WITI - Professional Women's Summit Keynote Speakers

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Conferences | Santa Clara | Keynote Speakers

Professional Women's Summit Keynote Speakers
Summer 2001 | June 20 - 21 | Santa Clara Convention Center | Santa Clara, Calif.

Radha R. Basu
Chief Executive Officer, President and Chairman
Support.com

Radha Basu has served as president and chief executive officer of Support.com since 1999 and was appointed chairman of the board in January 2001. A pioneer of the eSupport market, she has nurtured and built Support.com as the leading provider of eSupport infrastructure software. Led by Basu, Support.com has become a global market leader in this field.

Prior to Support.com, her twenty-year tenure with Hewlett Packard as general manager for international software led to many fiscal and personal accomplishments. As general manager of the Electronic Business Software Organization in HP's Computer Business, she was responsible for Internet software products and frameworks that provide eBusiness solutions to customers and channel partners worldwide. While there, Basu developed HP's software center in Bangalore, India, which has grown to a staff of more than 400 today.

Basu is also widely recognized for her significant contributions to Internet technology and for her strong leadership in the community. As the winner of 2000 Leader of the Millennium Award from San Francisco's Women on the Web, Basu was honored for advancing the number of women on the Internet to nearly half the Internet population, and helping women in technology related fields. She also received the Woman of Achievement Award for leadership and vision in the corporate field in 1995 and the Excelsior Leadership Award in 1997. Most recently, Basu was named "CEO of the Year" by Silicon India Magazine.

Cynthia Martin Cynthia J. Martin
Cynthia J. Martin most recently held the position of president, Global Customer Service and Support and vice president, Eastman Kodak Company. Martin began her career at Kodak in 1982. In 1997 she was appointed president, Global Customer Service and Support and vice president, Eastman Kodak Company � a $500M, 3500 employee global operation. In this position, she led the effort to extend Kodak's service and support capabilities into the digital imaging solutions domain, establish a new image and identity for Kodak Service and Support, and establish several key platforms enabling Kodak's e-Business deployment. In February, 2001, she left Kodak to have some fun and to make personally important contributions in other ventures. Previous to her career at Kodak, Martin worked for Xerox Corporation as an internal management consultant.

Martin was selected as a member of the Academy of Women Achievers of the YWCA of the City of New York; was selected as one of Eastman Kodak's Corporate Fellow representatives for the Women in Leadership conference; and was honored by the Gay Financial Network as one of the 25 most influential gay and lesbian executives in corporate America. In addition, Martin was an Athena Award nominee in recognition of leadership and commitment to business and community. Martin is a member of the board of directors of the Urban League of Rochester and the Gay Alliance of Genesee Valley. She is on the honorary board of directors for the Girl Scouts of Genessee Valley, Inc. and a member of the Human Rights Campaign Business Council.

Martin holds a B.S. degree in mathematics from Ursinus College and an M.S. degree in operations research and systems analysis from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In addition, she enjoys bicycling, golf, windsurfing, cross-country skiing; as well as teaching her new dog, 'Mr. M.', new circus tricks.

Kavita N. Ramdas
President and CEO
Global Fund for Women
Kavita Ramdas succeeded the founding president of the Global Fund for Women as president and CEO in September 1996. In 1999, Ramdas received the Women's Funding Network award for "Changing the Face of Philanthropy." That year she was also selected to become a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute. Before joining the Global Fund, Ramdas spent eight years as a program officer at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in Chicago, Illinois. Ramdas earned an MA in international development and public policy studies from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, where she currently serves as a member of the Advisory Council. She holds a BA in international relations and political science from Mount Holyoke College. She serves on the board of the Rural Development Institute of Seattle, Washington. Ramdas is a former member of the Committee on Women and Development, an advisory board to the UN Economic Commission for Africa, and was a trustee of the General Service Foundation. Ramdas was born in India and speaks English, German, Hindi and Urdu.

Janet Perna
General Manager, Data Management Solutions
IBM Software
Janet Perna, IBM's highest ranking female software executive, not only put IBM databases on top of the chart, but under her strong leadership, IBM's data management business continues to flourish and expand into new, lucrative areas. With IBM's $1 billion commitment to data management leadership and thirteen consecutive quarters of significant growth, Perna has set the course for IBM data management at full speed ahead and has no intention of slowing down.

