Diva Tech Talk Podcast

Diva Tech Talk interviewed Dr. Denise Mahoney, the Pre-Apprentice Liaison for the Kent County Technical Career Center, situated in the Kent County, Mi., Intermediate School District.  Her current work is funded by a U.S. Department of Labor grant to increase the number of technology-oriented apprentices in West Michigan. Fosters technical opportunities and educational paths for 11th and 12th graders. “Companies should keep their eyes open to the apprenticeship model,” Denise said. “It is just another way to get qualified employees into the workforce.”  For Denise, Fortran and Cobol programming were part of her initial undergraduate curriculum at the University of South Dakota. While she worked for a financial company serving the Kodak Corporation, Denise was quickly drawn into another love: teaching.  At Western Michigan University, she got her teacher’s certificate and then moved over to Michigan State University for her Master’s in Education Leadership. She ultimately obtained her Ph.D. in Curriculum and In

Diva Tech Talk was honored to be onsite at one of the largest Midwestern offices for Logicalis U.S., during its recent GIRLS IN TECHNOLOGY DAY. Logicalis (www.us.logicalis.com) is an international information technology solutions and managed services provider that designs, builds and supports enterprise solutions for customers throughout Europe, North and South America, and Asia Pacific.  Logicalis entertained 56 high school and early college girls, offering tailored discussions of practical topics related to succeeding in a technology career. Horizon-broadening sessions covered topics as diverse as: uncovering what you are good at, communicating with confidence, the wide variety of career options in the technology field, how to use social media to build your personal brand, how to ace a job interview, and how to write an excellent resume. Logicalis supports an internal group dedicated to fostering the missions of its own women employees.  Two of the veteran leaders of that group (Logicalis Vice Presidents, R

Diva Tech Talk interviewed Janet Tyler, Chief Operating Officer, at Red Level Networks (www.redlevelnetworks.com).  Janet’s early tech interest was enthusiastically fostered by her father. “That carried me in through college” where Janet earned an MBA in Organizational Development at Eastern Michigan University, and her computer interest was a continuous underlying theme. After obtaining her master’s degree, Janet’s first job was at New Horizons (www.newhorizons.com) where she initially trained customers in emergent applications (like Microsoft DOS). She traveled extensively, training end-users on relatively new applications, and then moved into a New Horizons marketing and operations management role. From New Horizons, Janet moved to the Franco Public Relations Group for whom she led a technology practice encompassing customers like Microsoft, Omnicom, T-Mobile, Supply Solutions Inc. and various tech startups. After four years at Franco PR, Janet “hatched an idea” with the its President to “spin off a compan

Diva Tech Talk interviewed veteran tech professional, Julie Christ, Founder and CEO of TechSmart Solutions.  Julie graduated from the University of Michigan, with a computer science degree, and a business minor, then a relatively new degree program.  “It was pretty leading edge,” said Julie.  “Throughout my career, I would be only female in a room of 40-50 people.  It was a differentiator for me.  It never inhibited me; it never bothered me. I just knew that I would be remembered.” Julie’s first job was as a business analyst at Compuware (www.compuware.com) where she was working to understand customer needs from a tech perspective. Her first Compuware customer was General Motors (www.gm.com). Julie moved overseas, and lived in London, U.K. for a year working for Little Caesar’s.  When she returned to the U.S., she continued with Little Caesar’s (www.littlecaesars.com) in their corporate headquarters as a technical project manager and assumed complete responsibility for that private company’s gamut of financia

Diva Tech Talk interviewed Jennifer Pfaff, Director of Store IT Services for Domino’s (www.dominos.com), a company averaging $2.3 billion in annual revenue, ranking as the 2nd largest franchisor of pizza retail outlets in the world. Jennifer did not originally pursue information technology as a career.  She initially envisioned her future as an electrical engineer designing cochlear implants to improve hearing, since she suffered an auditory loss at a young age. But while at the University of Arizona, she came to the decision that electrical engineering was not her life’s mission and changed her major to Business, with a concentration in MIS and Operations Management. After graduation, she took her first job in Battle Creek, Mi. at the headquarters for Kellogg Company (NYSE: K) in the IT department, subsequently moving into sales there “to learn how we really did our business.” Coming back to Michigan, “I worked for all three of the Big 3 U.S. automotive companies either directly or through consulting,” Jenni

