Gina Wong - Breaking The Gender Barrier

Gina Wong is flying high as the managing director of Kyndryl, the world’s largest IT infrastructure services provider.

- Adora Wong

Is it surprising that there are now two times the number of male graduates with information technology and engineering degrees compared to female graduates here? After all, as noted in a 2021 article by the Institute of Policy Studies at Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, the number of female graduates fell from 36 per cent in 2010 to 34 per cent in 2020, despite government efforts to encourage female participation in information and communication technology.

So it’s pretty impressive that Gina Wong is making great strides in the field: The 48-year-old is the managing director of Kyndryl, an IT infrastructure services provider that designs, builds and manages the complex information systems. The company counts major airlines, government agencies and banks among its 4,000-plus clients worldwide, and employs 90,000 staff globally, some hundred of whom are based here.

So how did she navigate this notoriously male-dominated field? Gina opens up about her start in IT, how cloud computing – which we all have access to on our devices but probably don’t really understand – plays a part in our everyday lives, and the secret to holding her own against her male counterparts.

A LOVE AFFAIR WITH TECHNOLOGY

Gina fell into IT “by chance”. After a decade in various business roles, she joined an IT company “to get a ‘360-degree’ view of business” so she could lead customer-care services for a large banking group.