Rachael Gannon has faced extraordinary odds: navigating single motherhood while building a career in an industry where she’s notably in the minority. Women hold only 14% of executive positions in STEM, according to Statista. In August of this year, she was promoted from Executive Vice President of Product and Development to Chief Automation Officer of Paycom, a publicly traded OKC-based company with thousands of employees that is projected to reach $2 billion in revenue this year.
Gannon is a single mom raised by a single mom in Oklahoma, and she lovingly attributed her work ethic to her family background. During her childhood, her mother worked several jobs, including payroll for OU Health Sciences Center, and Gannon began working early for her grandparents’ business. She said, “A lot of people may not believe this, but when I was in 7th grade I started helping with payroll for my grandparents. I remember working with my grandpa while listening to Britney Spears and learning how to calculate Medicare and Social Security.”
When Gannon began working at Paycom in 2013, it was an entry-level position. “It was customer service, and my job solely focused on working with clients. I loved building those relationships,” she said. “I had such empathy for them—it took me back to those long nights that I watched my mother doing payroll. I wanted to make a difference. When I moved up to leadership, I was able to visit with some of our clients on site and hear their feedback. I wanted to make an impact with every client at Paycom using all the things I had learned, saving them from those same long nights that my mother and grandparents had spent.”
Gannon is passionate about supporting women in STEM and paving the way for future generations. As an advocate for empowering young women to pursue careers in tech, she actively champions causes that align with her personal mission. In 2024 and 2025, she was involved in efforts that resulted in donations totaling $100,000 to local STEM-focused organizations, including $50,000 to the Putnam City Public Schools Foundation for STEM programs and $50,000 to Oklahoma Women in Technology (OKWIT) to advance opportunities for women in science and tech fields. These efforts are also close to her heart because her own daughter is interested in STEM.
As a strong supporter of Paycom’s Women’s Employee Resource Group (ERG), Gannon champions visibility and support for women in the industry. “There are 11 different resource groups,” she said. “Having people who are going through the same things that you are is so important. Because I’m in a leadership role, sometimes people look to me for advice, but when I’m there, I’m just learning from everyone else. Together, we’re building community.”
In her new position at Paycom as Chief Automation Officer, a role over the software department driving overall product strategy, she will have a chance to lead the company with her innovation. She said, “This is the biggest accomplishment in my career to date, and I don’t say that lightly. It is because of women like my mother that I have the ability to achieve the things that I have achieved. I think about the way I went through a divorce and had to take care of my kids and show up every day at work while I was putting myself through college. I remember at the end of an impossible day, thinking, ‘Rachael, this will be worth it, keep showing up for yourself. You are showing your kids that you can do the hard things.’ I am so proud for my daughter to know that it is possible for her, just like my mom worked so hard to let me know that it was possible for me.”