Diva Tech Talk was delighted to interview Cindy Warner, whose rich, multi-level career and mission story is inspiring.  Cindy began as a pre-med undergraduate aiming to become an orthopedic surgeon, at the University of California in San Diego. Unfortunately, in her second year, she frequently fainted at the sight of blood, which reoriented her career. So after obtaining her degree in business administration, with a minor in computer science from Grand Valley State University in Michigan, she began an internship at IBM, selling typewriters, and subsequently System 23’s and System 36’s. There “I learned about this small, innovative company called FedEx,” (www.fedex.com), Cindy said. “The intriguing thing about FedEx was the speed with which they wanted to move packages, through technology. If you wanted to be in technology at FedEx, you needed to be in operations, first.” So Cindy’s initial job was as a courier. She rose to become a FedEx Operations Manager and then ran FedEx’s Eastern Region.  “But I didn’t w

Diva Tech Talk spoke with Dr. Barbara Ciaramitaro, Chair of the Decision Science Department, and Director of the newly-expanded Cyber Security Center at Walsh College, a leading non-profit higher education institution offering fifteen business and technology degree programs, on both an undergraduate and Master’s level, as well as several business and technology certifications.  Walsh is the first, in 2003, to have received the NSA’s official designation as an academic center of excellence in information assurance and in 2015 received an additional NSA designation as a center of academic excellence in cyber defense.   Fascinated by science as a child, Barbara was born too soon to have computers as part of her early learning. After graduating from Wayne State University, though, she was exposed to the rapidly changing technology landscape through her first job at Dickinson Wright PLLC, where she was tapped to be part of the law firm’s team to evaluate and introduce new systems.  From there she moved to Plunkett

Diva Tech Talk was excited to interview Rhonda St. John Hamborsky, Director of Strategy and Innovation at multinational AT&T Inc.  Rhonda’s job  is to guide select large global AT&T enterprise customers in terms of technical strategy development. The complexity of Rhonda’s current role was not predictable, as a girl/teenager, since she did not originally see her future in technology.  “I came into it, accidentally,” Rhonda said.  “I remember having some struggles mathematically.  I attribute it to the teaching styles of the time; we were not able to work in groups or collaborate.  So I am so excited for girls, today. I feel like their experience is vastly different, and there is a great opportunity to keep them engaged in math and sciences.” With a robust career, Rhonda spent much of her early stages at data communications companies and startup consultancies in both Silicon Valley and subsequently in the Midwest.  Having started in sales, initially, at startups, Rhonda moved to successful sales manage

Diva Tech Talk interviewed Danielle DeLonge, Technology Learning Consultant at Plante Moran, the 14th largest accounting/consulting firm in the United States.  For 18 years, Plante Moran has been recognized on FORTUNE magazine’s list of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” in America. Describing her career path as a “jungle gym path” vs. a “ladder career path,” Danielle began her technology journey with a breakthrough Michigan-based organization: Automation Alley, where she facilitated an 8-chapter grant-funded statewide network of technology professionals (ConnecTech).   Then she became their Business Accelerator Client Champion, serving as the intermediary between entrepreneurs who wanted “seed” money, and those who funded them.  From there she was the Executive Director of Davenport University’s development of their Lansing campus. After a stint as a Project Manager for Xede, she moved to Plante Moran — first as an IT Consultant, and now in her current role. In this podcast, as the mother of a young daught

Diva Tech Talk was thrilled to interview technology industry leader and visionary, Joanne Moretti, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Sales Enablement at Jabil Inc., and General Manager of Jabil’s Blue Sky Center.  With a 30-plus year career at tech industry giants like CA Technologies, Hewlett Packard and Dell, Joanne had many personal insights and leadership tips to share. Beginning her tech career at one of Canada’s largest banks (CIBC), Joanne moved to the vendor side when she joined CA Technologies as a systems engineer.  She went on to become a successful salesperson; sales manager; General Manager for CA, Canada and then SVP/GM for CA, Canada and the West Coast.  Joanne subsequently joined Hewlett Packard and applied solutions selling “know-how” to her role as leader for the HP Sales University, where she and her team developed an award-winning curriculum which encouraged “a much higher level of conversation” between HP sales representatives and their customers.   From HP, Joanne moved to Vice Presid

