Master of Ceremonies

Amanda Coolong

Chief Content Officer & Advisory Board Co-Chair, Women in Technology International

Amanda Coolong has been shaping technology narratives for nearly 20 years. A senior digital media executive and content strategist, she is a powerful voice advocating positive change for women in STEM. Ms. Coolong currently serves as Chief Content Officer and Advisory Board Co-Chair for Women in Technology International (WITI), a leading authority on the issues impacting women in technology. Previously, she led worldwide women's initiatives for a division of IBM. Ms. Coolong was also a founding partner and COO of TechZulu, growing the brand to become Southern California's leading online destination for technology news. While at TechZulu, she was a pioneer of participatory media, utilizing early live streaming video platforms and social media to interact with her audience.

Ms. Coolong is also an established podcaster, having produced, written, and hosted This Week in Cloud Computing under the guidance of Jason Calacanis, and Bitcoin News Weekly with her long-time co-host, Mark Jeffrey. An accomplished online host, emcee, and moderator, she has interviewed hundreds of leaders in the tech ecosystem from events like CES, SXSW, BlogWorld & New Media Expo, the Launch Conference, and more. Her consulting brand, Context & Narrative, specializes in the art and science of storytelling. In her "spare" time, Ms. Coolong advises early stage startups on their go-to-market strategies, and mentors young women pursuing STEM careers.


Alice Lankester

Master of Ceremonies, WITI Hall of Fame Awards Ceremony, & Chief Marketing Officer, Friend2Friend

Alice Lankester is an executive-level marketing professional with more than 25 years experience working for companies in the heart of Silicon Valley and Europe. She currently serves as Chief Marketing Officer for Friend2Friend, where she brings her deep knowledge of marketing to help some of the world's leading brands market to their audiences on digital and social platforms. She is also a Partner at Florence Venture Partners, an angel investment firm that helps the next generation of technology entrepreneurs bring their dreams out of the garage.

Previously, Ms. Lankester led the marketing team at Photobucket, one of the world's largest photo- and video-sharing sites, through that site's growth and acquisition by News Corporation, and at Loopt, one of the industry's first location-sharing mobile startups, a company acquired by Green Dot Corporation in 2011. Her career in Silicon Valley began in the mid '80s at one of the first Macintosh software startups, Living Videotext, where she worked with some of the pioneers of the software industry. Over her marketing career, Ms. Lankester has worked with companies of all sizes, from Apple Computer, Novell, Sun, and Symantec to dozens of exciting and interesting startups. Originally from the United Kingdom, Ms. Lankester holds a degree in History and Art from Leeds University, and goes back to Europe with her three children every year for a firmware upgrade. She can be found at the Blue Bottle Cafe in downtown Palo Alto every Friday morning, networking with new entrepreneurs met through Weave(dot)In (www.weave.in)


Keynotes & Featured Speakers

Patricia Arquette

Actor, Humanitarian, GiveLove.org

113 - It's Our Time

Patricia Arquette is one of the most talented actresses of her generation.

She made her film debut in Chuck Russell's A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) and following roles included Tony Scott's True Romance (1993), Tim Burton's Ed Wood (1994), David O. Russell's Flirting with Disaster (1996), David Lynch's Lost Highway (1997), Stephen Frears's The Hi-Lo Country (1998), Martin Scorsese's Bringing Out the Dead (1999), Rupert Wainwright's Stigmata (1999), and the Disney film Holes (2003).

For her performance in Richard Linklater's Boyhood, which was filmed from 2002 to 2014, Ms. Arquette received widespread praise and won the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Critics' Choice Award, Golden Globe Award, Independent Spirit Award, and SAG Award for Best Supporting Actress.


Linda Bernardi

Chief Innovation Officer, Cloud and IoT, IBM

203 - Disruption, Innovation, IoT, and Women: Disrupt to Succeed!

Passionate about women in technology and business (as reflected in her latest column for the Washington Post), Linda Bernardi recently joined IBM as Chief Innovation Officer, Cloud and Internet of Things. Ms. Bernardi believes in the perspective, ability, and creativity that women bring into technology roles, leadership, and business. She is one of the Founding Board Members of the Anita Borg Institute and the 2013 Grace Hopper Celebration. In her work with large corporate clients, Ms. Bernardi constantly reminds them as to why there is a need for women in technical and executive leadership roles globally. She is active with venture and angel funds investing in women-founded startups, and is a strong advocate of promoting women entrepreneurs and mentoring women. In her 2012 book, ProVoke, Ms. Bernardi discussed the importance of disruption in order to innovate, and dedicated a chapter to women entrepreneurs. This formed the premise for the Culture of Disruption and her work with large enterprises.

In a complete journey of vision to execution, Ms. Bernardi founded, grew, and sold ConnecTerra, Inc., a software provider connecting RFID technology to large enterprise IT. As the creator of the Bernardi Leadership Institute, she engages with corporations around the globe as a consultant, speaker, and coach, training personnel in her passionate, organic leadership theories. An active entrepreneur, technologist, educator, investor, and board member, Ms. Bernardi was the founder and CEO of StraTerra Partners, a technology strategy consulting firm that works closely with large enterprises and technology developers to promote innovative, disruptive products, business models and strategies. She holds a Master's degree in applied statistics from UCLA.


Tiffani Bova

Global Customer Growth & Innovation Evangelist, Salesforce

206 - Lunch Keynote - Reimagine IT: The Digital Dragon is Upon Us!

Tiffani Bova is the chief growth evangelist at Salesforce and author of the Wall Street Journal bestselling book GROWTH IQ: Get Smarter About the Choices that Will Make or Break Your Business. Tiffani has been named to the latest Thinkers50's list of the world's top management thinkers and is a welcomed guest on Bloomberg, BNN, Cheddar, MSNBC, and Yahoo Finance, among others. She also contributes her thinking to several publications, among them Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and Duke Dialogue Review. She is a change-maker whose thought-provoking and forward-thinking insights have made her a frequent guest on a variety of industry-leading podcasts and live broadcasts. As host of What's Next! with Tiffani Bova, she has interviewed a growing number of exceptional humans. Tiffani is a top Twitter influencer in Business Growth, Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, the Future of Work, and Sales. Among other accolades, she was named one of Inc. Magazine's 37 Sales Experts You Need to Follow on Twitter, a Top 100 Women in Tech, and one of the most Powerful and Influential Women in California, according to the National Diversity Council.
Prior to working with Salesforce, Tiffani was a sales, marketing, and customer service executive for startups as well as Fortune 500 companies. She left the corporate world and joined Gartner, becoming a Distinguished Analyst and Research Fellow. Tiffani's time on the front lines of sales, marketing, and innovation, combined with her insightful candor, has resulted in a unique perspective that continues to inspire businesses and individuals to get smarter about the choices they make, think forward, and increase their Growth IQ.


Jennifer Brace

User Interface Supervisor, Ford Motor Company

302 - Breakfast Keynote Presentation by Ford Motors - Behind Every Success Is a Group of Mentors and Motivators

Jennifer Brace has been working at Ford Motor Company for ten years, with the majority of her time in the Human Machine Interface (HMI) group as a user interface engineer. Since 2006, she has been on the HMI team defining, testing, and refining the user interface of the MyFord Touch system, allowing drivers to better interact with their infotainment systems. In order to do this, Ms. Brace defines the type of interface needed (touch screen, hard switches, voice rec, etc.), logic around performing a task (if a driver wants to save a radio preset, how do they do it?), layout of the controls (where do buttons belong?), and then works with graphic designers to create a visually interesting and user-friendly system.

This role has allowed Ms. Brace the opportunity to collaborate with well-respected companies in the industry - Microsoft, Ideo, Razorfish, Team Detroit, Teleca, Latcha, B-Square, to name a few. She has also had the pleasure of being a spokesperson for the product at many tech and auto shows, as well as appearing in two national commercials.


