Paula is '˜Leader of the Year' at major technology awards

Over 500 senior leaders from the world of business and technology gathered in London to discover who had been chosen as the winners in the UK’s biggest programme championing 
women in technology.

Despite digital technology industries growing faster than the average businesses in other sectors, the industry has acknowledged the gender diversity gap in the technology sector -with only 17 per cent of technology specialists working in 
the UK being women.

The winner of the ‘Leader of the Year’ category was Paula Constant, from Louth, who is a Field Director at Openreach.

Paula leads international service centre management for the global BT group and heads up a 4,000-strong field 
engineering workforce, delivering £1.1 billion in turnover to the organisation’s key corporate customers.

Few can rival the sheer diversity of Paula’s career path. After 24 years as a concert pianist, she turned her back on classical music and joined Accenture as a management consultant.

From there, she has risen through the ranks over eight years before joining BT as a general manager responsible for call centres nationwide.

Now, as Chair of the company’s Women’s Network, Paula is determined to substantially increase the proportion of women among her staff, and around 
the boardroom table.

She said: “I’m honoured to be here as a woman trying to balance work and life, an inspiration to men 
and women in business.

“I hope this is the start of men and women in BT saying ‘I can do this’, and having 
a flexible working life.”

Maxine Benson MBE, co-founder of Everywoman, said: “We launched these awards six years ago to uncover the women doing amazing things in technology - women who were not necessarily known within their wider business, let alone outside their company or the industry.

“By showcasing their talents and achievements, we are demonstrating the diversity of opportunity the industry offers so that more women will be inspired to bring their talents to it.”