Diva Tech Talk interviewed trailblazer Jing Zhou, a poster child for entrepreneurship.  Born in The People’s Republic of China, Jing immigrated to the United States when she was in her early 20’s and in 2013 started her current breakthrough company: elemoon (www.elemoon.com) which creates, produces, promotes and distributes “wearable tech powered by imagination.”   Jing’s early experiences, being introduced by her journalist father to prominent Chinese female leaders, inspired her and shaped her belief that she could be whatever she wanted to be.  She was the first female Chinese student to graduate from Northwestern University’s Graduate School of Journalism, and went on to cover startups and entrepreneurial ventures for Businessweek magazine. Combining fine jewelry with wearable technology, Elemoon is an elegant bangle that allows a user to customize properties, sync with a smart phone, create a variety of led patterns, and change/modify its look and feel daily.  Jing’s process to get the elemoon bracelet m

Diva Tech Talk chatted with Michelle Billingsley, Vice President and Chief Information Officer for nonprofit Blue Care Network.  Michelle manages a team of 105 full-time IT professionals, supplemented by 150 consultants/contractors, and directs information technology operations and solution delivery to meet the dynamic business needs of Michigan’s largest HMO, serving over 800,000 members. Michelle fell in love with technology early in life.  A high school science project in programming led her to “the love of solving problems and the love of programming. ”While obtaining her undergraduate degree at Western Michigan University in computer science, with a minor in math and business, she worked in the computer lab and taught computer classes. Post-college, Michelle began her career at National Tech Team, a large IT supplier and training company, and then went to work in information tech at Wayne State University, while simultaneously getting her master’s degree. Michelle is excited about her career future in he

Diva Tech chatted with Karla Thomas, DirectorIT, Global Cyber Security and Audit at Tower International. Tower is a Tier 1 leading global manufacturer of engineered automotive structural metal components and assemblies primarily serving original equipment manufacturers ("OEMs"). On the information technology team at Tower for 12 years, Karla has worked all over the globe and as well as throughout the United States. “All along, one of the things key to what I do is the ability to communicate with non-technical people, bridging that gap between IT and the business,” Karla said. She described a number of situations where that ability has been key, and where she had had to overcome challenges because of it. She recommended that professionals not “pigeonhole” themselves into “just understanding what you do. If you want to be successful, you have to  have your ears open,understand and listen to what the business is doing not just what IT is doing.” She also credits industry groups and conferences as ways to open up

Diva Tech Talk recently interviewed Carey Pachla, President of Fast Switch, a rapidly growing information technology consulting company, with 750 staff members and 2015 sales of $80 million (a 30% annual growth rate) specializing in contract, contract-to-hire and executive search services. Carey’s journey in technology was an intentional one. Based on research and advice, she sought it out; and she could not be more fulfilled. “The main reason is that there are so many wonderful, smart individuals in this industry, and I learn every day.” Carey is also Vice President of The Michigan Council of Women in Technology, and its incoming 2017 President. She discusses that nonprofit, and some of its programs, on this podcast. Carey has four key pieces of leadership wisdom for other women:  Work hard; there is no substitute for hard work. Take the “long cut.” There are no shortcuts. Learn your trade, dig in, and take the long road. Take a genuine interest in, and listen to your team. Lead by example. In conclusion,

Our latest Diva Tech Talk interview is with Valerie Rogers, MPH, Director of State Government Affairs for HIMSS, a global organization focused on better health through information technology. The granddaughter of a breakthrough woman leader, who owned her own successful business in the 1930’s, Valerie’s path was strongly influenced by two older female cousins (a toxicologist and a primary care practitioner) who she described as “smart, sassy women.” The use of data in healthcare, for Valerie, is indicative of leaders “aspiring to something much greater than the technology and innovation, itself.  It’s really to impact lives.”  On this podcast she shared just one anecdote of a woman, living in an abusive situation, whose circumstances were positively improved by the fact that data was being collected and exchanged among the health systems treating her. Valerie’s advice for other women leaders includes: Be true to yourself.  Start early. Build on your strengths. Keep learning. Don’t ever stop. “You never know,

