Athena Staff
Jan 19, 2022
Join us in congratulating Athena's on Board (AoB) Series graduates that include 15 Qualcomm leaders eager to bring their talents and expertise to the boardroom of local and national non-profit organizations.
Following the 5-month AoB program, these women are now poised to lend their diverse passions, perspectives and competencies to advance mission-driven organizations. We salute this 7th cohort for their dedication and service to provide critical leadership on boards while making HERstory to modernize more boards. All women in STEM interested in developing your board placement strategy through this program, please contact Holly@Athenasd.org to be placed on the wait list for the next cohort.
WHICH ONE OF THESE AOB GRADUATES IS YOUR NEXT BOARD DIRECTOR?
*This cohort is seeking Nonprofit Board service*
DEB BARRETT
Vice President & Chief Compliance Officer | Qualcomm
FADOUA CHAFIK
Engineer, Senior Staff | Qualcomm
FIONA COLLINS
Cyber Security Engineer, Sr Staff | Qualcomm
SRI CRESSY
Director, Engineering | Qualcomm
MANASI GANDHI
Staff Manager, Business Development | Qualcomm
PRIYA GOVERDHAN
Engineer, Senior Staff | Qualcomm
NICOLE GROSS
Senior Director, IT | Qualcomm
JULIA JAFFE
Staff Manager, IT | Qualcomm
MRINALINI KESAR
Engineer, Sr. Staff/Manager | Qualcomm
SYLVIA LOWELL
Senior Director, Product Marketing | Qualcomm
FATIMA OGUZ
Engineer, Principal/Manager | Qualcomm
JEN TAYLOR
Senior Manager, Finance | Qualcomm
JACKIE UNG
Director, Compliance | Qualcomm
KRISTA WOLFF
Senior Manager, Compliance Communications | Qualcomm
SHIRLEY YAGER
Director, Product Management | Qualcomm
ATHENA ON BOARDS COHORT 7 MENTORS
CEO/Founder | Conde Group IT Staffing
Executive Coach | Lee Hecht Harrison
Executive Director | USD Nonprofit Institute
ATHENA ON BOARDS COMMITTEE
CO-CHAIR: JAYE CONNOLLY-LABELLE
CEO | RippleNami
CO-CHAIR: CHARITY WILLIAMS
Partner | Cooley
Principal | Avasant
CFO | Correlation Ventures
Audit Partner | BDO
Athena On Boards is a 5-month workshop series that prepares women with their boardroom placement strategies. Central to the program’s success is the assignment to a smaller cohort of 4-6 women and led by an executive female mentor that helps mentees:
Design your board bio that captures your governance capabilities and specific value-add for targeted companies;
Articulate and role-play your boardroom superpower pitch with your peers and mentor, and
Stay accountable in activating your network on your boardroom intentions and executing on your board search strategy.
Each participant completes an application detailing the types of board, the targeted sector and other relative info as we assign the dedicated mentoring cohorts accordingly. These smaller mentor groups meet on alternate months of the AoB workshops and are announced during workshop #1.
“No company today can afford to not have women in their boardroom or in their leadership ranks because they’ll be missing out on too much talent.”
-Gina Raimondo, United States Commerce Secretary Fortune Magazine
"My AOB mentor led our small team in developing our board bio, our strategy, and board interviews preparations," says Shannon Wesley, Associate Director, Master Data & Analytics at BD and new member of the USD Shiley - Marcos Engineering Executive Advisory Board. "I enjoyed the experience and recommend it to anyone wanting to obtain a board seat. I'm honored to receive my first board seat before the program concluded thanks to Athena’s introductions.”
AoB Curriculum
Workshop 1: Introduction to Athena on Boards | Legal overview of roles and responsibilities and corporate landscape of boardroom compliance
Workshop 2: How to Join the Winner's Circle | AoB alumni share their entire journey in landing their board seats
Workshop 3: Women With A Seat & Voice In The Boardroom | Female Board Directors share their experiences on how governing actually works inside the boardroom
Following graduation, Athena publishes each alumnae profile on a dedicated webpage and promotes them in The Athena Effect newsletter and on social media throughout the year.
To secure your spot on the next cohort waitlist, contact Athena CEO, Holly Smithson.