WITI Regional Network

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About Us

Covering the Palm Beaches to Miami, the South Florida technology market is an interesting and dynamic environment where the opportunities to innovate are boundless. Some of the top technology companies in the world are based in South Florida and of course it is the birthplace of the IBM PC. Some of the largest technology employers also have large bases in South Florida - Carnival Cruise lines, First Data Corp., and JM Family.

Our goal is to develop WITI South Florida into a group that supports not only the growth of women in the technology field and showcases the technology industry as an interesting and challenging career option for women but to also provide support and guidance to all women in business that are affected by technology.

The WITI South Florida Network provides the following value to its members:

Our Network is unique for a number of reasons:

Regional Director
Jackye Clayton CNT, Jackye's can do attitude has led to exceptional career accomplishments. She has 10 years experience as business analyst and Account Management and has offered high-tech solutions to several top companies including Bacardi USA, Visa International, Ryder Logistics, Excel Telecommunications, Assurant, MTV Latin America and many others.. As account manager, she successfully manages 50 accounts and has grown her business over 150 percent. She is currently with the Coral Springs based TekPartners, one of South Florida's leading-edge technology solution providers.

Jackye serves as Technical Advisory board member for DeVry University, Mentor for the Leukemia and Lymphoma's Team in training program, and 2008 University Coordinator of the Americas for Junior Chamber International. Most recently, she was recognized by the South Florida Business Journal as an Up & Comer, an award bestowed on outstanding businesspeople under age 40.

Jackye has served as President of Hollywood Junior Chamber, and Regional Director and Business Vice President for the Florida Jaycees. Jackye was named the Most Outstanding Chapter President by the Florida Jaycees and recognized by the United States Jaycees as one of the best chapter presidents in the nation.

Jackye studied economics at Brookhaven College and University of North Texas. She resides in Hollywood, Florida, with her husbandTodd and two young children, Hannah, and Todd Jr.


Regional Network Coordinator
Yveatte Rothermel was the Human Resources & Recruiting Manager for Vayan, an interactive marketing and data solutions company in Boca Raton, FL. In less than five years at Vayan, Yveatte helped grow the company from ten employees to 50 employees, including full life cycle recruiting from entry to executive level employees. Yveatte has also implemented Vayan's benefits and performance management programs from the ground up, including the training and implementation of an online performance tracking tool to automate functions of managing employee goals and activities. Previous to Vayan, she held roles at Internet startups, including Eggrock Partners and Breakaway Solutions, which were full service providers of e-solutions. While pursuing her Master's degree in International and Intercultural Management, Yveatte did a 15 month practicum at OSRAM FSL in Foshan, China where she worked as Assistant Personnel Manager in charge of all expatriate employees.

Yveatte has a BBA degree in International Business from Schiller International University (Heidelberg, Germany), a MIIM degree in International and Intercultural Management from the School for International Training (Brattleboro, VT) and is PHR certified through the Society for Human Resource Management.


Regional Alliance Chair
Norka Parodi has 20 years' cross-functional experience building multimillion-dollar businesses and spearheading large-scale engagements and turnarounds in North America, Latin America and Europe. She's driven results for companies in the IT, Computer Software & Hardware, Financial Services, Professional Services and Logistics & Supply Chain sectors including Symantec, American Express, Xerox, Ryder and Digital Equipment Corporation. She is an enterprising leader with extensive business development and sales expertise in the technology industry. Specialist in assessing as well as meeting internal/external customer needs with diplomacy, executive-level communications, relationship-building skills and passion for excellence. Norka has identified and realized revenue growth opportunities and cut costs through outsourcing, negotiating and streamlining.

What makes Norka particularly effective is her keen ability to look at issues and organize them within the company's global structure. She is fluent in English and Spanish with a working knowledge of Portuguese. While she is career-focused, Norka is very active in her personal life and spends time helping her community. Her hobbies range from golfing, reading, cooking to cross-country skiing.

Norka possesses a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the Inter-American University in Puerto Rico where she graduated Magna Cum Laude, formed the first student ACM chapter in Puerto Rico, and served as President.


