Featured Speaker(s)

Maureen Chew:
Maureen Chew is the CIO of the Massachusetts Department of Education (DOE). As the CIO, she manages the Information Technology and Services Unit. This Unit provides a stable and secure infrastructure for custom software applications aimed at DOE staff, school districts, educators and the public. The Unit is also responsible for data collections on students, educators and school districts and providing data analysis and reporting information. Recently, the Educator Licensure and Recruitment (ELAR) system won a 2002 NASCIO Award and was responsible for this year’s online recertification of over 65,000 educators. Currently, she sits on the Massachusetts CIO “Kitchen Cabinet” and is a member of the Massachusetts Education Technology Advisory Council.

Ms. Chew’s state career spans 13 years. She has played a role as a Senior Policy Advisor at the MA Information Technology Division and the Legislative Liaison on IT issues. She was successful in coordinating the passage of the $302 million dollar Information Technology Bond (IT Bond) and the $89 million dollar Educational Technology Bond. Further, Maureen has also served as the Project Manager for the Mass Trial Courts and as Executive Director of the Criminal History Systems Board.

In addition to her career in the public sector, Maureen has many years of work experience in the private sector and has held positions with AT&T and State Street Research and Management Co. She holds a Masters Degree from Boston University and Bachelor of Science Degree from Boston State College.

Dina Chu:
Lorrayne Yen Chu, Chairman, CWE Board of Directors and President, CEO, and Co-Founder, New Basics, Inc. Lorrayne "Dina" Chu has earned a solid reputation in the business community as an effective strategic thinker and hands-on problem-solver, proven over two decades as an entrepreneur and a senior marketing executive in corporate America. From the beginning of her career as a Merrill Lynch broker on Wall Street in 1976 until the founding of New Basics, Inc. in May 1998, Ms. Chu has successfully grown businesses and carved out niches of opportunity in competitive marketplaces.

Ms. Chu's experiences as an entrepreneur have given her keen insight into the risks and rewards associated with taking business concepts and turning them into active and fast growth operations. She uses this experience to effectuate New Basics' vision. Ms. Chu and her co-founders at New Basics have successfully developed the New Basics Hair Coloring Brush, the most advanced way to color your hair at home.

Ms. Chu is also known as a community leader with an abiding commitment to education, the arts, and Boston's cultural institutions. Notably, she has served as the Chair of the Board of Directors of First Night, Inc. and was appointed to the Board of Directors of Boston 2000, a non-profit organization guiding Boston's millennial plans through January 1, 2001. In addition, Ms. Chu was elected Chairman of the Board of the Center for Women & Enterprise (CWE) and takes great pleasure in coaching and mentoring businesswomen in programs sponsored by CWE.

Marina Haatsopoulos:
CEO, Director, and Co-Founder of Z Corporation, is Chair of the Committee of Finance and Investment of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, a 120,000-member organization for the technology community. She serves on the Advisory Board of the Nantucket Conference, an invitation-only technology event, and the Board of Overseers of the Boston Children's Museum. She received Mass. High Tech's All-Star Award for Hardware and is a two-time finalist for Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Her background was in corporate finance at Chase Manhattan Bank in New York, and held several operational roles at various Thermo Electron divisions. Ms. Hatsopoulos holds an M.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.