Claudia Brind-Woody

Claudia Brind-Woody
Born	1955 Southern Virginia, United States
Occupation(s)	Corporate leader, attorney
Years active	1996–present
Known for	Vice president and managing director for intellectual property at IBM; LGBT advocacy and leadership

Claudia Lavergne Brind-Woody is a prominent American corporate leader who holds the position of vice president and managing director for intellectual property at IBM.

Early life and education

Brind-Woody was born circa 1956 in Southern Virginia and identified as part of the LGBT community from a young age, despite the scarcity of supportive resources in her rural hometown. She completed her undergraduate studies at Mary Baldwin College in 1977, graduating summa cum laude and earning membership in Phi Beta Kappa. She pursued a master's degree in administration at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, where she also contributed as an assistant basketball coach and Assistant Women's Athletics Director. During this period, she shared living quarters with the celebrated coach Pat Summitt.

Subsequently, Brind-Woody took on the role of Assistant Women's Athletics Director at the University of Texas at Austin, where she obtained an MBA and was honored with the Kozmetsky prize. Additionally, she earned a JD from Georgia State University, graduating magna cum laude.

Professional life

At the onset of her career, Brind-Woody spent three years as Assistant Dean for the College & Graduate School of Business at University of Texas at Austin. She also contributed to the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games.

IBM

Since joining IBM in 1996, Brind-Woody has been leading the IBM Global Intellectual Property Licensing division. Her responsibilities include overseeing a team dedicated to source code licensing, managing IBM’s Divestiture Practice, directing the IP Partnership program, and supervising IP Management Solutions.

LGBT & diversity

Brind-Woody serves as Global Co-Chair of IBM's LGBT Executive Taskforce, spearheading efforts to cultivate an inclusive workplace culture for LGBT employees. Under this initiative, IBM introduced Straight Ally Training and Certification, reaching 440,000 employees globally. IBM is also a founding participant in the Stonewall Global Diversity Champions Programme and supports its Leadership program.

She has delivered keynote addresses at numerous international forums such as the European Commission on LGBT Rights, International Conference on LGBT Human Rights, Europride Business Forums, Out & Equal Executive Forum, among others. Her speaking engagements include appearances for Out & Equal Workplace Advocates, WorkPlace Pride, the Danish Trade Council, and participation in The Economist’s Pride and Prejudice event.

Brind-Woody has held or currently holds board and advisory roles with influential organizations including:

• Out & Equal Workplace Advocates (US)
• Lambda Legal (US)
• Workplace Pride (Netherlands)
• OUTstanding (UK)
• Wybernet (Switzerland)
• Stonewall Global Diversity Champions Programme (UK)
• Gay Star News Advisory Board
• The Economist Pride & Prejudice Advisory Board

Awards and honors

In 2011, Brind-Woody was honored with the Out & Equal Trailblazer award and featured among GO magazine’s 100 Women We Love. The following year, she appeared on The Guardian's list of 100 Most Influential LGBT People of the Year. She was recognized in the Financial Times’s Top 50 OUTstanding rankings for 2013 through 2015 and was inducted into their hall of fame in 2016. The Daily Telegraph included her among its Top 50 LGBT Executives in 2015. In 2019, Business Insider acknowledged her as one of the most influential LGBTQ+ leaders within the technology sector.