Web Analytics

2013 Women Powering Technology Speakers


Master of Ceremonies

Amanda Coolong
Chief Content Officer & Advisory Board Co-Chair, Women in Technology International
  Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
203 - The Emerging Faces of Women in Technology

Amanda Coolong has been shaping technology narratives for nearly 20 years. A senior digital media executive and content strategist, she is a powerful voice advocating positive change for women in STEM. Ms. Coolong currently serves as Chief Content Officer and Advisory Board Co-Chair for Women in Technology International (WITI), a leading authority on the issues impacting women in technology. Previously, she led worldwide women's initiatives for a division of IBM. Ms. Coolong was also a founding partner and COO of TechZulu, growing the brand to become Southern California's leading online destination for technology news. While at TechZulu, she was a pioneer of participatory media, utilizing early live streaming video platforms and social media to interact with her audience.

Ms. Coolong is also an established podcaster, having produced, written, and hosted This Week in Cloud Computing under the guidance of Jason Calacanis, and Bitcoin News Weekly with her long-time co-host, Mark Jeffrey. An accomplished online host, emcee, and moderator, she has interviewed hundreds of leaders in the tech ecosystem from events like CES, SXSW, BlogWorld & New Media Expo, the Launch Conference, and more. Her consulting brand, Context & Narrative, specializes in the art and science of storytelling. In her "spare" time, Ms. Coolong advises early stage startups on their go-to-market strategies, and mentors young women pursuing STEM careers.


Keynotes & Featured Speakers

Lysa Dahlin
Sr. VP, HR & Organizational Effectiveness, Comcast Cable
 
Comcast Keynote Lunch

Lysa Dahlin leads the design and implementation of people strategies for Comcast's 3800 employee National Engineering & Technical Operations division. In her role, Lysa oversees all Human Resources business partnerships, including talent acquisition, talent development, employee relations, compensation, organizational design and effectiveness, employee engagement and communications. She works with Comcast's leaders across HR and field divisions to design programs that enable the innovation and change critical to compete in today's technology sector.

In her 14-year tenure with Comcast and its predecessor companies, Lysa has held senior HR roles across customer care, finance, business development, mergers & acquisitions, marketing and sales organizations. She previously held senior positions at AT&T, Media One, and Progress Software and progressively responsible roles at Marshalls, TJX Companies, and American Express.

Lysa serves as Vice President of the Board of Directors of a healthcare non-profit in New Jersey. She has also served on the Board of Managers of the YMCA, and on the Board of Directors for Women in Cable and Telecommunications (WICT). WICT has honored Lysa with the Liberty Award for innovative leadership, and has named her as a Fellow of its Betsy Magness Leadership Institute. Lysa earned her bachelor's degree from Boston University and is pursuing her MBA.


Heather Healy
Vice President and EMC Products Division CIO, EMC Corporation
 
EMC Keynote Lunch - Empowering Social Change Agents

Heather Healy is Vice President and Business Unit CIO for the EMC Products Division and several Corporate functions. In this role, she leads the Business Technology Groups for Engineering, Manufacturing, Legal, Facilities, Licensing & Compliance, eBusiness, and emerging businesses. Heather is responsible for the strategic partnership between IT and these business functions, the exploration, definition, and delivery of technology-enabled business solutions to fuel revenue growth and innovation while improving business performance and efficiency.

Prior to joining EMC IT, Heather lead the Strategic Planning organization in the Office of the CTO. In this role, Heather managed the development and execution of company-wide technology and business strategies, focusing on hardware, software, and services. Prior to joining the CTO's office, Heather spent several years in product management and business development within EMC.

Before joining EMC, Heather held several key technical and managerial roles at Gensym Corporation, Oracle, and Digital Equipment Corporation. Heather is a past recipient of the Massachusetts High Tech Women to Watch award in recognition of Heather's technology and professional accomplishments, leadership and mentoring activities and her civic involvement.

Heather holds a BS from University of Lowell and a Master's of Software Engineering from Brandeis University.

Possessing a unique blend of technical and strategic experience and a passion for active mentoring, Heather speaks externally at many community forums with a focus on women in science and participates in the professional development of EMC employees globally.


Guy Kawasaki
Chief Evangelist, Canva
  Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
208 - The Art of Enchantment: How to Use Likability, Trustworthiness, and Innovation to Change the World

Guy Kawasaki did not invent secular evangelism, but he popularized it. This goes back to 1983 and his work with the Macintosh Division of Apple. He is currently the chief evangelist of Canva, an online, graphics-design company from Australia. Guy is the author of 15 books. These are textbooks for the finest academic institutions in the world, and have been both New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers. His writing focuses on the tactical and practical in order to empower and inspire. Guy gives over 50 keynote speeches per year. His clients include Apple, Nike, Gartner, Audi, Google, Microsoft, and Breitling as well as dozens of trade associations. His topics include innovation, enchantment, social media, evangelism, and entrepreneurship.
Guy holds a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA as well as an honorary doctorate from Babson College.


Amy Marentic
Group Marketing Manager, Ford Motor Company
 
Ford Keynote Breakfast - Chatty, Charming, and Cheerful??

Currently Group Marketing Manager at Ford Motor Company, Amy Marentic's wide-ranging automotive industry portfolio has encompassed engineering, product planning, business strategy development, and regional field sales management roles. At the center of each career experience, a key influence has been the cumulative voice of customers.

Amy's engineering experience and customer insights, combined with a passion for supporting decisions with quantitative data, gave her the necessary skills to rally a team around reinvigorating both a car (the 2010 Ford Taurus) and an SUV (the 2011 Ford Explorer).

Trained as an aerospace engineer, Amy aimed to be an astronaut. During her senior year at the University of Michigan, she realized that an automotive career could provide years of exhilaration, compared with a brief ride in space she might never achieve. Before joining Ford in 1992, Amy worked as a product design engineer for Prince Corporation, a top-tier automotive industry supplier.

A contributing author to the 2007 book, "Boom: Marketing to the Ultimate Power Consumer - The Baby Boomer Woman," Amy is married with three active children. She holds both a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering and a master's degree in industrial and manufacturing engineering.


WITI Summit Speakers, Panelists and Moderators

Lorraine Akemann
Co-Founder, Moms With Apps
 
304 - Creating Killer Apps: How I Did It and Brought It to Market

Lorraine Akemann is co-founder of Moms With Apps, a collaborative network of developers who create apps for kids. After launching her own app in 2009, she recognized the need for knowledge-sharing and cross-marketing to help gain exposure in the App Store marketplace. Now hundreds of developers are interconnected over forums, groups, and services that have sprouted from within the Moms With Apps community. Lorraine's advocacy and efforts are focused on supporting apps that are designed to respect children and families, and her partnership with the Association for Competitive Technology is based on bringing best practices in online privacy to the forefront of kids' app development. She holds a BA in Communication from the University of California at San Diego, and an MBA from San Diego State University. Prior to forming Moms With Apps, Lorraine worked in various marketing and management positions in Silicon Valley (at Sprint and Cisco), and then opted out of the corporate workforce to stay home and raise her two daughters.


Anna Baird
CFO, Say Media
 
202 - The Fastest Track to the C-Suite

Anna Baird is the chief financial officer at Say Media. She has more than 20 years of experience working with some of Silicon Valley's biggest companies, from McAfee to KPMG, where she was the globaI lead partner for Google.

Formerly a partner at ConnorGroup, Anna has two decades of solid tech-focused financial leadership. Before joining ConnorGroup, she was senior vice president at McAfee, working with the CEO and CFO on global strategy and infrastructure and organizational alignment. Prior to McAfee, Anna was an integral part of the leadership team at KPMG in Sillicon Valley for more than 17 years, most recently as globaI lead partner and working with severaI technology companies including Symantec, Oracle, and Intuit.

Anna holds a bachelor's in accounting from CSU Fresno.


