2022 Conference

Over 450 women and a few good men attended RockIT Women’s 5th Women in Tech Conference powered by Google Cloud. It was held at the Melwood Arts Center on Dec 12th and 13th.

“So many intelligent and passionate women in one room......Powerful conversations, connections, and memories were made.”

— Rebekah Courtney, Caesars Southern Indiana

“Great day spent at the RockIT Women in Tech Conference! There were some great speakers (I especially loved the fireside chat with Joanne Harrell and Alisia McClain, and Michelle Webb’s session) and I loved spending time with Humana colleagues and meeting so many new people!”

— Sherry Boesch, Humana

“Today I had the pleasure of attending the RockIT Women 5th annual Women in Technology Conference at the Mellwood Art Center... What a fantastic, Statewide attended event. If you have never been, make it part of your 2023 plan! I met so many women in the IT industry and heard from so many phenomenal speakers.”

— Paris Parada, Galen College of Nursing

2022 Sponsors

Title Sponsor: Google Cloud

Gold Sponsor: Louisville Future of Work Iniatiative

Silver Sponsors: TEKsystems, TrendMicro, Waystar

Technology Innovation Check-In Sponsor: Check Point

Bronze Sponsors: DeanDorton, DELL Technologies, PapaJohns, QTS

Tech Innovation Sponsor: Digital Transformation Center at University of Louisville

Networking Sponsors: Amplify Louisville, Bamboo Health, Mirazon

Year-Long Mentor Program Sponsor, Interapt

Ladies Night Out Event Sponsors: Flexential, Papa Johns

Student Sponsor: Farm Credit Mid-America, Beacon Hill Staffing, Carmen Moreno-Rivera, Maria Bouvette, QTS Data Centers, Smita Srivastava, Susan Weiss, Tom Cooper, Traveler’s Rest

Free Headshot Sponsor: Zimmerman Photography

In-Kind Sponsors: Greater Louisville Inc., Snowflake, Robyn’s Twisted Sisters Bar Service, Heitzman Traditional Bakery and Deli, Vital Projects, Heine Brothers, Lloyd’s Florist

Media Sponsor: Louisville Business First, Today’s Woman Magazine

2022 Speakers & Activities

December 12, 2022 - Ladies Night

Eat • Drink • Win Prizes • Smile in the Photo Booth • Sample Wine and Bourbons • Shop from over 20 Vendors • Check in for the Conference • Have Fun!

Learn & Enjoy Line Dancing with World Champion Line Dancer Brook Jenkins

December 13, 2022 - Conference

7:45 a.m.

Registration & Coffee

Location: Da Vinci Room (see site map at bottom of this page)

8:30 a.m.

Welcome

Master of Ceremonies Heather Warrell | Director, Public Sector | Coastal Cloud

Location: Da Vinci Room

8:45 a.m.

Be the Change!

In order to be an effective change agent as a woman in Technology, I needed to learn a simple fact. I had practice being an authentic change agent in every facet of my life - personally, culturally, and organizationally. It meant that I had to change the definition of ME to be comfortable feeling vulnerable, challenged, and completely stretched outside my comfort zone.

In this 20 minute session, I will share with you my journey of discovering how to be comfortable in my own skin, building confidence in the perspective I have to offer, and relentlessly believing in the change itself.

Viji Evers | Director, ML Fleet | Google

Location: Da Vinci Room

9:10 a.m

Prisha Hedau

Published Author, Entrepreneur, Social Media Influencer, Miss Kentucky Pre-Teen Queen 2022-23, Girls Top 100 National USA Chess Player, Top 25 National Mathematics Competition winner, and member of the Student Technology Leadership Program, Founder and CEO | priSHE LLC

Location: Da Vinci Room

9:15 a.m.

Master of Ceremonies

Heather Warrell | Director, Public Sector | Coastal Cloud

Location: Da Vinci Room

9:20 a.m.

Get Out of Your Own Way

Have you ever felt stagnant or uninspired in a job? Like you've hit a wall and you are not sure where or if you should go? Have you ever wondered how other people seem to move forward with their careers completely uninhibited by fear of change, self-doubt, and risk. Today we're going to learn through personal experiences from Theresa and Kelly Powers how they gained confidence to overcome obstacles that were in their "own way" as individual contributors and leaders and also some tips to help you "get out of your OWN way.”

Theresa Bivens | Senior Director of Project & Delivery Management | Waystar

Kelly Powers | Director – Application Engineering | Waystar

Location: Da Vinci Room

9:50 a.m.

A Special Introduction

Mayor Greg Fischer | Louisville Metro Government

Location: Da Vinci Room

10:00 a.m.

A Special Fireside Chat

In this fireside chat, Alisia will talk with Joanne Harrell, who will share her experiences first in public service as former CEO of United Way of King County, then in the private sector as she worked her way up in Microsoft, to her current roles, including First Lady of Seattle. Joanne will talk about what it means to move through a career in technology with a sense of belonging, understanding that your identity and experiences bring innovation to the table. She will also talk about the importance of corporate responsibility and why it’s imperative to lean in, both within your own community and other communities, and how public-private partnerships are imperative to the future of work.

