GoDaddy Transformation Fueling Culture Where Women Thrive

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Oct. 5, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- GoDaddy Inc. (NYSE: GDDY), the world's largest technology provider dedicated to small businesses, is heading to the Grace Hopper Conference (GHC), the world's largest technical conference for women in computing, to recruit women who want to help very small businesses around the world, many of which are women-owned.

GoDaddy ranked as one of the Anita Borg Institute's Top Companies for Women Technologists this year. Closing the gender gap has been a top priority at the company since Blake Irving took over as CEO two years ago. And there's solid progress to report. Since last year's GHC, GoDaddy has more than doubled the number of women interns and graduate hires.

As a return platinum sponsor of next week's GHC, GoDaddy plans to showcase its transformation journey, share a timely documentary film and engage attendees with an interactive convention-floor booth, which features technology executives and recruiters. The diverse sponsorship approach is part of GoDaddy's quest to attract more women to join its mission to help people easily start, grow and run their own ventures through the use of technology.

Overall, women now account for 20 percent of the GoDaddy technical workforce, which while still far below its ultimate goal, is up two percentage points from last year. GoDaddy is also providing all of its colleagues with "Unconscious Bias" training, in partnership with the Clayman Institute. Prior to GHC, GoDaddy plans to follow-up on its compensation parity pledge, a commitment made at the White House Demo Day this past summer.

"Gender diversity matters," said GoDaddy CEO Blake Irving. "Diversity of thought reliably translates into better products. We have a gender diverse customer base, why wouldn't you have a gender diverse workforce building those products? I'm heartened by our progress over the past couple years, but we're still far from where we want to be — and I'm hoping that the women at GHC this year will help fuel our ongoing quest. Changing the face of tech, changing the lives of small business owners and continuing to drive our own transformation at GoDaddy."

As part of this year's sponsorship, GoDaddy will again support technology students to attend GHC, including women from Harvey Mudd College, University of California Berkeley, California Polytechnic State University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Louisiana State University and others.

New this year, GoDaddy CEO Blake Irving, a long-time tech executive and women's advocate, is delivering a plenary speech from the main stage Wednesday at 4:30 p.m., titled "Be the Image You Want to See: The Transformation of GoDaddy, Inc."

GoDaddy is also underwriting the screening of "CODE: Debugging the Gender Gap," a new documentary which focuses on why more women aren't joining the tech ranks given all the economic opportunity. Irving is an Executive Producer on the film and has worked closely with producer and director Robin Hauser-Reynolds. The two will lead a post-screening GHC discussion. The film will be shown in the Lanier Ballroom Friday at 11 a.m.

"We are excited to see so many in the tech industry stepping up to make change when it comes to increasing the participation of women in technical roles. GoDaddy has made significant progress in a short time," said Telle Whitney, CEO and President of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology. "If you had suggested to me a few years ago that GoDaddy could have transformed into such an example of positive change and empowering women technologists, I would have been skeptical. But I am impressed with the commitment Blake and his team have made to driving meaningful change."

To learn more about a career at GoDaddy, visit: www.GoDaddy.com/Careers

To follow GHC15 on social media, use the hashtag #GHC, or others listed here.

To see the GoDaddy GHC14 video from last year's event, click here

To see Blake Irving's keynote Oct. 14 at 4:30 p.m. CT, or any of the other plenary sessions during GHC15, you can watch live here: http://livestream.com/watch.

To see the GHC15 schedule, click here.

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About GoDaddy
GoDaddy's mission is to radically shift the global economy toward small businesses by empowering people to easily start, confidently grow and successfully run their own ventures. With more than 13 million customers worldwide and more than 60 million domain names under management, GoDaddy gives small business owners the tools to name their idea, build a beautiful online presence, attract customers and manage their business. To learn more about the company, visit www.GoDaddy.com. 

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Source: GoDaddy Inc.  

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