Business Women Awards 2019 | INDUSTRY LEADER, TECHNICAL SERVICES
Rachel Barber, IGT Inc.
Rachel Barber remembers fondly how she loved video games as a kid.
“I liked ‘Space Invaders,’ ‘Qbert’ and ‘Centipede,’ ” she said of her ninth grade self. Little did she know that an adolescent aspiration to work for the video game company Atari would lead to her becoming a leader and pioneer in gaming and lottery technology.
Barber is senior vice president and chief technology officer of gaming and lottery at IGT Inc., overseeing a global team of 1,900 employees.
She has spent 28 years at the company (originally GTECH Corp., prior to its merger with IGT in 2015), starting out as a software engineer after graduating from the University of Rhode Island in 1991 with a computer science degree. As a software engineer, she developed software for the company’s online lottery point-of-sale terminals, then oversaw the installation of online lottery terminals in over 20 states. In 1996, she relocated to Olympia, Wash., where she managed a regional technology services hub for GTECH. Before long, she shifted from overseeing one region to the entire U.S. Eventually, she was promoted to technology director in 1998 and returned to Rhode Island in 2002. By 2006, she was vice president of global software engineering and was promoted to chief technology officer of gaming for GTECH a year later.
The GTECH merger with IGT led to major changes for Barber, who first had an expanded role of senior vice president and CTO of gaming, then advanced to SVP and CTO of gaming and lottery in 2018.
“Four years ago, at GTECH, I led our gaming-technology team and the organization size was approximately 500 people,” she said. “When we merged with IGT in 2015, my team size tripled and the portfolio of products I was responsible for grew astronomically.”
With the expansion, Barber found herself traveling frequently to offices in Las Vegas and Reno, Nev., which allows her to keep her finger on the pulse of the company’s culture.
“My job right now is focused on integrating technologies across the portfolio and seeing how to best combine our lottery and gaming technology organizations into one,” Barber said. “With that, comes a lot of challenges. … Today I have 1,900 people that I’m overseeing, with teams all over the world, so I try to do employee-engagement outreach activities, to stay in touch with people and keep a beat on what the organization is concerned about.”
Still, Barber finds time to volunteer. She was previously a board member for Big Sisters of Rhode Island, and she also mentors women working in the tech industry. At IGT, she’s also involved with launching the Women’s Inclusion Network employee business-resource group.
“Being a woman, I’m aware that I’m in the minority, at the senior levels especially,” she said. “When I meet with customers, it’s often-times very similar, where I’m in the minority. At the same time, I really can’t say that it has held me back. I feel very fortunate at this company that my bosses have always encouraged me to grow and mentored me in a way that has allowed me to grow. I’m excited to watch our new Women’s Inclusion Network at IGT begin to offer even more support to the women at IGT.”
Indeed, she’s concentrating on excelling at her latest role as IGT’s chief technology officer of gaming and lottery.
“It’s a new organization for me and, lucky for me, I spent many years in the lottery organization, as well as gaming, so the industry, technology and the people are very familiar to me. That said, the organization is only 6 months old, so I’m very focused on making it a success.”
