Megan Smith Wants to 'Debug' Tech's Diversity Problem

As the Obama Administration's third Chief Technology Officer, Megan Smith is attempting to dismantle the digital ceiling that has limited the participation of women and minorities in the nation's technology workforce and stifled diversity in some of the country's most innovative companies. "It's the moonshot of this time, right? And we're in the middle of it,” Chief Technology Officer Smith said. “We're going to debug this. I believe we'll get there.”

"Of all the industries, it's an industry that is data driven and it is innovative -- and it moves fast once it sees what the problem is,” she said. “And I think there's a waking up going on." “All of the math shows that products are better, companies are better, financial performance -- everything's better with a diverse team,” she added. “I think especially for our most pressing problems, whether it's poverty or cybersecurity, the more diverse the team, the better we are going to be to kind of protect ourselves and advance society in the ways that we need to do by getting this figured out."