Sessions: WomenTech Global Conference

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Session	Speaker	Share to Vote
Hina Gandhi Software Engineering Technical Leader at Cisco	Beyond Manual Tuning: How RL Agents Learned to Optimize Apache Spark Apache Spark's performance depends heavily on configuration parameters like shuffle partitions, memory allocation, and parallelism settings. Data engineering teams typically rely on static defaults (which rarely match workload reality) or time-consuming manual tuning that doesn't adapt as data patterns evolve. A configuration optimized for small daily reports fails catastrophically on massive end-of-month aggregations—yet tuning each workload variant manually is unsustainable as organizations process increasingly diverse datasets. This talk demonstrates how reinforcement… read more
Mrunal Gangrade Vice President of Engineering at JPMorgan Chase	Securing Multi-Tenant Clouds via Isolation Multi-tenancy is a core principle of modern cloud computing, allowing multiple customers to share the same physical infrastructure while maintaining logical separation. However, this model introduces significant security concerns—particularly the risk of cross-tenant data leakage, where sensitive information from one tenant may be exposed to another due to misconfigurations, architectural flaws, or sophisticated attacks. This research investigates the effectiveness of various isolation techniques implemented at different layers of the cloud stack. It explores virtualization… read more
Beth Leonard Chief Operating Officer at R3, LLC	Emotional Intelligence at Work: the Real Leadership Advantage IQ might get you the job—but EQ keeps your team engaged. In this powerful session, we explore how emotional intelligence can be taught, measured, and used to build stronger teams, better leaders, and healthier workplace dynamics. Did you like this session? Share to vote.
Raniesa Gray-Johnson Senior Cloud Engineer, FIS \| Founder, RAMIX Tech Consulting	From Operator to Owner: The Quiet Career Shift Women in Tech Are Making—Without Burning It All Down For many women in tech, the next step isn’t another promotion—it’s a redefinition. Yet most of us were never taught how to transition from being excellent operators inside organizations to strategic owners of our expertise. In this talk, Raniesa shares her personal journey from long-time technologist to consultant and founder, including the quiet doubts, imposter syndrome, and invisible mindset shifts that accompanied the transition. Through real stories and practical frameworks, she explores why women often wait for permission to step into ownership, how “readiness” is… read more
Amee Gil Business Intelligence Consultant at Analytixx	Generative BI in Practice: How Leaders Turn AI Into Business Value As organizations accelerate AI adoption, many struggle to translate experimentation into measurable business value. This session explores how Generative Business Intelligence bridges the gap between data and decision-making by embedding AI directly into trusted BI workflows. Drawing on real-world experience across healthcare, startups, and large enterprises, the talk demonstrates how integrating generative AI into BI improves insight quality, shortens decision cycles, and increases stakeholder adoption. Rather than treating AI as a standalone initiative, attendees will see how… read more
Swati Tyagi Applied AI/ML Lead at Tredence, Inc	Model Calibration: The Hidden Key to Trustworthy AI In high-stakes domains like finance and healthcare, getting the right answer isn't enough—your AI system needs to know how confident it should be. This presentation explores model calibration, the critical but often overlooked bridge between statistical predictions and real-world decision-making. We'll examine why a model with 95% accuracy can still cause catastrophic harm when its probability estimates are unreliable. Through concrete examples from credit risk management, fraud detection, clinical decision support, and cancer screening, attendees will understand how… read more
Geetha Sreedhar Operating Partner in VC firm at How Women Invest	Lead a life of impact and joy Lot of people are lost after an exit or after leaving C suite. I am technically retired but doing a lot of work that I find exciting. I am leading a life of impact, making a difference as advisor/mentor/VC/LP/World Traveler and blogger. I will share my story of transitions - how to do it. How to move from one chapter of your life to another, how to build the network/connections. Did you like this session? Share to vote.
Naomi Kent CEO at The Boardroom Co	How to land a corporate board in 2026 5 steps to landing a board seat Did you like this session? Share to vote.
Jane Connell SVP Strategy Transformation & CIO Enterprise Systems at Verizon	Transformation & Cultural Divide or Women & Career Planning Learnings from driving enterprise transformation through technology. The opportunities, challenges, and pitfalls. Did you like this session? Share to vote.
Debbie Millin CEO / Founder at UpperLevel Solutions	The Fractional Future: Building the Elastic C-Suite Linear growth is too slow for 2026. This talk explores how CEOs can use a combination of fractional leadership and AI agents to build a high-impact, low-overhead executive layer that scales up or down instantly. Perfect for growth-stage companies that need senior expertise without the "fixed-cost" burden of traditional hiring. Validates flexible, project-based leadership models that promote diverse talent. Did you like this session? Share to vote.
Kimberly Susko Principal at RSM	SaaS PE playbook - Best Practices for operating a PE backed Saas Company Scaling up your tech company - business systems, data & reporting, common challenges, ARR and reporting to investors. Deal structure and deal terms. Did you like this session? Share to vote.
