OakTreeBear Publishing is pleased to announce the publication on March 18, 2025, of THE WALL FALLS, A WOMAN RISES, A MEMOIR: How a U.S. Tech Entrepreneur Broke the Glass Ceiling and Helped Modernize Latvia by Dagnija Lacis, Founder, President, and CEO of BTG.

THE WALL FALLS, A WOMAN RISES chronicles the story of Dagnija Lacis, who many know as “Daggie”: how she left her beloved homeland of Latvia in 1944 to flee communism, how she immigrated to Indianapolis in 1950, went on to become the first woman programmer at Burroughs Corporation, the first woman line Vice President at Burroughs/Unisys, brought modern technology and SWIFT to her homeland and launched an international IT company, BTG.

The adventures Dagnija recounts include meeting the father of the computer, John Vincent Atanasoff. She shares his story of how he reached four crucial decisions about the “computing machine” one night in a roadhouse. Even today, every computer is based on those four principles.

After the Berlin Wall fell, Dagnija was invited to Latvia by the newly elected prime minister and foreign minister to install modern technology in the foreign ministry.  She remembers the remarkable incident that inspired her to launch BTG, when resourceful Latvian university students saved a major presentation by creating overnight two essential cables which hadn’t arrived.  She recounts the early years of BTG and recalls the colleagues who were part of those times.

More about the book, including some of its photographs, can be found at https://www.dagnijalacis.com/  Should you be interested, THE WALL FALLS, A WOMAN RISES, A MEMOIR: How a U.S. Tech Entrepreneur Broke the Glass Ceiling and Helped Modernize Latvia by Dagnija Lacis is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Bookshop.

“As Dagnija Lacis was introducing the latest Western technology to Latvians, I was introducing Western military structure and approaches. I often collaborated with Dagnija and her husband, Andris, in Riga during the early 1990s. I was proud of our efforts, which resulted in the Latvian military meeting NATO standards and Latvia becoming a NATO member. May the Latvia and Michigan partnership continue to grow!”

~Major General E. Gordon Stump, Ret. Adjutant General of the Michigan National Guard

“Dagnija Lacis’ memoir is a story of courage, upheaval, and persistence… Her transitions, first navigating through a male-dominated IT world, then across an ocean to a country that was emerging from fifty years of Communism are noteworthy. Watching through her memoir, we see her tenacity and resilience when confronted with obstacles. The way she always finds a path forward is inspirational for us all.”  

~Lynn Miller, author of Sweating Bullets, historical fiction