Mar 22, 2021
While the number of female CEOs increased to over 25 percent in
2020, there are still many industries where women leaders are
under-represented, including industrial lighting/manufacturing.
Dialight is the world leader in industrial LED lighting technology,
and its solutions are supporting over 2 million LED fixtures
globally. But this tech company wanted to change the narrative when
it comes to the gender gap. In 2020, the company announced the
permanent appointment of its first-ever female CEO, Fariyal
Khanbabi.
Fariyal Khanbabi has already demonstrated great success in her
early months in the C-Suite. One example is the creation of the
Dialight Foundation, the nonprofit arm of Dialight aiming to
transform the lives of people in need in local communities where
the company does business, focusing on supporting children and
youth causes. In 2020 alone, the foundation raised over $61,000,
more than tripling its initial fundraising goal.
Fariyal attributes much of her leadership skills to her early
childhood years, where she lived on a shipping vessel as the only
eight-year-old amongst a crew of primarily adult men. Through this
unique upbringing, she learned to thrive as the “only” woman in a
male-focused workplace, but also where she experienced her first of
many C-level management lessons that have made her the business
leader she is today.
About Dialight
Dialight is a global leader in improving sustainability, safety and
operational efficiency for its customers by providing
high-efficiency, long-lasting LED lighting technology for
industrial applications. With over a million fixtures installed
worldwide, Dialight's class-leading technology reduces energy use,
cost and environmental impact for customers and is certified to a
broad range of international standards. The company's operations
are headquartered in the U.S., and it is listed on the main market
of the London Stock Exchange under the ticker DIA.