Check-in, grab some breakfast and coffee and get ready for an exciting day filled with powerful discussions.
Women with Vision
CXO Summit
Women are innovating, flourishing and making an impact in their companies. Join us for a one-day program for women leaders across functional responsibility to learn from others who are committed to diversity and inclusion. We'll discuss some of the most important topics facing female executives today including compensation equity, growing and retaining talented women, avoiding burnout and a look at 2024 trends including the digital present and future.
Visionaries
Maxine Legall
Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (former)
The Jewish Board
About Me
Maxine L. Legall, MBA, MSW, CPXP, has served as Chief of Diversity and Inclusion at the Jewish Board. Previously she was the Director of Patient Experience & Cultural Transformation at Mount Sinai Morningside. Maxine earned a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Hofstra University, where her concentration was Health Service Management. She earned a Master of Science from Columbia University School of Social Work, where she focused on Advanced Generalist Practice and Programming. At the State University of New York, Maxine graduated cum laude, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, with a minor in Sociology and Black Studies. Maxine has a passion for working with others, staff engagement, enhancing the patient experience, diversity and inclusion, leadership and overall organization development. She believes anything is possible when there is teamwork, engagement and strong leadership!
Samia Rahman
Director, Enterprise Data Strategy & Governance
Seagen
Julie Luengas
Chief Nursing Informatics Officer
Stony Brook Medicine
About Me
An accomplished Executive Informatics Nurse focused on improving the clinician and patient experience with healthcare information technology solutions
Julie is instrumental in engaging clinical leaders with healthcare information technology projects to ensure a successful implementation which improves clinician workflow, quality, and safety while meeting regulatory requirements. Julie has worked with Nursing, Physicians, Ancillary teams in the acute care and ambulatory settings.
Deena Swatzie
VP, Head of Technology Risk
Truist
About Me
Providing industry-leading practices in cyber-risk management and compliance while implementing an effective cybersecurity program that protects against threats, advances transformation, and drives growth.
Sarah Dreyer
SVP Research and Data Services
Savills
Susan Koski
CISO
PNC
About Me
Executive leader who develops partnerships to achieve risk management with a spirit of innovation, commitment to excellence and passion for people. Proven track record of building/re-building programs and teams; inspiring and supporting knowledge workers to achieve their best and ongoing process improvement aligned to company objectives. Ability to manage the high demands of an executive security role and competing priorities to achieve deliverables. Analytical and decision-making skills driven by the ability to identify “big picture” implications while balancing risk and opportunity. Innate ability to inspire, lead and transform concepts into fully functional programs in global organizations. Passion to deliver impeccable delivery to the business as a trusted advisor.
• Built Security organizations from infancy to fully functional, building programs from the ground up to achieve regulatory compliance and business risk management.
• Converged cyber security and fraud functions for multiple domains in operational risk achieving key synergies to combat adversaries.
• Led and delivered on various merger and divestiture scenarios from the due diligence phase to implementation of the deal type.
• Led the Technology Risk Management functional integration for the merger of BNY and Mellon.
Specialties: Teambuilding, Superb Relationship Management, Situational Leadership, IT Risk Assessments / Management, IT-GRC, Information Security Management, Information Security Operations Center, Merger and Integration IT due diligence and integration, Secure Application Development, Program Management, Organizational Development
Process Improvement
Shereen Jones
Group CIO
The Jamaica National Group
About Me
The Jamaica National Group is committed to the success and growth of its members while using business as a force for good so that, together, they can improve the outcome of Jamaicans wherever they may reside.
Kayla Williams
CISO
Devo
Nora Osman
CEO
Norvana
About Me
Established in 1884 and headquartered in The Bronx, New York, Montefiore Medical Center provides medical care and emergency services.
Ania Kowalczuk
VP of Information Security Risk and Compliance
MongoDB
About Me
Ania Kowalczuk, Vice President of Information Security Risk and Compliance at MongoDB, brings a wealth of experience in steering comprehensive security strategies in the tech industry. Her expertise lies in harmonizing rigorous compliance standards with operational efficiency, ensuring MongoDB's products not only adhere to, but set benchmarks in data security and risk management. Ania’s leadership extends to shaping advanced cybersecurity initiatives, notably in developing teams focused on evolving risk and security regulations. Her insight and foresight in these areas have made her a key player in addressing the nuanced security needs of MongoDB’s diverse clientele, earning her a reputation as a forward-thinking leader in information security.
Violeta Ardeljan
Former VP, Marketing
Global Industrial
Viktoriya Smith
SVP
Citi
Tiffany Sturdivant
Director, Regional Needs Assessment and Planning
United Hospital Fund New York
About Me
Innovative, driven Healthcare Operations leader who engages teams in strategic planning and population health initiatives.
Passion for leading transitions to population health and using integrated technologies to engage stakeholders across the healthcare continuum of care.
Committed to identifying partnerships with community agencies to create team-based care model and address social determinants of health and health equity
________________________________________
CORE SKILLS
Population Health Management | Capacity Building | Change Management | Program Development & Implementation | Integrating Operations | Quality Management Programs |
Employee Development | Increased Employee Engagement | Community & Government Relations | Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Yabing Wang
CISO
Justworks
About Me
Yabing Wang is the VP and Chief Information Security Officer at Justworks. She has been in the technology world for 25 years, and has more than 20 years of extensive leadership experience in cybersecurity across different industries. Yabing thrives in transforming security into a business enabler through executive leadership, program delivery, and partnership with all stakeholders. She has built global security practices and strengthened cyber resilience at multiple fortune 100 companies and tech-forward companies.
