IT Woman of the Year Nominee:

Sitima Fowler

CEO and owner,
Capstone Information Technologies Inc.

Sitima Fowler is the CEO and owner of Capstone Information Technologies Incorporated. Sitima founded Capstone in 2003 with her husband Michael. Since its inception they have doubled its revenue every year and 2009 is looking to become the best year yet. In 2008, Capstone was named as one of the nation's fastest growing companies in the nation by Inc. 5000 magazine.

Prior to starting Capstone, Sitima worked at Xerox, Corning, and then at General Motors. She started at Xerox designing and implementing shop floor controls systems to automate manufacturing processes/lines that used to run manually. Her corporate career ended at General Motor's Fuel Cell Activities in Honeoye Falls, NY. There she worked on advancing the very important control systems of an electric car.

Sitima's experience at Fortune 100 companies gave her the opportunity to see the incredible leverage on technology that was being used to make the companies more profitable. That level of IT support just wasn't available to small businesses at an affordable cost. So she and Michael decided to launch Capstone and fill this gap for the small businesses in the Greater Rochester area. Capstone has a business model that allows small companies to have the same technology expertise as big companies. She is constantly evolving and investing in technology tools that enable her to support her customers better.

In addition to running Capstone, she is involved in many local organizations. She is on the board of the National Association of Women Business Owners(NAWBO). She has taken a hands on leadership role at NAWBO and helped that organization double both from a membership perspective and financially. She currently mentors 5 women in the Rochester area. The women she mentors range from high school students, college students, and women in business. She is involved at the University of Rochester's Women in Engineering's mentoring program. She also speaks regularly at RIT's Technology days for Girls. She is a member of the AWC and the India Community Center. At the India Community Center, she helps organize cultural events. In the community, she is a volunteer at Wilson Commencement center. She teaches the residents at the center computer skills such as Microsoft Office in a fun way. She is actively involved with many volunteering services at her church. She helps serve and cook meals to raise money for the less privileged.