Vinnie Mirchandani from Deal Architect is doing a series on the impact that technology has had/is having on hobbies and asked me to participate. You can read my take on technology and tennis here, as well as many other great posts such as the impact of technology of sailing, basketball, wine and beer making, gardening, chess, restoring antiquated books, and 30+ other interesting hobbies and life activities.  Many thanks to Vinnie for spearheading this great series!

Today is Ada Lovelace Day and I’m joining bloggers across the world to write a post about a person I admire in Technology. But first, here are a few words about Ada Lovelace, who is considered to be the first woman in technology:

“Ada Lovelace (1815 – 1852) is often referred to as the world’s first computer programmer. The daughter of the famous poet Lord Byron, and the admired intellect, Annabella Milbanke, Ada Lovelace represented the meeting of two alternative worlds: the romanticism and art of her father versus the rationality and science of her mother…. In her attempt to draw together these polar opposites…, Ada collaborated with the renowned mathematician and inventor, Charles Babbage.”

“Ada Lovelace’s reputation comes from her important work interpreting Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine…. Ada translated Babbage’s paper on the principles of the Analytical Engine from French but in doing so she added lengthy notes and further level of understanding which perhaps even Babbage himself had not achieved. Babbage was impressed with her work, describing her as ‘the Enchantress of Numbers’…. Ada had understood the significance of the Analytical Engine and its implications for computational method. She saw that through the punched card input device the Analytical Engine opened up a whole new opportunity for designing machines that could manipulate symbols rather than just numbers. Her achievements are even more exceptional given the attitudes of Victorian Britain towards the intellectual pursuits of women.”

Like Ada, Row Henson is (one of) the first women in HR Technology.  Row has been involved in Human Resources and Human Resource Management Systems for the past three decades. Retired from full-time employment, splitting her time between her homes in Altanta and southern France, Row continues to be very involved in the Human Resource field. She is currently a PeopleSoft fellow, providing thought leadership, input, and advice on the company’s HRMS product line — a natural role for her after serving eight years at PeopleSoft as Vice President of HRMS global product strategy where she was involved in setting the direction for the company’s flagship Human Resources product line. She was voted one of the “Top Ten Women in Technology” by Computer Currents, received IHRIM’s (International Association for Human Resource Information Management) coveted Summit Award for lifetime achievement in her field, and was named the first Visionary of HR Technology at the Annual HR Technology Conference.

I had the pleasure to work with Row in 1997 when we were both living in Paris.  She joined the IHRIM Journal Editorial Advisory Board as I co-founded it, and we have continued to collaborate on articles, presentations, and publications in the field of HR Technology over the years. Among her many professional contributions, she was one of the early advocates raising the bar for HR technology beyond purely administrative and transactional processing to more strategic workforce management issues. Row is not only an admirable HR technologist, but also a wonderful, warm-hearted person, with a passion for travel, french food and wine, and a deep love for her dog.