SIM Member Spotlight: Women's History Month Edition - Cindy McKenzie

Cindy McKenzie is Chief Information Officer for Curaleaf. She has over 20 years of experience in IT leadership roles across multiple industries, including media and entertainment, engineering and construction, financial services, and cannabis. Cindy is on the board of directors of STEM Advantage, a non-profit that provides scholarships, internships, and mentors to women and underserved communities in STEM-related majors. She has won a number of awards, including Computerworld’s Premier 100 IT Leaders, SIM Leader of the Year, and the Advanced Imaging Society’s Distinguished Leadership Award.

Cindy has been a SIM member for over ten years. She originally joined Southern California SIM (SCSIM) and served in various board positions for many years. After a recent move to New York, Cindy joined SIM NY Metro and serves as Director, National Programs. She is also the Vice President of the SIM Foundation.

We asked Cindy to share her SIM experience through the lens of SIM's vision to help its members "Connect, Lead, Give" and some reflections and acknowledgments during Women's History Month.

Can you discuss the opportunities SIM has provided you to "Connect, Lead, and Give"?

My professional network has mainly been built through my SIM membership. Through SIM, I have been able to build a network of people in other industries whom I am able to connect with to get advice, references, and other information, many of whom have become close friends.

I am a big fan of SIM events, and the SCSIM chapter, where I belonged for many years, ran regular sessions on leadership. I would always pick up a tip or two. Having built a strong professional network through SIM, they are my ‘go-to’ group to contact in times of change. COVID is a great example of a time when CIOs reached out to discuss best practices in pivoting our companies to be fully remote.

I am very focused on giving back, leading me to co-found and run a STEM-related non-profit that SCSIM has supported for ten years. I also donated time during several SCSIM-related giveback opportunities, where we provided mentorship and did resume reviews for college students in partnership with a number of local non-profits. With SIM NY Metro, I have been doing mentoring sessions for NPower. I joined the board of the SIM Foundation, whose entire focus is philanthropic in order to further amplify SIM give back at the national level and to put in place alliances and support national non-profit partners FIRST and NPower.

Women are significantly under-represented in the technology industry and in the C-suite in particular. What are your thoughts on how the industry can improve and how can SIM help? 

SIM chapters can encourage women to join and make special efforts to ensure that they attend and engage in events. Regional Leadership Forum (RLF) graduates are also a pathway to encourage women to join and develop their professional networks. I firmly believe in supporting STEM initiatives and encouraging women and underserved communities to enter the technology field to ensure we have a strong pipeline of diverse talent. SIM has a strong focus on supporting these initiatives, and members can raise funds and also provide much-needed mentorship to students in these programs.

Tell us about a few individuals or organizations (professors, mentors, colleagues, or others) you'd like to champion or recognize during Women's History Month.

I have been very fortunate to work with some fantastic women throughout my career that served as sponsors and mentors, from my first IT position, where I worked for an amazing woman, Jo Schaeffer, to an amazing female CIO, Janet Woods, who I was fortunate to work with at Fox Entertainment Group.  Janet was a very successful and well-respected CIO, and one of her key attributes was her amazing relationships with the business. She was one of the people who told me that although I was well-known and respected at Fox, I needed to develop a network outside of entertainment. Based on her advice, I joined a couple of IT professional organizations, including SIM, which has really helped my career. I am truly a believer in the power of networking with your peers.

Are you a SIM member who wants to be featured in an upcoming SIM Member Profile? Would you like to nominate a fellow SIM member to share their story? Email us at [email protected].