Once a competitive swimmer, Perna pushes forward with amazing focus and determination, one stroke after another, constantly pulling her team of 4,000 development and marketing professionals ahead of the pack. She knows what it takes to win and how to empower her team to deliver innovative, market-leading solutions that help customers solve real-world business problems.

Perna clearly leads with the insight of someone who not only understands the technology, but someone who helped develop it. After joining IBM in 1974 as a programmer in the I/S department, she moved in 1981 to product development at IBM's Santa Teresa Laboratory. Over the next ten years, moving between IBM laboratories in California and Toronto, she gained increasing responsibility for database development. In 1991, as director of database technology, Perna formulated IBM's winning relational database strategy, delivering DB2 Common Server on a wide variety of platforms, and laid the foundation for DB2 Universal Database. She was appointed general manager of IBM's data management division in October 1996 and has led IBM on an ambitious and successful campaign to dominate the database industry. Perna was recently appointed to IBM's World Management Council, a prestigious advisory board to Lou Gerstner.

Larraine D. Segil
CEO
Larraine Segil Productions Inc.
Larraine D. Segil is CEO of Larraine Segil Productions Inc., a virtual corporation whose products and services span the globe. The company distributes Segil's video series on thought leadership in e-Business, alliances, e-Leadership and global management. Segil is also a co-founder of The Lared Group, a strategic alliance consulting company.

Formerly, Segil was the CEO of an advanced materials company supplying products and services to the aerospace and electronics industries in 35 countries. Segil is also the author of "FastAlliances™ Power Your E-Business" and the bestseller "Intelligent Business Alliances." She presents senior executive programs on alliances for Caltech, Frost and Sullivan, IMS and throughout North America. Her web-based, Intranet, interactive program, Partnering for Results, is offered through the Ninth House Learning Network, and the Larraine Segil Partner Relationship Management System is the first software program for alliance management in the world.

A regular commentator on CNN on alliances and mergers, Segil has been featured in numerous magazines, including Fast Company, Business Week, and CIO and CFO Magazine. She is a monthly correspondent for IT Malaysia and IT Singapore and had a regular column in Industry Week Magazine. Segil is also the author of a novel, "Belonging."

Kara Swisher
The Wall Street Journal
Kara Swisher writes Boom Town every Monday for the Wall Street Journal's Marketplace page. "I am trying to find a way to depict the unusual places and people who have been part of the Internet's powerful explosion onto the world scene in what has seemed an eyeblink in time," she says. "I'd like readers to get an idea of the grand circus--from its high-flying successes to its full-splat disasters, including the odd and compelling characters who make it so."

Swisher has been writing about the Internet since late 1994, when she began to cover a then-small company called America Online Inc. for the Washington Post's Business section. Swisher had worked for the Washington Post from 1983 until 1997, in a variety of duties, including as a night copy aide while attending Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. She also attended Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.

Swisher came to the Wall Street Journal in 1997 after completing the first inside look on AOL's transformation into a global online powerhouse in a book for Random House's Times Business division, which was published in the 1998 in hardback and 1999 in paperback. From 1997 until early this year, she has been covering the Web's major players from the WSJ's San Francisco bureau, including Netscape Communications Corp., Yahoo! Inc., Excite At Home Corp. and others in the dot.com revolution. She was chosen in 1999 by the Industry Standard magazine as "the writer who has most influenced public opinion about the Internet economy."

General Sessions

Jump Out of Your Comfort Zone! Achieve Goals You Never Thought You Could
Wednesday, June 20, 3:45 - 5 p.m.
Extraordinary women � how do they achieve such amazing goals? Where do they find the courage and strength to take huge risks and overcome barriers? Carol Bartz, CEO of Autodesk, and many other extraordinarily successful women say the one necessary characteristic is to be able to "jump out or your comfort zone." To make your personal and professional dreams come true, you have to be willing to push the envelope, take on challenges and never be willing to settle. In this session you will hear the inspiring stories of women who have done just that � they had dreams and goals and pushed themselves out of their comfort zones to make them a reality. Don't miss this truly unique opportunity to learn the thought processes and strategies that these women used to make their dreams come true, and that you can use to achieve yours.

