Member Info – HMG Strategy – CIO & CISO Summits

Penny Collins is an experienced multifunctional global technology and business executive with a demonstrated history of building enterprise scale solutions to meet business and technical challenges. She has extensive experience in IT leadership building high performance teams and driving transformational initiatives across multiple industries. Penny has exceptional talent for understanding complex business problems and leading cross-functional teams in the development of innovative and effective solutions while maintaining focus on the overall strategic business plans.

Penny brings a wealth of experience working across many functional areas and is a thought leader and strategic thinker who is sought after by organizations to challenge the status quo, establish effective organizational structures, and deliver innovative solutions to drive business effectiveness growth. Penny has a track record of building partnerships from board members to company directors and motivating teams across all levels of the organization.

Penny excels in driving operational excellence. She champions a strong focus on customer satisfaction and loyalty. Penny’s leadership style is one that creates an empowered, highly engaged workforce with the skills needed to succeed in this era of exponential technologies. At her core, she is a servant of our community and an advocate for women in leadership because it makes sense. Passionate about women and girls of all ages excelling in S.T.E.A.M. from the classroom to boardroom. Penny’s core values are continuous improvement, teamwork, results orientation, integrity and trustworthiness.

Penny Collins is the President and CEO of Women In Technology (WIT) responsible for the execution of WIT’s strategy while delivering program and events to promote increasing the number of women and girls in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math). WIT empowers girls and women to excel in STEAM from the classroom to the boardroom by providing female students in middle school, high school and college with education, exposure and experience. By sharing the stories of successful professionals across the STEAM fields, WIT encourages all generations of girls and women to write their future.

Prior to joining WIT, Penny was the Chief Technology Control Officer for First Data Corporation, Global Lead for Disaster Recovery and Head of Global Cyber Security and Controls PMO for the CEO. In addition to all these roles, she served as the global leader for First Data’s Women’s Leadership Council and a solid champion for the organization’s diversity and inclusion programs.

Prior to First Data, Collins spent time as a business owner and entrepreneur, was Chief Process and Usability Officer for British Telecom (BT), and has spent her career leading global technology teams.

She was named by Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan as one of 15 Outstanding Women in Leadership in 2020. Penny also received the United States Women in Payments’ award for Education in 2019 and was nominated for the 2021 TechBridge Bill Bolling Non Profit Leader Award. She is an active member of Kiwanis Club and Atlanta’s non-profit community.