One of the winners of the Women of Color Technologist of the Year Award is Asha Goyal.
In 2004, she was honored for leading the quality team at its global services India division to become the first IBM unit to achieve recognition as a Software Engineering Institute Capability Maturity Model Level 5 organization.
Asha Goyal's story was first published in the 2004 conference issue of Women of Color magazine.
Afflicted by poliomyelitis at age two, young Asha refused to be held back.
She navigated through elementary and secondary school and eventually enrolled at the Indian Institute of Technology, where she achieved the highest score among female students on the engineering entrance examination.
Despite facing challenges getting around campus and participating in athletic activities, she persevered and graduated with a "Best Student Gold Medal" and a bachelor's degree in electronics.
She maintained a positive attitude, stating, "If you can't do something, at least you can enjoy seeing others do it, just like someone who can't sing can at least enjoy hearing others sing well."
This can-do attitude continued into graduate school at the Indian Institute of Technology at Kanpur, where she pursued a master's degree in electrical engineering and later a Ph.D. in computer science.
When she realized she needed to learn how to swim, she enrolled in classes and quickly mastered three different strokes within just 15 days.
She even became skilled at diving and eventually became an instructor, teaching others her techniques.
Despite facing challenges with mobility on campus, she didn't give up.
She experimented with various forms of wheeled transport, including bicycles, rickshaws, and even gadgets made from hospital equipment.
Finally, she settled on a moped she named Luna, which had an extra wheel for better mobility.
She could switch to "cycle mode" and even pull the car to her destination if the engine failed.
Two mechanics who were always available to help her in emergencies created a "knife-like" spark plug cleaner and an adapter that allowed her to use campus compressors to inflate the tires.
Later, she discovered automatic transmissions in America and developed a passion for cars.
When she couldn't bring an American vehicle with her to England, she found an older transmission from a Morris Mini, had it shipped to India, and installed it in one of the readily available Fiats.
During her corporate career, Dr. Goyal traveled to many countries for work and also vacationed in eighteen different countries.
She has experienced riding a cable car in the Swiss Alps and explored Disneyland.
Dr. Goyal served as a senior consultant at Tata Consultancy from 1971 to 1994, where she became known as a leader and innovator in software development for the Indian domestic and export markets.
One of her notable projects was leading the initiative to design and build a countrywide counterpart to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations' Criminal Information Center, the first of its kind in India.
In 1994, Dr. Goyal moved to Fujitsu ICIM in India and established a development facility at the Software Technology Park in Noida, India.
She also led software experts for the healthcare line of the business and developed healthcare information systems with a graphical user interface.
From April 1994 to October 1996, she led a team servicing large healthcare clients in the U.K., New Zealand, and Australia.
Subsequently, in 1996, Dr. Goyal joined HCL Perot Systems as an executive vice president for software development.
She continued her efforts to create top-quality software for clients.
In 1999, she joined IBM and became active with the Institute of Informatics and Communication, Delhi University, and a Fellow of the Institute of Electronics and Telecom Engineers, an organization that awards government-recognized engineering degrees and conducts educational activities in technical areas.
Goyal retired as vice president of quality from IBM Global Services India in 2006.
Months after signing on to lead the Quality team at IBM's Global Services India in 1999, Goyal propelled her division to become the first unit to achieve recognition as a Software Engineering Institute Capability Maturity Model Level 5 organization.
The institute developed the metric to assess the performance of organizations developing complex commercial software.
The fifth level of the Capability Maturity Model is the highest rating.
Goyal's team also won a Level 5 rating under the People Capability Maturity Model and, continuing that winning trend, was pushed onto a Level 5 rating under the more involved Capability Maturity Model integrated standard.
Dr. Goyal, a Six Sigma Blackbelt in quality control, led the team to reach that standard, too.
"I would like to share a quotation," Goyal told Women of Color magazine in 2007. "It's part of a Sanskrit shloka ( a Hindu prayer) from the Gita: 'Karmanyeva dhikaraste, ma faleshu kadachanam.' This means we have a right to our work and duty but do not have a total claim on the results and achievements."
Goyal has served as president of the Lioness Club in Roshni, which works alongside the International Association of Lions Clubs and is a part of Lioness Club India in social work and charity.
Dr. Goyal's career continued to flourish after her tenure at IBM. From 2007 to 2010, she served as the vice president for quality at Nucleus Software Exports Ltd.
Her role in the software company was focused on its banking products, where she made significant contributions in the international arena.
