Although great strides have been made in recent years, the fact is that women are still underrepresented in the top positions of most major corporations. Do we know why? Is it because organizations place more value on the leadership qualities typically attributed to men than on those associated with women? Is it the macho style that seems to work well? Are the women not competitive enough? Is it because women think it is really not worth the heroics to scramble for the corner office?

Join us at this dynamic panel discussion with insight from women in leadership roles.

Attendees are guaranteed to come away with several specific steps to take in order to bring about a more balanced dimension of leadership and how you can really change game board �" both to your organization and to your own personal development.

Executive Panel: Twila Day, Donna Benefield and Wendy Montoute

Twila Day is a forward-thinking leader with broad technology expertise. Currently, she is Vice President of Information Technology for SYSCO Corporation, the largest North American foodservice marketing and distribution organization. In this role she has been instrumental in creating the Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) architecture, provided vision for the Enterprise Data Warehouse, and spearheaded the integration of proprietary systems with best-of-breed 3rd party software. Previously, she was intimately involved with SYSCO’s in-house developed multi-million dollar ERP project. Twila received the 2003 Leadership in Technology Award from the Association of Women in Computing. She is a member of Association for Women in Computing (AWC), Women in Technology Industries (WITI), and Women in Foodservice Forum (WFF). Twila holds a BA degree from Our Lady of the Lake University.

Donna Benefield is an IT Director at Reliant Energy responsible for Wholesale business projects, business process redesign, metrics and reporting. Prior to Reliant, she was a consultant with Accenture and Maryville Technologies for more than ten years. Donna started and co-managed the Maryville Minneapolis office prior to moving to Texas. Donna’s experience includes Technical Architecture, Program and Project Management, Process Design including ITIL and CMM, and Applications & Operations Management. Donna balances work with family including five children, her husband and several pets. Donna has a B.S. degree in Business and Computer Science from Milwaukee School of Engineering.

Wendy Montoute is currently a Senior Manager for IT Financial Services at Halliburton Energy Services Group. She is responsible for regulatory compliance, financial controls, asset management and plays a key role in strategic business alignment as part of CIO steering committee. Prior to Halliburton, she worked for American General and other Financial Services organizations in various capacities. She is a CPA and recently got her MBA from Rice University. Now, she is pursuing her Chartered Financial Analyst program. She is very passionate about building effective teams, and mentoring others. She enjoys entertaining, interior decorating and swimming in her leisure time.

Moderator: Padma Nunna
Padma is an Architect in the IT Processes and Governance group leading Halliburton Energy Services IT Service Management Program. Prior to Halliburton, she served as a consultant in various capacities �" Infrastructure Architect, Enterprise Management Operations Lead, Project Manager and Business process consultant for a number of organizations like Capital One Auto Finance, Services Corporation International, ConAgra Foods, and Nokia amongst several others. She is the founder for the itSMF USA Houston chapter and currently acting as the Local Interest Group coordinator. She has a Masters in Computer Engineering from Texas A&M, Process Management certificate from UT Austin and holds the manager certification in IT Service Management.