Elizabeth Carlassare
Internet Strategist and Author of Dot.com Divas (moderator)
Elizabeth Carlassare is an Internet strategist and coach for women in technology and women entrepreneurs, helping them reach their goals and craft the lives they want. She's the author of "Dotcom Divas: E-Business Insights from the Visionary Women Founders of 20 Net Ventures." Carlassare was named one of the "Net's 25 Movers and Shakers" in February 2001 by Interactive Week magazine, and is regularly interviewed by the media on the topic of women's technology entrepreneurship. She is also the creator of dotcomdivas.net, an online community for women Internet entrepreneurs. She has more than ten years of experience with high-tech companies, including Adobe Systems, Intuit, SGI, and MyWebtivity (an Internet company she cofounded).

Robin Raskin
Editor-in-Chief
Family PC
Robin Raskin is the editor-in-chief and founder of FamilyPC. Regarded as one of the country's leading authorities on the integration of technology into the lives of parents and their children, Raskin has crafted a publication that is a must read guidebook for parents raising the first generation of digital kids. As editor of PC Magazine, she brought keen insights into the burgeoning high-tech industry and identified the need for a consumer magazine that would aid today's "connected" families. With Raskin at the helm, FamilyPC has grown in the past five years from a circulation of 200,000 to 700,000, reaching an audience of more than 2.3 million readers. Raskin is also an outspoken advocate for children's safety on the Internet. She has spoken to schools around the country on "Protecting Your Kids Online" as well as to industry insiders. Raskin has testified before the Federal Trade Commission on Internet safety; presented FamilyPC research to then-Vice President Gore on parental technology; and was invited to join former First Lady Hillary Clinton for a series of policy meetings on women technology issues.

Chell Smith
VP
Cap Gemini Ernst & Young
Chell Smith is a vice president with Cap Gemini Ernst & Young's Chicago office and has global responsibility for our Advanced Development & Integration practice. In this role, Smith leads the strategy, sales and delivery of technology services provided by 16,000 consultants globally. Her focus is enabling Cap Gemini Ernst & Young to provide unsurpassed speed, value, and quality in technology services through unique capability, distinctive partnerships and extraordinary thought leadership. Smith's responsibilities include the oversight of the global network of Accelerated Delivery Centers (ADCs). These centers, in 17 locations around the world, focus on the leading edge delivery of business applications in distributed component computing environments.

Deidre Paknad
Chair, CEO and Founder
R101
Deidre Paknad is a seasoned executive with nearly 20 years of experience in sales, operations, and marketing. She founded CoVia in January of 1996, served as CEO and president into 2000, and currently chairs CoVia's board of directors. During her tenure at CoVia, Paknad grew the company to over 100 employees and to multi-million dollar quarterly revenues. She led efforts to create substantial customer relationships and million-dollar deals with companies such as ADP, American Airlines, Chevron, Dell, First American Financial, Intuit, MetLife, ProStaff, Wells Fargo and others. Paknad raised over $35 million dollars for the company from Adobe Systems, American Express Financial, Dain Rauscher Wessels, Granite Ventures, SAP Ventures, and other investors. Paknad and CoVia have twice been inducted into the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History for technology innovation; the company and her personal profile are a permanent part of the museum's collection.

Linda M. Scherr
Program Director
IBM Women in Technology
Linda Scherr joined IBM in 1973 and has spent the majority of her career in the development, marketing, and management of high-end systems software. In 1995, Scherr coordinated the activities of the IBM Women's Diversity Task Force; and in 1997, formulated the IBM Women in Technology Steering Committee, which she now chairs. The WITSC strives to foster an environment within IBM that supports the contribution and growth of IBM's technical women and encourages girls and women to enter and remain active in technical careers. Through the results of her Steering Committee, IBM is now positioned as a leader in the industry on behalf of corporate technical women.

