As musical superstar Beyonce proclaimed, “Who run the world? Girls!” And that’s certainly true at RizePoint, where talented women hold various leadership positions, including Kari Hensien, who oversees the company as its CEO.

“As a female business leader, I’m very hands-on. I see the bigger perspective, understanding our customers’ pain points and needs. I take a personal stake in the success of the company and the people that work here. I want the company, our employees, and our customers to succeed,” Kari explained. “For me, it’s not just business, it’s personal. I care deeply about our mission, and I demonstrate that in all my actions. I’m passionate about what we do.”

“RizePoint has made huge strides since I’ve become CEO,” Kari continued. “We are hiring a more diverse workforce, and we have BIPOC employees at every level of the company.”

Female leaders dominate at RizePoint

Kari is thrilled that women have filled many key roles at RizePoint. For instance, Mary Schultz, RizePoint’s Development Manager, started as an intern with the company and worked her way up the corporate ladder. Now, as one of youngest developers at the company, she’s doing a phenomenal job managing the team.

Taylor Rice is the Head of QA and Testing. Kelli Fox is Director of Customer Success at RizePoint. Joy Risso is the Director of Client Management. It’s notable that the people who oversee writing the code, testing the code, and overseeing customer management and successes are all women, which is a competitive advantage for RizePoint.

“There are many advantages for any workplace that places emphasis on diversity and inclusion. And there are many benefits to having a female CEO in an industry that isn’t largely represented by women – not only in tech, but in the food safety and restaurant space, where women are under-represented,” said Joy Risso, Director of Client Management. “I believe more diversity in an organization will lead to better outcomes because different thought processes, backgrounds, psychologies, and varied personality types can create a more creative, collaborative, and thought-provoking environment.”

“When you have the same demographic dominating an industry, especially one that’s in a constant state of change, there’s a risk of approaching new and different challenges in the same ways as before, which can lead to stagnation and lack of progress,” Joy continued. “Having new, fresh perspectives by more diverse individuals – with different backgrounds and experiences to draw upon – can offer valuable insights and different strategies to impact change.”

Women bring amazing attributes to the RizePoint team

The women at RizePoint have real empathy for their customers, and take time to understand what they need. The organization’s female employees bring curiosity, empathy, willingness to see things from other points of view, a desire to create a positive work environment, and the determination to deliver exceptional products and customer service.

“The women on our team don’t just say, ‘Oh, that button isn’t working.’ They consider why this is so important and what the customer needs to achieve, and then figure out how our solutions can cure their pain,” Kari said. “Our female colleagues advocate for our customers to us, but also advocate for our products to our customers. That level of service is why our customers stick with us for the long haul.”

When these women go to the product and development teams for help or troubleshooting, they’ve earned their colleagues’ respect. Since they have context and understanding, they can expertly explain what the clients are trying to achieve, which is much more valuable than just asking for a new button to be added.

If a customer is going through difficult times, the women from RizePoint work diligently to get them what they need. Case in point, Kari praised Joy as being a tenacious, passionate advocate for her customers.

“If a client has a problem, she makes sure that the product team pays attention. She’s like a dog with a bone – she won’t let go. She won’t take no for an answer. She’s committed to doing the right thing for the customer, and asks the product team to get creative with their approach to solve each client’s specific needs,” Kari said. “Additionally, Joy, like our other female leaders, builds strong, positive relationships across RizePoint’s departments, which is good for our business and our customers.”

The women of RizePoint have unique skillsets and different viewpoints, which leads to more creative problem-solving, more holistic plans of action and more successful outcomes. And they are all smart, kind, collaborative, and committed to excellence.

Great culture starts at the top

Kari is widely admired and respected as a wonderful role model for her employees. She has created a great, supportive culture, which employees list as one of the things they love most about working at RizePoint. In addition, employees genuinely love working for (and with) Kari.   

“Kari gives 110% to everything she does. She is incredibly intelligent and passionate about her work, and is easily one of the most strategic thinkers I have had the pleasure of working with. She isn’t afraid to jump in and help at any level,” said Darrel Williams, Chief Technology Officer. “One of the first things Kari and I did, that I am very proud of, was immediately initiate a balanced salary initiative and looked only at titles and compensation based on years in the role (via salary.com), and made sure to adjust the organization accordingly.  We have faced some incredible challenges, not to mention a pandemic and a rollercoaster of an economy, but Kari’s grit and determination keep pushing us forward to success.”

“Kari believes in her employees and empowers individuals to take ownership of their work. It’s rewarding to have a leader that gives people the freedom to make decisions on their own and celebrates their successes,” said Joy. “Kari is open to seeing failures as opportunities and offers unique perspectives on developing creative solutions when facing difficult challenges. She encourages everyone to show up as their authentic selves, which is a rare and appreciated leadership quality.”

“Kari always shows genuine concern for her team members’ and customers’ well-being. She’s a hard worker and extremely knowledgeable. Though working in a business typically dominated by men, her tech proficiency and product knowledge makes her stand out among any person in her role,” said Dallas Henderson, Director of Business Development. “I’ve had nothing but positive experiences with her. I’m a big fan.”

