Inclusive Teams Produce Better Results

dotmagazine: Roshene, you have recently been promoted to Global Director at Corning and have been elected President of the FFTH Council Europe, both outstanding accomplishments. Could you share with us what inspired you to pursue this career path, and what challenges have you faced?

Roshene McCool: I was good at mathematics at school, I liked to solve puzzles. Engineering represented a career where I could solve real-world problems, and that was attractive to me. For much of my career, I found myself in the distinct minority, with women comprising just 10% of the engineering workforce. This started on my degree course and continued for many years beyond that. As a consequence, I didn’t “look” like the majority of my colleagues who were engineers. I tried for many years to fit in, but, in the end, I realized I had earned my place in the industry, and I was as entitled as anyone else to be myself whilst doing my job well. It is why I have always tried to be a visible woman in the industry, to change perceptions of what an engineer looks like.

dot: In an industry where women are outnumbered, female tech leaders are important role models for young women considering or pursuing a tech career. Do you agree that we should encourage diversity of thought in technical teams and, more generally, in the industry?

McCool: We still have some way to go, but we are seeing positive progress on gender equality. There is a recognition that facilitating the entry of more women into STEM is crucial, and I’m proud to represent both a company and an industry association that are pioneering this shift.
Investors look for a diverse workforce and leadership when they invest. This is because there are many studies that show that diverse teams and leadership result in greater innovation and more robust decision-making that bring economic benefits. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives support the success of companies in the face of a growing shortage of qualified workers in Europe. Women represent the largest untapped pool of talent to address this issue.

dot: How can companies in the fiber industry attract and nurture female talent? What specific strategies can be implemented to close the tech gender gap?

McCool: Women encounter fewer opportunities and greater obstacles in their ascent to leadership roles. Overcoming these barriers requires an equal focus on empowering and promoting women currently working in the industry and fostering a sustainable influx of new talent. Providing visible examples of women succeeding in the industry is one way to encourage a healthy pipeline of new talent. As an industry, we need to recognize that motherhood is a foreseeable, although not inevitable, stage in the lives of our female talent and provide working frameworks to accommodate this.

At Corning, we look to encourage young talent by offering students early entry opportunities through academic partnerships with universities, hosting and attending career events, and providing working student placements. 

We develop our existing female talent pool, with female professional associations and a focus on attracting and empowering an agile and inclusive workforce. For example, in 2021, we achieved 100% pay equity for all salaried employees in our worldwide operations. We continue to monitor regularly and adjust where appropriate to maintain our global gender pay equity. 

dot: What are your key takeaways from 2024 that you believe will be significant in advancing fiber-based connectivity across Europe? How do you plan to contribute as the head of a major industry association?

McCool: Our FTTH Council Europe elections came just a week after the European Parliament elections, and the Council is actively engaged with European institutions to ensure we have a regulatory framework that supports the transition from copper to modern fiber networks. Copper switch-off is an emerging topic within the industry that will have a real impact on fiber connection and adoption. These steps are essential to the digital transformation of European economies and the achievement of the Digital Decade objectives. The FTTH Council market intelligence committee is tracking fiber deployments, and there has been a steady increase in deployment across the continent, but there remains more to be done in some markets.

As for my personal goals, I am excited to leverage the potential of the FTTH Council’s new Eco Platform to support sustainability initiatives. With this platform, companies can share their best ESG practices, develop a database with detailed carbon intensity information on all products, and receive expert guidance when measuring their emissions for the first time. I also remain deeply committed to advocating for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the fiber industry. 

As president of the FTTH Council Europe, I want to support the industry in its ESG objectives to make it an attractive place to work and a force for progress and innovation in Europe.

dot: Speaking of sustainable success and long-term impact, let’s explore the interplay between sustainability and fiber. How can operators ensure a more sustainable deployment of fiber?

McCool: Sustainability and fiber optics are directly connected, fiber networks reduce energy consumption in comparison to the alternatives. At Corning, we think about our environmental contributions in two categories: (1) our footprint — how our actions directly affect others in areas such as gender pay equity and carbon emissions from our operations, and (2) our handprint — what we enable others to do through our products and services. We have adopted emissions reduction targets, certified by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

Our white paper shows that full fiber networks are more sustainable than any other connectivity alternatives across virtually every scenario and capacity rate. Thus, accelerating the deployment of fiber will lead to a substantial decrease in energy consumption, while also minimizing maintenance and the frequency of truck rolls, resulting in further energy savings and reductions in CO₂ emissions.
 

Roshene McCool is the Global Director, OFC Market & Technology Development, for Corning Optical Communications Optical Fiber and Cable, specialising in single-mode fiber and access networks. She provides technical and market insight for Corning’s global fiber and cable product line management teams. Roshene has 30 years of experience in engineering and optical communications systems and subsystems, including many years designing networks for advanced radio telescopes.