Nimma Bakshi
Managing Director, PwC
 
302 - Thinking Big: Get Noticed with Strategic Alliances and Partnerships

Nimma Bakshi is President of the Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals, Silicon Valley (ASAP-SV) Chapter. ASAP is the largest global association dedicated to the furtherance of business alliance practices and professional development. With over 20 years of experience in the professional services sector, Nimma has led diverse, high-performance teams to implement global collaborative processes and execute cross-company operations spanning the following areas: emerging market analyses, ecosystem portfolio design, co-creation of joint offers, multi-party strategic planning, big-bet innovation initiatives, and a variation of delivery models.

Nimma works with market leaders spanning infrastructure, networking, enterprise software, security, cloud, and Advisory and IT Service companies, and currently serves on the Board of Advisors to the 2013 Strategic Innovation Partnering Conference. He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and an MS in Operations Research from the University of Maryland, both with honors. Nimma also holds a BSEE from the University of Maryland.


Catherine Ball, Ph.D.
Vice President, Genomics and Bioinformatics, Ancestry.com
  LinkedIn
211 - Where Technology Is Going

As Vice President, Genomics and Bioinformatics at Ancestry.com, Cathy Ball leads a group of Population Geneticists, Statisticians, and Computer Scientists to create the analytical approaches behind the AncestryDNA direct-to-consumer genotyping services.

Cathy is a genomic scientist who has annotated and mined the genomes of various organisms and created resources to help other scientists exploit and explore genome data. She has collaborated on the annotation of the first eukaryotic genome (brewer's yeast) and has collaboratively built databases to explore the genomes of yeast, E. coli and the bacterium that causes tuberculosis. As a pioneer in data analysis resources for high-throughput biomedical technologies, she led the Stanford Microarray Database, the largest academic database of its kind. Cathy has used high-throughput biomedical data to shed light on diverse research topics, from the biology of infectious organisms to the mechanisms involved in cell division and cancer. She received a B.S. in Biology and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of California, Los Angeles. She was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley prior to her research in the Departments of Genetics and Biochemistry at Stanford University School of Medicine.


Cheemin Bo-Linn
President and CEO, Peritus Partners
  Facebook LinkedIn
311 - Big Data: What You, The Consumer, Should Know

Cheemin Bo-Linn is CEO and President of Peritus Partners, Inc., an analytic platform and business IT consultancy. Leveraging her expertise in digital transformation and application of technology to drive competitiveness, Dr. Bo-Linn was IBM Vice-President and CSO, CRO, and Digital CMO at e-commerce, mobile, finance, and software companies. She has also been appointed to serve on the board Board of Directors and as Audit Chair for global public companies in Canada, US, and Europe, as well as private health IT, energy, digital, and tech firms.

Dr. Bo-Linn was inducted into the Women In Technology Hall of Fame in 2015. She is also a Most Influential Silicon Valley Exec awardee; was named to the Top 100 CEOs in STEM; and has been an invited speaker to the United Nations, Dow Jones, and British Chamber. She attended the University of Houston earning a Doctorate degree in Computer Information Systems, as well as the Stanford University GSB Exec Program. Dr. Bo-Linn was appointed Visiting Professor on digital tech (AI, big data, cyber security) and marketing at the joint Columbia University, London School of Business, and Hong Kong University EMBA/MBA program.


Sandy Carter
CEO | CMO | Ecosystems | Business Development Information Technology, Silicon Blitz
  Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
207 - Catching the Wave: Top 5 Trends in Converging Social Media, Big Data, Analytics

Sandy Carter is a recognized leader in social business, a best selling author, and one of the most influential women in Web 2.0 technology. As IBM Vice President, Social Business Evangelism and Sales, she is responsible for setting the direction for IBM's Social Business initiative, a $200B market opportunity. Her numerous industry awards include: "Brand Leader of the Year" from the World Brand Congress, "Top 10 in Social Media" from Altimeter Group and Fast Company's "Most Influential Women in Technology." She was also named one of "The Top 25 Social Business Leaders..." . She is an avid social business evangelist, blogger, and twitterer. She holds an MBA from Harvard and a Bachelor of Science degree in math and computer science from Duke University. Visit Sandy at: socialmediasandy.wordpress.com/


Lisa Castillo
Supplier Diversity, AT&T
 
309 - Contracts: How To Get Them, Keep Them, Expand Them!

At AT&T Global Supplier Diversity, Lisa Castillo is responsible for cultivating key stakeholder relationships with West Coast community-based organizations and the advocacy of diverse suppliers. Lisa's mission is to develop and position minority, women, and disabled veteran businesses to compete and win corporate contracts. In addition, Lisa leverages the AT&T brand and world-class reputation for supplier diversity leadership by sharing best practices with other corporations that seek to grow contact opportunities for diverse businesses.

With 17 years of service to AT&T, Lisa has an extensive background in marketing, sales, and channel management. She has in-depth knowledge and understanding of Wireless, Consumer, Small Business, Government/Education, and Global Business segments.

A member of the Women of AT&T - Bay Area Chapter, Lisa also supports AT&T's Junior Achievement Program. She earned her BS in Finance from California State University of Sacramento, and Master's of International Business from The Garvin School of International Management in Glendale, AZ. Born and raised in Sacramento, Lisa currently resides in Dublin, CA with her husband.


Kim Castle
Host /Creator, KimTV
 
105 - The Lost Art of Being Human: How To Make the Matrix Work FOR Us Instead of Against Us

With over 20 years of brand development alongside Fortune 500 companies like Disney, General Motors, Wolfgang Puck, and others, Kim Castle mentors small business owners around the world to grow from concept to the Inc. 500 list.

Wary of the growing disconnection she saw in big business, Kim co-created BrandU to connect small business owners to the power they have as a brand - giving them guidance and support to develop stability, independence, and full self-expression.

An international magazine columnist, speaker, author, and TV host, Kim has been featured on CNN Headline News, Fox Business News, Yahoo Small Business, and Inc. magazine. Her work won a Webby Award for General Motors, and she was also nominated for the Los Angeles Business Journal's Women Making a Difference Award.


Angie Chang
Vice President, Partnerships & Mentorship, Hackbright Academy
  Facebook Twitter LinkedIn
203 - The Emerging Faces of Women in Technology

Angie Chang is Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at Hackbright Academy, whinch runs a 12-week accelerated engineering fellowship exclusively for women quarterly in San Francisco. In 2008, Ms. Chang started Bay Area Girl Geek Dinners to network women in technology. Dinners are sponsored by companies including Google, Facebook, Yahoo! and Palantir. Prior to that, she co-founded Women 2.0, a media company promoting women in high-growth, high-tech entrepreneurship.

Ms. Chang was named in Fast Company's 2010 "Most Influential Women in Technology" and more recently Business Insider named her one of "30 Most Important Women Under 30 In Tech." She has been invited by the U.S. State Department to speak on women's high-tech, high-growth entrepreneurship in the West Bank, Switzerland, and Germany. Ms. Chang has held positions in product management and web/UI production at various Silicon Valley startups. She holds a B.A. in English and Social Welfare from UC Berkeley.


Sharon Chou
Ph.D. Candidate, Stanford University
 
310 - Young Women in Research: Innovations Impacting Tomorrow

Sharon Chou is an NSF Graduate Research Fellow currently pursuing a Ph. D. in electrical engineering at Stanford University, where she is investigating novel materials for solar thermal energy conversion. Discovery of thermally stable materials with high electron emissivity would allow thermionic conversion of heat or solar radiation directly to electricity with efficiencies exceeding 50%.

Sharon received degrees in electrical engineering and computer science with a minor in biomedical engineering from MIT. She has worked as a mixed-signal circuit design engineer at Texas Instruments. As well, she has developed software for semiconductor wafer handling at Intel, immunology research at Massachusetts General Hospital, and ER patient monitoring at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Sharon enjoys mentoring and advising younger students while exploring the nexus between science and art.