The female perspective in tech

“When you look at tech companies that are embracing DEI and have a diverse employee base, they’re winning in the marketplace. Their company looks more like their customer base, which has become increasingly diverse,” Kari explained.

For instance, a large, global company like McDonald’s has a huge supply chain that includes diverse, female-owned suppliers. They understand that the more they can look like the people using their brand, the more successful they’ll be.

“In terms of females in tech, it’s more than just a job to us,” Kari added. “This is a mission that we’ve bought into, one that we’ve dug into and really want to understand.”

Conversely, some companies that lack diversity might suffer from a “bro culture,” where teammates are competitive, rather than collaborative. While some men may try to “one up” each other, women tend to leave their egos at the door and say, “Here are the problems we need to solve, let’s work together to come up with solutions.” 

In business, many women don’t have a “know it all attitude,” and aren’t confrontational by nature. Whereas some men may battle over “turfdom” in the workplace, that’s not the vibe at RizePoint. No one is childish, trying to “win” a fight. There are no ulterior motives. There’s no office politics. Everyone on the team works together, which is what makes the company so special.

Diverse teams result in higher successes

A study conducted by Dr. Alice Eagly, an expert on women’s leadership, found that women make better leaders because they’re more transformational, working to develop others, listening more effectively, and thinking more creatively than their male counterparts. RizePoint’s employees say that Kari embodies this description.

Reports also demonstrate that effective leaders need “soft skills,” such as emotional intelligence, empathy, listening skills, problem-solving, time management, and innovation/creativity, and that women are often better at using these soft skills than men.

It’s been proven that diverse teams achieve higher successes across various metrics, including financial performance, as well as problem-solving, etc., and Kari has found that to be true at RizePoint.

“We have a large, global food brand as a client, and if guys had been leading the charge, they likely would have said that RizePoint has the software to solve this organization’s problems, and we do.  But they would have missed what this client has been trying to do – help each franchise location get better,” Kari said. “The women on the team looked beyond what the client was saying and asked smart questions. They uncovered that this brand wanted to build a supportive, not punitive, culture in a way that is differentiating.”

“The females spent more time with this client to really learn about their needs. They recognized the problem this brand was having. This led to new RizePoint features, like capturing digital evidence in a collaborative setting, which none of our competitors do. Our approach – and our solutions – differentiate us from the competition. We helped this brand develop a new way to connect to locations virtually and solve problems more collaboratively. And we really came through for them,” Kari added.

Encouraging young girls to embrace STEM

Inequality in the workplace begins with inequality in the classroom. Gender stereotyping of STEM subjects, like math and science, results in fewer girls choosing these subjects in high school and college.

RizePoint is trying to change this, in part by awarding scholarships for STEM camps for local Salt Lake City students.

In 2022, a third (33%) of the scholarship winners were female students. According to the RizePoint team members that reviewed the applications, the female applicants had stronger, more creative, interesting essays than their male counterparts. The male students’ essays were straightforward, saying they wanted to create things with Legos, learn code, or build robots. In contrast, the girls’ essays were more complex, saying they want to study STEM subjects, like biology, to understand why something works or to learn how to solve a particular problem.

“Women are making strides in the workplace, but it’s true that it all starts in the classroom. Imagine the difference in skillset and salary potential for women that started in tech at age 16 vs. a woman like me that came into tech in my 40’s,” Joy said. “I’ve seen many great programs that address this very issue, offering opportunities for girls to gain confidence and experience in STEM from an early age. I love the program RizePoint does funding STEM camps.”

What’s the future of women in tech?

Kari believes that if a company has a culture that supports women, women will naturally gravitate towards those leadership positions.

She’s also seen that the food industry, overall, is shifting to be more female dominated, and that women will be instrumental in innovating and solving problems in the supply chain.

“Women are often better at seeing a problem, seeing how tech can solve the problem, and marrying the two,” Kari said.

“The supply chain needs to be transformed in the next 5-10 years and the food industry needs to become more creative about how we feed the world,” Kari said. “Having women behind this effort is so important, and it’s great that more women are leading the charge.”

Kari recently attended NAFS Conference, where she met a group of young women who were all farmers’ daughters, and had attended the University of Michigan, the University of Nebraska, and other schools known for their strong food safety programs.

Kari was impressed by these young women, who were leading and running food safety programs for some of the nation’s most prestigious brands. These young ladies were responsible for major companies’ food safety programs, and if they didn’t do their jobs properly, it could kill someone. They grew up with technology and understood the value of it. For instance, they use software to do regular line checks, and see the advantages of using tech tools to manage a variety of safety and quality tasks.

While chatting with these women, Kari found them to be very supportive of one another. They formed a group, For Women in Food Safety, to collaborate, compare notes, learn what other companies are doing and how they’re doing it, and provide support as more women navigate the traditionally male-dominated industry.

“Women are transforming this industry – and it’s not just about our software, it’s about our connections,” Kari explained.

If you’re a women in the food, quality, safety, and compliance space and want to connect with women who speak your language, let’s talk. Kari also encourages females in the food safety space to join the For Women in Food Safety group to link up with likeminded women.