Jessica Joines
CEO and Founder
Women's Purpose Community
About Me
Jessica Joines is a former Global CMO turned bestselling author, spiritual coach and
international speaker who helps women awaken to their true power and potential. Through
speaking, coaching, and a community platform — she empowers women to transform their
lives by mastering their own spiritual journey. Jessica is here to help women rise above all
forms of fear and limitation and transcend the ego.
As the visionary founder of the Women’s Purpose Community (WPC), a one-of-a-kind personal
growth and wellness community, tailored for accomplished C-Suite women, Jessica is helping
make the case for companies to invest in the personal development of female leaders.
Something research has long shown women need to help close the gender gap. Now boasting
60+ members, the WPC serves as a safe haven—for seasoned executives seeking to do the
deeply courageous and vulnerable work of self-discovery.
Unique to Jessica is that her teachings on are largely based on her own lived experience.
Including her tumultuous journey, from burnt out corporate executive, to an example of finding
purpose at any age. By 40 years old, Jessica had reached what seemed to be the pinnacle of
professional success – but she was also overworked and deeply unhappy in one corporate job after
another. To cope, she turned to self-medicating, which contributed to a vicious cycle of despair.
Desperate to break the pattern of fear which seemingly dominated her life, she took several daring
leaps toward finding what she came to know as her soul purpose
Jessica’s journey and path to finding purpose are detailed in her book, Dare to Believe: 12
Lessons for Living Your Soul Purpose. Which topped charts on Amazon for weeks. Jessica is
also the charismatic host of "Soul Purpose with Jessica Joines," on the MindBodySpriit.fm
network. A live coaching show that helps women navigate some of their toughest life
challenges.
Jessica Joines stands at the intersection of leadership, spirituality, and empowerment,
embodying a unique blend of wisdom and authenticity.
Kathleen Hurley
CIO
Sage Inc
Yelena Shtykel
Global Head of Cloud Data
Citibank
About Me
Yelena is a seasoned technology professional, whose career journey reflects her deep commitment to innovation, technology, and leadership. She began her career as a software developer, quickly distinguishing herself through her adeptness at coding and problem-solving. Overtime Yelena transitioned her focus towards data, driven by a passion for data and its potential to revolutionize virtually every industry. In her current role, Yelena is a Head of Public Cloud Data at Citi, where she oversees the strategic direction and execution of cloud data initiatives for the firm, fostering innovation to provide robust data solutions that support the organization's goals and objectives
Rosalind Panda
CTO
Oqulus Tech
About Me
Rosalind Panda is a Visionary, Thought leader, Technology innovator, Oil painting Artist, Author, and Public
Speaker having more than two decades of experience contributing to the community and across the World in the
fields of Art, Technology Innovation, and Creative Design thinking. She is the Founder of Rosalind Arts Gallery,
Founder of Oqulus Tech LLC, an AI and Cyber security platform development and advisory firm in Agri-Tech, Edu
Tech, FinTech, and Med-Tech, Business Partner/ Chief Technology Officer at Jeanensis Ventures, a venture capital
and digital asset advisory firm, Technology Advisor for 144 TrailBlazer Digital Venture Fund targeting cash flow
positive growth to Series A+ digital transformation and emerging technology firms, Co-Founder of Jupitor AI.
Christine Ford
Global Sr. Director Product Management
Choreograph
Lucy Mariappa
CIO of the Year
2023 Corporate Dallas
About Me
Lucy Mariappa is a multiple Award-winning CIO (Chief Information Officer) including “CIO of the
Year” Orbie award for 2023 Corporate Dallas, and the US CIO 100 Award. She is a certified CIO from
Carnegie Mellon University.
Lucy is a global technology executive with 24 years of experience delivering solutions to 40
countries, in both corporate and public sectors, across multiple industries including Technology, Oil
and gas, Telecommunications, Education, and Non-Profit. She has led business & technology
initiatives at organizations of various sizes from $250 million to $61 billion in annual revenue. She
held prominent roles at top technology companies leading the global product development for 32
countries, consulted at Fortune 500 companies driving their business ahead, and served at industry
leading organizations like SAP, Oracle and large education organizations. She is a Keynote speaker
at several conferences and events. Lucy serves as a Board Member, and a trusted advisor and
consultant helping several CEO’s and CIOs in driving their organization to the next level.
Laura Svejnar
Head of Global Marketing Strategy & Operations
Amazon Music
Kwan Choi
Managing Director
Barclays
Kristine Simonsen
Founder & CEO
Female Founder House
About Me
Investment banker, turned McKinsey consultant, 2x Founder, Advisor and Angel Investor, focused on Women's Health & Wellness space. After a serious health scare and multiple burnouts, Kristine became passionate about helping ambitious women leaders reach peak performance without sacrificing their health. She is currently the Founder & CEO of Female Founder House, a platform supporting women in balancing ambition and health, through skill building, retreats and community. She holds more than 10 years of experience advising CEOs on driving large-scale transformation and culture shifting, and played a key role in building out the recruitment and advancement efforts of women during her years at McKinsey.
Alex Shulman
Managing Director, Cloud Security
Ernst & Young
About Me
Alex Shulman-Peleg, PhD, is a Managing Director and cybersecurity consulting leader at Ernst & Young in the Americas. She is supporting hundreds of clients with modernization and cost reduction via secure enablement of Clouds and AI, addressing the involved risk, cybersecurity and regulatory requirements. In her previous role, she was the Director and Head of Cloud Security at Citibank, where she established and led a global CISO cloud security program, as well as cloud-native security engineering enabling massive modernization and faster application development. Being a pioneer in Cloud security, she led IBM’s early products and groundbreaking R&D initiatives including multi-national European consortiums consisting of industry and research leaders. She has 14 patents and more than 30 scientific publications having thousands of citations. She has decades of technological leadership and holds PhD, MSc and BSc degrees in computer science in the areas of ML, AI and computer vision.
