Description
“As Dagnija Lacis was introducing the latest Western technology to Latvians, I often collaborated with Andris and Dagnija in Riga during the early 1990s. I was proud of our efforts, which resulted in the Latvian military meeting NATO standards and Latvia becoming a NATO member.” ~ MAJOR GENERAL E. GORDON STUMP, RET. ADJUTANT GENERAL OF THE MICHIGAN NATIONAL GUARD
The story of this trailblazing entrepreneur opens when, as an infant, Dagnija Lacis fled the Communist takeover of Latvia with her family. They immigrated to Indianapolis in 1950 after spending five years in a displaced persons camp in Germany.
After graduating from Butler University in 1964, at a time when math and chemistry were not considered subjects for girls (yes, girls), Dagnija broke her first glass ceiling: WOMEN IN IT. Dagnija was the first woman programmer at Burroughs Corporation, then the second-largest computer company in the world.
In this compelling memoir, Dagnija shares stories and strategies as she built her successful career in IT, a man’s world, and became the first woman line VP for Unisys. Crash went glass ceiling #2: WOMEN IN MANAGEMENT.
Dagnija visited her homeland with her husband and his father in 1978, to find Latvia with systems frozen in time after decades under Communism. When the Berlin Wall fell, the newly elected Latvian prime minister and foreign minister asked Dagnija to install modern technology in the foreign ministry. That began her work to modernize Latvia and connect it to the West.
Dagnija describes how she and the team she assembled applied strategy, smarts, energy, expertise, and passion to help modernize Latvia. In the process, she launched her own technology company, Baltic Technology Group (BTG), and became an international IT entrepreneur.
Dagnija’s message was and is: “Stick to your goals. When confronted with obstacles, don’t give up, find another path forward.”
The stories and strategies Dagnija reveals in The Wall Falls, A Woman Rises, a Memoir are for readers of Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg and anyone interested in trailblazing women in business, women in international business, women in IT, women in STEM, and those interested in Latvia and the modernization of Eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
About the Author
Dagnija Lacis, born in 1943 in Latvia, was forced to flee there in 1944. After five years in a displaced persons camp in Germany, she immigrated with her family to Indianapolis. Dagnija graduated cum laude from Butler University with a B.S. in Chemistry and Mathematics. Her career includes being the first woman programmer at Burroughs Corporation, then the second-largest worldwide IT company, and later becoming the first woman VP at Unisys. When the Berlin Wall fell, the newly elected Latvian prime minister and foreign minister asked Dagnija to install modern technology in the foreign ministry. That began her work to modernize Latvia and connect it to the West.
In 1991, Dagnija founded and continues to run Baltic Technology Group with locations in the US and Latvia.
She and her husband, Andris, have two children. Andris currently serves as the Honorary Consul for Latvia for the State of Michigan. The couple live in West Bloomfield, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. THE WALL FALLS, A WOMAN RISES, A MEMOIR is Dagnija’s first book.