Sabrina Macpherson Senior Director, ESG Methodology at Morningstar	Meaningful Support from Leaders During Difficult Change Many companies in the broader "Tech" sphere are going through difficult times, and workers are consistently seeing organizational restructurings and layoffs. In these situations, employees need more than ever to feel like they are able to balance work and life - both for their own mental well-being, and for their ability to demonstrate resilience in their changing workplace. In this talk, I will provide practical examples of ways that leaders can support work-life balance, mental wellness, and resilience, during the most difficult periods of change in the lives of their teams. I… read more
Anushka Sancheti Product Manager Lead at FIS	Influencing Without Authority, How Women in Tech Build Trust, Drive Decisions, and Get Things Done Influencing without authority is a skill many women in tech are expected to master early, often without being taught how to do it. This session breaks down what influence actually looks like when you do not control headcount, budgets, or final decisions. Drawing from real scenarios across product and cross functional teams, this talk focuses on how women build credibility, earn trust, and move work forward through clarity, relationships, and strategic communication. We will talk about navigating pushback, aligning stakeholders with competing incentives, and advocating for ideas… read more
Leah Ruehlicke VP, Creators & Community at Skillshare	Getting buy-in is the real career unlock - and most leaders are never taught how to get it To be an effective leader, getting buy-in is the job. You need it from your team, your peers, and your leadership - and if even one of those is missing, growth stalls. If you have buy-in from below but not above, your team is blocked. If you have buy-in from above but not below, you won’t sustain impact. Yet this reality is rarely addressed in management training - especially for women, who are often expected to be both endlessly empathetic and immediately credible. The mistake most leaders make is assuming buy-in looks the same everywhere. It doesn’t. - From your team:… read more
Maham Khalid CEO/ Founder at Revohub	The Invisible Career Gap in the Green Grid: How Women Can Use AI to Lead the Fastest Transitions of the Next Decade As AI embeds itself into the DNA of workforce planning, career mobility is no longer governed by individual effort, it is governed by systems. Despite record levels of education, a structural "Invisible Career Gap" persists, where high-potential women remain under-positioned because they are misaligned with how AI-driven systems now evaluate capability and leadership. This session moves beyond the "skills accumulation" trap. We examine the critical shift from talent to signal clarity, exploring how AI-mediated labor markets convert experience into decision-… read more
Kelly Chen Software Engineer at Bloomberg	When Doing Everything Right Stops Working: Building Career Leverage as an Emerging Engineer Are you doing everything “right” but still struggling to stand out in your career? In today’s competitive tech and fintech landscape, traditional career signals—grades, internships, networking—are increasingly inflated, making it harder to differentiate yourself. In this session, Kelly Chen reframes the early-career journey by focusing on leverage over visibility. You’ll learn why networking alone isn’t enough, and how quiet, compounding actions, like removing friction, owning ambiguity, and translating across teams, create real career leverage. Using… read more
Maria Cassano Journalist at Bustle, HuffPost, CNN, NBC, The Daily Beast, YourTango, Food & Wine	Why Women Have More To Gain From Remote Work Studies show that women earn 20% more money when they wear makeup to work. One gender rolls out of bed, bare-faced and respected, while the other needs to paint, pluck, powder, and preen before they’re considered qualified. Remote work allows women to bypass gender discrimination in the office and be judged for our competence, expertise, and intelligence. It also allows us autonomy, improved work-life balance, and more flexible childcare options, which have the potential to boost work satisfaction and close the gender pay gap. Did you like this session? Share to vote… read more
Pearl Jindal Founder & CEO at Echolingo.ai	AI-Powered Language Learning: Democratizing Fluency for Global Students In an increasingly global and digital world, language fluency opens doors to opportunity — yet traditional methods lag behind learner needs. In this demo, I’ll share how Echolingo.ai uses advanced AI tutoring, conversational clones, and personalized learning pathways to help learners master languages such as French for IB, DELF/TCF, and professional contexts. This session will explore bridging AI, education, and human-centric language mastery, with insights for educators, founders, and technologists eager to scale learning outcomes worldwide. Did you like this session? Share to vote… read more
Meredith Jolly Chair at Vistage Worldwide	Too Nice to Lead? Why Kindness is a Leadership Weapon For most of my career, I was told I was “too nice,” “too soft,” or “too empathetic” to lead at the highest levels. Translation? I didn’t fit the outdated, masculine mold of leadership. Then I became a tech CEO. Then I sold companies. Then I got sober. Then I rebuilt my career from the inside out. And here’s what I know for sure: Kindness is not weakness. It is strategic strength. In this talk, I challenge the myth that women must harden themselves to succeed in tech. I’ll share real leadership stories from the C-suite,… read more
Priya Royal Managing Attorney at Royal Law Firm PLLC	AI Decisions Under Scrutiny: How Leaders Defend Value, Risk, and Responsibility Across Borders Artificial intelligence is increasingly embedded in executive decision-making, from valuation and capital allocation to IP strategy, cybersecurity posture, and cross-border operations. Yet the consequences of AI-informed decisions rarely surface at the moment they are made. They surface later, during audits, disputes, transactions, regulatory review, or moments of transition. This session examines how AI-driven decisions are evaluated under real-world scrutiny and why leadership today requires an integrated lens that connects technology, governance, legal structure, and… read more