Most STEM (science, technology, engineering, or math) fields are dominated by men. That makes these fields an excellent career choice for women! When you can find an area that truly excites you, you're doing something you're genuinely interested in and doing the best work you can -- your contribution will stand out.
We need more women to consider careers in STEM fields because we need diverse, smart thinking to tackle the next big challenges facing us in a very complicated and complex world. In the 21st century, scientific and technological innovations have become increasingly important as we face the benefits and challenges of both globalization and a knowledge-based economy. There is a severe shortage of tech talent today - women could fill that gap. 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, IDC and Randstad Technologies have joined together to conduct a survey on how gender viewpoints differ in the workplace and how we can start to close that gap!
Come join us and hear from a panel of insightful, influential leaders discussing the excitement, challenges and opportunities that exist in STEM fields. Some of the topics our panelists will cover will include the top areas our research has shown is keeping gaps open, how to find your inspiration, advancing your career and lessons learned in their own personal journeys.
Men are always welcome and encouraged to attend all WITI events.
Featured Speaker(s)
Keynote:
Rhonda Vetere has worked across industries as a global executive and change agent at nThrive / Pamplona Capital Management, Estée Lauder Companies, AIG, HP Enterprise Services, Barclays / Lehman, Bank One / JPMorgan Chase, CompuServe, UUNET, MCI, and Worldcom.
She has lived and worked internationally - in New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, London, Mumbai, and across India - and has managed teams of up to 20,000 people. Vetere is also the co-author of an HP special edition book, "Enterprise Service Management for Dummies".
Rhonda has been recognized with for her leadership and influence, notably with a 2017 Stevie Award for Excellence in Transforming Business (competing with over 1500 CIOs and CTOs), and has been featured in renowned publications, including Forbes, Huffington Post, Thrive, Moneyish, CNBC, Women of Influence, Financial Post, Triathlete Magazine, SWAAY Magazine, and more.
She contributes her perspective and knowledge through serving on boards for professional, educational, and athletic institutions, including the US Olympics and Paralympics, The Canadian Cloud Council, Longwood University, George Mason University School of Business, SWAAY Magazine, Miss Fashion Week, and Xcelocloud Inc.
Carrie Jaquith is a Vice President at Lazard where she leads emerging technology efforts and advises data & analytics teams. She is a thoughtful leader, diplomat, and designer of elegant solutions within fluid and fixed frameworks. She is a mapper and navigator of the invisible networks that connect humans and systems.
Following studies in classical music and art she has charted a career spanning design, software development, and emerging technology. She has designed human-friendly software experiences in the finance space and has led technology deployments in 21 countries.
Carrie is a Teaching Associate and member the first cohort of educators in Columbia University SPS's new Master of Science in Applied Analytics Program. She is a collaborator in NYU's annual ITP Camp where she gets to play with lasers and robots and a member of a think tank focused on machine learning, genomics, and finance.
A student of Joan Lader and member of One World Symphony, she loves to collaborate on projects that combine art, music, and tech to advance social good. She is inspired by experiences in music studios, video games, and machine shops for things that go fast.
Kim Salerno is the Senior Director of Quality Engineering reporting directly to Michael Lysaght, CTO of Weight Watchers. Kim and her team are responsible for the quality of all the applications we develop across web, iOS and Android; apps used by our internal Weight Watchers community as well as our member community. Kim graduated from Rutgers College, Rutgers University with BA in Psychology / Art History. She then completed an 8-month coding boot camp, and began her first role as a junior automation consultant. Seventeen years later, Kim is still passionate about building quality into agile software development, understanding what fosters a collaborative tech culture, and overcoming her struggles with Imposter Syndrome!
Ali Marano heads the Technology for Social Good, Diversity & Inclusion groups for Global Technology at JPMorgan Chase. The focus of her work is to identify, attract, develop and engage a talent pipeline to meet the diversity and innovation needs of the Global Technology organization through the execution of traditional, alternative and social good programs. Ali founded the Technology for Social Good group in 2010.
Ali's efforts have led to the creation of multiple pipeline programs that are increasing and diversifying the talent pipeline for JPMC's Global Technology organization via early identification, talent acquisition enhancements and exploration of new sources of talent.
The main goals of the group are achieved through key program offerings including Code for Good hackathons, the Force for Good program engaging JPMC technologists on social projects as part of their early career responsibilities and development, alternative pipeline programs and partnerships, as well as youth tech initiatives.
Ali started her career as a documentary filmmaker focused on social issues and then worked as a strategy and management consultant at Accenture. While at Accenture, she became an Executive on loan to a new nonprofit called NPower, which provides technology services to nonprofit organizations. In the fall of 2000, she left Accenture and joined NPower full-time, where she focused on engaging corporations in the work of the nonprofit community. At NPower she co-created an online volunteer matching portal connecting nonprofits' technology needs with skilled volunteers. The solution, The Community Corps, is now actively used within JPMorgan Chase and with other companies across the globe.
Ali holds a B.A. in Spanish and International Business from the University of Buffalo and also studied at the University of Seville in Spain. She is a graduate of the Smith-Tuck Global Leaders Program for Women. Ali sits on the Advisory Boards of UN Women Global Innovation Coalition for Change (GICC), NYC Tech Talent Pipeline and the Women in Technology and Entrepreneurship in New York initiative (WITNY). The GICC is a dynamic partnership between UN Women and key representatives from the private sector, academia and nonprofit institutions focused on developing the innovation market to work better for women and to accelerate the achievement of gender equality and women's empowerment. The NYC Tech Talent Pipeline is an initiative of The White House working with public and private partners to define employer needs develop and test training and education solutions to meet those needs, and scale solutions throughout NYC. WITNY, facilitates, encourages and enables a significant increase in the participation of women in both higher education and entrepreneurship in fields related to technology in the New York market.
Ali lives in Manhattan with her husband and two sons.
Moderator:
Chris Martin, SVP of Sales Design & Strategy for Randstad Technologies
Chris 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.