Sandy Carter

CEO | CMO | Ecosystems | Business Development Information Technology, Silicon Blitz

207 - Geek Girls are Chic: Five Career Hacks

Sandy Carter is a recognized leader in social business, a best selling author, and one of the most influential women in Web 2.0 technology. As IBM Vice President, Social Business Evangelism and Sales, she is responsible for setting the direction for IBM's Social Business initiative, a $200B market opportunity. Her numerous industry awards include: "Brand Leader of the Year" from the World Brand Congress, "Top 10 in Social Media" from Altimeter Group and Fast Company's "Most Influential Women in Technology." She was also named one of "The Top 25 Social Business Leaders..." . She is an avid social business evangelist, blogger, and twitterer. She holds an MBA from Harvard and a Bachelor of Science degree in math and computer science from Duke University. Visit Sandy at: socialmediasandy.wordpress.com/


Christine Goldberg

Principal, Advisory Practice, PwC

309 - Luncheon with PricewaterhouseCoopers Keynote Presentation - Collaborating to Advance Innovation

Christine Goldberg is a Principal in the Advisory practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers. She has over 18 years of consulting and industry experience for multi-million and Fortune 1000 organizations, as a demonstrated leader with knowledge and experience in the areas of business strategy, business operations, sales strategy, IT strategy, business transformation, business process design, organizational design, and change management within the Banking and Insurance (Personal, Commercial) Lines in addition to Financial Services (Banking, Insurance). In addition, Ms. Goldberg has experience in Healthcare (provider), Telecommunications, Agriculture, and Energy (Oil and Gas).

Before joining PwC, Ms. Goldberg was employed by BearingPoint as a Senior Manager in the strategy and transformation practice. Prior to BearingPoint, she was a Senior Vice President at KEYCORP, managing a strategic program. She was also employed by the Intellinex, an Ernst and Young enterprise, where she held positions as both an Account Manager and Operations. Ms. Goldberg holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from the Bowling Green State University.


Wendy Wallbridge

President / Executive Coach, On Your Mark

202 - Spiraling Up for the WITI Summit!

Wendy Wallbridge, a strategic and intuitive advisor to Fortune 100 leaders and teams across industries and a pioneer in the coaching field, has earned a reputation for establishing breakthrough conversations that enhance the way women work, live, play, and contribute. Her singular brand of coaching, defined by her Spiral Up! Model, empowers women to become architects of our own lives by following a radically different roadmap to success. Diagnosed with life-threatening Lupus early in her career, Ms. Wallbridge used that adversity and her return to good health to explore what it means for women to live true to their values, feminine wisdom, and unique calling. She is recognized for her groundbreaking coaching techniques that enable women to become leaders and agents of change in the 21st century and live lives that are more authentic, expansive, and meaningful.

In 1993 Ms. Wallbridge founded On Your Mark Corporate Coaching & Consulting, Inc., when she saw the need for individuals to do work that was both meaningful to them and met the changing needs of the marketplace. On Your Mark's clients have included Intel, Hewlett- Packard, Apple, ABC-Disney, Wells Fargo, Oracle, Texas Instruments, Symantec, Genentech, Dolby, and McAfee. A strong and vocal advocate for women, Ms. Wallbridge is the founder of the Women's Evolutionary Leadership Forum of Silicon Valley (WEL), and Producer of TEDxSandHillRdWomen. She is the author of Spiraling Upward, the 5 Co-Creative Powers for Women on the Rise (Bibliomotion).


WITI Summit Speakers, Panelists and Moderators

Donna Barbisch

CEO, Wicked Solutions

210 - How Serious Games Are Changing the World

Major General (Ret) Donna Barbisch, MPH, DHA, is among the nation's most distinguished experts in terrorism, disaster preparedness, and national and international security interoperability. She is a dynamic role model, leader, and agent for change who moves people to action. Dr. Barbisch started her military career as a Private First Class in the Army Student Nurse Program and rose to the rank of Major General over a military career spanning more than 38 years, retiring from the Army in 2005.

Today she is focused on building responsible leadership and effective decision-making during complex crisis. She is currently working on serious gaming initiatives to immerse leaders in crisis environments and "force multiply" the reach of education, training, and exercising to improve resiliency, readiness, and response. She works nationally and internationally to improve preparedness, and works with think tanks and executive boards to develop strategic solutions to complex issues. She earned a Doctorate in Health Administration from the Medical University of South Carolina, an MPH from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Bachelor of Science from California University of Pennsylvania. She also earned a diploma in nursing from Columbia Hospital School of Nursing in Pittsburgh and a diploma in nurse anesthesia from Mercy Hospital School of Anesthesia in Pittsburgh. Dr. Barbisch has been described as a visionary with an entrepreneurial approach to emerging threats.


John Bates

Founder & CEO, Executive Speaking Success

310 - Speak Like a Leader Bootcamp

108 - Speak Like a Leader Bootcamp

John Bates is the founder and chief executive officer at Executive Speaking Success and is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the company, developing the curriculum of the programs, and leading the executive speaking staff. He is internationally regarded as a top communications trainer and keynote speaker, as well as a savvy entrepreneur. John has been actively coaching since 2005, working with CEOs and the executive teams of PlaySpan, Prescience Intl., Motorola, Goldstar, Oculus International, LAZ Parking, Johnson & Johnson Innovation Labs, Janssen Labs, DudaMobile and many others on their presentation, media and business skills.

Prior to his training career, John was involved in helping to found and start up Goldstar, BigWords.com (which raised over $80 million) and VirtualVegas (the first online virtual destination site). He has raised hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital funds, successfully opened resistant markets for new products, and has run the customer service department for a multi- million dollar company. John is also a contributing author to the book World Class Speaking in Action: 50 Certified World Class Speaking Coaches Show You How to Present, Persuade, and Profit, which became a multiple Amazon best seller. He graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in sociology and social psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles.


Laura Biasucci

VP, US Solutions Sales, Hewlett-Packard Company

311 - Breakthroughs in Leadership: Here's How I Got to the Top!

At Hewlett-Packard, Vice President Laura Biasucci leads the Printing and Personal Systems Group (PPS) Commercial Solutions organization for the United States, responsible for HP's Workstation and Thin Client sales. Ms. Biasucci joined HP from Dell, where she served as US East Director of Sales for Dell's Advanced Systems Group and segment lead for the US MidMarket Enterprise Solutions Group. Prior to Dell, she spent 20 years at HP where she began as a field sales trainee and served in a number of sales positions in the South East US. In her last 10 years at HP, Ms. Biasucci held various Sales Leadership positions, overseeing sales teams for HP's channel business and well as Corporate and Enterprise accounts.

Ms. Biasucci has over 25 years in sales and sales management in the high technology industry where she implemented innovative approaches to direct and indirect, go-to-market strategies that delivered a superior customer experience and business results. She has served as the Executive Liaison to Dell's "Advancing Women in Enterprise" initiative, and is a member of the Georgia Women in Technology organization as well as the Technology Association of Georgia and the Society of Women Engineers. Ms. Biasucci holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.


Cheemin Bo-Linn

President and CEO, Peritus Partners

204 - The Internet of Things: What Does it Take to Make the Internet of Everything Real?

Cheemin Bo-Linn is CEO and President of Peritus Partners, Inc., an analytic platform and business IT consultancy. Leveraging her expertise in digital transformation and application of technology to drive competitiveness, Dr. Bo-Linn was IBM Vice-President and CSO, CRO, and Digital CMO at e-commerce, mobile, finance, and software companies. She has also been appointed to serve on the board Board of Directors and as Audit Chair for global public companies in Canada, US, and Europe, as well as private health IT, energy, digital, and tech firms.

Dr. Bo-Linn was inducted into the Women In Technology Hall of Fame in 2015. She is also a Most Influential Silicon Valley Exec awardee; was named to the Top 100 CEOs in STEM; and has been an invited speaker to the United Nations, Dow Jones, and British Chamber. She attended the University of Houston earning a Doctorate degree in Computer Information Systems, as well as the Stanford University GSB Exec Program. Dr. Bo-Linn was appointed Visiting Professor on digital tech (AI, big data, cyber security) and marketing at the joint Columbia University, London School of Business, and Hong Kong University EMBA/MBA program.


Alexis Brandow

Founder, Amorse

210 - How Serious Games Are Changing the World

Alexis Brandow is Founder of an educational media company, Amorse Inc. A born and bred Angeleno, she started her career in comics coloring: Gen 13, Vampirella, and Fantastic Four nightshift at Wildstorm Comics in San Diego. As she worked her way through school at UCSD, Ms. Brandow finished up with a degree in Arts and Computing. She then furthered her studies at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena where she graduated with honors in illustration with an emphasis in motion graphics.

During Art Center, Ms. Brandow worked part time at SPUMCO with animation mentor John K. This was her first introduction to flash animation, paving the way to working many years after in the studios building and designing interactive projects for FOX, Warner Brothers, Disney, and NBC, to name but a few. She then opened the doors to her own interactive design firm, Amorse inc. and has been working there ever since. Her Los Angeles based firm clients include Disney, NBC, HBO, SmallLab Learning, Colvard Learning, and many other independent clients.


Jessica Brown

Programs Director, The Passion Co.

