Globally, only 1 in 3 businesses are owned by women, according to data from the World Bank Gender Data Portal. Despite obstacles, women entrepreneurs are carving out a greater place for themselves, far outpacing their male counterparts in starting businesses. With a more interconnected world, the need for women’s leadership, perspectives, and entrepreneurship is stronger than ever. Cathy Ross, the Co-founder and President of Fraud.net, has a commanding leadership style and inspiring entrepreneurial spirit that defines the strengths that women leaders can bring to businesses of any size.
Women leaders bring not only technical know-how, but also the ability to develop relationships, collaborate, inspire, and communicate both horizontally and vertically throughout the organization. Empowering women in business and entrepreneurship is one of the most vital avenues for growth in organizations and society as a whole. Cathy Ross is not only evidence of this empowerment, but is also a champion of the mission.
You can do anything!
Raised near Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Cathy’s first dream was to be an astronaut. She was blessed with a grandmother that made her believe that she can do anything. Plus, she was inspired by teachers who made learning fun and helped shape her career path. Initially, she worked in finance and investments and eventually started working with an e-commerce company—MotherNature. This was the turning point in her career.
Cathy’s experience from the receiving side of digital payments highlighted the fraud rates and gaps in the online payment infrastructure. The team realized that there was not enough visibility into fraud attacks and fraud data. The team sold this e-commerce company and ventured into an overlooked niche in the market with the founding of Fraud.net.
Fraud.net provides the most advanced infrastructure for real-time, enterprise-strength fraud management. Their unique collective intelligence network offers a proactive measure against fraudsters to identify and stop them. Fraud.net’s world-class AI models play a vital role in fraud prevention that will continue to advance as models get increasingly sophisticated.
We sat down with Cathy to discuss her leadership, unrelenting drive, and efforts to promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace. During our chat, she also elaborated on women in leadership and how she is working towards achieving social equality.
How has the role of women leadership changed over the years?
Concerning technology companies, I think the role of women in leadership has evolved in conjunction with the evolution towards a knowledge economy. Technology advancements have transformed the dynamics of work. We have pivoted from a top-down, hierarchical structure to a more matrixed, collaborative, and learning organization. The change has benefited women, with its focus on creativity, openness, and building relationships horizontally across the organization, instead of the traditional male-dominated workplace.
Would you elaborate on how you’re ensuring workforce diversity at Fraud.net?
We are strong believers in the power of diversity. Not just in terms of gender, but a diverse work environment comes with its own set of benefits. Different frames of reference and life experiences bring out the best in everyone and usually lead to the best business outcomes. There are also studies out there demonstrating that diverse and inclusive company cultures are more innovative, resilient, and nimble in responding to market changes, and I am a big proponent of that.
Considering the pandemic, can you share your leadership approach?
I believe my role is to keep everyone on the team inspired, focused, and productive. In doing so, I ensure that everyone is rowing in the same direction. Nothing can eat away at morale faster than when people feel an organization is adrift, not heading in a coherent direction. This can happen when executives are not providing sufficient leadership, including communications and consistent actions regarding the company’s vision and direction.
What measures are you undertaking to ensure women’s empowerment at Fraud.net?
It starts with your Talent strategy and programs to recruit, mentor, train, and promote women in the organization. We embrace the entrepreneurial culture, which means allowing employees to take risks and try new roles. Nothing is more empowering, and the depth of experience is invaluable. A variety of experiences has played a vital role in my career, and I think it also applies to most women, trying new roles, branching out to new industries.
From your experiences, what is that one piece of advice you would like to share?
I strongly believe that empowerment is also about accepting mistakes. I certainly have made my share during my career. There is no greater learning experience and better path to innovation. We are constantly striving to bring innovations to market, and with it come errors. For women in leadership roles, it is crucial to accept that is part of the process. People need to trust that their leaders will have their back when they try innovations or new ways of working that it will not backfire on them.
What is your favorite thing about being a woman leader?
The best part of my job is inspiring my colleagues. Whether it is passing on feedback from clients; discussing new market opportunities; or highlighting innovative projects our talented teams are working on. I have found that communicating this type of information is inspiring to teams, and likewise inspiring to me.
What does feminism mean to you?
For me, feminism is about building empowerment in women, whatever life choices they make, and valuing their contributions. It is an ethos of accepting women in various roles across our society. One should recognize the value and contributions of a stay-at-home-mom as much as a female CEO.
Lastly, what are your expectations for the year 2021?
The pandemic has triggered a massive amount of fraud of all shapes and sizes. Consequently, it drove enterprises to devote more resources to fraud detection and prevention. In the post-COVID era, I’m not envisioning a decrease in the amount of fraud. It is unfortunate for those businesses impacted, but we see no slowdown in activity as we continue helping clients with this “new normal” in fraud.
