As a woman in the technology industry, Rubyna Zito had few role models to inspire her. “It was always the very toxic corporate culture where women were fighting for the same seat at the table all the time,” she recalls. But as she advanced in her career, she realized that it shouldn’t be about fighting for that seat — it should be about making more room at the table. Having the right representation in leadership can make a big difference, she notes, adding that she wants her own two girls to be able to grow up in a culture where it’s not taboo to be a woman in tech.

Today, Zito herself is a role model for other women in the industry; she has served as VP of technology services and operations at Finra for nearly a decade, using her role to advance DE&I causes in multiple ways.

One of these is Finra’s Women in Technology team, which Zito created in 2017. It started small, with a mentorship program for high-potential women in the organization and an executive coaching program for senior-level women, and soon branched out into other areas of the business as well. Through Zito’s efforts, women now represent up to 50% of promotions within the technology organization, and 60% more women participate in leadership conferences as speaking guests than they did in past years.

"It’s important to empower the people of our organization regardless of race, gender, age. By doing that, we put our people first."

In 2021, Zito was part of a Finra-wide effort to launch the Racial Justice Taskforce and sat on the leadership committee to review ideas submitted around workplace inclusivity and finding solutions. The task force has launched several programs, including managing supplier diversity and equal hiring opportunities, training for internal staff to be educated on these issues, advocating for education around election day, and launching a Juneteenth campaign to provide information and access for staff to learn more about and celebrate the movement.

And Zito plans to keep up the momentum with more DE&I programs launching later this year and training modules for leadership on how to identify and tackle unconscious bias in the organization. “It’s important to me to empower the people of our organization regardless of race, gender, age,” she says. “By doing that, we put our people first.”

2023 DE&I Influencers List