Diva Tech Talk interviewed Nadine Heinen, Comcast Corporation’s Vice President of Field Operations for Indiana and Kentucky. In her current role, Nadine leads 650-700 technology employees.  Her 30-plus year career has been a combination of strong “hands-on” experience, a propensity for constant learning, a tendency to gravitate toward innovation, and creative leadership of large projects/teams and organizations. Her key pieces of advice include: Know your capabilities and believe in yourself Work on your brand Step out of your comfort zone. You will expand your knowledge. Make sure to check us out on online at www.divatechtalk.com, on Twitter @divatechtalks, and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/divatechalk.

The Diva Tech Talk team conducted this multi-faceted podcast session, in Michigan, at Cisco’s annual WOMEN OF IMPACT 2016 event, broadcast simultaneously on all continents, and complemented by regional sessions.  Nine women interviewees from Cisco, Cisco partners and Cisco customers discussed what drives them, helps them achieve harmony in their lives, and makes them “UNSTOPPABLE” — echoing the conference’s theme. Among other things, they shared: How they get, and stay inspired; How to make change, adapt to change, and help others adapt to change; The need and methods for achieving life balance; Tips on staying organized and focused; Their best advice to other women carving out careers in technology. Cisco can be found at www.cisco.com. Social media tags for the CISCO 2016 WOMEN OF IMPACT event @Cisco_WOI; the Cisco Empowered Women’s Network is @CiscoEWN; and on Facebook you can find the Cisco Empowered Women’s Group at /CiscoEmpoweredWomen. Make sure to check us out on online at www.divatechtalk.com onTwit

In this episode, we spoke with two healthcare technology leaders:  Mary Alice Annecharico, the Senior VP and CIO for Henry Ford Health Systems and Donna Roach, CIO of Via Christi Health Systems. Both women share how they were drawn into the world of healthcare, and their current challenges and experiences as CIO’s. We learned: How Mary Alice entered into the world of technology, now managing over 600 people How to unite large teams to create systematic change with technology Why you need to be a lifelong learner Donna’s story choosing jobs that were challenging and fulfilling The importance of relationship-building, networking, and family support Advice on how to use your creative skills to pioneer new technologies and solutions Make sure to check us out on online at www.divatechtalk.com, on Twitter @divatechtalks, and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/divatechalk.

In this Diva Tech Talk podcast, we interview Heidi Slade, Senior Analyst, Business & Design, and Professional Scrum Master at Tyler Technologies, a leading provider of end-to-end information management solutions and services for local governments.  Heidi describes her journey from fine arts major to getting her degree in literature,  to tech writer, to analyst/voice of the customer and “web app wizard.” Her key pieces of advice include: Never let gender or lack of experience get in the way. Practice etiquette and good behavior to stand out, in the development world. Always pay attention to your audience. Tyler Technologies can be reached at: http://www.tylertech.com Make sure to check us out on online at www.divatechtalk.com, on Twitter @divatechtalks, and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/divatechalk.

Starting her career as a clinical nurse in the Pediatric ICU at Yale New Haven Health System, MPRO’S Vice President of Clinical Operations, Jacqueline Rosenblatt, emphasizes both her educational achievements (Masters and PhD) and her circuitous journey into information technology in this podcast.  She discusses how challenges given to her by the CIO of a major health system spurred her subsequent lifelong love affair with health information technology and informatics. Jacquie shares insight on: Her journey outside and inside the technology field Overcoming discriminatory preconceptions of stereotypical nurse roles The importance of being a lifelong learner and egalitarian leader How to be, and stay, positive as a leader MPRO can be found at www.mpro.org and Jacqueline can be contacted at jrosen@mpro.org. Make sure to check us out on online at www.divatechtalk.com, on Twitter @divatechtalks, and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/divatechalk.