Laura Maness
Global CEO
Grey
About Me
Laura joined Grey as Global CEO in September 2022—only the sixth in the agency’s celebrated 105-year history and first woman to attain the role. By embracing the authentic, entrepreneurial spirit Grey’s founders exhibited more than 100 years ago, she has inspired the WPP-backed global agency to build on their legacy and meaningfully contribute to Grey’s rich heritage of delivering Famously Effective work. Grey was recognized as Campaign’s Global Agency Network of the Year shortlist for the first time in a decade, in addition to Agency of the Year and Best Places to Work recognition in Australia, Argentina, Greater China, Japan, South Africa, United Kingdom and United States; won 53 Effies – including six Grand Effies, one in every market the agency operates in; and in June, Grey was named one of Newsweek’s Top 100 Most Loved Workplaces globally. On the one-year anniversary as the global chief, Laura was named Creative Leader of the Year at the prestigious Creativepool Awards held in London. Alongside this, Grey was awarded Agency of the Year, cementing their position as a top-tier creative powerhouse.
Before joining Grey, as CEO of Havas Group's North American flagship agency, Laura's inspired leadership drove a culture of purposeful growth and steered a turnaround that earned the agency numerous "Best Of" honors, and successfully led Havas through the 2-year journey of becoming a certified B Corp.
Laura believes in cultivating continuous learning and impact, and her position on several boards highlights an unwavering commitment to meaningful transformation and creating a better world. She was appointed co-chair for 50/50 Women On Boards where she champions change and drives gender balance and diversity on corporate boards. She’s a founding member of the venture-backed women's network, Chief, and was invited to keynote the inaugural ChiefX experience in La Quinta, CA. An ardent and involved champion of women entrepreneurs and sustainability in business, she serves on the Board of B Lab and is keynoting on Agents of Responsibility at IAA’s World Congress in Malaysia—epitomizing using business as a force for good and force for growth.
Cecilia Li
CIO
Urban Edge Properties
About Me
Urban Edge Properties is a NYSE listed real estate investment trust focused on managing,
acquiring, developing, and redeveloping retail real estate in urban communities, primarily in the
Washington, D.C. to Boston corridor. Urban Edge owns 77 properties totaling 17.4 million
square feet of gross leasable area.
Cecilia Li, Chief Information Officer, serves as a strategic partner to the executive management
delivering vision, critical analyses, and recommendations. With over 20 years of experience with
a focus on customer service and digital transformation, she leads the strategy and
implementation of their technology operations and aims to deliver continuous and impactful
solutions to the business. You will often find her speaking on relevant topics related to
innovation, business intelligence, cybersecurity, and operations optimization. She plays an
active role in bettering the built environment; She served as the Co-Chair for Realcomm, is a
Board Member of Real Estate Cyber Consortium (RECC), is the recipient of several awards in
the industry and mentors aspiring IT professionals.
Samrah Kazmi
Chief Innovation Officer
RESRG
About Me
Samrah Kazmi serves as the Chief Innovation Officer at RESRG, an innovation advisory firm. She also
serves as adjunct professor at New York University and The Pratt Institute.
Samrah's extensive experience in leadership roles in Financial Services and Technology,
as well as her deep domain expertise make her a trusted advisor to a wide range of
clients, including complex financial institutions, government agencies, higher education,
startups, and corporate boards. She covers a broad spectrum of topics, including
Artificial Intelligence, Digital Ethics, Cybersecurity, Privacy, GRC, Regtech and
Regulation.
Notably, Samrah led the merger of the New York Stock Exchange with InterContinental
Exchange as part of an elite Risk team and the $200bn Risk Transformation of General
Electric. As an entrepreneur, she was the co-founder of Maiden Century, an alternative
data platform. She has been ranked as a Top 100 Global Regtech influencer and
received the Inspiring Fintech Female award from NYC Fintech Women and serves on
the boards of multiple startups.
In addition to degrees in Economics, Journalism, and Business, Samrah also holds
certifications in Disruptive Strategy from Harvard, Digital Transformation from UC
Berkeley, and Corporate Innovation and Fintech from MIT.
Shannon Rowbury
US Olympian & WSG
US Olympics
About Me
For 15 years, I found myself defined by my accomplishments on the track. I’m proud of these achievements -- three-time Olympian, World Champion, World Record Holder, and 2-time World Bronze medalist -- but they do not fully define me. I have also excelled academically, graduating Magna Cum Laude from Duke before going on to earn my Master’s degree. A lifelong advocate in women’s sports, I was selected by the US Department of State to serve as a Sport's Envoy to Morocco. I have also worked with Nike and USATF to update maternity policies to make Track & Field more equitable.
My long career in professional sports, including becoming a mother in 2018 and navigating a return to top form, offers a unique perspective into the full range of the athlete experience. As I move on from competition, my mission now is to find ways to share that insight with other dreamers and high achievers.
Sara Aby
CTO
About Me
Starcom, founded in 2000 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, is a media agency that specializes in advertising and marketing.