303 - How Millennial Women Are Shaping the Future

Jessica Brown serves as Programs Director for The Passion Co., whose mission is to connect, empower and inspire more women and men to live their passions. Previously, Ms. Brown worked for four years at Barrett Values Centre where she managed global training and support for a network of over 4,000 coaches and consultants working in transforming leaders and organizational cultures. She is currently getting her Master's in Counseling Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco.


Jennifer Cambern

Vice President, Product Management and Chief Product Owner, ADP

211 - What Smart Companies Are Doing to Leverage Big Data

Jennifer Cambern is the Vice President of Product Management and Chief Product Owner for ADP's Workforce Now™. She joined ADP in 2010, having previously worked as Vice President of Product Management with Ceridian and as COO for H&R Block's RSM McGladrey Employer Services. As Chief Product Owner, Ms. Cambern directs a team of ~30 product owners in multiple locations who manage the Workforce Now portfolio of projects. Workforce Now™ is a SaaS offering with over 47000+ clients which includes Human Resources, Benefits, Time and Labor Management, Talent and Payroll.

In addition to her work at ADP, Ms. Cambern volunteers for the American Whitewater Association, completing river cleanups and volunteering for whitewater rescue duties across Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. She also volunteers with the Nature Conservatory completing cleanups of America's Wild spaces. She holds a BS in Business Administration and an MBA from the Georgia State University's Robinson School of Business. Ms. Cambern also holds certifications as a PMP, AIPMM and CPO.


Donna Ceriani

Leadership Success Coach, Success Compass

101 - Leverage Your Personal Brand to Achieve Your Goals

Donna Ceriani is a Leadership Success Coach, helping leaders in technology navigate career choices, enhance their leadership impact, and inspire their teams to achieve their best results.

For more than 25 years, Ms. Ceriani has held senior management roles leading teams across the U.S., Europe, and Asia in the financial services, health care, and technology industries. She was recently the Chief People Officer for SmartBear Software, winning a 2013 "Best Place to Work" award in Boston. Prior to that, she was an Executive Director for Global Client Operations for a company owned by Thomson Reuters and the DTCC, living in Boston, NYC, and Singapore. Ms. Ceriani now brings her vast experience to support her clients on their own journey to achieve their goals. When she isn't immersed in the adventures in today's workplace, she's counting the days until the next snowboarding season.


Kathleen Conroy

AVP/CBC, Cognizant Technology Solutions

317 - WITI WIN - Women in Cloud and Storage Leadership

Kathleen Conroy is an energetic and innovative leader with the unique ability to drive strategy and execution. She has a decade of experience in business and IT consulting for one of the world's leading professional services firms combined with years of sales leadership at one of the world's most innovative technology companies. Most recently, Ms. Conroy served as Vice President, Competitive Advantage at Juniper Networks where she built new organizational muscle to help drive growth, specifically in areas related to cloud and software, leveraging analytics and competitive intelligence.

Previously, Ms. Conroy was a sales leader at Cisco Systems where she played a variety of roles helping to crack open new markets and accelerate sales while increasing customer and partner loyalty.

As Global Sales Director for the Connected Energy Business Unit, she led sales and client relations for the Building Energy Management solution, concurrently responsible for the global sales strategy for Emerging Technologies in areas related to Smart+Connected Communities. Early in her career, Ms. Conroy served as Vice President of Sales and Customer Service for a Benchmark Capital portfolio company, and, previously, rose rapidly through the ranks to make Partner at Deloitte; her there was based on consistently exceeding client expectations, delivering against margin and revenue targets, and developing talent. Ms. Conroy holds a Master's in Public Administration from the Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government and an MBS from City University.


Dawn Damschen, Esq.

Associate, Kelley Drye & Warren LLP

209 - Wearable Computing

Dawn Damschen is an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Kelley Drye & Warren LLP. Her practice involves a variety of telecommunications matters related to wireless communications and FCC enforcement matters.

Prior to joining Kelley Drye, Ms. Damschen practiced telecommunications at a highly regarded firm in Washington, D.C. assisting corporate clients and trade associations with various legal and regulatory matters before the FCC, FAA, and various state agencies. She has acted as counsel to private spectrum users on issues related to spectrum allocation, interference resolution, private coordination of stations, management of stations, FCC licensing, foreign ownership, antenna structure marking and lighting requirements, and FAA obstruction evaluations. Ms. Damschen also has counseled clients on FCC spectrum auctions, radio license transfers, partitioning, disaggregation and leasing rules and procedures. While in law school, Ms. Damschen spent a semester as a legal intern in the Bureau Chief's office of the FCC's Enforcement Bureau, where she assisted FCC attorneys in reviewing and drafting documents for enforcement matters pending at the Commission.


Teresa Deveaux

Director, Gender Diversity Strategy, Microsoft, Corp

306 - Creating/Managing Teams That People Are Clamoring To Be On

Teresa Deveaux is a global leader with strong skills and broad experience in IT Service Operations, International Project Management, and Organizational Development. She is recognized for her ability to build highly functioning teams and was recently awarded an overall 100% score and 100% People Management rating in her company's annual Work Health Index survey. Ms. Deveaux is a sought-after public speaker on topics such as "Building Exceptional Global Teams," "Work/Life Balance: Getting it and Keeping It," and "Reaching Your Goals: From Dream to Reality." She was honored to be a member of a six-person panel titled "Amazing Women at Microsoft" at the company's annual Women's conference.

Prior to joining Microsoft in 1999, Ms. Deveaux worked for The Canadian Automobile Association, National Auto League, and Ash City/the GH group. She holds a Bachelor of Economics, a Master's in Elementary Education, and a Master's in Leadership and Organizational Development. In July, Ms. Deveaux will commence a Doctorate program in Organizational Leadership and Organizational Systems.


Laura DiDio

Director, Strategy Analytics

211 - What Smart Companies Are Doing to Leverage Big Data

317 - WITI WIN - Women in Cloud and Storage Leadership

Laura DiDio is a highly visible technology industry analyst and consultant, a professional writer, and a veteran investigative reporter with 25+ years experience in high technology. Ms. DiDio has 17 years experience as a high technology industry analyst, most recently as Director of IoT Research and Consulting at Strategy Analytics in Boston and as Principal Analyst at Information Technology Intelligence Consulting (ITIC), a company she founded in 2002. She also spent over six years as a Research Fellow at the Yankee Group; prior to that she spent four years as a Director and Research Fellow at Giga Information Group.

Ms. DiDio is also an experienced investigative Reporter and writer in both the mainstream news media as well as the high technology industry, having held Senior Editor positions at a number of leading computer networking industry trade publications.During her four-year tenure at Computerworld, she launched and authored Ms. MIS, a bi-monthly column devoted to exploring issues faced by women and minorities in the high tech industry, including gender bias, ageism, and salary disparities. Ms. DiDio also worked as an investigative on-air reporter, producer and writer for various broadcasting and prints outlets, including CNN and Channel 5 News in New York and Channel 11 in Minneapolis. Her investigative reports have also appeared in The Village Voice and The Minneapolis Star and Tribune. In 2014, Ms. DiDio was an on-camera reporter and producer on the independent Documentary "My Amityville Horror."


Elizabeth Dodson

Co-Founder, HomeZada

312 - The Roadmap to Successful Startups

Elizabeth Dodson is the co-founder of HomeZada, a digital home management solution. HomeZada educates and provide resources for homeowners in all areas of home management, including home improvements, maintenance, inventory, and property information. Ms. Dodson's experience in startup, growth and corporate companies has enhanced her skills in sales, marketing, business development and partner management. These responsibilities both at her previous companies and HomeZada require the understanding of business models that make partner relationships effective. Her passion and commitment to pay it forward is focused through her participation with her alma mater's mentorship programs and other supported groups such as National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) as a board member. Ms. Dodson holds an MBA from Loyola University of Maryland and a Bachelor's of Administration in Business from Stevenson University in Maryland.


Erin Flynn

Investment Banker, Ackrell Capital

209 - Wearable Computing

Erin Flynn is an early stage startup advisor with over 15 years experience in business and corporate development for internet brands including Travelocity, Epicurious, Concierge.com, Wired, and Style.com. Prior to joining Ackrell, she worked in M&A and corporate development for the online division of Condé Nast, where she sourced premium content, disruptive technologies, and new monetization opportunities, and worked on the acquisitions of Reddit, ArsTechnica, HotelChatter, Jaunted, HotWired and WebMonkey. Prior to Condé Nast, Ms. Flynn spent four years at Travelocity, incubating and leading the business development efforts for the highly acclaimed activities product line. While at Travelocity, she simultaneously served on the leadership board for the National Tour Association. In addition, Ms. Flynn was one of the founding team members for the British web-to-print company Postanywhere, as director of marketing, and worked as a product manager for the telecommunications company Genesys. She holds a B.A. degree from DePauw University.


