in more than 70 countries to deliver greater value to US Government civilian, defense, and intelligence sectors. Previously, Townes-Whitley held several management roles at Unisys Corporation leading global, public sector systems integration and the Federal Civilian group, where she achieved 500 percent revenue growth and doubled profitability.

Townes-Whitley serves on the boards of the PNC Financial Services Group, the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, the United Way Worldwide, and the Princeton University Faith & Work Initiative. She is an advisor to the Women’s Center of Northern Virginia, and a past president and Board Chair of Women in Technology. She has helped to launch new initiatives at Microsoft, sponsoring Blacks & Africans at Microsoft (BAM), partnering with the Athena Alliance, an organization that prepares women for corporate board roles, and working with Gender Fair, which rates companies on their fairness practices for leadership, employee policies, advertising and philanthropy. She also is the recipient of numerous awards that include: Women in Technology Leadership, Black Enterprise Top Executive, FedScoop Top50 for Industry Leadership, and NVTC Tech 100 Executive. In 2020, she was awarded the prestigious Federal 100 Industry Eagle Award.

Townes-Whitley continues to support the US Peace Corps, for which she volunteered for three years as a village teacher in Gabon (Central Africa). She earned her bachelor’s degree in Public Policy & Economics from Princeton University and has received certifications from Wharton Executive Education, New York University (NYU), and the Performance Management Institute. She and her husband John H. Whitley reside in Mclean, VA. They have five children, seven grandchildren and counting…