Marian R. Croak, PhD
Senior Vice President, Applications and Services Infrastructure, AT&T Labs
 
211 - Where Technology Is Going

Marian Croak is Senior Vice President of Applications and Services Infrastructure at AT&T Labs. Named to that role in 2012, she is responsible for a team of over 2,000 developers, engineers, and program managers who manage over 500 programs impacting AT&T's enterprise, consumer, and mobility services and create the tools used by developers inside and outside AT&T to build new apps and services. Her team is tightly integrated with the AT&T Foundry® innovation centers in Palo Alto, CA; Plano, TX; and Ra'anana, Israel. A mentor for numerous staff members, Dr. Croak is also an executive sponsor for organizations supporting Asian, African American, and Hispanic employees.

Previously, Dr. Croak was Vice President of the Services Network in Research and Development at AT&T Labs, where she managed 500+ world-class engineers and computer scientists responsible for over 200 programs impacting AT&T's wire line and wireless services. She joined AT&T in 1982 at Bell Laboratories and has held multiple assignments in integrated voice and data communications. She has received over 100 patents in VoIP technology, with an additional 100+ under review by the U.S. Patent Office. Dr. Croak attended Princeton University and the University of Southern California and holds a Ph.D. in Social Psychology and Quantitative Analysis. The mother of three young adults, she enjoys long-distance running and sits on the board of the Holocaust and Human Rights Educational Center in New Jersey.


Michelle De Hertogh
Senior Director, Global Alliances & Service Provider Marketing, EMC
 
211 - Where Technology Is Going

Michelle De Hertogh is Senior Director, Global Alliances & Service Provider Marketing at EMC Corporation. EMC is the world's leading developer and provider of information infrastructure technology and solutions that enable organizations and partners of all sizes to transform the way they compete and create value from their information.

Michelle leads a global alliances and service provider marketing team at EMC and is responsible for crafting and executing on EMC's strategy to enable global alliances and service providers to be successful in the market. This includes creating joint value propositions, communications plans, and programs with alliances. In this leadership role within EMC, she manages two global programs, campaigns, and creative services for all global alliance and service provider initiatives across all regions.

Previously, Michelle spent over 15 years heading up business development and marketing efforts for global alliances for start-ups, Serena Software, IBM, and Rational Software.


Roycie Earvin
Talent & Strategic Workforce Planning Lead, Cargill
 
303 - Women in Tech: Attracting and Advancing Top Female Talent

Roycie Earvin is the Global IT, Talent Management & Strategic Workforce Planning Lead at Cargill. In this role, she is responsible for developing talent insights that assist in the identification of critical talent priorities. In addition, she provides leadership and expertise on key talent management initiatives that drive business performance. Roycie partners with global functional leaders to ensure an integrated approach to talent management and alignment with overall Global IT strategy. Roycie joined Cargill in 2008 as the Director of Global Operations & Asia-Pacific Business Partner Lead. She then moved into her role with Global IT in 2009. Prior to Cargill, Roycie led the global enterprise-wide Inclusion and Diversity strategy at Ameriprise Financial. She has also held roles in Information Technology, Store Operations, Store Management, and Executive Development. Roycie graduated with summa cum laude honors from Saint Louis University, with a degree in Business Administration and a minor in Communication.


Hulya Farinas, Ph.D.
Sr Principal Data Scientist, Pivotal Labs
 
311 - Big Data: What You, The Consumer, Should Know

Hulya Farinas has extensive experience in the application of algorithmic approaches to complex problems in multiple verticals. Before joining Greenplum (now Pivotal Labs), she had held positions at IBM and M-Factor where she helped her customers make optimal business decisions under uncertainty by marrying machine-learning algorithms with optimization routines. Hulya is currently a senior principal data scientist at Pivotal where she is the lead for health care vertical. She holds a Ph.D. in Operations Research from the University of Florida.


Liz Gannes
Senior Editor, AllThingsDigital
 
211 - Where Technology Is Going

Liz Gannes has been a Silicon Valley-based business technology reporter since 2004, where she started her career as a reporter at Red Herring. She was the second employee at the technology blog network GigaOM, where she covered the rise of the social Web. Currently, she is Senior Editor at AllThingsDigital, a Web site devoted to news, analysis, and opinion on technology, the Internet, and media.

As part of GigaOM, in 2006, Liz founded NewTeeVee, a site that became the preeminent source for news and analysis about Internet video and ultimately the intersection of entertainment and technology. She graduated from Dartmouth with a degree in linguistics.


Medha Ghatikesh
M.S. Software Management, Carnegie Mellon U/Silicon Valley
  Twitter LinkedIn
310 - Young Women in Research: Innovations Impacting Tomorrow

Passionate about finding a technological solution to eradicating poverty, at the age of 19 Medha Ghatikesh co-founded a start-up, Vital Gifts, that enabled the exchange of real, Fairtrade gifts on Facebook. Her aim was to help create sustainable employment for artisans and producers in developing countries.

Medha has a software engineering background and worked as a Java developer in the Healthcare IT domain at Orion Health, New Zealand's largest software exporter.

She is currently pursuing an MS in Software Management at Carnegie Mellon University/Silicon Valley, where she's working with a co-founder on a product that aims to make it easier for people to find paths to their desired career, enabling more people to do what they love. Medha will graduate in August 2013.


Madison Gunter
Supplier Diversity, Cisco Systems
 
309 - Contracts: How To Get Them, Keep Them, Expand Them!

Madison Gunter has 20+ years of experience in IT Applications/Solutions, Marketing, Management Operations, and Business Development. His roles at Cisco have primarily been in channel business development, solutions/applications engineering, technical marketing, and service provider solutions marketing. Six years ago Madison received the opportunity to work as a Manager for Business Development and Management Operations with the Global Supplier Diversity Business Development organization. This position has given him the best of both worlds: to use his technical experience, and to satisfy his passion for serving community and faith-based organizations, small and diverse businesses. Madison primarily interfaces with Cisco's Diverse Worldwide Channel Partners Organization, IT, Sales, Marketing, Engineering, Work Place Resources, and Human Resource suppliers.

Madison received his MBA from University of Santa Clara (Leavey School of Business), his BA from California State University Chico, and is certified as a Telecommunications Engineer from University California, Berkeley. He currently serves as Board of Directors Chairman of the Northern California Minority Supplier Development Council.


Penny Herscher
CEO/President, FirstRain
 
202 - The Fastest Track to the C-Suite

Penny Herscher is President and CEO of FirstRain, the leading provider of solutions that find and transform high-value, Business Web and Twitter content into actionable intelligence for sales and marketing professionals around the globe.

Previously, Penny was CEO of Simplex Solutions, an electronic design automation company serving the global semiconductor industry. As CEO, she grew Simplex from a few engineers in 1996 to a high-growth, profitable software company. She led the company to a very successful IPO, and through the sale of the company to Cadence Design Systems. Prior, Penny was an early employee and senior executive at Synopsys. She started her career in 1982 as an R&D engineer with Texas Instruments and then Daisy Systems.

Penny holds an MA with Honors in Mathematics from Cambridge University. She serves on the boards of JDSU and Rambu, and is also active in the non-profit world, serving on the boards of the Anita Borg Institute and Planned Parenthood Mar Monte. She volunteers teaching business classes at Stanford Business School, Berkeley Haas School of Business, and Santa Clara University.


Bess Ho
Partner, Archimedes Labs
 
104 - Mobile Strategy and Development Workshop

Bess Ho serves as partner at Archimedes Labs, a Palo Alto-based startup incubator for seed stage startup. A popular conference speaker, Bess has presented at the GSMA Mobile Asia Conference, Global Mobile Internet Conference (GMIC-SV), WIT Women Technology Summit, Android Open, Web20 Expo, Where 20, Silicon Valley China Wireless Conference (SVCW), and Silicon Valley Code Camp (SVCC), among others. She is often mentioned in national and local newspapers.