Ester Frey

Vice President, Technology Staffing Services, Robert Half Technology

305 - Why IT Is Losing Smart Women - and How Workforce Diversity Can Help

Ester Frey is Vice President, Technology Staffing Services of Robert Half Technology, a leading specialized staffing firm providing information technology (IT) professionals on a project and full-time basis. Ms. Frey has 18 years of experience in recruiting, staffing, and sales management, and in her current role she assists in the management of Robert Half Technology teams across the US and Canada. The firm places IT professionals for initiatives ranging from web development and multiplatform systems integration to network security and technical support. Prior to this role, Ms. Frey was a regional manager for Robert Half Technology, overseeing branch offices throughout the Pacific Northwest. Previously, she worked in healthcare recruiting and ecommerce sales and sales management.

Ms. Frey is a frequently quoted expert on employment trends in the IT field, and has been featured in various publication and broadcast outlets. She received a bachelor of arts degree in political science and Scandinavian studies from the University of Washington.


Sara Gardner

CTO, Social Innovation, Hitachi Data Systems

316 - WITI WIN - Women IoT and Wearables Leadership


Anita Gardyne

CEO/Co-Founder, Onēva

312 - The Roadmap to Successful Startups

Anita Darden Gardyne is the Co-Founder and CEO of Onéva. She holds an MBA and a BA with Double Majors in Economics and Economics in the Black Community from UC Berkeley. She has served in technical roles at Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Pacific Bell, and senior finance and marketing management roles at notable firms including Quantum, IDG, and Pacific Bell/Telesis. Ms. Gardyne has a provisional patent pending for her work at Onéva.


Tammy Hawkins

Vice President, West Region, OPTOMI

305 - Why IT Is Losing Smart Women - and How Workforce Diversity Can Help

Tammy Hawkins is the Vice President of West Region for Optomi, a rapidly-growing US technology staffing company. Ms. Hawkins is a long-time advocate and leader of women in technology, and is a founding member of Women in Technology International (WITI) in Orange County, California. She is also the former Regional Alliance Chair for WITI. Ms. Hawkins currently holds the position of Alliance Partner Chair for the Southland Technology Conference (SoTeC), and has for the past six years. As a trusted advisor and resource for WITI, her company, clients and consultants, Ms. Hawkins also believes in giving back to her community through Optomi's partnership with That's Caring, dedicated to feeding children in food-insecure households.


Amanda Healy

Senior Marketing Manager & Social Media Storyteller, TIBCO Software

102 - Making LinkedIn Work for YOU

Amanda Healy is an award-winning B2B marketing manager and social media expert, national speaker, and syndicated blogger. She currently works as a Marketing Manager for TIBCO Software, overseeing a global budget of $1.5M+ and leading a team of three to devise and execute multi-touch, multi-dimensional campaigns for lead generation. She runs all corporate social media accounts for TIBCO, as well as the company's internal social advocacy platform, PostBeyond. Ms. Healy also writes for PersonalBrandingBlog.com, interviewing thought leaders and celebrities such as Jonah Berger and Michelle Phan. The site has over 100,000 monthly readers and is syndicated by AOL, Yahoo!, Business Insider, and Entrepreneur magazine, among others.

Prior to TIBCO, Ms. Healy managed a $1M+ marketing budget for Akamai Technologies and spearheaded the company's delivery of the 2013 Winter Olympics. Previously at CA Technologies, Ms. Healy created the first-ever social media training academy for the firm's 14,000+ employees. She was recently featured in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal best-selling author Dan Schawbel's book "Promote Yourself" and was spotlighted by the Washington Post.


Caroline Ingeborn

COO, Toca Boca

306 - Creating/Managing Teams That People Are Clamoring To Be On

Caroline Ingeborn is the COO of Toca Boca, a play studio that makes digital toys for kids. In her role, she oversees production, marketing, finance and operations across the company's offices in San Francisco, Stockholm and New York. Since its first product launch in 2011, Toca Boca has released 27 apps that have been downloaded in over 215 countries worldwide. With nearly 85 million total downloads to date, Toca Boca apps focus on stimulating kids' imagination so that they can play and have fun in a safe digital environment.

Before joining Toca Boca, Ms. Ingeborn helped build Corporate Development and M&A at Bonnier, which is where she met Toca Boca co-founders Björn Jeffery and Emil Overmar. Prior to that, Ms. Ingeborn held M&A positions at Lehman Brothers, which later became Nomura.


Radhika Iyengar-Emens

Managing Partner, DoubleNova Group

312 - The Roadmap to Successful Startups

Radhika Iyengar-Emens is Managing Partner of DoubleNova Group, a Silicon Valley-based blockchain consultancy and ICO advisory. She is a TEDx speaker, a Silicon Valley Woman of Influence, a serial entrepreneur, a crypto investor, and an expert in blockchain, digital health, and global entrepreneurship. She is raising a new blockchain VC fund named StarChain Ventures focused on foundational blockchain technology and enterprise blockchain solutions.

Multilingual in 9 languages, Ms. Iyengar-Emens is a global business advisor to high-tech startups and digital health companies from Europe, Israel, Asia, and Latin America. She is an expert in ICO and Silicon Valley fundraising, international expansion and business acceleration. As well, Ms. Iyengar-Emens is an advisor to governments and has set up and run accelerators and US market access programs for top startups. She has raised over $100 million for advised startups. A passionate advocate for women in technology and diversity, Ms. Iyengar-Emens is an Advisory Board Member at Women in Technology International (WITI) and an active speaker on Women in Blockchain panels and at global women's conferences. She holds an A.B. from Bryn Mawr College and an MBA from Chapman University.


Julie Kantor

President & CEO, Twomentor

103 - Optimizing STEM Talent Through Mentoring and Sponsorship

Julie Kantor is a social impact and serial entrepreneur committed to seeing a diverse workforce not survive, but thrive in the world of work. She is a strong advocate of companies not just building Mentoring Programs, but building mentoring cultures to better serve the needs of our growing Millennial and Generation Z workforce. She believes we need to teach Sponsorship to all women and leaders, and that we lose women and minorities mid-career due to lack of Sponsorship.

At the age of 21, Ms. Kantor became Executive Director of Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE); building nationally and globally for 20 years, she co-founded a tech company, and then went on to build and launch Million Women Mentors and STEMconnector (consulting clients such as: Cisco, TCS, Intel, BP, Samsung and more on STEM talent strategies). In late 2015 she launched her own management consulting firm, Twomentor, which offers mentor training and consults corporations on their mentor strategy to drive significant employee retention. In addition, Ms. Kantor is the author of I Said YES! (Gazelles Publishing), and a Huffington Post Business & Tech Blogger since 2012.


Janet Landers

SVP, Global Business Technology, Starbucks Company

204 - The Internet of Things: What Does it Take to Make the Internet of Everything Real?

In her role at Starbucks, the premier roaster and retailer of specialty coffee in the world, Janet Landers is responsible for directing and developing the company's technology strategy for Channel Development (Consumer Products Group, Food Services, Licensed Stores), Supply Chain Operations, Partner Resources, Store Development, Finance and Accounting and G&A.

Prior to joining Starbucks in January 2002, Ms. Landers spent 3 years delivering technology solutions in the telecommunications and airlines industries as a principal consultant at Ciber, a global information technology firm. In addition, Ms. Landers gained 14 years' experience in supply chain leadership in biotechnology, software and printing industries at Cambridge Biotech and Quebecor. She is a graduate of the University College Galway, Ireland.


Ellen Leanse

Business Strategist and Advisor

311 - Breakthroughs in Leadership: Here's How I Got to the Top!

Ellen Leanse brings 35 years of tech experience to her coaching and advisory work with entrepreneurial companies and leaders. A veteran of early Apple, Google, Facebook application development, and three startups, Ms. Leanse has also consulted to more than 40 technology companies - early stage to global leaders including Microsoft, Intuit, Women 2.0, Oracle, and Facebook. As Apple's first User Evangelist, she led the company's earliest online outreach and community-building, connecting them to millions of customers worldwide and generating loyalty, recurring revenue, and brand value. Her work since then has focused on bringing companies and customers closer together through digital and offline innovation, mapping unique frameworks for creating value and mutual benefit.