Joel Caminer
Sr. Director of Cybersecurity
New York University
Angie Perez Thomas
Head of Sales, Enterprise
AWS
About Me
Angie is the AWS US Sales Leader of Leaders overseeing teams that supports new Enterprise customers
and executives to leverage AWS to deliver on business outcomes. With over 15 years of industry and
leadership experience, Angie is passionate about building organizations from the ground-up. Whether
it’s establishing the right subject matter experts to solve the most complex customer challenges, or
driving exponential growth in customer experiences and company revenue to cultivating future leaders
– Angie is a dynamic leader that amplifies revenue by intentionally hiring and developing a diverse team
and culture. Angie has over a decade of experience at Amazon in a number of strategic and leadership
roles, and completed over 770+ interviews contributing to the hiring and development of AWS
employees as a Bar Raiser. Angie is an influential female executive at AWS who helps advocate and
promotes diversity among AWS leadership.
Kalpana Mahesh
Head of Data & Gen AI, Solution Architecture
AWS
About Me
Kalpana Mahesh is the Head of the Data & Gen AI Solutions Architects organization at AWS and focuses
on accelerating customer business outcomes through the democratization of ML. Her background
includes the diverse areas of machine learning, data, software development, hardware engineering,
battery management, and IoT along with global customer & business management. She holds 2 patents
in the energy harvesting space, has a MS EE from Missouri Science & Technology University and a MBA
from SMU. Her passions outside of work are family and community! She is actively involved in the
community through the Sankara Eye Foundation and Hunger Heroes, a technology solution built on AWS
for solving hunger in the communities.
Meagan Darlington
Cloud Sales Center, Head of Independent Software Vendor (ISV) and Partner Joint-GTM
AWS
About Me
Head of Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Sales Segment and
Partner Joint-GTM, for Amazon Web Services’ Cloud Sales Center (CSC). Meagan has
held multiple roles over a 28-year career including marketing, digital media, technology
sales and sales strategy. This includes recent senior sales leadership roles at Adobe and
Microsoft before joining AWS in Jan 2020. Meagan earned her undergraduate degree from
Albion College in Anthropology & Society. Outside of work, she has served on the Board of
Trustees for The Leelanau School, who specialize in educational experiences for those who
are neurodiverse, and loves spending time with her family and rescue pets.
Viktoria Levay
Corporate Resilience Trainer & Wellbeing Coach
Levay & Co Environmental Services
About Me
A passionate, inspiring and engaging wellbeing leader and optimal performance coach to support organizations and their employees with stress and change management, mental health optimization, coherent & nonviolent communication, leadership development, and implementation of sustainable lifestyle changes for high functional performance and productivity.
Viktoria's approach uniquely combines scientifically proven stress and energy management techniques with functional and life coaching practices. She is a keynote speaker, presenter and coach, and was also featured on Fox8 Cleveland.
Clients include Starbucks, Mack Industries, ArmorCode, City Of Cleveland, MetroHealth, Cuyahoga Community College, SHRM, Mack Industries, TT Electronics, AmTrust and the YPO Cleveland amongst many others.
Lakshmi Pappu
VP, Data, AI & Technology
E.L.F. Beauty
Ankana Carpenter
Head of Consumer Technology
TD Bank
About Me
Ankana had an expansive childhood growing up in Libya in a multi-cultural, multi-
national, multi-lingual environment. And that was just the start of her exposure to
diverse environments.
Having worked in UK, Australia, US, Asia, Spain, Portugal, Ankana has
experienced life out of a usual bubble, and learned to converge the best of different
worlds. That's evident from her career.
She has 20+ years of experience in corporate world, and now is the Head of
Consumer Deposit Product Technology at Toronto Dominion Bank in US, and her
team is responsible for the tech behind the deposit product customer journey, right
from shopping all the way to servicing. She is also a founder of two businesses and owns 4 patents
across US & EU. She is an advocate for women’s needs & rights, specifically working mothers. As the
Executive Lead for the Women at TD US, she leads the community of all women at TD US, mentoring
& coaching many, and lobbying for changes in policies that support working mothers.
She is a well-known thought leader & speaker inside and outside the bank on topics like AI, Machine
Learning, Diversity, Leadership development and Coaching.
Theresa Block
CMO
Sonas
About Me
Theresa is a global strategy & marketing executive with deep expertise in consumer insight
and analytics, and over 25 years of experience leading high-performance teams in prestige
consumer packaged goods & retail at the Estee Lauder Companies.
Her passion for the consumer and data analytics, combined with hands-on marketing
experience and creativity, has uniquely enabled her to envision both long-term business
strategies and design engaging 360 execution plans which drive business results. Theresa’s
proven ability to transform organizations, processes, and P&L, have given businesses a solid
foundation for profitable growth and enabled teams to thrive.
Theresa is now an independent management consultant, where she leverages her diverse
experience, creativity, and consumer-first approach, to help organizations create more
powerful strategic plans, elevate marketing execution, and leverage data-driven
optimizations, to drive business growth and improve marketing ROI.
Theresa considers herself a continuous learner, and credits her broad experience, incredible
mentors, and loving family, as keys to her success.
Maxine Legall
CEO/Founder
Thrive Inclusively
About Me
Maxine L. Legall, MBA, MSW, CPXP, has served as Chief of Diversity and Inclusion at the Jewish Board. Previously she was the Director of Patient Experience & Cultural Transformation at Mount Sinai Morningside.
Maxine earned a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Hofstra University, where her concentration was Health Service Management. She earned a Master of Science from Columbia University School of Social Work, where she focused on Advanced Generalist Practice and Programming. At the State University of New York, Maxine graduated cum laude, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, with a minor in Sociology and Black Studies.