Joanne Harrell | First Lady of Seattle, Washington | Retired Microsoft Executive

Alisia McClain | Executive Director of the Louisville Future of Work Initiative | Founder of Tech-nique

Location: Da Vinci Room

10:35 a.m.

Brunch

Seating in: Da Vinci Room

Served in: Van Gough Room

(see site map at bottom of this page)

11:40 a.m. — 12:30 p.m.

Breakout Session 1 - Select One

Threats from the Underground: Why Today’s Cybersecurity Solutions Will Not Be Enough
Bringing The Dark Cybercriminal Underground To Light: How Organizations Can Win the War Against Cybercrime

2022 ushered a new sense of normalcy for a world that’s almost grown lockdown weary. As organizations prepare for the tail-end of the pandemic, we outline how companies better secure themselves from both present and future cyber threats.

Myla Pilao | Head of Research and Marketing | Trend Micro

Location: Da Vinci Room

Room Sponsor: QTS Data Centers

Cognition and Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Dr. Cara Cashon | Associate Dean for Graduate Studies in the College of Arts & Sciences and Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences | University of Louisville

Location: Van Gough Room (see site map at bottom of this page)

Room Sponsor: Papa Johns

A Realistic Approach to Business Automation

Every organization wants to run at high efficiency, but achieving it can often seem out of reach without a huge IT budget and knowledge base. In this presentation, we’ll walk through current approaches to automation and discuss how to plan and put together a digital enablement strategy that works for your particular business needs..

Anna Cassaro | Senior Consultant | Dean Dorton
Judy Nichols | Data & Collaboration Consulting Director | Dean Dorton

Location: Pigment Gallery (see site map at bottom of this page)

Room Sponsor: Bamboo Health

12:45 p.m. -1:45 p.m.

Breakout Session 2 -Select One

Digital Transformation Today & Tomorrow

A panel discussion regarding digital transformation expectations skills today and near future, projects, resources and strategies utilizing DT and what's hot moving forward.

Dr. Sharon Kerrick | Associate Professor & Assistant Vice President Digital Transformation Center, Office of the President | University of Louisville
Tonya Quarles | Vice President, Workforce Solutions Group | Dell Technologies
Grace Simrall | Chief of Civic Innovation and Technology | Metro Louisville Government
Mona Sturgis | Customer Engineering Manager | Google Cloud

Location: Da Vinci Room

Room Sponsor: QTS Data Centers

Leadership Lessons to Navigate a Successful Career In Tech

Join us for a candid conversation with three global technology executives discussing their career paths and how they rose to the top from different backgrounds. They will talk about how they made work-life choices as newcomers and then leaders in the technical field while raising a family and growing in careers along the way and owning the outcomes.

Gauri Bhalerao | Director of Global Applications | Yum! Brands
Amy Hoover | CIO/VP of Technology | Manna Inc.
Christy Marin | Digital Technology Senior Director, Governance & Strategy | GE Appliances, a Haier Company
Angela Shaw | Vice President, Technology Enablement, QA, Learning & Development & Continuous Improvement | Humana

Location: Van Gough Room (see site map at bottom of this page)

Room Sponsor: Papa Johns

Project Management for Technologists

Senior technologists are often tasked with “dealing with ambiguity”. It can be daunting to get started with project management when you are used to getting tickets. In a perfect world, we would all have dedicated project managers to help wrangle stakeholders, prioritize tasks and show off final products. Unfortunately, that’s not always in the budget. The upside of learning how to manage projects is gaining a fuller business context and creating better, more impactful products. This framework will walk through the entire project process, from ideation to presentation,

Michelle Brenner | Senior Software Engineer | Netflix

Location: Pigment Gallery (see site map at bottom of this page)

Room Sponsor: Bamboo Health

1:45 p.m.

Special Break

Margaritas, Chips and Salsa, and a couple of other special treats

Hot Chocolate Bar

Last chance to get your Professional Headshot

Location: Da Vinci Room

2:00 p.m.

Master of Ceremonies Heather Warrell | Director, Public Sector | Coastal Cloud

Location: Da Vinci Room

2:05 p.m.

Empower Women Who Empower Women

RockIT Women Mentor Program

Shannon Fehr | CEO | RockIT Women

Location: Da Vinci Room

Sponsor: Interapt

2:40 p.m.

Leveraging Your Strengths and Managing Your Inner Critic

Michelle Webb, Executive Director of Employee Experience at TEKsystems will share her journey as a leader in IT and other strategies she is learning along the way. We hope you’ll join us for an interactive session that supports internal growth, effective connection with others, and a shared goal to be the best version of ourselves in every aspect of our life.

Michelle Webb | Executive Director | TEKsystems

Location: Da Vinci Room