Becky Newell Named to Region’s Top 25 Women in Business

By Leah Baker | March 3, 2016

PrairieBusiness_Top25Women_2016Becky Newell, co-founder and Vice President of Development at Stoneridge Software has been named as one of the region's Top 25 Women in Business, by Prairie Business Magazine. Based in Barnesville, MN with a branch office in Minneapolis, Stoneridge Software is a consulting firm and reseller of Microsoft Dynamics accounting and operations software for mid-size to enterprise businesses. In the company's first three years in business, Stoneridge Software has grown from three to 59 employees, is registered as doing business in 16 states, and has worked with more than 120 customers to provide software consulting, support and implementation services.

Each year, Prairie Business selects a group of extraordinary women who show exemplary leadership, motivation, ambition, and talent, at work, at home and in their communities. Nominations were accepted from around the region for women in a variety of industries and roles. Applications were evaluated by a panel of judges and narrowed down to the top 25.

Becky became a founding member of Stoneridge Software in 2012 after spending 14.5 years at Microsoft. In her time at Microsoft, she spent most of her years in support, first for Dynamics GP (Great Plains), then the last 6 years as a Developer Support Engineer for Dynamics AX. In between those stints in support, she worked on the Dynamics platform development team, learning the foundation of the product and how to develop in a team atmosphere.

While in support, Becky had two months of time prior to the release of Dynamics AX 2012 to focus on learning the new platform and training her team members on the development changes in the new release. Since the product released, she’s been at the forefront working with customers and partners to guide them to the right path to accomplish their goals with the various customization options provided by the Dynamics AX product. She has provided training to numerous internal and external audiences, across all areas of development.

While at Microsoft Becky started the Dynamics AX support blog and it’s become one of the most popular blogs related to AX on the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN). She’s continued this momentum with the Stoneridge Software blog and over the years has written more than 120 blogs on various aspects of software development and troubleshooting issues. She has also developed a content rotation initiative at Stoneridge Software, where the entire team takes turns creating weekly educational blogs. Through Becky’s leadership, Stoneridge Software has developed one of the largest, most popular technical blog libraries of any partner for Dynamics AX software, with subscribers from around the world.

Beginning as the sole software developer at Stoneridge Software, Becky now serves as the leader of the development team at Stoneridge Software. She and her team focus on software customization and report creation for large implementations, with a specific focus on training development teams to be self-sufficient. She enjoys the chance to teach developers how the Microsoft Dynamics AX software product works – giving them a good understanding of the X++ language and AX development environment.

Not only is Becky a leader and mentor of her own team, but she has continued to consistently teach classes on development to customers, as well as for Microsoft’s Fast TrAX training program and AXUG (a software user group organization). Becky was an integral part of becoming a Microsoft partner, earning a number of necessary certifications.

Becky is also a role model in a leadership position that is a nontraditional career choice for females. It is uncommon to be a woman in the male-dominated world of software development, especially the difficult coding language of X++.  Becky’s team of developers at Stoneridge Software has also included two other women. There are not many, if any, Microsoft Partners that have a female leading their development division. She is a strong proponent of encouraging girls to consider careers in technology, including her own daughters, and was a longtime volunteer at Microsoft’s Digi-Girls camp.

Community Involvement

Becky-NewellOne of the reasons Becky was in favor of locating the company’s headquarters very close to home is her involvement in community. During her time as a resident in Barnesville, she and her husband Eric have coached a T-ball team for six years, began a kindergarten through 2nd-grade basketball program, in which they also coached, and have coordinated a whist tournament for the last eight years during the community’s annual Potato Days celebration. Becky also teaches Sunday school and vacation Bible school is a board member for the community’s Junior Olympic Volleyball program and a mentor for the Barnesville Community Fund’s philanthropic youth initiative, Trojans Give Back. In the past, she was also active on the Lake Agassiz Habitat for Humanity’s annual fundraising event, the Tour de Habitat.

Becky is also a supporter and cheerleader for other entrepreneurs, having served as a judge and mentor in the Stoneridge Software sponsored Barnesville Business Pitch contest, which encourages and awards new business ideas in the region.

Having Becky as a founder of the Stoneridge Software gave the company instant credibility and has had a major hand in its success. She has a consistent reputation for getting things done, is an anchor on our leadership team and is a leader for women in the software and technology industries.

Internally, and externally, Becky is especially valued for her technical skills, her tireless work ethic and being an astute problem solver. All of these attributes in leadership have greatly contributed to the success of the company, especially in its first three fast-paced years.

Congratulations Becky!


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