The mother of three entrepreneurial sons, Ms. Leanse writes and speaks on innovation, gender, and ethics and is a member of Stanford's Continuing Education faculty. She serves on the board of D-Rev, a social enterprise that elevates global health and quality of life through affordable healthtech innovation. In addition to her consulting work, she coaches high-impact technology founders and executives on innovative leadership.


Debra LeBlanc

VP/Emerging Partner Programs & Corporate Development, BMC Software

311 - Breakthroughs in Leadership: Here's How I Got to the Top!

Debra LeBlanc leads the MarketZone and Technology Alliance Partner Programs at BMC Software, Inc. These key partner programs provide BMC's global customers with integrated technology offerings that work seamlessly with BMC's products in the Performance Management, Automation, Cloud, and IT Service Management solution areas. Ms. LeBlanc's team is responsible for identifying and vetting new partners, leading contract negotiations, on-boarding partners into the ecosystem, and establishing and managing the operational and governance processes throughout the partner lifecycle. Prior to BMC, Ms. LeBlanc was Vice President of the Americas Channel Sales & Operations team at Hewlett-Packard; her team was responsible for supporting the offer to cash processes for channel partners in the US, Canada, Caribbean, Central, and South American countries. Ms. LeBlanc has also held consulting positions at Grant Thornton and Fisher Scientific, concentrating on customer-to-cash initiatives for enterprise and government accounts. She has experience in a variety of functions including naval software design, commercial software solutions, product management, major account sales support, manufacturing, procurement consulting, eCommerce, and route-to-market operations.

Ms. LeBlanc is active in higher education, entrepreneurship initiatives, and professional mentoring. She received the Association for Women in Computing's Top Women in Technology - Houston Award in 2008. She is a former Alumni Board member of Chatham University and an active board member for the Centre for Women's Entrepreneurship at Chatham. She is a current Board Member for the Houston Community College's Foundation, raising scholarship funds for students across the Houston area.


Anna Leighton

Founder, Annatarian Designs

210 - How Serious Games Are Changing the World

Anna Leighton is an eco-effective designer, artist and techno futurist. She melds historical knowledge and out-of-the-box thinking into her creations; whether they be red carpet evening gowns or product managing and building systems within companies. Her focus and talent is exploring to find important pieces, bringing them together in unique ways, and in doing so, showing how diversity is better.


Carolyn Leighton

Founder/Chairwoman, WITI

Welcome

Founder's Reception

Carolyn Leighton founded WITI in 1989 as a worldwide e-mail network for women in all technology sectors. At the time WITI was established, Ms. Leighton was President of Criterion Research, a research consulting firm for the high tech industry which she founded in 1984, as well as chair of the Core Competency Database Project at Stanford University.

Due to Ms. Leighton's leadership and vision, WITI has grown to be the premiere brand and worldwide organization dedicated to empowering women worldwide to achieve unimagined possibilities and transformations through technology, leadership and economic prosperity.

Ms. Leighton has 35 years of experience as an educator and entrepreneur. In addition to WITI, she founded four start-ups in the high-tech, legal sectors and, most recently, the pet industry. She attended the University of Michigan and has a bachelor's degree in human development from Pacific Oaks College. Ms. Leighton has received numerous accolades, twice named as one of the "Top 100 Women in Computing." More recently, she was named one of Fast Company Magazine's "Most Influential Women in Technology."


Sandra Lopez

Director, Business and Marketing Strategy for Wearable Tech in Fashion, Intel

209 - Wearable Computing

Sandra Lopez joined Intel in 2005 as B2B Integrated Marketing Manager. Leveraging her vast marketing experience within the technology sector, she quickly began to transform B2B Marketing within Intel. She was then chartered to drive Intel's Consumer Marketing Strategy group in which she led Intel's focus on the Masterbrand, Intel, and the launch of the award winning campaign "Sponsors of Tomorrow." Recently, she was focused on launching Intel's first smartphone and Android-based tablets. In this role, she trail blazed efforts on advocacy marketing, which garnered several accolades including the 2013 Marketers that Matter award sponsored by the Wall Street Journal and Sage Group. Currently, she has been chartered to drive Intel's Wearable Business Development Strategy within the Fashion vertical. She has been a vocal voice on driving the convergence between fashion and technology. Intel announced earlier this year their partnership with Barneys New York, Council of Fashion Designers of America and Opening Ceremony.

Prior to Intel, Ms. Lopez worked as Senior Director at Macromedia. Before that she was Marketing Manager with Computer Associates. She brings over 17 years of experience in marketing within the technology and fashion sector. She has been the recipient of several accolades: 2013 Marketers that Matter, Cannes Lions, David Ogilvy, Effie, Addy Awards, and more, including Intel's Achievement Award. Ms. Lopez is also a member of the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility: Corporate Executive Forum, enabling the most senior Hispanic corporate executives at Fortune 500 to discuss business issues, challenges, solutions, as well as provide mentorship for the generation that follows.


Priyanka Mazagaonkar

Software Development Manager, Strongview

317 - WITI WIN - Women in Cloud and Storage Leadership

Priyanka Mazagaonka is a Software Development Manager at Strongview. She has worked with the software technology industry over 10 years, having started her career as a software engineer and moving on to a management role soon after. She has been managing engineering teams across the globe for a few years now and has a keen interest in exploring how products can make an entry into Cloud and related domains. She has extensive experience being a part of and coordinating with offshore teams, especially in the area of new development and technology exploration. Ms. Mazagaonkar also loves to paint and write about her adventure hikes through various National Parks in the US.


Dina McKinney

Senior Engineering Executive, Qualcomm

315 - WITI WIN - Women Semiconductor and Embedded Systems Leadership

Dina McKinney is a Senior Engineering Executive at Qualcomm, where she leads the Qualcomm design engineering team in developing the latest and greatest graphics, multimedia, and high performance IP. She previously served as Corporate Vice President of AMD's "Bulldozer" Core - the first female designer to lead a major core in the company's 40-plus year history. Prior to leading the Bulldozer team, Ms. McKinney led the "Bobcat" and "Griffin" low power CPU development at AMD.

Passionate about helping other women succeed in technical careers, Ms. McKinney is a founding executive member of the AMD Women's Forum, and the executive sponsor for the Sunnyvale AWF. She is also actively engaged in community support with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Silicon Valley. Ms. McKinney has been a microprocessor designer for over 25 years, holding various design and leadership positions at Digital Equipment Corporation, Motorola/IBM/Apple alliance on the PowerPC, and at the startup, Alchemy Semiconductor. She holds a Master's in Electrical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and an undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from Central New England College


Michelle Miller

Director of Marketing, Jabil

316 - WITI WIN - Women IoT and Wearables Leadership

Michelle Miller is currently the Director of Marketing for Jabil, Inc. She is an accomplished sales and marketing professional with passion for developing, implementing and leading marketing and sales strategies. Ms. Miller has 20 years experience in the Technology Sector working with and for leading technology companies on a global basis including Cisco, IBM, NetApp and Nice Systems. Her areas of expertise include: Marketing Strategy, Customer Experience and Journey Mapping; Creator of Integrated, Cross-Ecosystem Marketing Management Campaign System (patent pending); Consultative Sales Management; Strategic Alliances/Channels; and Business Development/Business Transformation Consulting.

Ms. Miller's strengths in marketing and sales are enhanced by her understanding of economic, financial and analytics disciplines. She has developed an innovative marketing and sales methodology - OMNIAudience - which not only accounts for cross-channel but for the entire decision making unit, as selling across channel and across buyers is even more critical in the increasingly complex world of solution sales.


Nikita Mitchell

President, Berkeley-Haas MBA Association

303 - How Millennial Women Are Shaping the Future

Nikita Mitchell is a 2015 MBA candidate at UC Berkeley, Haas School of Business. She started her career in Strategy & Operations at Deloitte Consulting and later transitioned into the nonprofit sector. Upon graduation she will be working at Cisco as Chief of Staff for the newly formed Americas Consulting Team.

During her two years at Haas, Ms. Mitchell has served as the 2014 MBA Association President (1st African-American woman to hold the position), a Haas Consortium liaison, and a Principal for the $2.5M Haas Socially Responsible Investment Fund. She is also a Forte Fellow and a StartingBloc Social Innovation Fellow. In her free time she is an avid reader, cupcake lover, a half-marathon runner, and a fierce advocate for women and youth.


