Featured Speaker(s)

Moderator:

Marianne Kirkland, Moving across the globe as a shy 4th grader from Egypt to the United States, Marianne learned at very young age to be agile, to learn, to adapt, and to grow from all life's experiences. It was no doubt her strong family values that fostered her determination and strength to live, learn, and succeed in a whole new world.

Marianne's intelligence and determination were made obvious when as a 15-year-old a middle school student, she leapt straight into the role as a college freshman: being recognized by the state of Connecticut as the youngest student to enter college. As her life experience and education grew, she realized that she loved technology and leadership.

Following her passion for technology, Marianne earned an MIS degree at Central Connecticut State University, and then took her leadership skills and knowledge of technology to serve in a variety of roles within the world of Information Technology for the past 20 years. Having succeeded as a Developer, Programmer Analyst, Team Lead, Senior Product Owner and Corporate Vice President, she eventually landed at Tech Data, where she currently serves as an IT Manager. She is a results-driven servant leader, driven to boost revenues, while cutting company costs through innovative management techniques.

Marianne is the Co-Network Director for WITI Tampa Bay.

Panelists:

Chelsea Pierre is the Founder and CEO of Blerds Leading Technology, also known as BLT. She incorporated Blerds Leading Technology in June 2020. As Founder and CEO, Chelsea is focusedon accelerating the movement of diversity and inclusion one datacenter at a time by providing resources, scholarships, and other avenues for minorities in the IT field to excel in their career. Prior to opening BLT, Chelsea Pierre was a Cyber Network Engineer for the Department of Defense. Alongside her career, she has motivated multiple IT professionals by holding instructor positions for both Pluralsight and Cybrary e-learning platforms, mentoring individuals on social media platforms, inspiring others from behind the podium of multiple tech conferences, such as Black Tech Alabama, and have affiliated herself with multiple local tech organizations, to include once holding the position of Chapter President for Blacks in Technology Central Florida.Chelsea Pierre is prior Air Force and holds a bachelor's degree in Applied Computer Science with a concentration in Leadership Studies from Troy University and is currently working on herExecutive MBA at Auburn University

Tonya Elmore is founder, President & CEO of STAR-TEC Enterprises, Inc. a not-for-profit corporation that specializes in working with innovators and entrepreneurs. Under Tonya's leadership the Tampa Bay Innovation Center was established to house and provide programming for startups. The Innovation Center, an incubator for early-stage technology firms, is a regional, national and international known success story that has been in operation for 17 years that continues to build momentum in Pinellas County, Florida. Twice the Innovation Center has been awarded winner of the Tampa Bay Technology Forum's Professional Services Company of the Year. It has also been recognized by Entrepreneur.com among the top 10 roundup of international business incubators.

Tonya holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Management from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and an executive MBA from the University of South Florida. In 2007, Tonya was among the first graduating class to receive a professional designation as a "certified incubator manager" from the National Business Incubator Association. She is a certified coach/facilitator for the Wendy Kennedy "so what, who cares, why you?", Kauffman Fast Trac Tech Venture and CO.STARTERS programs.

Ms. Elmore has served as a vice-chair for the Florida Business Incubator Association. She has been named as among the top twenty technology leaders in the Tampa Bay region. Tonya has participated in numerous media appearances and interviews, including Fox 13 Good Day Tampa Bay as an expert on entrepreneurship and early growth strategies.

Tonya serves on the Operating Council of the St. Petersburg Innovation District, the Advisory Board for the Suncoast Developers Guild and as a board member for Synapse. She was most recently recognized by Florida Trend as "One of the People to Know in St. Petersburg" and by the Tampa Bay Business Journal as "One of 25 People to Watch in 2020". Elmore previously held a Top Secret Security clearance while working on Defense Contracts.

Veronica Lane, Founder and CEO, PMP, PMI-ACP, Founder and CEO of Veronica Lane Consulting, LLC, graduate of Florida A&M University, has over 25 years of active project management and corporate training expertise. Her project management training excellence has afforded her the opportunity to train both the private and public sectors of business and government.

Christina Dills, CEO, Smart Edge Technology
Christina is a leading professional and entrepreneur in emerging technologies with excellent technology solution ideation and execution to grow and develop business. She brings over 15 years executive experience in leading market strategy and business intelligence for multinational companies. She is actively leading Smart Edge Technologies a retail analytics company and Immunity Ledger a non-profit educational and blockchain data repository for health verification. She also consults several international companies for overall digital transformation strategies