Maxine has a passion for working with others, staff engagement, enhancing the patient experience, diversity and inclusion, leadership and overall organization development.
She believes anything is possible when there is teamwork, engagement and strong leadership!
Tiffany Sturdivant
VP Operations
Cinqcare
About Me
Innovative, driven Healthcare Operations leader who engages teams in strategic planning and population health initiatives.
Passion for leading transitions to population health and using integrated technologies to engage stakeholders across the healthcare continuum of care.
Committed to identifying partnerships with community agencies to create team-based care model and address social determinants of health and health equity
________________________________________
CORE SKILLS
Population Health Management | Capacity Building | Change Management | Program Development & Implementation | Integrating Operations | Quality Management Programs |
Employee Development | Increased Employee Engagement | Community & Government Relations | Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Samia Rahman
Director, Enterprise Data Strategy & Governance
Seagen
Sarah Dreyer
SVP Research and Data Services
Savills
Kayla Williams
CISO
Devo
Violeta Ardeljan
Former VP, Marketing
Global Industrial
Viktoriya Smith
SVP
Citi
Kathleen Hurley
CIO
Sage Inc
Christine Ford
Global Sr. Director Product Management
Choreograph
Laura Svejnar
Head of Global Marketing Strategy & Operations
Amazon Music
Kwan Choi
Managing Director
Barclays
Joel Caminer
Sr. Director of Cybersecurity
New York University
Lakshmi Pappu
VP, Data, AI & Technology
E.L.F. Beauty
EVENT DETAILS
April 18, 2024
Agenda
8:30 AM-8:50 AM
Registration
8:50 AM-9:20 AM
Networking & Breakfast
9:30 AM-9:40 AM
Opening Remarks
9:40 AM-10:05 AM
Keynote
Medalist Mindset
Created by Olympians Shannon Rowbury OLY & Lauren Gibbs OLY, the Medalist Mindset™ philosophy takes sports performance techniques leveraged by Olympians and translates them into the business space to optimize performance.
Participants learn how to adopt a Medalist Mindset™ so that they can reach their full potential at any business or life goal. The groundbreaking workbook illuminates the “5 keys of an Medalist Mindset™” through a combination of firsthand accounts paired with worksheets, each of which helps readers to integrate new learnings into their daily life.
Panelists
Together With:
10:10 AM-10:50 AM
Panel
Leveling Up: How to Stand Out in Your Organization
Despite years of conversations and programs by industry stakeholders to diversify the talent pool standing out in an inherently biased environment is a challenge women still face. How have women in leadership roles risen above this and succeeded? What real lessons can we learn from savvy leaders on successfully adjusting their business priorities, reinvesting budgets to drive growth, and taking a smart path to business transformation during times of great disruption.
Panelists
Chair
Lakshmi Pappu
VP, Data, AI & Technology
E.L.F. Beauty
Speaker
Kathleen Hurley
CIO
Sage Inc
Speaker
Yabing Wang
CISO
Justworks
Yabing Wang is the VP and Chief Information Security Officer at Justworks. She has been in the technology world for 25 years, and has more than 20 years of extensive leadership experience in cybersecurity across different industries. Yabing thrives in transforming security into a business enabler through executive leadership, program delivery, and partnership with all stakeholders. She has built global security practices and strengthened cyber resilience at multiple fortune 100 companies and tech-forward companies.
Speaker
Yelena Shtykel
Global Head of Cloud Data
Citibank
Yelena is a seasoned technology professional, whose career journey reflects her deep commitment to innovation, technology, and leadership. She began her career as a software developer, quickly distinguishing herself through her adeptness at coding and problem-solving. Overtime Yelena transitioned her focus towards data, driven by a passion for data and its potential to revolutionize virtually every industry. In her current role, Yelena is a Head of Public Cloud Data at Citi, where she oversees the strategic direction and execution of cloud data initiatives for the firm, fostering innovation to provide robust data solutions that support the organization's goals and objectives
Speaker
Ankana Carpenter
Head of Consumer Technology
TD Bank
Ankana had an expansive childhood growing up in Libya in a multi-cultural, multi-
national, multi-lingual environment. And that was just the start of her exposure to
diverse environments.
Having worked in UK, Australia, US, Asia, Spain, Portugal, Ankana has
experienced life out of a usual bubble, and learned to converge the best of different
worlds. That's evident from her career.
She has 20+ years of experience in corporate world, and now is the Head of
Consumer Deposit Product Technology at Toronto Dominion Bank in US, and her
team is responsible for the tech behind the deposit product customer journey, right
from shopping all the way to servicing. She is also a founder of two businesses and owns 4 patents
across US & EU. She is an advocate for women’s needs & rights, specifically working mothers. As the
Executive Lead for the Women at TD US, she leads the community of all women at TD US, mentoring
& coaching many, and lobbying for changes in policies that support working mothers.
She is a well-known thought leader & speaker inside and outside the bank on topics like AI, Machine
Learning, Diversity, Leadership development and Coaching.
10:50 AM-11:10 AM
Mid-Morning Networking Break
Take a stretch, grab a tea or coffee and connect with others during these 15 minutes.
11:10 AM-11:30 AM
Vision Voices Keynote
NYU Tandon SoE Women in STEM (and CYBER)
Supporting Women in STEM
The study highlighted five common experiences that kept popping up over and over again:
- Having an early cheerleader or mentor
- Developing a passion for the underlying work
- Having a job where you make meaningful contributions to society
- Access to women-centric support communities
- “Meaningful” action or support from male colleagues
All were positively associated with making women feel more welcome in the workspace and more likely to
remain in or pursue a career in STEM.