Membership Chair
Sheryl Johnson has 14 years experience in all stages of the Systems Development Life Cycle. In 1995, she was majoring in and working in Human Resources when the IS department did not have time to build databases needed to track benefits. Sheryl's boss sent her to Access class and with a BSA's guidance she built 5 databases. That's when she decided to add MIS as a major and transferred to another department to gain work experience in computers. Sheryl graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Management Information Systems and Management from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Shortly before she graduated her old HR boss offered her a position in the then expanding HRIS division of HR where she worked on the Oracle implementation team. She moved on to become a Human Resources Analyst in the Systems division of HR at another organization. When that division was eliminated she was transferred to a Financial Systems Analyst position. During this time she was active in associations for her sport. She was given and took the opportunity to learn and perform SQL Server Database Administration work at a Hospital. During this time she participated in local political campaigns. She left that position to move home and is currently looking for a position in or near Boca Raton, FL.


Program Chair
Kimberly Petschen has 15 years experience as an IT professional delivering cost effective technology solutions to small, medium, and large corporations across several industries. She has successfully reengineered complex business processes for Medical Device Manufacturing, High Tech, Financial, Non Profit, Education, Retail and Professional Service Organizations such as Medtronics, Carlson Companies, Peoplesoft, University of Minnesota, Netsirk Technologies, Precision Computer Systems, Perfumania and many others. Kimberly is a dedicated, performance driven leader that has evolved her career through Help Desk Support, Developer, Consultant, Business Analyst, and Project Manager.

Kimberly has an entrepreneurial spirit and has served as a consultant offering business, software, and small network support services for a non-profit personal finance program, and three mortgage companies in Minnesota under her own small consulting company.

In addition to maintaining her professional skills, Kimberly strives to maintain her commitment to her community and currently serves as a Big Sister for the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization and as a mentor to her younger up and coming friends and relatives.

Kimberly graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Information and Decision Sciences from the coveted Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. She has specialized training and certifications in Sales Force Automation, SAP Business One Implementation, Analysis and Design, and has conducted courses on Project Management Professional and the entire Microsoft Office Suite at New Horizons Learning Center.


A C T I O N    T E A M S

Program Action Team
Marcia Wildner PMP, has migrated from Brazil to USA 11 years ago. Was hired at IBM in 2001 as a Software tester and moved on to the IBM Latin America Service and Support group working as a Program manager where she worked up to 2009. Marcia has earned her Project Manager certification in August 2008 and is part of the South Florida PMI chapter. Currently, volunteers for the Saint Coleman's Women's council to raise funds for charity. In addition to English Marcia is fluent in Portuguese and Spanish. Marcia has a BBA and resides in Pompano Beach.





Community Action Team
Wendy Smith entered the field of technology 8 years ago with Unisys Corporation, a global provider of information technology service, and have continued to work with them while increasing and honing my skills. She presently holds the title of IT Specialist, providing desk-side support services to Unisys'prime customers. Recently, she has completed her Master's Degree in Management Information System from Nova Southeastern University. In the future she hopes to steer my career towards IT Security. She has been living in South Florida for 12 years, prior to which she had been living in Jamaica since birth. In her spare time, she enjoys reading fictional literature, and spending relaxing moments with my husband and friends. Two years ago she joined Friends of Literacy with Broward County libraries which is a program that helps adults learning to read for the first time.


Programming and Sponsorship Action Team
Shannon Wu-Lebron A highly accomplished IT professional with over 14 years of experience in IT, marketing, and management roles. Having worked at some of the world's largest technology, financial services, telecommunications and retail companies such as IBM, Bank of America, Ericsson and Office Depot, Shannon is an expert in leveraging technology solutions to solve tough business problems.

Shannon's expertise includes analytical marketing, business intelligence, software/systems development, quality assurance, project/program management, security/compliance, and IT governance.

Born and raised in China, Shannon came to the U.S. to further her education. She earned a B.S. in Computer Science and an M.B.A from the University of North Carolina � Chapel Hill and graduated with honors. In addition, Shannon also holds the PMP (Certified Project Management Professional) and CISA (Certified Information Systems Auditor) certifications.

Shannon lives in Delray Beach, FL with her husband and two sons.


A D V I S O R S

Ann Jakits
Principal and Founder of Millennial Group, LLC

Ann has focused her professional career in developing and managing marketing, communications, and training initiatives for industry leaders for the past 18 years. Specialized in Information Technology integration with business processes, Ann is skilled at quickly understanding the client's business and developing action oriented plans. She conceptualized and implemented new eLearning programs that received widespread acceptance for government multi-agency user base at Mantech. She provided leadership to cross-functional project teams and served as client liaison, developing project plans and technology studies for the School Board of Broward County, Florida.

