Leadership, Inclusion, and Investing in Women in Tech [International Women's Day Spotlight 2024]

As SureSwift’s VP, People and Operations, Amanda McKay manages the day-to-day team member needs of the individuals behind all fifteen of our portfolio businesses and the SureSwift Corporate team. McKay is a graduate of the University of Victoria, with an advanced diploma in HR from Camosun College, and holds her CPHR designation. Her breadth of experience in the world of Human Resources has improved our workflow strategies at SureSwift, and she has brought many fantastic new team members into the company.

Not only are we celebrating International Women’s Day today, but this week also marks Amanda’s first SureSwift anniversary, making it the perfect opportunity to spotlight her incredible work as a leader within the organization. We’re excited to hear from Amanda about what this first year steering the People team at SureSwift has been like for her and how the role has helped her to sharpen her skill set as HR lead. 

With SureSwift’s recent release of our new company-wide Core Values, Amanda provides a window into what it means to live out SureSwift’s new Core Values as a member of the SureSwift corporate leadership team. We'll also hear her thoughts about how SureSwift embodies the ideals of diversity and inclusion year-round.

Hi Amanda! Thanks so much for taking the time to sit down and talk with us. Tell us a little about your background and what brought you to SureSwift.

I'm quite fortunate that I always knew that I was going to work in the field of business. In university, I majored in sociology with a minor in applied ethics. During that time, I gravitated strongly toward people and their roles, thinking about how teams can collaborate both in the workplace and in society for the greater good.

After university, I started my career journey with roles in Talent Acquisition, Learning & Development, Engagement — all the different professional functional areas of HR. I grew into generalist and leadership positions from there.

I've spent the last ten years working within the tech industry in HR leadership, gaining experience in M&A, Global Operations, and SaaS operations. When the role came up at SureSwift, I wasn’t necessarily looking, but it was an oddly perfect match for my experience and passions. 

You joined SureSwift as Director of People & Culture in March of 2023, so this month marks your 1-year anniversary with the company! What has it been like this past year, helming the People team at SSC? 

In my career, I’ve been lucky to work with a lot of amazing people who believed in me and gave me opportunities to learn, challenge, and progress along the way, and I feel that here at SureSwift as well. This company strongly emphasizes taking care of its people, which makes it a great place to work. There’s a quote that I heard from Tracie, our Director of Marketing, that I've used a couple times and it feels appropriate to say here: Even though we’re a remote environment, I've never felt closer to the people that I work with on a daily basis, regardless of the fact that they may literally be on another continent. I think that's a testament to the culture here.

Compared to this time last year, have you observed any significant changes or developments in your experience with SureSwift, both personally and within the company?

Personally, I've had the opportunity to grow and stretch in areas that I didn't necessarily anticipate before coming into this position. Lately, I have been more involved in operations, assisting our COO John Austin by overseeing various aspects across all our business units and monthly base camps – looking at metrics, data, and people. It's fascinating to see how all these puzzle pieces come together and what it looks like to create an exceptional outcome. I find this aspect of my work particularly interesting. 

As an organization, we operate in a complex and dynamic way. We’re not a single-focus SaaS company; instead, we focus on and understand 15 different portfolio businesses, each with its own distinct operations. Wrapping your head around them on a daily basis can sometimes feel a bit like a marathon but in a really rewarding way.

Can you share how your role as a strong member of our leadership team at SureSwift has empowered your own career and personal growth?

I see myself as evolving. I'm always learning, improving, and striving to be better than I was yesterday, last year, or the year before. I recognize the essence of leadership, not just in myself as a team member, but also in various areas throughout our organization. 

Working here has not only impacted my ability to learn and grow but also my understanding that I have something to offer from my experience. My knowledge and skills are validated here in a meaningful way. I know I have a true seat at the table on different initiatives and projects that are underway.

How has your holding a position in leadership helped you to support other female leaders and employees within the company?

While I support other female leaders within SureSwift from the people side, I find that I'm often the one being supported and inspired by them. For example, I work closely with Leanna, our HR Generalist. She always comes to the table with such incredible perspectives and ideas — it's invaluable to have a partner like her here on the People team. There’s also Lindsay, who pivoted from corporate marketing to managing business units, and has this ability to zone in, execute complex projects, and do it all with such grace. You will always see her acting in the best interest of the company, and keeping integrity and accountability in her actions.

And then there’s Pam on the finance team. Honestly, keeping that many business units’ financials straight is a feat in itself, especially her ability to be data-driven and ensure that everyone has the information that they need to make informed decisions going forward. I know that's just three examples – I haven’t even mentioned Jac, Manasa, the people in our operations…there's a lot of incredible talent here.

How would you say SureSwift helps foster collaboration among the women in the company? 

SureSwift is a company where everyone's voice is heard. I've seen examples where feedback has been given to different members of the leadership team, regarding the ways that we can be more inclusive or how we can continually improve, and that feedback is taken and put into practice. The company is always iterating for the better, and I hope we continue to receive input from our teams through this feedback loop. Feedback is taken as a gift, because it guides us all to be better together.

Can you tell us a little about how the culture of SureSwift inspires inclusion across all the Portfolio businesses?

