Steve Shirley

4 Interview Shirley Interview) 4.1 Kindertransport and Childhood in England Shirley Kindertransport and Childhood in England) 4.12 Promoting the Professionalism of the Company Shirley Promoting the Professionalism of the Company) 4.15 Satisfaction of working with Computers Shirley Satisfaction of working with Computers) Dame Stephanie (Steve) Shirley is a highly successful entrepreneur turned ardent philanthropist. In 1962, she founded the software company originally named Freelance Programmers Ltd. (later renamed Xansa, and then acquired by Steria). It developed a unique business model as it outsourced all its software development to women software developers who worked from home. This “cottage industry” model originally targeted women with dependents. Throughout her entrepreneurial career, she pioneered employment opportunities for female programmers and allowed them to continue their education and professional development. Since her retirement, she has gained additional renown for her philanthropic efforts through the Shirley Foundation. The foundation has given over £50 million to various charities, targeting those that support autistic people and emerging technology fields. For instance, it was the major funder of the Oxford Internet Institute, which is part of Oxford University. Shirley joined the British Computer Society on its foundation. Additionally, she was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and promoted to Dame Commander in 2000. From May 2009 to May 2010, she served as the UK’s Ambassador for Philanthropy. In this interview Shirley focuses primarily on her career. She talks about her initial training in computers, the formation of her software development company and some of the challenges she faced throughout her career. This interview has a strong gender component as she discusses the discrimination she endured and why she initially only hired women with dependents. For a longer and more comprehensive oral history done by Stephanie Shirley, please see the one conducted by the British Library . Interview 627 for the IEEE History, The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Inc. Request for permission to quote for publication should be addressed to the IEEE History Center Oral History Program, IEEE History Center, 445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854 USA or [email protected]. It should include identification of the specific passages to be quoted, anticipated use of the passages, and identification of the user. Stephanie Shirley: an oral history conducted in 2001 by Janet Abbate, IEEE History Center, Piscataway, NJ, USA. To start at the beginning, when were you born and where did you grow up? My sister sublimated her childhood trauma—because they were very difficult times—by working always with children. She worked with adoptions and fostering, and eventually went to Australia. I went to her funeral some years ago, and, probably more than I had realized, she had done a lot for the concept of fostering: because I think we understand what loss and bereavement is, in that sense. Today, in some of the things that I do (not computer things), I am doing very similarly, in that I work with a school for profoundly learning-disabled children, who don’t communicate, and whose parents are themselves going through trauma in letting their children go. Somehow I think I have some understanding of that, because of those early traumas. So I think it’s part of my developmental history. I was five. So I was, I suppose, one of the youngest children that can remember anything at all about the journey. There were some babies, babes in arms, who were escorted by teenage children, some of whom were themselves coming to England to stay. Others had done a deal with the Nazis, that they would bring the children over and then return to Germany—to almost certain death. I always think those young girls were inordinately brave. Auntie had never worked, and was somewhat fragile, and a difficult