CTA hosts sold-out Women in Tech Conference today

Friday June 10, 2016 Tags: Denver, CTA, Women in Technology Conference, Andrea Young, Cathy Avgiris

DENVER -- Today, the Colorado Technology Association  (CTA) is hosting its sold-out 6^th annual Women in Technology Conference presented by Comcast at Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield in Littleton.

The full-day, retreat-style conference celebrates women across the state’s growing tech community.

Six hundred participants will hear from a variety of dynamic speakers and engage in meaningful discourse on thought leadership, innovation, opportunities and challenges surrounding women in today’s technology workforce.

“As the new CEO of CTA, it is real special to be a part of such an amazing lineup of our WIT Conference in my first week,” said Andrea Young. “The interest and response to participate by both technology consumers and providers has been strong and truly reflects the incredible and diverse technology community Colorado enjoys and can continue to build upon.”

According to the National Center for Women and Information Technology, in 2015, women held 57 percent of all professional occupations, yet they held only 25 percent of all computing occupations.

Twenty-five percent of the computing workforce were women, and less than 10 percent were women of color. Even fewer women are found in software development, technology leadership or the other kinds of key roles that have a significant influence on future innovation.

“For women in technology – and in business – diverse experience across functional areas is critical to achieving senior leadership roles, to breaking down glass walls and to breaking through the glass ceiling,” said Cathy Avgiris, executive VP and chief financial officer for Comcast Cable, and keynote speaker for the conference.

“The Women in Technology Conference provides up-and-coming leaders with the opportunity to set goals that move them beyond their comfort zone so they can develop the additional skills and proficiencies they need to grow in their careers.”

The full day of programming and breakout discussions will provide attendees direct access to executive-level women and community leaders from all corners of Colorado’s tech industry. The purpose of the conference is to provide professional growth, education and the opportunity to network with other women in technology from around the state.

Additional speakers include:

• Kim Wilmsen Brown, VP of IT, Arcadis
• Lori Kirkland, VP of Experience Transformation, Universal Mind and SheSays 
• Molly Kocialski, Director, Rocky Mountain Regional U.S. Patent and Trademark Office 
• Eve Maler, VP of Innovation and Emerging Technology, ForgeRock 
• Frannie Matthews, Senior Location Executive, IBM 
• Molly Rauzi, CTO, Gagen MacDonald 
• Dionne Gomez, Account Manager & Consultant, Gagen MacDonald
• Bijal Shah, VP Analytics & Data Products, Ibotta
• Lisa Whitehouse, Director of IT Operations, CH2M

Follow the conference throughout the day via #wit2016 and @ColoTechAsn on Twitter.

Special guests of the technology community, called Luminaries, will lead conversations with women at their table around topics of personal and professional development. Luminaries include:

• Shawn Adamson, Vice President - Comcast
• Ingrid Alongi, Co-Founder & CPO - Quick Left
• Betty Arkel, Partner - Holland & Hart 
• Jana Axline, Chief Project Officer - Axline Solutions
• Rachel   Beisel, VP of Marketing - Gorilla Logic
• Kirsten Benefiel, VP of Client Experience - ViaWest
• Rose Blackburn, President - QuantumPM
• Debbie Bloom, Talent Management Director - Arcadis
• Heather Bradshaw, Account Executive - Slalom Consulting
• Jantzen Bridges, Practice Area Director - Slalom Consulting
• Kim Brown Wilmsen, VP of Information Technology - Arcadis 
• Kimberly Buckner, Technology Risk Control Consultant - CNA Insurance
• Beth Busenhart, VP of Customer Solutions - Application Experts
• Elizabeth Cahill, Chief Marketing Officer - State of Colorado, Office of Economic Developmen
• Anke Corbin, Founder & CEO - Globig.co
• Monica Coughlin, Chief Strategy Officer - Governor's Office of Information Technology
• Marguerite (Ritee) Dieken, QA Director - WellDyne
• Rachael Shayne Donaldson, Head of Talent Acceleration & Culture - TapInfluence
• Caitlyn Fagan, CEO - Zenman Productions

• Kathleen Finley Sr. Vice President - CoBiz Insurance
• Deborah Floyd, Regional Vice President of Application Sales - Oracle Americas
• Kelly Geer, Chief Marketing Officer - Sphero
• Annie Gosselin, Director Software Project Management and Quality Assurance - BI Inc. a GEO Group Company
• Pam Johnson, Principal Systems Engineer - DigitalGlobe
• Dana Kirchmar, Director of Sales Engineering - Gogo Business Aviation
• Lori Kirkland, VP Experience Transformation - Universal Mind
• Teresa Kloser, Director of Marketing - GTRI
• Emily Lawrence, SVP of Content & Production - Craftsy
• Pamela Lee, Colorado General Manager - Hewlett Packard Enterprise
• Shari Leigh, Executive VP - Antero CRM
• Teresa Lynch, Vice President - Comcast and PMO West Division
• Frannie Matthews, Senior Location Executive - IBM
• Sandi Mays, EVP of Tranzact, IT, BD, Billing and CS - Zayo Group
• Janet McIllece, Chief Business Architect - Aspenware
• Marti Moore, GVP of Technology Services - Charter Communications
• Krista Morgan, CEO - P2Binvestor
• Anna Navarette, VP of Distribution Technology - Janus Capital Group
• Annette Quintana, Founder & CEO - Istonish
• Molly Rauzi, CTO - Gagen MacDonald
• Dani Renaud, Product Manager - Cherwell Software
• Holli Riebel, COO - Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce
• Sara Roberts, Senior Director - Merkle
• Roberta Robinette, President - Colorado - AT&T
• Robin Schaffer, West Region Director of Business Development - Rightpoint
• Bijal Shah, Vice President of Analytics & Data Products, Ibotta
• Gwen Shuster-Haynes, Director of School Engagement - Project Lead The Way
• Barb Stevens, COO - ReadyTalk 
• Sarah Thompson, VP of System Operations - SpotX 
• Tiffany Tuell, Senior Director, Business Development - Hitachi Consulting 
• Lizelle van Vuuren, Founder & CEO – Effectively and Women Who Startup 
• Stephanie Veck, Executive Director - Colorado Workforce Development Council 
• Melanie Williams, VP of Human Resources - Webroot Inc. 
• Heidi Wuestefeld, Corporate Counsel - Trimble Navigation Limited 
• Anne Zelenka, VP of Data Science & Data Products - IQNavigator

Sponsors of this year’s event include: Comcast, Arrow, Zayo, DigitalGlobe, ViaWest, Cooley, EKS&H, Compri Consulting, Concept3D, Asynchrony, CoBank, City and County of Denver Technology Services, Kaiser Permanente, Commvault, Lewan, Oracle, Rose Community Foundation, Swiftpage and C&D Printing.