Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Ward Jr.
Michael, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Looking back on my career, I realize that my desire to become a social entrepreneur began when I was a child. I had no idea what a social entrepreneur was at the time, but I knew I wanted to impact the world through solving problems. Fast-forward to my college years, I decided to double major in Political Science and Global Studies with a focus on social movements, trade, and international business at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. My plan had been to join the Peace Corps, work for the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund, and eventually become a US Ambassador, but life had other plans. During my senior year at UNC, an Oracle recruiter approached me and asked one simple question: “Have you considered working in technology?” This one question drove me into a profession in technology and altered the course of my life.
My life changed from joining the Peace Corps to a Sales and Marketing Business Development Representative at Oracle in Boston, Massachusetts. In Boston, I concentrated on Oracle applications for both cloud and on-premise technologies. As a recent graduate, I immediately looked for “extracurriculars” and discovered Oracle’s Black employee resource group, ABLE, which focused on recruiting retention, and upward mobility of Oracle’s Black employees. After four months with Oracle, in addition to my 9-5 sales responsibilities, I was appointed as ABLE’s first Treasurer. Following five months as Treasurer, both the Chair and Co-Chair exited the firm, advancing me to Chair.
Being Chair of ABLE was a blessing that exposed me to a variety of challenges internally at Oracle but also across the tech industry. In 2016, I decided to leave my current application role in Boston and relocate to Austin to work in Oracle’s tech side of the house. In addition to my experience with apps, I was now shifting to Oracle’s back-end cloud and on-premises technologies. After three months in Austin, I became a Board Member of the informal group Blacks in Tech in order to provide Oracle’s resources to the community and assist me in recruiting, retaining, and advancing Black employees at Oracle.
Because my intention to lead ABLE full-time rather than as a volunteer at Oracle was not fulfilled, I opted to leave Oracle in 2017 and work with ADP as the District Manager for Austin (one of the field reps for the area). At ADP, I leveraged my Oracle experience, enhanced my knowledge of human capital management, and spent time advancing the mission of Austin Urban Technology Movement (formerly known as Blacks in Tech).
In 2018, I decided to leave ADP, became the chair of Austin Urban Technology Movement (AUTM), and operated in Austin’s start-up environment as the VP of Operations at Primal7. Given my desire to be in diversity, equity, and inclusion and solve problems, I opted to leave Primal7 in 2019, form AUTM as a state nonprofit, and bootstrap the organization with my own funds until we had all of the legal documentation to pursue revenue. In 2020, we obtained our 501c3 status, grew by 400%, and launched our awareness-to-employment workforce development program to increase diversity in tech.
We have a long way to go until we diversify the tech industry, but we are just getting started!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I can say that I have not faced any major challenges so far. I must admit that I have been incredibly blessed to do what I do. The challenges we’ve faced are mostly related to the job itself. The real obstacles are not in front of me but within the tech industry. For example, we’ve helped over 100 AUTMites find the jobs they are training for, but we need more employer partners to provide jobs to increase diversity in tech. We are short on funds, employer partners, and volunteers, yet these are minor difficulties that pale in comparison to the joy of accomplishing our mission.
I’m grateful for the people on my team and the expertise we’ve gathered doing what we do, but we do need more help to eradicate the problem and help us in making a difference.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
All my efforts are geared towards making the world a better place. In addition to being president and CEO of Austin Urban Technology Movement (AUTM), I serve on the Greater Austin STEM Ecosystem Steering Committee and sit on the University of Texas at Austin Cockrell School of Engineering Advisory Board. I co-lead the Economic Empowerment Ministry at Greater Mount Zion, leading families to financial stability. Additionally, I co-founded TwoWards Solutions to help companies overcome business challenges. Lastly, I co-host Culture Crawl ATX podcast where diverse individuals respectfully discuss and analyze controversial issues.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
AUTM collaborates with four major stakeholders. If you are an employer and wish to collaborate with us, we will meet your workforce development needs in the following areas: training, recruiting, employer engagement, and retention. In addition, we collaborate with over 30 organizations to achieve our mission. We are appreciative to the organizations that have assisted us in providing over 300 computers, Internet access and devices to 15,000 families, exposing over 2000 individuals to technology opportunities, and training more than 130 families.
We work with academic institutions to help with internships, apprenticeships, and job placement. Last but not least, we collaborate with government agencies since the same assistance we provide to business employers, we also provide to the community. In addition, AUTM has worked with companies such as Microsoft, Google, the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, and National Instruments to improve tech diversity and digital equity.
So, if you want to be a part of the action that is reshaping the tech ecosystem, join our movement.
Contact Info:
- Email: contact@autmtx.org
- Website: https://www.autmtx.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/autmtx/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/autmtx
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/autmtx
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3S52qqT0w4t4RboQKG3S1Q
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@autmtx?
Image Credits:
Photo by AUTM
