Get to Know WAAC Q3 Speaker Wendy Manywhitehorses, Technology Executive and Former CTO

The TAO Women & Allies Community (WAAC) is a group where women in tech (and their allies) can connect, learn and share what it takes to grow and lead in a tech career. As part of our commitment to inspiring female leadership, mentorship, and career growth within the WAAC community, we're excited to shine a spotlight on the incredible speakers joining us for Beyond the Build: The Business of Technical Leadership. Before they take the stage, we wanted you to get to know them — not just as experts in their field, but as people. Their stories of the mentors who opened doors, the lessons learned the hard way, and the moments that shaped their careers are exactly the kind of inspiration we hope to share with our fellow WAAC members. Let's get to know Wendy Manywhitehorses.

Wendy Manywhitehorses, a panelist for the Q3 WAAC event, is a technology executive and lifelong technologist with 30 years of experience spanning software engineering, product development, data, AI, cybersecurity, and enterprise technology. She began her career as a software engineer and has since led technology organizations as a CTO, President, and senior engineering executive across startups, SaaS, and large enterprises.

Fun facts about Wendy

Did Someone in Her Career See Her Potential Before She Did?

When asked about a mentor, teacher or sponsor who saw her potential and opened doors or opportunities for her, Wendy responded:

"This is actually a difficult question for me, because I haven't had the traditional career story of a mentor or sponsor who saw my potential and opened doors for me. As a queer woman of color in technology, my experience was often the opposite: I did the work before I was given the role, demonstrated that I could operate at the next level, and then advocated, sometimes pretty hard, for the opportunity to be recognized for it.

That experience has shaped how I lead today. I'm very conscious of looking for people who are already stretching beyond the boundaries of their role, making sure their contributions are visible, and creating opportunities for them to grow without requiring them to prove they can do the job before they're ever given the chance. I didn't have one person who consistently opened those doors for me, but that has made me very intentional about trying to hold them open for others."

How Wendy Sees Herself and Content She Consumes

Wendy describes herself as Curious, Candid, and Empathetic. When we asked Wendy about what content she has enjoyed consuming lately, she shared that she is focusing on the YouTube podcast titled On with Kara Swisher. Wendy states, "I appreciate people who are curious, candid, and willing to ask uncomfortable questions, and Kara certainly does that. I enjoy the mix of technology, business, culture, and current events, and conversations where people aren't afraid to challenge conventional wisdom. Her podcast queue generally follows that same theme. If it's smart, a little irreverent, and willing to call out nonsense, there's a pretty good chance I'll listen."

Women Wendy Admires

We asked Wendy, "If you could host a dinner party with three people who've passed on, who would you invite — and why?"

• Maya Angelou for her wisdom, her extraordinary command of language, and the way she could speak about incredibly difficult things while still leaving room for hope.
• Dolly Parton because she was brilliant, funny, unapologetically herself, and enormously generous. She used her success to make other people's lives better, often without making herself the center of the story. I admired her greatly, and her recent passing makes this choice especially poignant.
• Eleanor Roosevelt because she was willing to challenge expectations, evolve her own thinking, and use her position to advocate for people whose voices weren't being heard.

"I think the conversation among those three women would be extraordinary. Mostly, I'd want to listen," answers Wendy.

What Wildly Different Career Would Wendy Pursue?

What career would Wendy pursue if she was not a woman leader in technology? Wendy responded, "I would like to be a writer. Although that may be cheating, because I already do it. I've self-published four urban fantasy novels, and if I weren't working in technology, I'd love to spend my days writing stories. Technology exercises the analytical, problem-solving part of my brain; writing gives the completely different, creative part somewhere to go."

Join us September 30th for Beyond the Build: The Business of Technical Leadership, happening in partnership with the Society of Women Engineers (SWE). And this event is our first time expanding outside of downtown Portland and into the Hillsboro area. Free, thanks to our sponsor First Tech Federal Credit Union. 🙏

If you're a woman in tech, know one, or you're an ally who wants to support this work — we would love to see you there.

📅 September 30 | 5:30–7:30 PM | Hillsboro
Exact location shared with registration.
🎟️ Event link: https://lnkd.in/gBS4cDjD