At SureSwift, we set quarterly goals, or quarterly rocks, as we generally call them, but there are a lot of different words you can use for them – OKRs, milestones, or targets. Essentially, it's the shared objective we're all working towards that keeps on track. DEI and B [Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging] has been unique in that we had to ask ourselves, do we call this a rock or goal? 

We ultimately came to the conclusion that DEI and B is not something separate or different from how we operate. It is how we operate. It's woven into our operations, our policies, processes, and practices – it is how we act and how we expect others to act on a daily basis. Providing equal opportunity for everybody to be successful is a part of our framework, and I am willing to personally be held accountable to that.

Can you share how you’ve seen SureSwift set itself apart from other companies when it comes to promoting diversity and inclusion as a company value? 

One thing that comes to mind is that when you work in a remote environment, the work speaks for itself, whoever produces it, so office politics or where people are located isn’t a factor. We have a lot of incredible people who work here, and a lot of those people are women who we can see operating at a really high level every day. 

I believe operating globally helps as well, because talent knows no boundaries and isn't confined to a country or language or culture. It’s the diversity in experience and education and ideas, combined with the freedom that our people have to take an idea and turn it into an initiative. That’s the difference. Diversity exists in our product, in our development, and across every sphere of our operations, which just make us stronger as a company.

The United Nations official theme for International Women's Day is "Invest in women: Accelerate progress." Could you reflect on the progression of opportunities for women in various tech industry roles over the past ten years and how this compares with your current experiences at SSC?

Ten years ago, I entered my first role in leadership in tech. I was the only female leader at the table. I don't have data in front of me, but I can say that in general, looking back ten years, there was an underrepresentation of women across the industry, specifically in leadership and technical positions.

If you fast-forward to today, there is no doubt that work is left to be done across the board, including at SureSwift. However, a big difference today is an acknowledgment that there is an underrepresentation of women and work to address the reasons why that is. By understanding the reasons why, we can work to address the issues, and create a brighter, more equitable future for all.

SureSwift recently released its updated set of Core Values, which focuses on embodying five qualities as a company: Data Driven, Integrity & Accountability, Customer Centric, Win Together, and Stretch. Of those five focuses, which ones do you find to be the most relevant to your day-to-day work at SureSwift?

All of them! It was essential for us when we started to look at who we are and who we aspire to be in the future – we wanted our Core Values to match that. I think we'll continue to revisit and reimagine our Core Values as we grow, and that's a natural and healthy thing for a business to do. 

The process of building the Core Values was very inclusive in itself. Knowing that we wanted to understand who we are, there was no better place to start that process than by asking our people. The themes were built from responses of a company-wide survey which was themed and analyzed by the People team. From there the themes moved to the corporate leadership team, and then further shared with the business leaders, the executive board, and then back again to corporate and business leaders. There were multiple stages of refinement along the way, but ultimately, the Core Values were developed by the people of SureSwift. 

As far as our values go, there's still more work to do to truly bring them to life in our operations and instill them throughout our organization. I'm working on a framework to help detail examples that are clearly defined and aligned to each value. With our prior company values, SureSwift did a great job putting them into practice and living them out. We’re setting on a similar path now, but the difference will be in what we prioritize. 

You mention building a framework to help the company live out these new Core Values. Can you share what it might look like to create that framework? 

It’s a joint project. We’re first looking at our values and how we define them, and then looking at how we live them and own and deliver work that matters. The result will be a framework for aligning actions with values, and will be embedded in our day-day work activities and interactions. It will be done in an inclusive way so our values are relatable to everyone.

Do you happen to have a favorite of the five Core Values?

I like them all for different reasons, but if I had to choose, I’d say Win Together. Win together focuses on collaboration, information sharing, and working with others to be curious and courageous enough to identify and solve challenges. It also highlights celebrating successes and acknowledges that we’re all in this together – that mindset brings a lot of intrinsic engagement for me. 

How do you think this updated set of Core Values will help lead SureSwift to success in 2024?

I think we’ll see continued success from what we already have. These new values will align everyone towards our mission of being exceptional operators of SaaS businesses. They’ll help focus and shape the culture in a deliberate way. Founders will be aligning with us based on our values, job seekers will be looking at our values and understanding who we are and how we operate, team members will have a reference framework for what success looks like, and ultimately they will be woven into the essence of SureSwift.

Our values will also provide a framework to make hard decisions easier. So if you're ever at a crossroads and you're not quite sure what to do, you can make a values-based decision. 

As we wrap up, can you tell us about a female mentor who’s made a great difference in your life? 

I’ve thought about this, and my reality is that I can leave almost any conversation feeling inspired and appreciative of the person who I'm having the conversation with. Even this conversation with you – you've come into it so thoughtfully, and you're able to probe me to pull out different information, and I find that really inspiring. I love gleaning insight from the qualities that I see in other people and specifically, in other women.

…And I also have to say my mom. 

And your mom! 

*Laughs*

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Thanks for joining us for this conversation with the Director of People & Culture, Amanda McKay. As we move further into 2024, we’re grateful to have exceptional operators like Amanda leading the way to success for our portfolio businesses. We wish you a Happy International Women’s Day, and we’re looking forward to continuing to highlight the diversity of the uniquely talented people that make up SureSwift Capital. 

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