Featured Speaker(s)

Abi Olukeye is the founder and CEO of Smart Girls HQ, A learning platform to facilitate STEM career education with a focus on female learners and non-traditional learning spaces. Core offerings include parent education for STEM informal learning at RaisingSmartGirls.com and Dear Smart Girl kits, a project based career-focused STEM curriculum for girls. Her vision is to create an ecosystem of products that when used together are a powerful catalyst for sustaining long-term engagement in STEM for young girls. Her work has been supported by National Science Foundation and the Department of Education through Small Business Innovation Research(SBIR) Awards, the NC Idea Foundation, and the Vela Education Fund.

Previously, she led Internet of Things (IOT) strategy development and digital transformation projects at Ingersoll Rand. She has over fifteen years of professional and leadership experience spanning new product development, technology commercialization, process improvement and strategy.

Abi is a member of the Computer Science K12 Standards Committee for North Carolina and serves on the board of CSEdResearch.org. She holds a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Virginia Tech and MBA from Indiana University. She and her husband live in Charlotte, NC and have two young daughters who greatly inspire her work.