“The industry was new then,” says Phalen. “It felt like it was new for everybody. In some ways it was easier, because we didn’t have the stereotype of the male tech worker yet; we didn’t have that burden.”
“There’s a big focus on simplifying everything that we deliver,” she says. “All customers now expect their interfaces to be easy to use, and workflow to be automated.”
Her role requires a deep understanding of computer science and software engineering, as well as a facility with people and an intuitive sense of what customers and employees require to be successful. As it turns out, she first developed both sets of skills during her years at WPI.
She spent her early childhood in Holliston, Mass., where her father worked for a company that sold computers to WPI. He brought his daughter along when he visited campus—visits that stuck with her even after the family moved to New Jersey when she was in sixth grade. “That put WPI on my radar screen,” she says. “And then, I really liked the WPI Plan. I liked Massachusetts. I liked the size of the school. I can remember being in New Jersey, trying to decide between WPI and another college, and looking through the brochure over and over again, and I was just drawn to WPI.”
A self-described “math kid” in high school, Phalen knew from the start that she wanted to major in computer science. “It was that or accounting, and computer science sounded a lot more interesting.” She was aware that her gender made her stand out, both at WACCC and on campus more generally. At the time, women represented less than a third of the student body, and the proportion in computer science was half that. And although she never felt that male students or classmates treated her differently, she formed tight bonds with other women. “I think that was sort of a natural outcome of being so much in the minority,” she says. “But it really didn’t faze us. And I think because the industry was new then, it felt like it was new for everybody. In some ways it was easier, because we didn’t have the stereotype of the male tech worker yet; we didn’t have that burden.”
She recalls “comradery and community” when she thinks back to her days at WPI, which, she says, “turned out to be a really good fit for me. The project work was interesting and engaging, and it allowed me to just enjoy what I was doing, to think of it as not just something I needed to do to pass a class, but something I was learning for the longer term.”
She picked up programming languages like C, Lisp, and Pascal, which—like punch cards—quickly became obsolete, thanks to the swift pace of technological innovation. But it wouldn’t be these concrete skills that would serve her best once she entered the working world. “With software engineering, a lot of the logic and the approach— the ability to debug and diagnose problems, to think about things from the design level—applies no matter what language you’re using,” she explains. “And the experience of working in a team to complete projects is absolutely still relevant. That’s just foundational, and that hasn’t changed with technology.”
Outside the computer lab, Phalen also honed abilities that would help her climb the corporate ladder. Elected president of her sorority, Phi Sigma Sigma, and tapped for Skull, WPI’s honorary society, she learned to feel comfortable stepping into leadership roles. She also learned to value her life outside work, whether it was taking part in clubs and activities, or hanging out with friends at the Goat’s Head Pub in Sanford Riley Hall.
“I just remember a collaborative environment,” she says. “And we had a lot of fun.”
After graduation, she worked as a software engineer at Digital Equipment Corporation for 12 years. A stint as an architect for customer engagement at IBM followed, and she joined EMC in 1999, staying on after the Massachusetts company was acquired by Texas-based computer hardware giant Dell in 2016.
“When I came to EMC, I knew I really wanted to move more into management,” she says. “I felt like I would make a bigger impact as a manager than as an individual contributor. I still love having conversations about software engineering, and I’m generally excited about it and enthusiastic about it, but I realized I was more and more interested in the dynamics of what makes an organization work, not just the technology.”