Madhu Mujoo

Executive Director, San Jose Office, Ernst & Young

305 - Why IT Is Losing Smart Women - and How Workforce Diversity Can Help

Madhu Mujoo has over 18 years of experience in synthesizing business strategy with market drivers and opportunities. She has led large-scale integration and enterprise-wide initiatives across high tech, manufacturing and energy industries. Ms. Mujoo blends her knowledge of business operations with technology to develop strategies and solutions that enable clients to achieve substantial growth. She has experience in driving global sales pursuits and building high performance global teams.

Prior to joining EY, Ms. Mujoo led North American High Tech Practice for Hitachi Consulting where she had P&L and GTM responsibilities. She was a key leader in enabling the integration of Sierra Atlantic into Hitachi business, and responsible for re-defining the market positioning for Hitachi Consulting. In her role, she rejuvenated the focus on business growth initiatives by significantly increasing investments in IPs and creating productized solutions. Prior to joining Hitachi Consulting, she held a Market Maker role at Accenture where she led mega-deals and built global delivery teams across India, Manila, Argentina and Mexico. Ms. Mujoo holds a Graduate Diploma in Rehabilitation Sciences and a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science from Delhi University. She serves on the board of Silver Oak School, San Jose CA, and is an active volunteer in planning and executing enrichment programs for children in her community.


Maria Olson

Vice President, Global Alliances, NetApp

305 - Why IT Is Losing Smart Women - and How Workforce Diversity Can Help

Maria Olson is Vice President, Global & Strategic Alliances for NetApp, and has responsibility for worldwide go-to-market with Alliance partners. Ms. Olson and her team oversee the company's portfolio of Alliance partners and internal teams to bring to market a variety of storage and data management solutions. Her responsibilities include creation of business strategies and plans, strategic alignment within the partner ecosystem, and global execution that increases revenue.

Prior to NetApp, Ms. Olson was at SAP as Sr. Director of Global Business Development and was instrumental in on-boarding PwC to become a SAP Global Service Partner, and recruited over 50 PwC countries while increasing revenue and doubling pipeline. She has also held senior management positions at BEA Systems (acquired by Oracle), Acta Technology (acquired by Business Objects/SAP), and Hewlett Packard. She has extensive experience in business development, alliance management, product management, procurement, and supply chain operations across a variety of lines of business - from printers, interactive TV, cable modems, telecommunications -- to storage products, enterprise software and solutions. Ms. Olson earned her Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the University of San Diego, and an Executive MBA from Pepperdine University.


Prashanthi Padmanabhan

Technical Director, Communication Products, AOL

317 - WITI WIN - Women in Cloud and Storage Leadership

Prashanthi Padmanabhan is a Technical Director in the Communication Products group at AOL. She leads the team that is responsible for building AOL Mail, the flagship product of the company. Her team recently launched the next-gen application server platform that powers multiple communication apps across desktop and mobile. Ms. Padmanabhan is very passionate about building intuitive and engaging consumer-facing products that are backed by robust infrastructure. She is a people person who enjoys the art of mentoring and building strong teams. Outside product engineering and people management responsibilities, she also leads the editorial function of AOL's Engineering Blog and loves organizing hackathons.

Prior to AOL Mail, Ms. Padmanabhan led product development efforts across other AOL products in the content management, personalization, and photos management space. She holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Computer Science from Bharathiar University, India.


Syuzi Pakhchyan

Wearable Technology Consultant, fashioningtech.com

316 - WITI WIN - Women IoT and Wearables Leadership

Syuzi Pakhchyan is a user experience designer and author with a passion for crafting products and experiences for next-generation wearable technologies. After receiving her MFA from the Art Center College of Design, she authored "Fashioning Technology," the first DIY book on interactive fashion, and began a design and innovation consulting studio. Currently she works as a consultant where her focus is to fashion wearables that are truly wearable and distinctly desirable. Ms. Pakhchyan is also Intel's Technologist in Residence at Art Center College of Design, where she is working to produce events and happenings that encourage conversations around the future of wearable technology. As a leading expert in her field, she chronicles the constantly evolving developments in wearable technology on her blog, fashioningtech.com

Ms. Pakhchyan has been sharing her insight and vision for wearable technology at leading industry conferences including SXSW, Wearable Tech Expo, and the Augmented World Expo. Her work has also been exhibited at various events including V & A Museum (London), Eyebeam, A & D Museum (Los Angeles), the Fashion Future Event, Inter-Society for the Electronic Arts, South by Southwest, Maker Faire, and Emerging Technologies Conference.


Eddie Pate, Ph.D.

Director Inclusion & Diversity for WWOPs, Amazon

305 - Why IT Is Losing Smart Women - and How Workforce Diversity Can Help

Eddie Pate is Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion at Avanade Inc. He is responsible for developing and implementing all diversity and inclusion efforts at Avanade, a JVC created in partnership by Microsoft and Accenture. Previously, Dr. Pate was Principal and founder of Pate Consulting & Associates. His areas of subject matter expertise are diversity, inclusion, accessibility, and cultural competence.

Earlier, Dr. Pate was the Director of Diversity and Inclusion for Starbucks' Global Diversity team, responsible for driving diversity, inclusion, and accessibility into every aspect of partner (employee) engagement worldwide. Prior to that he was a Director in Microsoft's Global Diversity & Inclusion Team, responsible for overseeing the implementation of Microsoft's global diversity initiative company- wide. He was also responsible for the Leadership Accountability strategy to ensure executive participation & ownership. Before going to graduate school, he served as Assistant Director of Admissions and School Relations at Humboldt State University in northern California. Dr. Pate also had a short stint in the NFL but severe knee injuries cut his career short. He holds a BA in Wildlife Management and an MA in Sociology from Humboldt State University, and a Ph.D. in Sociology from University of Washington.


Michele Pelino

Principal Analyst, Forrester Research

204 - The Internet of Things: What Does it Take to Make the Internet of Everything Real?

A member of Forrester's Infrastructure & Operations research team, Michele Pelino's expertise focuses on enterprise mobility strategy development and mobile device and application adoption. She delivers strategic guidance to Forrester's enterprise, small and medium-size business (SMB), and vendor clients by identifying enterprise mobility service and technology trends, device adoption drivers, mobile application usage, and emerging M2M solution opportunities.

Ms. Pelino has more than 15 years of professional experience focusing on the telecommunications and enterprise mobility industry. She assisted domestic and international service providers in addressing strategic issues, conducting competitive assessments, evaluating product concepts, and developing marketing positioning messages on new technologies and services. Prior to joining Forrester, Ms. Pelino was a management consultant serving national and international communications and technology clients in North America and Europe. She started her consulting career in Booz Allen & Hamilton's telecommunications group, where she helped telecom companies implement a federally mandated wireline and wireless service prioritization system used during national emergencies. Ms. Pelino holds a B.A. from St. Mary's College of Maryland, and earned her M.B.A. from Boston University.


Adam Poswolsky

Author

303 - How Millennial Women Are Shaping the Future

304 - Creating a Purpose-Driven Career

Adam Smiley Poswolsky is author of the bestseller job-hunting book The Quarter-Life Breakthrough. As director of community engagement for the Hive Global Leaders Program, and previously as director at The Bold Academy, Mr. Poswolsky has inspired professionals and entrepreneurs to find fulfilling work. He is a mentor for the StartingBloc Institute for Social Innovation, and a facilitator for General Assembly and The Passion Co.

Mr. Poswolsky has spoken about finding meaningful work at Fortune 500 companies, international conferences and leadership development programs, universities and graduate schools. He writes stories about purpose-driven millennials who are making a positive impact in their communities. His writing has been published in The Washington Post, Forbes, Fast Company, Thought Catalog, and GOOD, among others. He previously worked as the special assistant to the director of global operations at the U.S. Peace Corps. Mr. Poswolsky is a proud graduate of Wesleyan University, and can usually be found dancing in San Francisco, California.


Kyra Reed

Co-Founder, MTO Agency

107 - How to Effectively Identify and Connect with Your Community

Kyra Reed is an industry veteran and a community-focused brand innovator who brings a unique and fresh social-first approach to brand marketing and digital strategy. Prior to co-founding Made To Order (MTO), Ms. Reed spent 15 years working with dozens of companies of all sizes ranging from traditional to social marketing, including start-ups, mid-size businesses, and well-known events such as the Monterey Pop Festival.

For her work spearheading the revitalization of the iconic Roxy Theater and Sunset Strip in Los Angeles entertainment district, Ms. Reed was named a "Social Media Pioneer" by Entrepreneur Magazine. In this role, she has one of the most prominent social media case studies to date. She is the author of Blog 101, a beginner's guide to blogging; and a contributor to The Power of Real-Time Social Media Marketing by Beverly Macy. Ms. Reed has guest-lectured at UCLA and USC and has spoken at a number of conferences, including Digital Music Forum West, Blog World, ASCAP Expos, and SXSW. Her work has been featured in top tier media outlets including TechCrunch, The New York Times, and NPR.