Bess also advises LumoBack (Series A), Eligible (Angel Round, YCombinator, Rock Health), and AfterShip (Seed Round, Global Startup Battle Winner).


Pam Isom
CEO/President, ICE Safety Solutions
 
309 - Contracts: How To Get Them, Keep Them, Expand Them!

Pamela Isom is the Founder/President & CEO of ICE Safety Solutions, focused on customizing innovative and effective safety services, training, and medical supplies for corporations and hospitals to mitigate workplace injuries, illness, and loss of life.

With a degree in Biological Sciences from UC Davis and a graduate of UCLA's Entrepreneur Program, Pamela began teaching CPR/First Aid as a volunteer with the American Heart Association. As her passion for her volunteer position grew, Pamela launched ICE Safety Solutions to create custom CPR scenarios for corporations – revolutionizing how training was being offered in the industry. Fast-forwarding 14 years, 12 employees, and 27 subcontractors later, the company now provides CPR, First Aid, Disaster Preparedness, OSHA-related services, and First Aid Kits and Disaster Preparedness supplies through scenario-based training and delivery technology. Current clients of ICE Safety Solutions include Toyota Motors, CBS Broadcasting, Cupertino Electric, Genentech, eBay, Yelp, and many others. To give back to the community, Pamela provides free CPR training to at-risk youth groups and women's domestic violence shelters. She is committed to the growth of women and minority businesses, spending her personal time mentoring and coaching entrepreneurs to maximize their effectiveness. Among the awards and honors received for her business achievements: Silicon Valley Women of Influence/2013; Silicon Valley-Top Women in Healthcare; Northern CA Minority Business of the Year 2005, 2010, 2012.


Radhika Iyengar-Emens
Managing Partner, DoubleNova Group
  Twitter LinkedIn
305 - Doing Business Globally

Radhika Iyengar-Emens is Managing Partner of DoubleNova Group, a Silicon Valley-based blockchain consultancy and ICO advisory. She is a TEDx speaker, a Silicon Valley Woman of Influence, a serial entrepreneur, a crypto investor, and an expert in blockchain, digital health, and global entrepreneurship. She is raising a new blockchain VC fund named StarChain Ventures focused on foundational blockchain technology and enterprise blockchain solutions.

Multilingual in 9 languages, Ms. Iyengar-Emens is a global business advisor to high-tech startups and digital health companies from Europe, Israel, Asia, and Latin America. She is an expert in ICO and Silicon Valley fundraising, international expansion and business acceleration. As well, Ms. Iyengar-Emens is an advisor to governments and has set up and run accelerators and US market access programs for top startups. She has raised over $100 million for advised startups. A passionate advocate for women in technology and diversity, Ms. Iyengar-Emens is an Advisory Board Member at Women in Technology International (WITI) and an active speaker on Women in Blockchain panels and at global women's conferences. She holds an A.B. from Bryn Mawr College and an MBA from Chapman University.


Suzy Jessen
Director, Global Talent, Ancestry.com
 
303 - Women in Tech: Attracting and Advancing Top Female Talent

Suzy Jessen has served in recruitment and talent acquisition roles for Ancestry.com since October 2003. As Director of Global Talent, she is responsible for global recruitment, talent acquisition management, and attracting top talent at all levels. Prior to joining Ancestry.com, Suzy was a senior corporate recruiter at Symantec and a recruiter and employee relations manager for FedEx Ground. In 2012, she was recognized as one of Utah Business magazine's "Forty under 40," which honors rising stars in Utah's dynamic business community. She has been a contributor to the Utah Valley Business Blog on recruiting-related topics and has more than 20 years of combined experience in executing recruiting and human resources operational strategies. Suzy holds a B.S. in Healthcare Administration from Metropolitan State College of Denver.


Rachel Kalmar, Ph.D.
Data Scientist, Misfit Wearables
 
311 - Big Data: What You, The Consumer, Should Know

Rachel Kalmar's goal is to make sensor data both accessible and actionable. A Stanford neuroscience Ph.D,, she is passionate about using data to explain, predict, and influence behavior.

After participating in Singularity University's Graduate Studies Program and as part of the Rock Health digital health startup incubator, Rachel co-founded a startup in the health sensor space. She is active in the Bay Area hardware community and runs Sensored, a 600+ person meetup group for people working on sensor devices and applications (meetup.com/Sensored). Currently, Rachel is a data scientist at Misfit Wearables.


Nikita Kapoor
Founder & App Creator, Sprite Labs
 
304 - Creating Killer Apps: How I Did It and Brought It to Market


Donna Kawasaki
Global Executive, OwlUPs
  Twitter LinkedIn
305 - Doing Business Globally

Donna Downs Kawasaki is the VP of Global Marketing and Operations at multiple companies. Her experience includes working with Fortune 1000 industry-leading customers in the areas of strategy, cross-functional business development, business operations, partner development, solutions development, and marketing.

At Cisco Systems, where Donna held senior management positions, she managed Cisco's largest marketing organization for Asia Pacific and Japan and was the only women on the executive team. At Hewlett-Packard, Donna was a top 100 worldwide sales manager and winner of the top team award. She has been on the board of multiple companies and non-profits and currently focuses her community contribution on finding a cure for hearing loss and increasing the number of women on Fortune 1000 boards. Integrated with her consultancy, IT, and healthcare experience, Donna has energy sector experience, having worked with various power and alternative energy customers.

Donna is a graduate of the Asia Pacific Masters in Business Administration Program from National University of Singapore, and Bachelor of Commerce (Honors) from the University of Manitoba, Canada.

She is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada, and has studied, lived, and worked in North America, Europe and Asia.


Lata Krishnamohan
Graduate Student, Carnegie Mellon U/Silicon Valley
 
310 - Young Women in Research: Innovations Impacting Tomorrow

Lata Krishnamohan has over 10 years of experience in software systems and leadership in financial services and has worked with some of the largest firms in the industry, including HSBC and BNP Paribas. A strategic thinker and innovator, Lata is proficient in designing and implementing innovative software products, including enterprise software and CRM solutions to create efficiencies and improve business processes. She has also instituted new, independent business lines within large corporations. Previously, Lata was Vice President at BNP Paribas, responsible for enhancing the service proposition, through software automation, leading projects, and managing business operations. She is co-founder of a product that revisits the traditional methods of storytelling, using technology to offer convenience and tangible learning values for children.

Lata received a Bachelor's degree in Commerce and Economics, and an MBA in Finance from Bombay University; she is scheduled to complete her Master's in Software Management from Carnegie Mellon University in August 2013.


Bill Lamond
, Human Potential 2.0
  LinkedIn
103 - The Feminine Principle in Leadership

For more than 30 years, Bill Lamond has been a champion of women in leadership. He is the inventor of Fulfillment-based Thinking (FBT), which transforms the commitment-driven, working-harder ethic into one that is based on passion, partnership, and the intuitive and heartfelt way of thinking that women are famous for.

Mr. Lamond's clients are women who want to produce sustainable results in the style that women cherish: one of growing, developing, loving, acknowledging, and sustaining. His clients have included a Tony-nominated Broadway producer, a championship bodybuilder, a founder of a national breast cancer non-profit, a nationally recognized visionary architect, thousands of women business owners, saleswomen, and executives from such leading companies as Microsoft and Google.

As a featured speaker at the Microsoft Global Women's Conference, Mr. Lamond's talk on developing and using a powerful Voice was broadcast to the 20,000 women of Microsoft around the world. In his own words, "Voice is not a rehearsed speech. It is the ability to develop your own deepest relationship with yourself and to announce it to the world around you in ways that have magic happen for anyone listening."


Carolyn Leighton
Founder/Chairwoman, WITI
  Twitter LinkedIn
Founder's Reception

Carolyn Leighton founded WITI in 1989 as a worldwide e-mail network for women in all technology sectors. At the time WITI was established, Ms. Leighton was President of Criterion Research, a research consulting firm for the high tech industry which she founded in 1984, as well as chair of the Core Competency Database Project at Stanford University.