Marguerite Raaen
SVP
e-Enablement, Cable and Wireless
Marguerite Raaen is SVP of e-Enablement at Cable and Wireless with responsibility for world wide business enablement operations, services and support. Before joining Cable and Wireless, Raaen was the VP of Business Development at Metiom, a B2B marketplace provider. Prior to that she held executive and management level positions at IBM in sales, marketing, product development, and research. As manager of IBM's Emerging Technologies department, she led a distinguished group of PhD's in exploring new technologies for IBM's top customer accounts. Her work in expert systems and intelligent agents led to several joint industry engagements for IBM. Raaen and her worldwide team in IBM's CIO's office improved IBM.com by introducing a new, self-service design for Contact IBM. The initiative dramatically cut the cost of handling over 50,000 monthly customer eMails, and led to new customers for IBM in eMail management, data mining, and web self-service. Raaen holds several degrees in psychology, education, and computer science. She has authored two books and 120 papers. In 1999, she and her teammates won a patent for IBM in Natural Language Processing/Categorization technology.

Peacemaking: Resolving Conflict in the Workplace
Thursday, June 21, 3:45 - 5 p.m.
In this general session you will learn how to confront conflict and create transformation through resolution. Our panel will discuss strategies that women in technology can implement to lead effectively and manage the conflicts that impede their success. This discussion will take place in an interactive and dynamic environment, incorporating questions from attendees and questions submitted anonymously. Take part in this dialogue that will help you communicate more effectively in the workplace and in your own personal life.

Veronica Boaz
VP, LeadershipXcellence
WITI Unlimited, Inc. (moderator)

Pearl J. Brown
Psychotherapist
Pearl Brown has worked as a social worker and supervising clinician at the San Francisco Family and Children's Agency, the Boston Family Service, the Cinncinnati Family Service, and as Psychotherapist at the Western Psychological Center. She has conducted workshops on communication, motivation and relationships for groups such as the Electronic Representatives Association and for UCLA's extension program. Brown has been in private practice as a psychotherapist since 1966. She has provided therapy for individuals, couples, and families and has dealt extensively with relationship problems both in the family and the workplace. She is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley where she received her B.A. Phi Beta Kappa in 1945 and her master's in psychiatric social work in 1947. In 1951, she was selected National Social Worker of the Year.

Janine S. LeVine
Managing Partner
Employment Law Partners
Janine S. Levine has practiced labor employment law for nine years and is a partner in Employment Law Partners, LLP. She specializes in advising employers on day-to-day labor issues such as: hiring and termination, leaves of absence, ADA, performance management, discrimination and harassment issues, independent contractor status, wage and hour issues, etc. Previously, she was with Liebert, Cassidy, California's largest and most respected public sector labor and employment law firm. She is also an expert trainer and has conducted over one hundred training workshops for management personnel on a variety of human resource and employment law topics. Levine emphasizes preventative employment relations by educating managers and supervisors to recognize and avoid potential workplace problems before they arise. Levine received her J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1992 and she received her B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1989 where she was a dean's scholar.

Elaine Stathakis
Chief Operating Officer
Quicknet
Elaine Stathakis brings over 15 years of project management, human resources, conflict resolution, and financial management skills to Quicknet. She provides the core organizational focus for the company and manages the day-to-day operations as well as key legal, financial and corporate activities. In addition to holding prior positions as corporate controller, Stathakis is the former Director of System Implementation and Customer Service for ATEL Financial Corp. At ATEL, Stathakis managed technical software development and customer support where she turned around an unhappy client base from only 3% satisfaction to over 98% satisfaction in under 12 months. Stathakis has acted as consultant to companies, large and small, specializing in office automation and financial and labor law compliance.

Jeannette Liebman
Director, HR
Technology and Manufacturing Group, Intel Corporation
Jeannette Liebman has held a variety of management positions during her 19 years at Intel Corporation. Most recently, in her role as Director of Human Resources for Intel Technology and Manufacturing group, she manages an HR staff of over 500 in support of an employee population of 49,000 worldwide. Liebman is a HR generalist with extensive experience in employee relations, benefits, relocation and organizational development. She has focused on creating a work environment conducive to positive employee relations and has been proactive in implementing programs within Intel to support this approach.