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WBO SIG: Take Your Technology into the Future - VIRTUAL
Thursday, May 07, 2020, 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM EDT
Category: Women Business Owners

Join the WIT Women Business Owners Special Interest Group (WBO SIG) for an evening of invention—the third event in our 2019-2020 series designed to help entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses. This interactive event will nurture your innovative spirit and help you apply your creativity to develop new and innovative products and services. The event will begin with an overview of the Invention Cycle with a deep dive into the Innovation step. Next our panel of speakers will discuss how they were able to generate unique solutions by challenging assumptions and reframing ideas. Panelists will share experiences developing products for their start-ups, as well as helping clients identify and develop innovative products and services. The evening will conclude with a question and answer period. Participants will leave with a framework for testing their ideas and creating a minimal viable product.

This webinar is FREE to WIT Members and Non-Members!

Register for This Virtual Event

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the virtual meeting.

 

Speakers

Amber Hart
Co-Founder, The Pulse of Government Contracting

Amber Hart received her Bachelor’s in Conflict Analysis and Resolution & Global Affairs from George Mason University (GMU), where she is an active alumna. A skilled Business Developer with ten years’ experience selling to the Federal Government, Ms. Hart’s insights into the convoluted and cumbersome federal procurement process have made her a stand-out in the industry. Her article, “A Case for Diversification in Proposal Consulting,” landed her the featured cover story in APMP and won her the coveted John Elder Award. As a participant in the Reston Chamber of Commerce her talks during “Coffee and Contracting” earned her a nomination for Young Professional of the Year. Ms. Hart is the Co-Owner and Co-Founder of The Pulse of GovCon, a boutique market research firm specializing in Government Contracting.


Khyati Nayak

Senior Manager – Enterprise Technology Strategy, Grant Thornton, LLC, Steering Committee, Women Business Owners SIG
Khyati is a leader in Grant Thornton’s Agile Program Management practice, specializing in the areas of Agile transformation, coaching, & scaling, information technology strategy and management, portfolio, program, and project management in both the public and private sectors. She has led a number of large-scale engagements for the public sector in portfolio, program, and project management; agile transformation, coaching, & scaling; cost and performance management; and data analytics. Khyati has over 15 years of experience in information technology and management consulting. Over the course of her career, she has provided consulting to Financial Services, Manufacturing, Non-Profit, Healthcare, Education, and Public Sector clients.

Dr. Arti Patel Varanasi
President & CEO, Advancing Synergy, LLC, Advisor, Women Business Owners SIG
As President and CEO of Advancing Synergy, LLC, Dr. Arti Patel Varanasi is passionate about developing innovations that empower all individuals to lead healthier and longer lives. She has over 25 years combined experience in cancer research, advocacy, capacity building, health care, public health and project management. Dr. Varanasi’s ultimate goal is to work across sectors to “advance synergy” and develop tools and technologies that help to build sustainable health capacity in resource limited settings. Dr. Varanasi received her PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and MPH from the Johns Hopkins University. She is a graduate of the National Science Foundation funded ACTiVATE® program for women technology entrepreneurs. Dr. Varanasi has a long-standing track record of advocacy, mentoring and empowerment.

Kara Dickey
CEO, SmartCom Solutions, Inc., Chair, Women Business Owners SIG
For over two decades Kara has helped SmartCom Solutions’ clients gain a competitive advantage through technical innovations and reduce costs through efficiencies and modernization. Kara brings a breadth and depth of experience in employing automation to solve organizations’ mission critical business needs. These efforts typically required full scale business process reengineering, as well as custom application development. Kara has extensive experience managing and participating in all phases of the system development lifecycle. Kara has diverse application and industry experience including Mortgage Origination, Mortgage Services, Mortgage Securitization, Mutual Fund Processing, Financial Management and Accounting, Supply Chain Management, and Claims Processing. In her capacity as Chief Executive Officer, Kara is also responsible for setting the direction of the company, business development, marketing, and obtaining/managing resources. Kara holds a B.S. in Decision Sciences (computer science concentration) from George University and an MBA (finance concentration) from Marymount University.