Featured Speaker(s)

Claritza Abreu, originally from Dominican Republic, is now Vice President of Enterprise Technology Risk Management for State Street Corporation and she also works as Program Chair and senior faculty of Information Technology at the Cambridge College School of Management in Cambridge, MA.

Previous to these posts Claritza held several Sr. IT executive positions at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, the MA Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Boston Public Health Commission.

Claritza devotes a significant amount of time to community service supporting public health research, STEM education, mentorship, and social issues. Her professional profile and personal journey has been featured in national media such as National Public Radio (NPR), the Library of Congress and most recently in the national Latina Style Magazine’s Women in STEM section.

Claritza has been distinguished with multiple important awards including the “Women to Watch” award from the Boston Business Journal/Mass High Tech Magazine, one of the 100 most influent Hispanics in MA by El Planeta, the “Excellence in Technology Award” by the Governor and the Commonwealth of MA and as “Distinguished Alumni Award” by both of her alma maters, Boston University and INTEC. Recognized by the President of the Dominican Republic and her picture is featured at the Top of Hub’s “Dreams of Freedom” Immigrant Museum as a successful role model of immigrants from the Dominican Republic.

Her most recent accomplishment is the launch of LATINC.US - the first global web and mobile app for Latino students and professionals to connect, mentor, find jobs and training opportunities.

Claritza holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Systems Engineering from INTEC, a master’s Degree in Computer Science from Boston University and several graduate certifications in technology, leadership and public administration.

Nancy Cantor, principal of Cantor Consulting, has been working with corporate executives and business owners to develop entrepreneurial thinking that impacts their job satisfaction and bottom-line results since 1994.

As the creator and owner of the Dream Factory Community and The Entrepreneurs Connection, educational communities for women solo-entrepreneurs, and small business owners, Nancy has developed models that support small business owners in clarifying their goals and creating results.

Her unique approach combines life coaching and business development, so that her clients live the life of their dreams and have businesses that support them and their desire to make a contribution.

Nancy has developed women-focused programs for several Chambers of Commerce and created and delivered an entrepreneurial-thinking curriculum for VPs and Directors at Fidelity Investments.

Bryanne Leeming is the Founder and CEO of Unruly Studios, an education technology company building hardware products that engage kids ages 6-12 with STEM. She is passionate about Unruly Studios because teaching kids to code introduces them to a new way of thinking for the rest of their lives.

Bryanne grew up in Hanover, NH where she learned about running a business from her parents who owned and operated a local restaurant. Her career brought her to NYC to work in timepiece product development for a global luxury brand, Harry Winston, and in project management and sales at adMarketplace, a technology startup. Bryanne has an MBA from Babson College and a B.A. & Sc. in Cognitive Science from McGill University. Bryanne was recently named a 2016 Best & Brightest MBA by Poets & Quants.