On February 20^th, Women In Technology (WIT) will welcome Genevieve Morris, Founder of Integral Health Strategies (HIS), and Patty Obermaier, Vice President of U.S. Health and Life Sciences Organization at Microsoft, for a discussion on the state of technology in healthcare. In advance of our event, we asked Genevieve and Patty to share some of their thoughts on the topic with the following Q&A.

1.  What is the most innovative health improving technology you know of?

On October 17^th, Women In Technology (WIT) will welcome Emily Miller, an Assistive Technology Coach, and Claire Walsh, Director of Engineering and Services at Excella, for a discussion on Sixth Sense Technology. In advance of our event, we asked Emily and Claire to share some of their thoughts on the topic with the following Q&A.

For the sake of this conversation, we are defining Sixth Sense Technology as any type of technology which enhances the five senses. Technology includes but is not limited to Artificial Intelligence (AI), Assistive Technology (AT), Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), Immersive Technology, and Predictive Analytics.

In the face of increasingly successful cyber attacks, most forward-thinking business leaders realize that the best approach is to make their networks resilient. Resilience is the ability to stay in business and minimize damage to your customers, your reputation, and your bottom line when the inevitable incident happens.

In essence, that means cybersecurity.

Sophia Paros is the Cyber Technical & Development Support Team Lead of the Cyber Security Workforce Technical Programs Branch supporting the Cyber Workforce Development Division of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). In this role, she provides oversight and guidance to both government civilian and contract personnel to manage to cost, schedule and performance of the Information Assurance Support Environment (IASE) ‐ DoD’s primary source for Information Assurance training, policy & guidance, and Cyber Defender ‐ DISA’s continual cybersecurity awareness program. Sophia earned a dual‐Bachelors in Business and Information Systems from the Notre Dame of Maryland University, and a Masters of Science in Engineering Management from George Washington University. She enjoys spending time with her Big Fat Greek Family, traveling, and crafting.

On sexism in the workplace:
I actually started off as a software engineer, so that’s really male dominated, and I was often the token female in the room or on the project or in the development phase, and it was hard to gain the same level of respect that my male counterparts did.

Sara Abiusi is a Managing Director with Accenture Federal Services. She is the Civilian Portfolio Technology lead and leads Technology for the US Postal Service account. She founded the Accenture DC Women in Technology program. Sara serves on the DC Board of Ascend – the largest PanAsian Professional Development nonprofit in the US and the board of the JHU Women in Business affinity group. Sara graduated in 1996 from Johns Hopkins with a BS in Mechanical Engineering. Sara is married with two children: an eight year old daughter and a four year old son.

Which of your special projects or undertakings are you most proud of?
I helped launch a Women In Tech group at Accenture. We have a leadership series, we monitor cyber trends, and do other activities to ensure that we as a company can stay relevant.

Ms. Rebecca Andino, founder and CEO of Highlight Technologies, LLC has supported Federal agencies as an IT professional, program manager, and business owner for more than 15 years. She got her start working as a database developer for the Department of State, and led technology projects for national security missions after 9/11. In the last 8 years, she has led Highlight Technologies to achieve steady, profitable growth, currently managing 14 prime contracts across a dozen federal agencies. Ms. Andino is passionate about creating a customer and team-oriented environment that takes chances on talented and hard-working individuals, invests in employees’ careers, and provides opportunities for professional growth.

What inspired you to found Highlight Technologies?
Coming up, I had some really positive experiences working with small companies. You can have a lot of impact, you can learn a lot and own your growth. The small company for which I was working ended up growing, but I wanted to use the skills I had learned to recreate that environment. I hire a lot of talented junior level employees, and mentor them in the world of government contracting, providing them with lots of opportunities to grow.

Ashley Baber is currently the Director of Account Management and Customer Success at Cvent, a leading cloud-based enterprise event management platform, where she brings a decade of experience in customer success and SaaS technology. Recognizing customer success as a primary pillar of company growth, Ms. Baber built the Cvent AM department from inception to a 40-person team and has since increased renewal rates from 78% to 97%. Her ultimate goal is to ensure Cvent customers derive maximum value from their investment in meetings and events technology. Ms. Baber graduated with a BS degree from James Madison University. She is motivated by human psychology, customer experience and obsessively looks for ways to improve time-to-value.

Asked about managerial skills that she values, Ms. Baber cites her currecnt company, Cvent, which was founded by 3 lawyers. Among them, now President of Worldwide Sales and Marketing Chuck Ghoora, Ms. Baber cites as an exceptionally effective communicator, highlighting for her the importance of honing communication as a skill. It can always be improved upon, she reflects, manifesting itself in better public speaking and leadership. Even in managing a team of 50, Ghoora remained level-headed, which Ms. Baber aims to emulate on a daily basis. Using these skills, she has driven the adoption of new technologies across the organization and is a vocal supporter of embracing automation, new software, data-driven team building, and a host of disruptive approaches to growth, which have paid off immensely for the company.

This month’s blog posting is an excerpt from the WIT.Wire on kids and cyber safety.

WIT Cyber Tips: Educating Kids on Cyber Safety  

By Laura Harcourt

Cathy Tilton is Chief Technologist for Biometrics at CSRA.  She has over 30 yearsof technology development and management experience including systems architecture/engineering, system integration & test, and project management in both government and commercial environments covering a broad range of applications.  Professionally, she is best known as a subject matter expert on biometrics and biometric standards, having served as the US head of delegation to ISO on this topic and industry advisor to Purdue’s biometrics program.  Personally, she is active in her church and community.  She is a former Army officer with degrees in Systems and Nuclear Engineering.

This month’s blog posting is from Mary Davie, you may remember her as one of the speakers on our June 19th panel for Government Leaders at the Helm. Please see her bio after the blog post.

FY 2014 Delivers Enterprise Growth in Wireless - Excerpted from Mary Davie’s “Great Government through Technology” GSA Blog

This month’s blog posting is from our own Jane Maliszewski, Chair of WIT’s Programs Committee. This post focus on the upcoming WIT.Connect: Dreaming Big, Growing Big, Thursday September 18th, 6:00-8:30 PM at the Gannett Building, 7950 Jones Branch Drive, McLean.Register at:http://bit.ly/Z5QOOn. Please see her bio after the blog post.

Do I dare to follow my dream?
Guest post by Jane Maliszewski

This month’s blog posting is from Teri Takai, you may remember her as the Keynote Speaker for this year’s WIT Leadership Awards. Please see her bio after the blog post.

Consolidating IT Infrastructure: Lessons from the Trenches

By Angela Orebaugh

I live in a high-tech world and my passion is the environment. Recently, I’ve been doing some reading and thinking about how technology can both help and harm our environment. I have addressed this issue indirectly through a number of my articles in this column, including suggesting the consolidation of electronic devices on your smart phone (i.e., combining phone, camera, video, GPS, and games); weighing the green aspects of the Apple iPad versus the resources that it still takes to make one; recycling e-waste; and countless other areas. This article is more direct: how is technology helping or harming our environment?