Due to Ms. Leighton's leadership and vision, WITI has grown to be the premiere brand and worldwide organization dedicated to empowering women worldwide to achieve unimagined possibilities and transformations through technology, leadership and economic prosperity.

Ms. Leighton has 35 years of experience as an educator and entrepreneur. In addition to WITI, she founded four start-ups in the high-tech, legal sectors and, most recently, the pet industry. She attended the University of Michigan and has a bachelor's degree in human development from Pacific Oaks College. Ms. Leighton has received numerous accolades, twice named as one of the "Top 100 Women in Computing." More recently, she was named one of Fast Company Magazine's "Most Influential Women in Technology."


Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D.
Haas Distinguished Visitor, Stanford University
 
204 - Science Serving Society: Reflections on Four Years at the Helm of a Federal Agency

Dr. Jane Lubchenco is a marine ecologist and environmental scientist with expertise in oceans, climate change, and interactions between the environment and human well-being. Nominated by President Obama in December 2008 as part of his "Science Dream Team," she served as the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) from 2009-2013. Under her leadership, NOAA focused on restoring fisheries to sustainability and profitability, restoring oceans and coasts to a healthy state, ensuring continuity of the Nation's weather and other environmental satellites, developing a Weather-Ready Nation, promoting climate science and delivering climate information and services to inform understanding and adaptation, strengthening science and ensuring scientific integrity at NOAA, and delivering the highest quality science, services and stewardship possible.

Dr. Lubchenco is currently the Haas Distinguished Visitor in Public Service at Stanford University. She received her B.A. in biology from Colorado College, M.S. in zoology from the University of Washington, and Ph.D. in ecology from Harvard University. Her career as a professor began at Harvard University and continued at Oregon State University. She served as president of the American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS) and 10 years on the National Science Board. One of the "most highly cited" ecologists in the world, eight of her publications are recognized as "Science Citation Classics." She is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the Royal Society. She has received numerous awards including a MacArthur "genius" award, 19 honorary doctorates, the Heinz Award for the Environment, and was named "2010 Newsmaker of the Year" by the journal Nature, and was inducted into WITI's Women in Science and Technology Hall of Fame in 2012.

Dr. Lubchenco is passionate about promoting the discovery, communication, and use of scientific knowledge in policy and management. She co-founded a research consortium, PISCO, that studies the near-shore ocean along the coasts of Oregon and California. She co-founded three organizations [The Leopold Leadership Program, the Communication Partnership for Science and the Sea (COMPASS), and Climate Central] that enhance communication of scientific knowledge to the public, policy makers, media and industry. And at NOAA, she strengthened science and the use of scientific knowledge in policy and management.


Shana Lynch
Managing Editor, Silicon Valley Business Journal
  Twitter
305 - Doing Business Globally

Shana Lynch is managing editor of the Silicon Valley Business Journal, where she oversees digital content for the business publication. Previously she was a copyeditor and researcher with the Sacramento Business Journal, guest commentator for Capital Public Radio, and also ran internal documentation for a web startup through the University of Missouri, Columbia’s Center for Technological Innovation in Education, now known as the Allen Institute.


Amanda McConnell
Head of Product, rent.com
 
104 - Mobile Strategy and Development Workshop

Amanda McConnell is the Senior Director of User Experience & Product Management at ReachLocal, Inc. (Nasdaq:RLOC), a global Internet marketing company that provides small businesses products and solutions to acquire, manage and retain customers online.

Amanda is responsible for determining enterprise-level mobile strategies for the most effective development across Web, tablet and smart phone applications. She also oversees the mobile experience for clients by leveraging mobile devices to communicate high priority campaign activity and results, as well as creating sales tools that optimize the sales process for ReachLocal’s 700-person sales force by utilizing multi-platform devices at every stage.

In her two years at ReachLocal, Amanda has drawn upon her 12-year-career in Product Management and User Experience to guide the build-out of the client portal and reporting platforms that include multi-language launches in the European Union and Asia. She is currently focused on expanding the UxUi team to become a global resource for all products, ensuring consistency and usability across internal and external applications.

Prior to ReachLocal, Amanda had focused her work in social media at companies such as BuzzMedia (Buzznet, Celebuzz) and TagWorld, as well as leading projects for Southern Poverty Law Center, California Pizza Kitchen, HealthNet and many others. She received a Bachelors of Science in Applied Mathematics, with an emphasis in Statistics from the University of California Los Angeles.


Lisa McVey
CIO, Enterprise Information Systems, Enterprise Medical Imaging, Automation, McKesson Corporation
  Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
202 - The Fastest Track to the C-Suite

Lisa McVey has overall IT responsibility for three key businesses within McKesson Technology Solutions, directing and managing IT strategic plans, policies, programs, and schedules for McKesson's Enterprise Information Systems, Enterprise Medical Imaging and Automation groups.

Since joining McKesson in 1994, Lisa has: led the operational development of a sales process integrating 22 sales leaders and 15 diverse processes; improved business processes with IT governance and funnel management methodologies; and introduced a service product philosophy, implementation strategies, and a client education approach still in use by the company today. Lisa played an integral role in an initiative that integrated three IT teams to optimize efficiency, collaborate and reduce cost, achieving a run rate reduction of $31M in less than two years. She created a new enterprise service supporting the product development lifecycle, creating a $2M infrastructure savings through cost avoidance.

Lisa has received a POW Womenetics Award, was named a 2010 Woman of the Year by Women In Technology Georgia, and was ranked among the Top Ten Technology Women by The Pink Book. An active member of Women in Technology, a non-profit focused on promoting the advancement of women in the field of technology in Georgia, Lisa also created and serves as Executive sponsor for McKesson's Women's Employee Resource Group in Georgia. She also participates in the Technology Association of Georgia, CIO Executive Council, Customer Relationship Management Association, and she is an active Six Sigma Black Belt.


Gladys Mercier
Director of Software Management, Carnegie Mellon U/Silicon Valley
 
310 - Young Women in Research: Innovations Impacting Tomorrow

Gladys M. Mercier is the Director of the Software Management program at Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley and a certified Project Management Professional (PMP). Gladys has 12 years of software engineering experience with a focus on industrial automation systems for steel manufacturing. She has served in the roles of developer, designer/architect, tester, trainer, team lead and project manager. She has developed and taught software project management courses, been a teaching mentor, and developed repeatable mentoring processes.

Ms. Mercier earned her bachelor's degree in computer science from the University of Pittsburgh and both her M.S. in software engineering as well as her M.B.A. from Carnegie Mellon University.


Jeri Mersky, Ph.D.
Founder, JLM Management Consultants
 
102 - Shifting from Manager to Coach: How to Coach for Success

Jeri Mersky, President of JLM Management Consultants (JLMMC), and her team of organizational psychologists have coached thousands of individuals, leaders, teams, and businesses to success for over 25 years. JLMMC's unique approaches to leadership and team development have been used in large, medium, and small businesses to help them address people challenges, build cultures of motivated workers, and expand their product or service. Clients include Apple Computer, Adaptec, Catholic Healthcare West, U.C. Berkeley, Sacramento Municipal and Utility District (SMUD), the IRS, and many others.

JLMMC has designed and delivered more than twenty Trainings, in courses ranging from communication, negotiation and conflict-management methods, to culture change, problem-solving, and meeting effectiveness. One unique program is RIDERS, an innovative adventure-based leadership workshop using horses as a metaphor for leadership and team skills. The RIDERS Workshops have been featured on Fox Channel News and in Executive Female Magazine, and the Contra Costa Times.

Jeri has published several articles and monographs. She offers pro bono coaching to Oakland start-up companies through Inner City Advisors (www.innercityadvisors.org) and is committed to Kidsave (kidsave.org), which facilitates adoptions of older children from abroad. She received her doctorate in Organizational Psychology from The Wright Institute in Berkeley, CA.


