Growing up on the southside of Chicago in the Stateway Garden housing projects, Valarie King-Bailey always believed that there was more to life than her experiences and she was repeatedly advised that education was the way out. “I always wanted to be a leader and not a follower, so I challenged myself to pursue a challenging curriculum in college and majored in engineering.”
As a result, she achieved the distinction as the first black female graduate in civil and environmental engineering at The University of Wisconsin Madison. King-Bailey went on to an international career, working with leading software and life sciences companies across the globe before founding OnShore Technology Group where she serves as the CEO.
OnShore Technology Group is an independent verification and validation firm dedicated to providing advanced products and services for life sciences companies. The organization’s mission is to help life sciences companies ensure sustained compliance by establishing and maintaining their validation processes.
“My idea was to help organizations streamline and optimize the validation process while remaining compliant,” said King-Bailey. With new advancements and the creation of a unique test automation engine called TestMaster that tests software applications and the incorporation of AI, the company doubled in size during the COVID-19 pandemic. OnShore Technology Group has been listed three times as an Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Company and achieved 140 percent growth in 2022.
King-Bailey has earned multiple accolades throughout her career, including the Inc. Top Female 100 Founders, an AI Global Excellence Award and named the Technology Executive of the Year.
The workplace for technologists is becoming more of a transient environment, said King-Bailey. “Increasingly, technology workers are demanding greater autonomy and freedom in the workplace and at the same time, agile software development and validation project methodologies require greater teamwork,” she said. In response, the firm has established a hybrid remote workforce, training plans for each job category through the OnShore Learning Academy and a motto to “Be Prepared.”
King Bailey said she strives to be an empathetic leader. “I am one that believes my greatest asset walks out of the door each evening – my employees,” she said. “I treat each person with the dignity and respect they deserve, and I listen to ideas and feedback to help the company grow.”
If she had to give her younger self advice, King-Bailey said it would be to “learn everything you can, get the highest amount of education you can, listen to good advice when given, and if you are able, start your own business.”
For her many accomplishments personally and professionally, King-Bailey has been named a titan.