Camelia Rusu

Senior Engineering Director, Lam Research Corporation

315 - WITI WIN - Women Semiconductor and Embedded Systems Leadership

Camelia Rusu is the Senior Engineering Director at Lam Research Corporation. She joined Lam after graduate school and has been with the company for the last 15 years. She started as a process engineer and advanced to her current position while holding various leadership positions: process etch manager for a special account, head of the 3DIC team, and recently the leader of a technology team in dielectric etch. Dr. Rusu received a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.


Malika Sangani

Director of Engineering

317 - WITI WIN - Women in Cloud and Storage Leadership

Malika Sangani is Director of Engineering for E La Carte, a leading producer of tablets for restaurants. She has held multiple positions at E La Carte including head of Release, Quality Assurance, Support and Analytics Engineering. In each of these roles, Ms. Sangani has focused on her passion for delivering great customer experience and satisfaction through intuitive visual interfaces, robust software and stellar customer service.

Prior to her current role, Ms. Sangani was Senior Manager of Engineering for Akamai where she led the global engineering team responsible for creating the UI for Akamai's streaming media products. She has previously held leadership roles at CD Networks and AOL. She started her technical career in engineering roles at Netscape and Sun Microsystems. Ms. Sangani holds a Master's in Computer Science from Cleveland State University.


Rebecca Scholl

SVP, Strategy & Marketing/High Tech, Communications & Media, Xerox Corporation

204 - The Internet of Things: What Does it Take to Make the Internet of Everything Real?

Rebecca Scholl is vice president and Global Accounts Champion for Xerox. She manages co-innovation projects between Xerox and its largest customers. Ms. Scholl joined Xerox ten years ago and has held a variety of executive roles, including director of strategy for Xerox services in Europe, SVP Marketing for Xerox Services, Chief of Staff to the President and CEO of Xerox Services, and Client Managing Director for Global Accounts.

Previously with Gartner, Inc., Ms. Scholl was principal analyst in charge of business process outsourcing (BPO) research. She was responsible for conducting research and providing advice to clients procuring or delivering BPO services. Her research focused on human resources outsourcing, finance and accounting outsourcing, and offshore outsourcing. She was widely published, having written numerous reports on the emerging BPO market. Ms. Scholl earned an MBA from Community of European Management Schools, a Master's in Management from Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales, Paris, France, and a Master's in International Economic Relations from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris, France.


Lila Snyder

President, Document Messaging Technologies, Pitney Bowes Inc.

211 - What Smart Companies Are Doing to Leverage Big Data

Lila Snyder is President, Document Messaging Technologies at Pitney Bowes Inc., responsible for leading the company's global production mail business. This includes the design, manufacture, installation and service of print and mail equipment as well as of high-speed digital color printers, inserters and sorters.

Before joining Pitney Bowes in November 2013, Dr. Snyder was a Partner at McKinsey & Company, where she was the leader of McKinsey's Stamford office and focused on serving clients in the technology, media and communications sectors. Her work spanned strategy, operations, marketing and sales, working with clients to drive sustainable performance and build capabilities. Dr. Snyder holds S.M. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Miami.


Theresa Spralling

CEO, Women of AT&T National Organization

306 - Creating/Managing Teams That People Are Clamoring To Be On

Theresa Spralling is chief executive officer of the Women of AT&T National Organization. Over 18,000 members strong, Women of AT&T is organized to connect and inspire members to achieve their personal and professional goals and effect change in the community.

Ms. Spralling's experience ranges from business development, generational learning, and relationship building, to planning, conflict resolution, and change management. She serves as a senior associate director for the Business Sales Leadership Development Program of AT&T Services Inc. She's responsible for talent development and building performance sales leadership teams and sales professionals for the global leader in mobile Internet services and IP-based business communications solutions.

Ms. Spralling has worked at Avaya, Lucent Technologies, and The Advisory Council, and first joined AT&T in 1998 as an executive briefer. She joined AT&T Mobility as a business sales manager in 2007. She is a member of Toastmasters International and the owner of the Karmaworks Inc. motivational consulting firm.


Urska Srsen

Founder, Bellabeat

316 - WITI WIN - Women IoT and Wearables Leadership

Urska Srsen is the co-founder and Head of Product at Bellabeat, a Silicon Valley company that produces smart devices and wearables for women which help to improve their overall health. Ms. Srsen is the main visionary behind Bellabeat's products and overall branding strategy, which recently led to recognition from Fast Company for creating one of the most innovative products of the year.

Ms. Srsen was one of the main speakers at Y Combinator Startup School, appeared on the ABC News, Fox News, WSJ, Forbes, Silicon Valley Business Journal, and many others. After attending the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts and having multiple standalone exhibitions around the world by the age of 22, Ms. Srsen founded Bellabeat after having worked on a professional home monitoring system, which helps pregnant women to have a healthier pregnancy and track their and their baby's health.


May Su

Vice President, Strategic Marketing, Brooks Automation, Inc.

315 - WITI WIN - Women Semiconductor and Embedded Systems Leadership

May Su is currently Vice President of Strategic Marketing for Brooks Automation, responsible for long-term growth and market leadership. Ms. Su has over 30 years of experience in the semiconductor industry, including 13 years at Lam Research and 10 years at KLA-Tencor. She has held positions of increasing responsibility, including VP/GM at Crossing Automation and Aviza Technology, Vice President of Corporate Marketing at KLA-Tencor, President of US and European Operations at Nova Instruments, and Product General Manager at Lam Research.

Ms. Su started her career in equipment design, manufacturing, and engineering management. In 1990, as Taiwan and Korea started to gain importance as semiconductor device fabrication regions, Ms. Su leveraged her bi-lingual skills and shifted her focus to sales and marketing by taking on the role of Strategic Sales Manager for Asia at Lam Research. Since that time, Ms. Su has continuously gained greater international experience, traveling extensively throughout the world in her professional capacity. Ms. Su holds a BSME from Cornell University, MSME from UC Berkeley, and an MBA from Santa Clara University.


Jaishree Subramania

Director, Internet of Things Marketing, Cisco Systems

204 - The Internet of Things: What Does it Take to Make the Internet of Everything Real?

As Director of Internet of Things (IoT) Marketing at Cisco Systems, Jaishree Subramania is responsible for worldwide product and solution marketing strategies for Cisco's IoT platform. Ms. Subramania is also responsible for managing Cisco's Internet of Things World Forum industry event and coordinating the work of the 104 members of the Internet of Things Steering Committee.

Prior to assuming her current position in January 2014, Ms. Subramania was Senior Marketing Manager at Cisco responsible for the company's IoT and enterprise networking operations. Previously, she was program chair for the MIT/Stanford Venture Lab, the Bay Area chapter of the MIT Enterprise Forum. She has also served in senior management roles with Bytemobile, July Systems, iCelerate, and Cloudwise. Ms. Subramania holds a Master's degree in Business Administration from the Asian Institute of Management.


Lindsey Turrentine

Vice President and Editor-in-Chief, CNET

311 - Breakthroughs in Leadership: Here's How I Got to the Top!

302 - Breakfast Keynote Presentation by Ford Motors - Behind Every Success Is a Group of Mentors and Motivators

Lindsey Turrentine is Vice President and Editor in Chief of CNET.com, the world's #1 global tech news and reviews brand. A veteran journalist and media executive, Ms. Turrentine is responsible for directing CNET's industry-leading reviews, overseeing the growth of video across platforms, and setting strategy for content that guides consumer purchase decisions. Her team of 100+ editors, writers, and producers worldwide cements CNET's role as the world's most-respected and influential consumer tech brand. Under her leadership, CNET significantly increased its automotive tech coverage and expanded into the smart-home arena with the launch of CNET Appliances in 2013. She spearheaded the launch of CNET How To, a property that has double its traffic each year since inception. Under her guidance, CNET Reviews saw a 10% increase in unique visitors last year alone.

In addition to expanding car tech and introducing CNET Appliances, Ms. Turrentine oversaw the introduction of CNET en Espanol, the most comprehensive and popular tech news and reviews resource for Spanish speakers in the United States. She also co-edited and launched the high-visibility CNET Magazine, CNET's premiere quarterly consumer-focused print publication. Ms. Turrentine earned a Bachelor's degree in English and American Language and Literature from Harvard University.


