Lianne Potter

One of the Tech Women Celebration 50 - women changing the ratio of the tech workforce

Lianne is an award-winning cyber anthropologist and security transformation leader with experience in the retail, healthcare, finance, private and non-profit sectors. Her consultancy, The AnthroSecurist, enables teams in complex organisations to understand each other's motivations, identify barriers that have prevented good security practices in the past, and provide practical steps and insights to increase collaboration between the security team and the rest of the organisation.

In addition to her role as Head of Security Operations as Asda, Lianne also works to leave the tech industry in a better place than she found it. She explains:

"In 2022, inspired by the Gender Pay Gap Bot, I offered free coaching on salary negotiations to women in the UK tech industry. I've been successful in my own salary negotiations, so I figured I had some skills to add. Pay parity isn't just about more money in women's pocket, it also address the massive pension gap that women face and it is also linked to feelings of self worth and overall job satisfaction.

"I aimed to empower women to advocate for themselves and bridge the gender pay gap. As a result of my coaching 11 women gained the confidence and skills to ask for pay rises and promotions. One of the women I mentored successfully negotiated a £20k pay rise. I now coach on this topic on a 1-2-1 basis very frequently and love seeing women doing great work, getting paid properly."

Lianne is also working to improve the culture in security operations at Asda.

"In the last 12 months, I have been fostering a culture of empowerment, innovation, and diversity within my team at ASDA. Diversity and inclusion have always been important to me, and I am proud to say that my technical team at ASDA has achieved an almost 50/50 gender split which is far from the norm in cybersecurity. I have achieved this by always offering roles in my team on a part time, flexi and job share so that it encourages people returning to work or with other care needs or responsibilities to apply.

"I take an active role in the recruitment process too by posting videos on the positions. I find this really helps women see the type of team they are going to join (and its leadership) and I've been told it helps more women apply because they see a female leader who is very present.

"I actively support initiatives promoting diversity and inclusion, such as being an active member of the ASDA community promoting menopause awareness using my expertise from when I was a co-founder of a female healthcare app that specialised in menopause. I am also on the board of a community enterprise called 'Women in Leeds Digital' with the aim to promote digital careers in the Northern area for women."