Diversity in Milwaukee's tech ecosystem

Shane Arnold knows Milwaukee's technology ecosystem intimately. The information technology (IT) professional has held various positions at seven Milwaukee-area companies and been involved with at least five local nonprofits related to tech diversity, equity and inclusion.

But he's not convinced the city is moving in the right direction.

"I have yet to see real, meaningful impactful actions that actually will make an actual difference," said Arnold, who currently is a senior enterprise cloud architect at GE Healthcare.

After several years of working in various technical roles at companies including BMO Financial Group, WageWorks and Northwestern Mutual, Arnold said he considered moving out of Wisconsin in favor of a city where there were more people of color working in the industry.

"I realized and noticed that there weren’t a lot of people who looked like me in tech," Arnold said. "Oftentimes I was the only one or one of very few."

But at the encouragement of people around him, Arnold decided to stay in Milwaukee and work to change the situation. Over the last few years, Arnold has gotten involved with organizations that are aiming to build and improve the city's tech ecosystem, including MENTOR Greater Milwaukee, the Milky Way Tech Hub, the MKE Tech Hub Coalition and All-In Milwaukee.

Most recently, Arnold joined the advisory council for Techquity, a new initiative of the United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County aimed at bridging the digital divide through access to broadband, digital devices, and technology skills and opportunities.

However, despite the recent investments and initiatives that local companies and organizations have announced this year, Arnold said he doesn't believe diversity and inclusion have improved in Milwaukee's tech community.

"Diversity and inclusion is a billion-dollar industry — there’s a lot of money being thrown at it," Arnold said. "I personally haven’t seen a lot of return on that investment."

When it comes to increasing representation in technology workforces and leadership teams, Arnold said community involvement — and specifically, mentorship — is key.

"I think mentoring is a huge piece to solving this diversity puzzle that isn’t necessarily explored enough within different corporate organizations," he said. "The dollars are always needed, but (it's also about) building those relationships with community organizations and creating mentoring opportunities for executive leaders and employees to get involved within a community to help foster and create the talent that they say they want to attract."

Shane Arnold