Sophia Viklund

Founder, backCODE

210 - How Serious Games Are Changing the World

Sophia Viklund first got the programming bug with C++ as a teenager in college. Working in software and web development since 1998, she became an entrepreneur. backCODE, a Unity development studio focusing on Serious Games (including those both for military applications and entertainment projects), is the fourth technology company Ms. Viklund has founded. In 2012 she was named in Forbes as one of a select group of "Female Founders to Watch," and again in 2013 as part of a group of "Women in Gaming to Watch." With strong commitments to both technology business initiatives and bringing women into technology, Ms. Viklund is an active mentor for STEM (White House Equal App challenge and UC Irvine Computer Science Department), and her mission is to bring more women into technology/STEM education and business entrepreneurship.

Ms. Viklund holds a Master's degree in linguistics with concentration in speech recognition, multiple technical certifications, and has a special interest in teaching programming languages. She also completed a second Master's program at UCLA. She is a co-organizer of Girl Geek Dinners/Los Angeles chapter; on the board of Directors of 50/50 leadership; on the executive board of Caltech Enterprise forum; and is a co-founder of PyLadies, a non-profit that teaches women programming in Python.


Mary Vincent

Co-Founder & CTO, LifetimeMD

209 - Wearable Computing

Mary Vincent is Co-Founder / CTO of LifetimeMD and was Co-Founder and Head of Product Engineering for a smart fabric wearable computing company, leading global wearable computing architecture innovation, integration, testing, quality and technical engagement. Her startup was accepted into the Intel Make it Wearable Semifinals, two Startup Incubators, and she presented in Shenzhen China and Taipei Taiwan, Keiretsu Womens Forum, Draper University, Silicon Valley China Wireless, and was selected as a Delta Techcrunch Disrupt Innovator.

Ms. Vincent's background includes work in Sun Microsystems Java Engineering, Data Center Energy Efficiency, and Mobile Health Application development with Stanford and Government Projects. She has a special interest in climate policy and was a Stakeholder Advisory Group Member of WRI/WBCSD GHG Protocol (developing a new standard for product and supply chain GHG accounting and reporting) and Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Literacy Stakeholder (providing energy literacy input to the DOE) in DOE-Sponsored Meetings. Ms. Vincent has a unique understanding of the software and hardware worlds and how they work together, and often speaks about the future of wearables and how we can use technology to improve lives.


Yael Wagner

Chief Product Officer

109 - Twitter 101

With over 20 years in tech product management and marketing, Yael Wagner has lived and worked in Israel, Canada, China, and while in the US, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New York, and since 2006, Silicon Valley, with companies large and small, including Lucent, Avaya, Lifesta, Amdocs, and Sun Microsystems, leading and launching hardware, software, mobile, and enterprise platform products. This rich and diverse experience gives Ms. Wagner depth and insights that she uses to continually drive success, of products and people alike.


Clemantine Wamariya

Human Rights Advocate and Storyteller

303 - How Millennial Women Are Shaping the Future

Clemantine Wamariya is a storyteller and human rights advocate. Born in Kigali, Rwanda, Ms. Wamariya was six years old when the Rwandan Genocide broke out. Her older sister, Claire, led their miraculous escape. During the next six years, Claire and Clemantine lived in refugee camps, separated from parents and relatives, in seven different countries in eastern and southern Africa. Ms. Wamariya's experiences embolden her to fight injustice and to champion the cause of those without opportunity or the protection of law. For the past eight years, she has shared her riveting experiences as both a survivor of genocide and as a refugee.

Ms. Wamariya received her B.A. in Comparative Literature from Yale University, is on the board of Women for Women International, and was appointed by President Obama to the U.S. Holocaust Museum Board. She is also an advisory board member at Refugee Transitions.


Emily White

Data Science Leader, GE Healthcare

311 - Breakthroughs in Leadership: Here's How I Got to the Top!

Emily White joined GE Healthcare IT in 2013 as the Regional IT leader to drive the transformation and build the best in class commercial and service capabilities. She took a new assignment in 2015 as Senior Data Modeling Manager/Market Access, responsible for the technical development of solutions to solve complex business and population health problems. Previously at GE Transportation, she served as Global Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Program Manager, leading a global team through implementation of multiple systems and process consolidations to improve global operations and enable revenue and profitability growth.

Ms. White began her career in 1998 as a software engineer with Cerner Corporation, a Healthcare IT Company. She progressed to Senior Software Architect, Project Lead with an emphasis on full Systems Development Life Cycle. She holds an MBA, a Master's of Applied Mathematics in Computer Science, and a Bachelor's degree in Accounting. Ms. White is Green Belt certified, fluent in both English and Chinese, and serves as an adjunct professor of University of Phoenix.


Michael Winwood

CEO, Optomi

312 - The Roadmap to Successful Startups

Michael Winwood is CEO and Co-Founder of Optomi, rapidly-growing U.S. technology staffing firm. Mr. Winwood has more than 20 years of technology industry experience as a national and international executive leader. Most recently, he led Technisource from a mid-sized IT staffing company to one of the largest technology staffing and solutions firms in the US, with an industry-leading suite of services. With a passion for innovation, client and consultant service excellence, and strong values based on "doing the right thing," Mr. Winwood brings unique executive skills to the industry.


Kristi Wolff, Esq.

Senior Associate, Kelley Drye & Warren

209 - Wearable Computing

Kristi Wolff is a senior associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Kelley Drye & Warren LLP. Her practice concentrates on advertising, consumer protection, and food and drug law matters. Having served as in-house counsel in the healthcare and food products industries, Ms. Wolff has a deep understanding of the client's perspective.

Ms. Wolff helps advertisers and manufacturers balance legal risks and business objectives to minimize the potential for regulator, competitor, or consumer challenge while still executing a successful campaign. Ms. Wolff's advertising and consumer protection law expertise includes counseling clients on the marketing and sale of a wide variety of consumer products and services, including food and related health products, apparel and luxury items such as textiles, jewelry, and fur, and marketing services such as telemarketing and text message campaign compliance. She also represents clients in advertising substantiation investigations initiated by the Federal Trade Commission or state attorneys general and in advertising challenges before the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus. Prior to joining Kelley Drye, Ms. Wolff was associate general counsel at Nestlé HealthCare Nutrition, Inc.


Candace Worley

Senior Vice President & GM/Endpoint Security, McAfee, Inc.

306 - Creating/Managing Teams That People Are Clamoring To Be On

Candace Worley is the senior vice president and general manager for the McAfee Endpoint Security Business, responsible for developing and executing the strategic direction around Endpoint Protection for PCs, laptops, tablets, mobile phones, and embedded devices. She is also responsible for Data Center Security for physical, virtual and cloud environments, as well as Data Protection solutions for corporate assets. Ms. Worley leads the engineering, marketing, and sales functions that drive worldwide growth for the Endpoint Security business and is accountable for the business unit P&L.

Ms. Worley joined McAfee in 2000 and has 20 years of technology leadership and enterprise product management experience. Prior to McAfee, she spent seven years with Mentor Graphics where she led a team of product managers responsible for electronic design automation and electronic component software. Ms. Worley holds an MBA from Marylhurst University and a bachelor's degree in management from Oregon State University.


Program Director

Peggy Kilburn

Program Director, WITI Summit and Hall of Fame, Managing Director, Peggy Kilburn Conferences

Since 2013, Peggy Kilburn has served as Program Director for WITI's annual Women in Technology Summit, as well as Managing Director for the Women in Technology Hall of Fame Awards. A seasoned director of such major conferences as COMDEX, AppleFest, ComNet, Harvard Computer Graphics Week, and Softcon, Ms. Kilburn was the founding conference director for Macworld Expo and ran it for 14 years, zestfully growing the program to over 100 sessions with 375+ speakers.

Since its founding, Peggy Kilburn Conferences has developed and administered more than 2,000 programs for such clients as Boston University, CeBIT America, Clasma Events, Customer Engagement Technology World, Harvard University, pulvermedia, SRI International, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Most recently, she served as Program Manager for the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel annual conference.

Ms. Kilburn is a member of the Advisory Committee for RSVP Community Theatre of Asheboro, NC, and serves as RSVP's Social Media Manager while dabbling as a character actress and voice-over artist. She is also a residential energy customer keenly interested in Smart Grid, and an incipient champion for Intellectually Gifted Adult Aspergians. Ms. Kilburn holds a BA in Broadcast Journalism from the University of South Carolina.


And more to be announced soon!

* Speakers and Sessions are subject to change

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