Daniela Mielke
Vice President & Head of Global Strategy, PayPal
  Twitter
305 - Doing Business Globally

As Vice Pesident of Global Strategy at PayPal, Daniela and her team are responsible for supporting the CEO and the Executive team in developing the company’s future. This includes articulating the vision and defining the strategies that will enable PayPal to reach its goals. Daniela feels very passionate about PayPal's ability to truly disrupt payments and change how people shop and think about their finances.

Previously, Daniela was SVP of Global Strategy at Visa and led the "corporate product" group. Earlier in her career she was a consultant at McKinsey & Co. (where she focused on FMCG, retail, and eCommerce clients), and held various finance, sales and marketing positions at Nestlé. She also co-founded a startup and opened and ran its West Coast Office.

Daniela has lived and worked on three continents. She is fluent in German, English, and French and holds a M.Sc. in Economics from the University of Fribourg and an MBA from IMD, both in Switzerland.


Aditi Modak
Graduate Student, Carnegie Mellon U/Silicon Valley
 
310 - Young Women in Research: Innovations Impacting Tomorrow

Starting with playing her first national-level chess tournament at the age of four, Aditi Modak has consistently developed a strong foundation and passion for solving challenging problems using strategic solutions. Passionate about building products and solutions that solve real-world problems, over the years Aditi has gathered a breadth of experience. Apart from gaining world-class software engineering experience at Symantec (a global leader in providing security and storage solutions), she has planned and executed training programs to teach computers to the visually impaired, and conducted and designed innovative programs that have helped children in India develop essential communication and analytical skills.

Currently pursuing an MS in Software Management at Carnegie Mellon University/ Silicon Valley, Aditi is working with a co-founder on a product that aims to encourage people to pursue their passion and enable people to do what they love. She will graduate in August 2013.


Danielle Morrill
CEO & Co-Founder, Refer.ly
 
203 - The Emerging Faces of Women in Technology

Danielle Morrill is the CEO & Cofounder of Referly. She was previously the first non-founding member of cloud communications platform company Twilio. She advocates for and advises entrepreneurs through Startup Weekend, Twilio Fund, and as a mentor to 500 Startups. Danielle was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 for Social/Mobile Technology in 2011.


Sonia Oster
CEO, Aprentica
  Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
305 - Doing Business Globally

Sonia Oster, CEO and Founder of Aprentica, also serves as President of the Fulbright Alumni Association in Argentina. She has been a Professor at SCAD-Atlanta and at Universidad de Monterrey, Mexico, and Visiting Professor at University of Applied Sciences Salzburg, Austria.

Sonia has worked in Spain, Austria, Argentina, Mexico and the United States for companies such as Sony, IBM and CompuServe, among others and has been a consultant for organizations such as the European Commission and the United Nations.

Sonia's startup, Aprentica, is an OPEN-SOCIAL LEARNING platform, designed not just to democratize education, but to universalize education. Surpassing university walls, Aprentica provides universities with a global marketplace to increase brand recognition; professors with a mechanism to control, deliver, and monetize content to today's digital learners worldwide; and modern learners with access to the best worldwide high-quality collegiate level educational content.


Adrian Ott
CEO, Exponential Edge
  Twitter LinkedIn
302 - Thinking Big: Get Noticed with Strategic Alliances and Partnerships

Adrian Ott was called, "One of Silicon Valley's most respected (if not the most respected) strategists." by Consulting Magazine. As CEO of Exponential Edge Inc. consulting (www.exponentialedge.com), she was named Silicon Valley Enterprising Woman of the Year by NAWBO-SV in 2011 for her work assisting relentless visionaries to achieve market leadership and differentiation for their companies.

Adrian is also the award-winning author of The 24-Hour Customer: New Rules for Winning in a Time-Starved, Always-Connected Economy (HarperCollins) which was named a Best Business Book of the Year in 2011 by Library Journal and USA Book News.

Adrian is an expert contributor to Fast Company. Her award-winning work has also appeared in Harvard Business Review, Strategy & Leadership Journal, Bloomberg TV, Fox News, The Washington Post, and Forbes. She keynotes frequently at private client events, for major universities (U.C., Harvard Business School alumni, USC, Rice University), industry groups such as TEDx, and was the commencement speaker for Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley in 2011

Prior to founding Exponential Edge, she was an HP executive who was recognized in an annual report for "infusing HP with new revenue streams, new technologies, and new business models." She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.S. from U.C. Berkeley.


Laurie Robbins
Database Architect, Gems-N-Technology
  Twitter LinkedIn
311 - Big Data: What You, The Consumer, Should Know

Laurie Robbins is founder and CEO of Gems-N-Technology, a database consulting company specializing in big data solutions. She has over 15+ years database experience focusing on Data Architecture, Business Analytics, and database performance and scalability. Laurie helps companies understand how to maximize the use of data to increase effectiveness, growth, and profits.


Libby Roin
Founder, Polk Street Press
 
304 - Creating Killer Apps: How I Did It and Brought It to Market

Libby Roin is the founder and CEO of Polk Street Press, a San Francisco startup that creates innovative digital experiences for kids by designing high-quality children's content specifically for touch devices. Libby has spent ten years working and playing in children's media and education, including seven years leading sales and marketing at Barefoot Books. She holds a BA from Boston College and an MBA from MIT Sloan. Polk Street Press brings together her life-long love of children's stories and the latest technology.


Heidi Roizen
Venture Partner, Draper Fisher Jurvetson
 
210 - Building a Business Network... and Beyond

Heidi Roizen has spent her life immersed in the Silicon Valley ecosystem - as an entrepreneur, corporate executive, venture capitalist, educator, and member of the boards of directors of private and public companies, trade associations, and nonprofit institutions.

After receiving her undergraduate and MBA degrees from Stanford University, in 1983 Heidi co-founded T/Maker Company (an early personal computer software firm), where she served as CEO from inception through its acquisition in 1994 by Deluxe Corporation. In 1996, Heidi joined Apple as Vice President of Worldwide Developer Relations. From there she entered the venture capital world, serving as a Managing Director for Mobius Venture Capital from 1999 to 2007.

Today, Heidi is a Venture Partner at leading global venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ). She is also a Fenwick and West Entrepreneurship Educator in the Department of Engineering at Stanford University, where she teaches the course Spirit of Entrepreneurship. Heidi is a member of the board of directors of TiVo, DMGT, TrustedID, ShareThis, XTime, and Eventful, and serves on the advisory boards of Springboard Enterprises and the National Center for Women in Information Technology.


Sheryl Root
Director/Assoc. Professor, Carnegie Mellon, President and CEO, RootAnalysis
 
310 - Young Women in Research: Innovations Impacting Tomorrow

Sheryl Root is currently Director/Professor for the Masters in Technology Ventures and Professor for Masters in Software Management at Carnegie Mellon University, Silicon Valley. Ms. Root is a strategy, marketing, and product development executive with over 18 years of experience at Hewlett-Packard Company and 10 years of software systems experience and leadership in the financial and computing industries. Her strategic and program leadership experience focused on the definition and delivery of technology-based products and solutions, and her marketing operations experience has been in creating new business models, organizational structures, cost reductions, and revenue generation programs. She has demonstrated proven leadership in business strategy development/execution, marketing operations, and software systems delivery working across departments, functional areas and geographic regions.

In addition to her work at CMU, Ms. Root is President/CEO of RootAnalysis, and consults in business strategy creation and execution, program management, and marketing effectiveness for companies including HP, PeopleSoft, Santa Clara University, Novell, and Philips.

Ms. Root sits on several boards, including Sloan School of Business, WITI (Women in Technology International), Teach for America, and the Stanford Institute on Research in Women and Gender. She holds a Sloan Master's in Business from Stanford University.


Lou Rosas
Senior Supplier Diversity Manager, AT&T
 
309 - Contracts: How To Get Them, Keep Them, Expand Them!

