JOANNE IVERSON
Many key figures in the gaming industry lead a ‘double life’, with a passion away from work that has led to remarkable achievements. One such figure is Joanne Iverson of Iverson Gaming, whose passion led her all the way to the 1976 Olympics and beyond
Rowing to glory I
t’s no exaggeration to say that Joanne Iverson’s seemingly limitless drive and passion for rowing changed the face of sport forever. The Pennsylvania native not only enjoyed a great racing career followed by a stellar coaching
career (which led to being the first team manager for a US women’s Olympic rowing team), she has also carved out a niche as an innovator in software engineering. If that’s not enough, she and her husband Millard Reeves have also reached black belt status in a martial art. Joanne sat with Casino International to tell us about her life and achievements.
Casino International: First, I’d like to hear a
little about Iverson Gaming – we know you develop CMS solutions and it’s a system that is widely used on cruise ships. How did the company begin, and how did you come around to starting it? Joanne Iverson: The first company I started was
Iverson Associates, which was around 1984 when IBM introduced the PC. That’s the same year I decided to retire from the bank I was working for; I had been running the first ATM network in Philadelphia, which was great experience for me. My technical career started with Univac, which later became Unisys, and it was one of the first computer companies. I had trained there as a systems programmer, and left because I did not like travel and I was on the road a lot doing technical support. It wasn’t good for women in those days; you got no respect, you would be taken for a hooker in hotels, everybody hit on you, it just was not pleasant. I had a hard time with the clients too because I had no credibility. They thought because I was a female, I couldn’t possibly know anything. That was hard to counter, because naturally you over-perform. The very thing I needed in that area was to be told
by men that I couldn’t do this or that – then I would just go and do it.
CI: Did experiences like that harden your
attitude towards men? JI: I get along very well with men generally, I was
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raised with three brothers – but I was raised to believe women were weak, and I believed it. When I get called in to institutions to talk to young women or girls, what I tell them is this: “Do not be afraid to compete. Do not be afraid to be a killer. You are okay to be a killer; your mothers probably told you it’s un- ladylike but get out there and win at all costs. If you have to have a killer attitude, then that’s what you must have.” That’s competing. I would rather have that working for me than someone that is hanging back for one reason or another.
CI: Rowing is very popular in Pennsylvania, are
you from the area? Did your geography affect your choice of sport? Yes I am. It’s very common here but I didn’t
necessarily know about it when I was growing up. I grew up on the river, and I did row but just with my brothers in rowboats; then I was babysitting for a young couple when I was 18 who had two little boys. At some point, the couple asked if I would like to try rowing. I said, “What’s that?” They explained what they had been doing, and would I like to give it a try, and I said “Sure.” They took me down to Boathouse Row [where all the boathouses for the many colleges in the area are], to one of the clubs, and introduced me to people. This was 1959, and at the time the only rowing club that I was eligible to get in was Philadelphia Girls’ Rowing Club, because there were no women allowed in the other clubs. After I started rowing, I realised that probably because I had spent so much time rowing with my brothers, that I was good at it and I was winning races from day one. I thought, ‘this is wonderful! Now I can go to the Olympics!’, because I had always enjoyed watching the Olympics. Then I found out there were no women’s rowing event sat the Olympics, so I asked why not. I found out it that was because the national governing body for rowing was the National Association of Amateur Oarsmen. They didn’t have women I the organisation, and they did not sponsor regattas or races for women. When the Olympic committee would come around
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