Panelists
Speaker
Joel Caminer
Sr. Director of Cybersecurity
New York University
11:35 AM-12:20 PM
Panel
The Role of Mentoring & Sponsorship in Advancing Women Leaders
How do we come together, as a group of professionals, to create and foster an inclusive business world where all women have a role to play? We know that a major part of this is attracting and retaining talent at every level but how exactly do we do that and where can we use technology to help? Our panelists will discuss how their companies are creating more inclusive environments, the use AI tools to help uncover hidden biases, what flexibility looks like for all team members and how they are advancing women earlier and signing them up for long term success.
Panelists
Chair
Jessica Joines
CEO and Founder
Women's Purpose Community
Jessica Joines is a former Global CMO turned bestselling author, spiritual coach and
international speaker who helps women awaken to their true power and potential. Through
speaking, coaching, and a community platform — she empowers women to transform their
lives by mastering their own spiritual journey. Jessica is here to help women rise above all
forms of fear and limitation and transcend the ego.
As the visionary founder of the Women’s Purpose Community (WPC), a one-of-a-kind personal
growth and wellness community, tailored for accomplished C-Suite women, Jessica is helping
make the case for companies to invest in the personal development of female leaders.
Something research has long shown women need to help close the gender gap. Now boasting
60+ members, the WPC serves as a safe haven—for seasoned executives seeking to do the
deeply courageous and vulnerable work of self-discovery.
Unique to Jessica is that her teachings on are largely based on her own lived experience.
Including her tumultuous journey, from burnt out corporate executive, to an example of finding
purpose at any age. By 40 years old, Jessica had reached what seemed to be the pinnacle of
professional success – but she was also overworked and deeply unhappy in one corporate job after
another. To cope, she turned to self-medicating, which contributed to a vicious cycle of despair.
Desperate to break the pattern of fear which seemingly dominated her life, she took several daring
leaps toward finding what she came to know as her soul purpose
Jessica’s journey and path to finding purpose are detailed in her book, Dare to Believe: 12
Lessons for Living Your Soul Purpose. Which topped charts on Amazon for weeks. Jessica is
also the charismatic host of "Soul Purpose with Jessica Joines," on the MindBodySpriit.fm
network. A live coaching show that helps women navigate some of their toughest life
challenges.
Jessica Joines stands at the intersection of leadership, spirituality, and empowerment,
embodying a unique blend of wisdom and authenticity.
Speaker
Laura Maness
Global CEO
Grey
Laura joined Grey as Global CEO in September 2022—only the sixth in the agency’s celebrated 105-year history and first woman to attain the role. By embracing the authentic, entrepreneurial spirit Grey’s founders exhibited more than 100 years ago, she has inspired the WPP-backed global agency to build on their legacy and meaningfully contribute to Grey’s rich heritage of delivering Famously Effective work. Grey was recognized as Campaign’s Global Agency Network of the Year shortlist for the first time in a decade, in addition to Agency of the Year and Best Places to Work recognition in Australia, Argentina, Greater China, Japan, South Africa, United Kingdom and United States; won 53 Effies – including six Grand Effies, one in every market the agency operates in; and in June, Grey was named one of Newsweek’s Top 100 Most Loved Workplaces globally. On the one-year anniversary as the global chief, Laura was named Creative Leader of the Year at the prestigious Creativepool Awards held in London. Alongside this, Grey was awarded Agency of the Year, cementing their position as a top-tier creative powerhouse.
Before joining Grey, as CEO of Havas Group's North American flagship agency, Laura's inspired leadership drove a culture of purposeful growth and steered a turnaround that earned the agency numerous "Best Of" honors, and successfully led Havas through the 2-year journey of becoming a certified B Corp.
Laura believes in cultivating continuous learning and impact, and her position on several boards highlights an unwavering commitment to meaningful transformation and creating a better world. She was appointed co-chair for 50/50 Women On Boards where she champions change and drives gender balance and diversity on corporate boards. She’s a founding member of the venture-backed women's network, Chief, and was invited to keynote the inaugural ChiefX experience in La Quinta, CA. An ardent and involved champion of women entrepreneurs and sustainability in business, she serves on the Board of B Lab and is keynoting on Agents of Responsibility at IAA’s World Congress in Malaysia—epitomizing using business as a force for good and force for growth.
Speaker
Kwan Choi
Managing Director
Barclays
Speaker
Kristine Simonsen
Founder & CEO
Female Founder House
Investment banker, turned McKinsey consultant, 2x Founder, Advisor and Angel Investor, focused on Women's Health & Wellness space. After a serious health scare and multiple burnouts, Kristine became passionate about helping ambitious women leaders reach peak performance without sacrificing their health. She is currently the Founder & CEO of Female Founder House, a platform supporting women in balancing ambition and health, through skill building, retreats and community. She holds more than 10 years of experience advising CEOs on driving large-scale transformation and culture shifting, and played a key role in building out the recruitment and advancement efforts of women during her years at McKinsey.
12:20 PM-1:15 PM
Lunch & Disruptor Showcase
1:05 PM-1:20 PM
Self-Care for Success: Nurturing Resilience and Wellbeing in High-Pressure Environments
While we are so hard on ourselves to serve, inspire and motivate others, we often neglect ourselves, leading to burnout and exhaustion, even if we genuinely love our jobs and strive for a great career.
In this session you will receive valuable support from Viktoria on stress management, wellbeing and on how to build better personal resilience to mitigate burnout and health issues.