Lou Rosas is currently the Prime Supplier Program Manager in the AT&T Global Supplier Diversity organization, responsible for the quality of the data, credibility of the program results, identifying diversity suppliers for supply chain inclusion, and Prime supplier compliance with utilizing Minority, Women, and Disabled Veteran Business Enterprises.

Prior to joining AT&T in 1984, Lou served in the United States Air Force for 7 1/2 years attaining the rank of Staff Sergeant as an Electronic Security Analyst. His tours included field assignments in Japan and Korea, and a staff assignment at the National Security Agency in Washington D.C. He was awarded the Join Service Commendation Medal by the Director of the NSA.

Lou became involved in local politics at the request of community groups who wanted diverse representation on the city council. Through an extensive grass-roots campaign, Lou was elected to the Concord City Council in November 1993. Councilmember Rosas became Mayor Rosas on November 21, 1995 and served as the first Latino Mayor in Concord's history. He holds a B.S. in Business from California State University Northridge.


Simin Rousteau
Director, Human Resources, Qualcomm
 
303 - Women in Tech: Attracting and Advancing Top Female Talent


Laura Sanders
General Mgr., Delivery Engineering/Technology; CTO, Global Technology Services, IBM Corporation
  LinkedIn
202 - The Fastest Track to the C-Suite

At IBM, Laura Sanders is responsible for developing, executing, and implementing global technology strategy and architecture, and leads the Global Technology Services technical team.

Previously, Laura was Vice President of Strategy and Development for IBM Tivoli Software, including IBM's portfolio for Integrated Service Management and Cloud. She also served as Vice President of System Storage Products and Solutions, where she managed IBM's Storage portfolio strategy and, prior to that, IBM's Storage Software portfolio and development. Laura was IBM's first integration executive, integrating the Informix acquisition. Prior to that, she also served as the VP of IBM's e-learning business and led IBM's core-banking services business.

Laura started her IBM career as an engineer in Boca Raton - the first female engineer in her department - during the development and launch of the PS/2. She has managed many software development projects, including multiple deliveries of OS/2. Laura has a passion for developing the technical careers of IBM women across her organization and the corporation, and has had the opportunity to mentor and coach women all over the world as well as develop and support programs focused on career growth of women in technology in IBM. She received her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a MBA in Finance from Tulane University in New Orleans.


Montreece Smith
Diversity Recruitment Program Manager, CA Technologies
 
303 - Women in Tech: Attracting and Advancing Top Female Talent

Montreece Smith is the Diversity Recruitment Program Manager for North America at CA Technologies, where she is responsible for setting strategy and designing programs to attract top talent to include: women, people of color, Veterans, disabled professionals, and the LGBT community. Internally, she serves as part of the NA Recruitment Leadership Team and the Hispanic Employee Network Steering Committee, while externally she sits on the National Labor Exchange (NLX) Operations Committee, and is an active participant in the 100K Jobs Mission Coalition and the Workforce Opportunity Network (WON).

With nearly 15 years of experience in Human Resources and Talent Acquisition, Montreece brings proven ability to execute best-in-class recruitment strategies that align with the priorities of her firm, while understanding the broader impact of her results. Throughout her career, she has held progressively responsible positions and continued to hone her skill set. Montreece previously served on the Corporate Advisory Council for the International Association of Black Actuaries (IABA) and was recognized as a Black Achiever in Industry (BAI) by the Harlem YMCA. She has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Human Resources Management from Western Governors University.


John Soper
President, New Paradigms Marketing Group
 
302 - Thinking Big: Get Noticed with Strategic Alliances and Partnerships


Cynthia Stoddard
Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Adobe Systems
  Twitter LinkedIn
202 - The Fastest Track to the C-Suite

As senior vice president and chief information officer of Adobe, Cynthia Stoddard oversees Adobe's global Information Technology team. In her leadership role, she spearheads a global strategy for delivering services that form the mission-critical backbone for the company. Ms. Stoddard is an IT industry veteran, with more than 25 years of business experience and IT expertise leading large global organizations in supply chain, retail, and technology development. Before joining Adobe in 2016, she was chief information officer and senior vice president at data storage and management company NetApp, where she led the company's traditional IT functions while also expanding focus on innovation, customer-facing programs, and strategic partnerships. She previously held a number of information technology and technical leadership positions at supply chain, retail, and technology companies including Safeway Inc. and APL Limited.

Ms. Stoddard is a recipient of the Computerworld Premier 100 IT Leaders Award, was named among the top Women of Influence in 2016 by Silicon Valley Business Journal, and was recognized as one of Huffington Post's Top 100 Most Social CIOs in 2015 and 2016. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Western New England University, from which she graduated cum laude, and an MBA from Marylhurst University.


Lisa Stone
Co-Founder & CEO, BlogHer
 
210 - Building a Business Network... and Beyond

Lisa Stone co-founded BlogHer, Inc. in 2005 with Elisa Camahort Page and Jory Des Jardins. With Lisa as CEO, the company has grown from an idea for a grassroots conference into a diversified media company reaching 55 million unique visitors monthly, and is one of the Top 5 lifestyle networks for women 18-34 (comScore) with 3,000 premium blog contributors, the world's largest in-person events for bloggers, and an award-winning social hub at BlogHer.com. Lisa works across BlogHer on strategies that partner Fortune 500 brands with a new wave of content creators.

Lisa has shepherded the company to revenue of eight figures trailing for the past three years, during which BlogHer, Inc. was named among the AlwaysOn OnMedia Top 100 for 2010-2013, as one of America's Most Promising Start-ups by BusinessWeek, and as Innovator Of The Year by InfusionSoft. BlogHer's flagship site, BlogHer.com, was named one of the Top 100 Websites for Women by Forbes for 2010-2012.

Lisa left the traditional newsroom (Oakland Tribune, CNN) for the Internet in 1997. Lisa was Editor-in-Chief and VP, Programming for Women.com, and then became the first Internet journalist awarded a Nieman Fellowship from Harvard University in 2002. She has been honored among the 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company, the Most Powerful Moms in Media by Working Mother Magazine, AlwaysOn Top 25 Women in Tech and the Influencers of Silicon Valley by the San Jose Mercury. Lisa is a member of the International Women's Media Foundation board of directors.


Priya Sundararajan
Graduate Student, Carnegie Mellon U/Silicon Valley
 
310 - Young Women in Research: Innovations Impacting Tomorrow

Priya Sundararajan is a Ph.D. candidate at Carnegie Mellon University/ Silicon Valley, where her research concentrates on Visual Analytics. She is interested in developing visualization techniques and machine learning algorithms to help users understand complex or huge data. Priya's research focuses on inventing intelligent visualizations, integrating machine learning techniques, and providing sophisticated interaction techniques to explore the data. She targets real-world problems that can benefit from visual analytics. Concrete examples include fault diagnosis in electrical power network, Bayesian network analysis, and user behavior analysis in a website.


Joey Tamer
Consultant, Expert, JoeyTamer.com
  Twitter LinkedIn
306 - 10 Strategies for Success in your Ventures: As Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs, or High-Value Consultants

Joey Tamer (www.joeytamer.com) is a "shadow CEO," extending her entrepreneur-clients' bandwidth. She consults to product and service companies, and to consultancies. She has worked in the U.S., Europe, China and Qatar.

Successes include the 1st Internet B2B IPO with $30M to each of the founders in year 5; the sale of a husband/wife software company for $50M in year 4; the raising of $2.2M in seed capital with no equity out, for a software venture she built in China; and the sale of a start-up Internet company within 8 months of writing their first investment pitch piece.

Her Fortune 500 clients retain her to start in-house new business unit initiatives; these have included J.P. Morgan Capital, Sony, IBM, Apple, Hearst, Blockbuster, Technicolor, Harper Collins, Discovery Channel, Time-Warner, Agfa and Scitex. Among her many early stage ventures, she includes Earthweb (IPO 1998) and iSuppli.

