Women make up 27 percent of all science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, positions, despite being 48 percent of the U.S. workforce.
After experiencing the lonely feeling of being the only woman in a room, Navisite president Gina Murphy said she was ecstatic for her company to release its "Next Steminist" scholarship. The grants provide three young women who are currently enrolled in school $10,000 each to pursue any degree in STEM-related fields.
Navisite is a IT cloud-services company that creates data analytics, applications and security services for other companies, and Murphy has been a part of the 2,000-person company for 22 years.
“The ability to come to a company like Navisite and be able to give back and make a difference collectively, as a company, has been has been awesome,” Murphy said. "Giving someone a chance to start their career and help them through that process is amazing."
She describes Navisite's culture as one that revolves around interpersonal relationships helping to serve clients’ needs beyond a traditional vendor relationship. Companies come to Navisite for IT support, and Navisite then comes up with the best ways to help them drive revenue and alleviate pain points if they face financial setbacks or other industry changes.
The company is based in Andover, but maintains offices, data centers and local teams across the globe. Collectively, its offices work to give back to their communities by producing STEM programs in local schools or hosting back-to-school backpack drives to give supplies to students in need.
Navisite is privately owned company, backed by Madison Dearborn Partners LLC in Chicago. In the last two years, Navisite has acquired five consulting and IT companies. Its most recent acquisitions were Velocity Technology Solutions a similar cloud service company, Dickinson + Associates, a SAP consulting firm.
Through these acquisitions, “we've gone from being just a remote database company, to offering pretty much everything,” Murphy said. "We're always looking to acquire new skills, and acquire new businesses to help our portfolio,” Murphy said.
Navisite’s growth as a company has allowed it to maintain a strong community focus and dedication to service.
The "Next Steminist" scholarship applications are open through May 17.