Panelists
Together With:
1:25 PM-2:10 PM
Fireside Chat
Empowering Women Leaders in Technology: Driving Innovation, Digital transformation and Embracing the Future
In this insightful panel discussion where visionary female leaders in technology will share their strategies for fostering a culture of innovation, making high-velocity decisions, and leveraging emerging technologies like Generative AI to drive digital transformation. The panelists will offer practical advice on increasing diversity in tech teams, cultivating innovative thinking, and preparing organizations to embrace change. They will also reflect on their unique career journeys and share valuable lessons in working with customers who have navigated digital transformations. This session is a must-attend for CIOs, CISOs, CTOs, and VPs of IT in enterprise companies seeking to navigate change, drive innovation, and shape the future of their organizations
Panelists
Chair
Theresa Block
CMO
Sonas
Theresa is a global strategy & marketing executive with deep expertise in consumer insight
and analytics, and over 25 years of experience leading high-performance teams in prestige
consumer packaged goods & retail at the Estee Lauder Companies.
Her passion for the consumer and data analytics, combined with hands-on marketing
experience and creativity, has uniquely enabled her to envision both long-term business
strategies and design engaging 360 execution plans which drive business results. Theresa’s
proven ability to transform organizations, processes, and P&L, have given businesses a solid
foundation for profitable growth and enabled teams to thrive.
Theresa is now an independent management consultant, where she leverages her diverse
experience, creativity, and consumer-first approach, to help organizations create more
powerful strategic plans, elevate marketing execution, and leverage data-driven
optimizations, to drive business growth and improve marketing ROI.
Theresa considers herself a continuous learner, and credits her broad experience, incredible
mentors, and loving family, as keys to her success.
Speaker
Meagan Darlington
Cloud Sales Center, Head of Independent Software Vendor (ISV) and Partner Joint-GTM
AWS
Head of Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Sales Segment and
Partner Joint-GTM, for Amazon Web Services’ Cloud Sales Center (CSC). Meagan has
held multiple roles over a 28-year career including marketing, digital media, technology
sales and sales strategy. This includes recent senior sales leadership roles at Adobe and
Microsoft before joining AWS in Jan 2020. Meagan earned her undergraduate degree from
Albion College in Anthropology & Society. Outside of work, she has served on the Board of
Trustees for The Leelanau School, who specialize in educational experiences for those who
are neurodiverse, and loves spending time with her family and rescue pets.
Speaker
Kalpana Mahesh
Head of Data & Gen AI, Solution Architecture
AWS
Kalpana Mahesh is the Head of the Data & Gen AI Solutions Architects organization at AWS and focuses
on accelerating customer business outcomes through the democratization of ML. Her background
includes the diverse areas of machine learning, data, software development, hardware engineering,
battery management, and IoT along with global customer & business management. She holds 2 patents
in the energy harvesting space, has a MS EE from Missouri Science & Technology University and a MBA
from SMU. Her passions outside of work are family and community! She is actively involved in the
community through the Sankara Eye Foundation and Hunger Heroes, a technology solution built on AWS
for solving hunger in the communities.
Speaker
Angie Perez Thomas
Head of Sales, Enterprise
AWS
Angie is the AWS US Sales Leader of Leaders overseeing teams that supports new Enterprise customers
and executives to leverage AWS to deliver on business outcomes. With over 15 years of industry and
leadership experience, Angie is passionate about building organizations from the ground-up. Whether
it’s establishing the right subject matter experts to solve the most complex customer challenges, or
driving exponential growth in customer experiences and company revenue to cultivating future leaders
– Angie is a dynamic leader that amplifies revenue by intentionally hiring and developing a diverse team
and culture. Angie has over a decade of experience at Amazon in a number of strategic and leadership
roles, and completed over 770+ interviews contributing to the hiring and development of AWS
employees as a Bar Raiser. Angie is an influential female executive at AWS who helps advocate and
promotes diversity among AWS leadership.
Together With:
2:20 PM-2:55 PM
Fireside Chat
Navigating AI and Machine Learning in 2024: The Future of Marketing, Cyber Security and Technology
Explore the intricate dynamics of AI and Machine Learning as they reshape the landscapes of Marketing and IT. Dive into the nuanced opportunities and challenges that define this evolving terrain. From real-world applications to the integral role of women in shaping the trajectory of AI, gain insights into the ethical evolution of these technologies. Join us on a comprehensive exploration that simplifies complexities, seizes opportunities, and envisions a future where women play a pivotal role in the ever-evolving spheres of Marketing, Security and IT.
Panelists
Chair
Christine Ford
Global Sr. Director Product Management
Choreograph
Speaker
Rosalind Panda
CTO
Oqulus Tech
Rosalind Panda is a Visionary, Thought leader, Technology innovator, Oil painting Artist, Author, and Public
Speaker having more than two decades of experience contributing to the community and across the World in the
fields of Art, Technology Innovation, and Creative Design thinking. She is the Founder of Rosalind Arts Gallery,
Founder of Oqulus Tech LLC, an AI and Cyber security platform development and advisory firm in Agri-Tech, Edu
Tech, FinTech, and Med-Tech, Business Partner/ Chief Technology Officer at Jeanensis Ventures, a venture capital
and digital asset advisory firm, Technology Advisor for 144 TrailBlazer Digital Venture Fund targeting cash flow
positive growth to Series A+ digital transformation and emerging technology firms, Co-Founder of Jupitor AI.