She speaks and publishes widely on entrepreneurship. Her published credits include 5 books, 60 published articles, and a weblog with hundreds of blogposts of advice to entrepreneurs. Her website is www.joeytamer.com and she can be reached at joey @ joeytamer.com, or 1+310 245 5310.


Jennifer Terry-Tharp
Moderator - Director of Talent Attraction, AT&T
 
303 - Women in Tech: Attracting and Advancing Top Female Talent

Jennifer Terry-Tharp leads a team of global professionals responsible for attracting talent at AT&T through headhunting, advertising, branding, mobile presence, social media, and diversity recruitment. Using technology and a practical approach, she has evolved the AT&T talent attraction strategy and enhanced the company's image as an employer. A frequent featured speaker and panelist, she is also a member of the HR Policy Association's Jobipedia.org project.

Jenn has been quoted in several publications as an expert on recruitment trends and technology. Under her leadership, AT&T has garnered positive coverage from several national outlets including Good Morning America, Fox & Friends, and The White House. As well, AT&T has been recognized for excellence in several areas of its talent attraction strategy, including; a Webby and Electronic Recruiting Exhchange (ERE) Best Corporate Career Site; a MobileWeb Award; OnRec Honors for Best Mobile Employment Site, and recognition as the "best use of technology" by HR Executive Magazine for the iPad app used to collect information at events. AT&T's leadership in military recruitment practices garnered the ERE prize for Top Military Recruitment Program and established AT&T as a national leader, with an upcoming featured appearance being filmed for the Pentagon Channel.


Barbara Trautlein
Principal, Change Catalysts, LLC
  Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
312 - Change Intelligence: Empowering Women to Put the Power of CQ to Work in Their Teams and Careers
302 - Thinking Big: Get Noticed with Strategic Alliances and Partnerships
202 - The Fastest Track to the C-Suite

Barbara is principal and founder of Change Catalysts, author of the book Change Intelligence: Use the Power of CQ to Lead Change that Sticks and originator of the CQ/Change Intelligence System. For over 20 years, Barbara has conducted workshops for thousands of participants, coached many dozens of people from CEOs to union workers, and facilitated over a dozen mission-critical multi-year change management initiatives - achieving bottom-line business and powerful personal results for clients. She is gifted at sharing strategies and tactics that are accessible, actionable, and immediately applicable. In addition to her "hands on" work with clients, she is a recognized expert, author and researcher on leadership and change management best practices. This blend of research and real-world expertise makes her an in-demand speaker at conferences in North America, South America, Asia, and Africa. Barbara has a unique ability to connect with her audiences, from C-level executives in Fortune 50 organizations to front line employees, and across industries, from steel mills to sales teams, refineries to retail outlets, and healthcare to high tech. Clients served include Baxter Healthcare, CareerBuilder, Catholic Health System, Ford Motor Company, Hyatt International, Motorola, the NYPD, Sears, Steel Dynamics, US Cellular, and Whole Foods. Barbara holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology from the University of Michigan


Sophia Viklund
Founder, backCODE
  Twitter LinkedIn
203 - The Emerging Faces of Women in Technology

Sophia Viklund first got the programming bug with C++ as a teenager in college. Working in software and web development since 1998, she became an entrepreneur. backCODE, a Unity development studio focusing on Serious Games (including those both for military applications and entertainment projects), is the fourth technology company Ms. Viklund has founded. In 2012 she was named in Forbes as one of a select group of "Female Founders to Watch," and again in 2013 as part of a group of "Women in Gaming to Watch." With strong commitments to both technology business initiatives and bringing women into technology, Ms. Viklund is an active mentor for STEM (White House Equal App challenge and UC Irvine Computer Science Department), and her mission is to bring more women into technology/STEM education and business entrepreneurship.

Ms. Viklund holds a Master's degree in linguistics with concentration in speech recognition, multiple technical certifications, and has a special interest in teaching programming languages. She also completed a second Master's program at UCLA. She is a co-organizer of Girl Geek Dinners/Los Angeles chapter; on the board of Directors of 50/50 leadership; on the executive board of Caltech Enterprise forum; and is a co-founder of PyLadies, a non-profit that teaches women programming in Python.


Norma Watenpaugh
CEO, Phoenix Consulting Group
  Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
302 - Thinking Big: Get Noticed with Strategic Alliances and Partnerships

Norma Watenpaugh, CSAP, founding principal of Phoenix Consulting Group, is an acknowledged industry expert in partnering best practices.

PhoenixCG helps companies accelerate revenue, tap new sources of innovation or open new markets through effective alliances and partner ecosystems. Prominent clients include Adobe, Cisco, Dupont, Lilly, Microsoft, PayPal, SAP, and Xerox. Norma's corporate experience includes executive positions at Sun Microsystems, Amdahl Corporation, and BEA Systems where she built and led partner organizations.

Norma has served on the Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals (ASAP) Global Board and was formerly chair of the Best Practice Committee 2003-2012, leading the development of alliance management professional certifications and the editorial team that produced the third edition of the Alliance Managers Handbook, a compendium of best practices for the profession.


Jennifer Wei
Venture Investor,
 
203 - The Emerging Faces of Women in Technology

Jenn Wei has been working in venture capital at Blumberg since graduating from Stanford GSB a year ago. She had earned her B.S.E. in Biomedical Engineering from Duke in 2006, followed by two years of tech investment banking at UBS in NY, then followed by two years of tech-related private equity investing. Currently, she is also a board observer for Videogenie, Cook Taste Eat, and yap.tv, as well as a blogger for VentureBeat on women in tech issues, e-commerce sector, and more.


Barbara Wichmann
Founder & CEO, Artemia Communications
 
309 - Contracts: How To Get Them, Keep Them, Expand Them!


Jennifer Wong
Founder and CEO, Alt12 Apps
 
304 - Creating Killer Apps: How I Did It and Brought It to Market

Jennifer Wong is the Founder and CEO of Alt12 Apps, developers of the largest mobile women's network. Jennifer has helped the company grow to over 7M downloads with over 1.3M monthly active users. She's spent the last decade in product marketing and strategy roles, most recently at Gracenote, a music technology company. Passionate about health and wellness, Jennifer has written for the San Francisco Chronicle Food and Wine section and is a graduate of the California Culinary Academy, Le Cordon Bleu.

Jennifer's pregnancy inspired her to harness mobile technology to address health needs. She believes health starts with the consumer and that the most effective technology approach is bottom-up and starts with people. Her goal is to make healthy living fun by bringing delightful elements into people's lives every single day and by enhancing their sense of community and well-being. She is a graduate of UCLA.


Laurie Yoler
SVP, Business Development, Qualcomm Technologies
 
211 - Where Technology Is Going

Laurie Yoler has been helping innovative technology companies grow for over 25 years as an executive, advisor, investor, and board member. She has served on the boards of public companies, private companies, and non-profit organizations. Currently Senior Vice President for Qualcomm, she was previously a founding Managing Director at GrowthPoint Technology Partners, helping entrepreneurs to build strategic alliances, complete M&A transactions, and raise capital. Prior, Laurie was chief development officer at Intellectual Ventures, exploring invention and investment opportunities in a wide variety of technology areas. She has been an integral part of the development and launch of many new innovations and products, both from within large companies like Visa, Sun Microsystems, and Accenture, and as one of a small group of founders/investors of a new entrepreneurial venture with a radical idea like Tesla Motors, DNA Direct, and Packet Design.

Laurie has served on the board of directors of Tesla Motors since its founding, and also serves on the board of directors of the Washington State University Research Foundation, and the advisory boards of Scripted, Curious, and Silicon Valley Comes to UK. She previously served on the public company Interactive Investor (until it was acquired by AMP), the advisory board of DNA Direct (acquired by Medco), and the technical advisory board of Index Ventures.


Jia Zhang
Graduate Student, Carnegie Mellon U/Silicon Valley
 
310 - Young Women in Research: Innovations Impacting Tomorrow


And more to be announced soon!

* Speakers and Sessions are subject to change