Network Event Details

Advancement of Women In STEM - Challenges & Opportunities

Tuesday, October 8, 2019

5:30 - 8:00 p.m.

At WITI our mission is to empower women to achieve unimagined possibilities and transformations through technology, leadership and economic prosperity. As part of an ongoing partnership, WITI and Randstad Technologies joined together to conduct a survey on how gender viewpoints differ in the workplace. The survey touches on a variety of topics to better understand what factors have helped shape employees' careers and what challenges they face in the workplace. To better understand where gender might result in different points of view, the survey was fielded to both women and men.

Come join WITI, Charles Schwab and Randstad Technologies as we present a panel of insightful, influential women to discuss the challenges and opportunities that exist in STEM fields. Some of the topics our panelists will cover based on our findings in this year's research: job security, influence of mentors, career advancement and Inhibitors, navigating different points of view and lessons learned.

Featured Speaker(s)

Renee Schroeder, Senior Vice President, Core Technology Solutions, Charles Schwab

Renee leads Schwab's Core Technology Solutions organization which develops and maintains a variety of products and websites. Her teams are responsible for technology capabilities for Trading, Schwab's Core B/D Asset Transfer and Servicing, Banking, Retirement Plan Services, Charles Schwab Investment Management, Corporate Brokerage Services, and Client Reporting Solutions.

Before joining Schwab, Schroeder worked for USAA, where she led applications development, systems maintenance and customer support for USAA's Brokerage & Mutual Funds; Institutional Trading; Life, Health, and Annuities; and Wealth Management systems. Early in her career at USAA, she led Enterprise PMO, Software Development Methodology and Software Development Practice functions at the company. Schroeder has many years of Agile software development methodology experience and was a member of USAA's Agile Executive Steering Committee.

Schroeder earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M University and has a master's degree in Industrial Engineering from St. Mary's University. She is a registered professional engineer in the state of Texas. Schroeder holds FINRA Series 99 registration.

Tina Weyand, Chief Product Officer, Vrbo

Tina Weyand is Vrbo's chief product officer, responsible for the product and design behind Vrbo's global sites. An expert in digital media and marketplaces, Weyand joined Vrbo, formerly HomeAway in 2016 after spending almost two decades in Los Angeles and Silicon Valley, where she held leadership roles at Yahoo!, Ask.com, Demand Media, IAC Publishing Labs and more.

While at Yahoo!, Weyand led several global product teams focused on search and display marketplaces. At IAC Publishing, Ask.com, and Demand Media, Weyand helped the companies explore innovative approaches to content strategy and monetization.

Patricia Jordan, Senior Director, Product Support Operations, Optum

Patricia joined Optum by way of Advisory Board in October 2011. She was responsible for managing a tier 2 production support team made up of administrators for BI, database, ETL COTS tools, as well as systems administrators for home-grown applications. She briefly managed a customer facing tier 1 team before returning to tier 2 support after Optum acquired the Advisory Board. Before joining Optum, Patricia worked as a database administrator for over 10 years, working on what were considered very large databases at the time. She also managed a team of database administrators for large telecommunications companies (Arbinet/Primus and Verizon) as well providing consulting services for healthcare IT firms (VIPS).

Rekha Garapati Executive Vice President, Product and Operations, Q2

Senior technology executive focused on driving technology innovation in local and global markets. International experience living and working in China, UK, US and India.

Responsible for accelerating value and innovation for Q2 customers, as Executive Vice President, for Product Management, Engineering, Client Services and Hosting Operations. Held several senior software executive leadership roles at IBM, as Vice President, Data Science Studios, Vice President of CIO Office, Growth Markets, and Director of the India Software Lab.

Passionate about identifying opportunities that accelerate value to customers, creating innovative solutions to gain market share, and building high performance teams. Proficient in strategic IT leadership, global software development and operations.

Moderator:
Chris Martin, Senior Vice President of Strategy, Randstad Technologies

Chris Martin is the key stakeholder in driving business development and oversees the execution of the company's overall sales strategy with a specialized focus on retail account growth. Chris has been instrumental in the company's initiatives tied to utilizing big data to develop intelligent sales models for the entire organization.

With over 15 years in the staffing and HR solutions industry, Chris started his career with Randstad back in 2002. He moved up the ranks first as Account Manager, then as a Branch Manager, Regional Manager of Permanent Recruiting overseeing teams in the Mid-Atlantic to the NYC Metro area, and then transitioned to support all of Randstad U.S. by establishing the company's Enterprise Solutions group. In this role, Chris sold across service lines offering new business development and strategic account management to key customer around the country.

Chris graduated from University of Massachusetts, Amherst with a Bachelor of Science in Sports Management from the Isenberg School of Management.