Speaker
Cecilia Li
CIO
Urban Edge Properties
Urban Edge Properties is a NYSE listed real estate investment trust focused on managing,
acquiring, developing, and redeveloping retail real estate in urban communities, primarily in the
Washington, D.C. to Boston corridor. Urban Edge owns 77 properties totaling 17.4 million
square feet of gross leasable area.
Cecilia Li, Chief Information Officer, serves as a strategic partner to the executive management
delivering vision, critical analyses, and recommendations. With over 20 years of experience with
a focus on customer service and digital transformation, she leads the strategy and
implementation of their technology operations and aims to deliver continuous and impactful
solutions to the business. You will often find her speaking on relevant topics related to
innovation, business intelligence, cybersecurity, and operations optimization. She plays an
active role in bettering the built environment; She served as the Co-Chair for Realcomm, is a
Board Member of Real Estate Cyber Consortium (RECC), is the recipient of several awards in
the industry and mentors aspiring IT professionals.
Speaker
Sara Aby
CTO
Starcom, founded in 2000 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, is a media agency that specializes in advertising and marketing.
3:00 PM-3:15 PM
Vision Voices
The Unspoken Narrative: Embracing 'Otherhood'
The landscape of modern womanhood is changing, with more people living without children, whether by choice or circumstance. This talk opens up the conversation about 'otherhood' and its wide-ranging implications.
We'll explore how this shift is influencing various aspects of life, including the workplace, and how it challenges traditional norms. By discussing this openly, we aim to foster a more inclusive and empathetic understanding of the diverse experiences of women.
Join this session for a thoughtful discussion on 'otherhood,' its impact on our lives, and the importance of creating a space where every person's journey is respected and celebrated.
Panelists
3:15 PM-3:30 PM
Afternoon Break
3:30 PM-3:45 PM
Vision Voices
Your Worth Isn't What You Produce
Your worth isn't derived from what you do or achieve. It's an innate, within quality, that only you can find. In this talk, Jessica shares her tumultuous journey from 'always-doing' high achieving CMO to finding her soul purpose. By 40 years old she was burnout, unhappy and had hit a bottom through a corporate career that no longer served her. Instead of spending another year trudging through, she walked away from it all. Learn how she found meaning and purpose outside of the corporate grind. And 3 core principles for how you can tame your need to always be doing to feel good about yourself. Rather, finding your worth through honoring the soul within.
Panelists
3:50 PM-4:05 PM
Vision Voices
The Power of the Pivot: Ensuring Success in an Uncertain World
The world has become a whirlwind of change - rapid technological disruptions, evolving workplace dynamics and volatile markets. In this unpredictable landscape, success hinges not just on ambition and skill, but on the ability to adapt and pivot. This keynote will be a compelling blend of the speaker’s own experiences, industry insights, and actionable strategies. It's a must-attend for anyone, especially senior leaders looking to navigate change, experience breakthroughs and thrive in the most challenging professional environment of our time."
Panelists
4:10 PM-4:50 PM
Panel
Leadership Evolution: Innovating Through Times of Change
The role of driving innovation during times of change is important for all leaders to master. You must be proactive in anticipating and responding to change, rather than simply reacting to it. We'll discuss how success team leaders have created a culture of innovation, how to develop and implement innovative ideas, and how to effectively communicate change to stakeholders.
Panelists
Chair
Nora Osman
CEO
Norvana
Established in 1884 and headquartered in The Bronx, New York, Montefiore Medical Center provides medical care and emergency services.
Speaker
Lucy Mariappa
CIO of the Year
2023 Corporate Dallas
Lucy Mariappa is a multiple Award-winning CIO (Chief Information Officer) including “CIO of the
Year” Orbie award for 2023 Corporate Dallas, and the US CIO 100 Award. She is a certified CIO from
Carnegie Mellon University.
Lucy is a global technology executive with 24 years of experience delivering solutions to 40
countries, in both corporate and public sectors, across multiple industries including Technology, Oil
and gas, Telecommunications, Education, and Non-Profit. She has led business & technology
initiatives at organizations of various sizes from $250 million to $61 billion in annual revenue. She
held prominent roles at top technology companies leading the global product development for 32
countries, consulted at Fortune 500 companies driving their business ahead, and served at industry
leading organizations like SAP, Oracle and large education organizations. She is a Keynote speaker
at several conferences and events. Lucy serves as a Board Member, and a trusted advisor and
consultant helping several CEO’s and CIOs in driving their organization to the next level.
Speaker
Alex Shulman
Managing Director, Cloud Security
Ernst & Young
Alex Shulman-Peleg, PhD, is a Managing Director and cybersecurity consulting leader at Ernst & Young in the Americas. She is supporting hundreds of clients with modernization and cost reduction via secure enablement of Clouds and AI, addressing the involved risk, cybersecurity and regulatory requirements. In her previous role, she was the Director and Head of Cloud Security at Citibank, where she established and led a global CISO cloud security program, as well as cloud-native security engineering enabling massive modernization and faster application development. Being a pioneer in Cloud security, she led IBM’s early products and groundbreaking R&D initiatives including multi-national European consortiums consisting of industry and research leaders. She has 14 patents and more than 30 scientific publications having thousands of citations. She has decades of technological leadership and holds PhD, MSc and BSc degrees in computer science in the areas of ML, AI and computer vision.
Speaker
Violeta Ardeljan
Former VP, Marketing
Global Industrial
4:50 PM-5:00 PM
Closing Remarks & Raffle Giveaway
5:00 PM-5:30 PM
Cocktails & Networking
Join us for cocktails after the event for networking, a raffle and prizes.
Past & Current Partners