Over the years, Ann has contributed to numerous winning proposals for new business through her skilled writing and proposal strategy. For a leading online university, she organized and planned initiatives for onsite, Internet, and CBT training of business applications. While raising her daughter through her formative years, Ann contributed to large-scale consulting projects for technology implementations for IBM, the Sports Authority, and Office Depot.

Ann has always been active in school and community based activities. She coached girl's basketball teams on young teen community leagues. She has contributed to the WITI South Florida network leadership and continues to create bonds among professional women and showcasing their talents. Ann earned her M.B.A. in Management from the New York Institute of Technology, and a B.S. in Liberal Studies from Dowling College.


Bing Herald
President, Medical Business Service

Bing's career started with Medical Business Service in 1976 immediately following his graduation from Marquette University with a degree in Business Administration, and a specialty in Management Information Systems. Bing's unique skills include a breadth of experience in Information Technology continuously leading MBS to be on the cutting edge. He is the firm authority on all matters related to the successful management of pathology practices and a critical contributor to company matters in the areas of finance and legal issues.

Currently serving as its President, Bing is very involved with the Healthcare Billing and Management Association (HBMA). HBMA is a national organization of billing services, focused on education and promoting compliance and ethics.


Sheila B. Donahoe
Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer, Bluegreen

Sheila Donahoe joined Bluegreen in 2004 as Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer. From 1997 to 1999, Ms. Donahoe served as Vice President of Information Technology for the North American Rental Group of AutoNation, Inc., a publicly held automobile retailer. From 1999 to 2003, Ms. Donahoe was the Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc., a publicly held, integrated content and commerce company that creates "how-to" content and domestic merchandise for homemakers and other consumers. Ms. Donahoe holds a B.S. in Computer Science.


Gee Chow
Chief Information Officer (CIO), City of Coral Gables

Mr. Gee Chow is the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the City of Coral Gables, a position he has held since August of 2002. He is responsible for managing the City's information technology and telecommunications infrastructure. Additionally, he oversees the design and implementation of all computer systems and software applications.

These include the City's Local/Wide Area Network, Email and Internet servers, Private Branch Exchange phone system, and client PC's. Current projects include the Enterprise Resource Planning Eden System, Open Software Solutions, Inc. system (OSSI), Wintergrate, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Legistar, TRIM, FireHouse, and CLASS.

A pioneer in fiber optics network infrastructure, he has more than 19 years of experience in information systems technology, computer networks, and telecommunications. A graduate of the University of Florida with a Bachelor's degree in Computer Information Science, Chow also began his professional career at the University, serving as a systems programmer analyst for nearly five years.

He then joined the Miami-Dade County staff as a technical support analyst/network systems integrator where his responsibilities included serving as the lead-worker for a network engineering team. In 1996, he was promoted to Infrastructure Systems Manager, where he managed a telecommunications and engineering team of 15 people to provide network systems integration for all county departments and agencies.


Sheila Ravindran
Director of JM Family

Sheila Ravindran is currently a Director in the Project Management Office at JM Family Enterprises, a diversified automotive corporation. She supports the World Omni Financial division .

In addition to her experience with JM Family, Ms. Ravindran was a Director of Information Technology at AutoNation, where she worked for 10 years. AutoNation is America's largest automotive retailer and a Fortune 100 company, employing 31,000 people.

Prior to AutoNation Sheila worked as a Senior Business Consultant for Arthur Andersen LLP. At Andersen, she provided management consulting, strategy formulation and implementation, business systems implementation, and business processes. Before joining Arthur Andersen, she worked as a consultant for 5 years for Financial Data Planning (FDP) doing system implementations, training, programming, and support.

Sheila holds a Bachelor degree in Economics from the University of Miami and her Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Florida International University. She also earned a degree in English Literature from the University of Miami.

Sheila was a Board Member for the Girl Scouts of Broward County from 2001-2008, serving as First Vice President for 2 years. She is also an alumni of Leadership Broward Class of XXI. She is married and has two daughters.


Please check out our new discussion boards!
Click here to meet other WITI South Florida members.

For more information please contact:
Jackye Clayton (witi-southflorida@corp.witi.com)
Regional Director
WITI

About this Network | About Us | Membership