Athena

Speaker Directory

Find top STEM speakers

Explore Athena’s diverse talent roster to find the right STEM speaker for your next event, conference, or board retreat. Securing a diverse conference speaker lineup requires intentional work – this directory offers decades of experience among thought leaders in STEM. Contact any of these dynamic speakers to capture unique perspectives from these leaders.

To become a Featured Speaker, email staff@athenaSTEMwomen.org.

Cheryl Aranha

Principal EngineerIntuit

Expertise

Software Architecture | Mobile | Building a Career as an Individual Contributor | Mentorship and Accessibility

Sarah Bacerra

FounderTrailblazing in Color

Expertise

People Innovator | Human Lover | Inclusion Pusher | Learning & Performance Leader | Certified High Performance Coach | Certified DISC Facilitator

Speaking Appearances

Startup San Diego - Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Panel | The Center for Respectful Leadership - Changemaker Spotlight

Kimbra Brookstein

Staff Program Manager - Tech Women @ IntuitIntuit

Expertise

Women In Tech | Diversity In Tech | Building Inclusive Environments | ERGs | Allyship | Building Communities | Brand Building | Networking | Corporate Culture

Speaking Appearances

Blueprint for Success - Athena Pinnacle Award Winners | Male Allyship: Supporting Women in Tech - Women of Rady | Women Tech Leaders - GA & Yelp Panel | Moderator - San Diego Tech Women's Summit - IWD Panel | Surviving COVID: How to pivot during crisis - SD Women's Venture Summit | Moderator, SD Resources To Level up Your Career - SDTWS | Moderator, Girls In Tech - SD: The different type of dev roles you can have in tech | Women In Tech Panel - Startup San Diego Convergence/Girls In Tech SD | Creating Tech Opportunities For Community Change - Western Regional Diversity Conference | How I Started Working In Tech - GeekGirl TechCon | Women In Tech: The Resources You Need To Level Up In SD - SDSW

Shramika Chandak

Staff EngineerQualcomm

Expertise

Building Career in Electronics | Best Practices to Support Women in Tech | Mindset at Work | Women In Tech | Diversity In Tech | Work-Life Harmony | Sharpen Your Skills | Life Outside Work Impacts Life At Work

Speaking Appearances

Qualcomm Events Host

Alejandra Contreras

Customer Engagement ManagerOracle

Expertise

C&E | Technology | Changing Careers | Expat Life | Building Communities | Speaking Up | Believing in Yourself | Dreaming Big | Storytelling | Setting Boundaries | Latin American Mindset & Challenges | New Parent Life

Speaking Appearances

Oracle Women Leadership

Noushin Dunkelman

Founder & CEOMaxSynergy

Expertise

Organizational Development in Biotech Spaces | Communication Strategy | Operation Structure | Culture Development | Team and Talent Development

Speaking Appearances

SDEE | AWIS Conference Speaker | Lunchbio | SDBSA | EvoNexus | NCHR

Shannon Fitzpatrick

Sr Healthcare Manager, Partnerships & Global Disability ERG LeadMicrosoft

Expertise

Disability and Accessibility | Health Tech | Behavioral Health Tech

Speaking Appearances

Host and producer for Accessibility Toronto with 10+ years broadcasting experience from news anchoring to production. Regular speaker at Microsoft events around accessibility and health technology partnerships.

Mandeep Gill

Senior Group Technical ManagerHCLTech

Expertise

Mentoring | Communication | Time Management | Emotional Intelligence | Growth Mindset | Feedback Essentials | Learning & Development | Servant Leadership | Workplace Culture | Unconscious Bias | Personal Branding & Networking

Speaking Appearances

SWE India Coffee Circle (Global Ambassador) | Panel speaker at SWE RGIT for International Women's Day | Panel speaker at WE23 Los Angeles - Finding the Courage to Speak Up | Speaker at WE23 - Servant Leadership | Panel speaker at SWE ICC - Best Practices on Promoting Work-Family Balance During the Pandemic | Speaker at Chandigarh Tri-City Meet 2019 - Mentoring | Speaker on SWE Learning Competency Model Focus Group | Book club and professional development sessions at BD through WIN ARG | Speaker at local HBA session within BD - Building Executive Presence | #IAR facilitator

Neha Giri

Software ArchitectIntuit

Expertise

Software Architecture | Open Source Software & How Women Can Get Involved | Building a Career in Software Architecture | Mentoring Framework and Best Practices to Support Women in Tech

Speaking Appearances

Grace Hopper Conference 2021 & 2020 "How to Make Your First Open Source Contribution" | Intuit Panel "Diversity and Inclusion"

Kristin "KG" Gustafson

CEO and FounderSkapa Bio

Expertise

CHRO Leadership in Biotech | Talent Management | HR System Optimization | Culture, Learning and Organizational Development in Biotech Space | Communication Strategy | Team Development

Speaking Appearances

Equilar Annual Conference | Women in Bio | Biocom | Radford Reward Annual Meeting | LeapHR | SHRM

Kerstin Kirchsteiger, Ph.D.

Founder, CEO, Executive CoachKerstin K Leadership Consulting

Expertise

Making Your Organization Irresistible - Talent Attraction & Retention Made Easy | Brain Science for High Performance | Driving Innovation through DEI&B for Parents and Neurodiverse Employees | Motherhood as a Leadership Position

Speaking Appearances

Stable Mama Podcast - Motherhood has prepared you to be a great leader | Love Your Life Show Podcast - Emotional Intelligence with Kerstin Kirchsteiger

Sheryl Kline

Founder & CEOThe Zone Lab, LLC

Expertise

Defuse Emotionally Charged Conversations and Remain Highly Influential | Mental Toughness and High Performance for Women in the Workplace | Enterprise Digital Journey | Gain Olympic-Level Clarity on What's Next | Build Confidence to See it Through | FBI-like Strategic Influence to Gain Buy-In From Leadership

Speaking Appearances

United Nations Global Leadership Summit | Women of Silicon Valley Conference | Women in Technology Network | CREW National Convention | Women of the Channel Conference NYC/Palm Springs | Oracle | VMWare | Microsoft | Insight Enterprises | Bank of America | Autodesk | State Street Global Advisors | UC Berkeley Haas School of Business | CapitalOne | Hewlett Packard Enterprises | Pixar | SHRM

Cynthia Long, LSSMBB, PMP

Senior Manager and Change Leader, BPR Continuous ImprovementIntuit

Expertise

Revolutionary Leader for Continuous Improvement | Business Transformation Strategist | Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt | Public Speaker | Philanthropist | Mentor

Speaking Appearances

Strategic Conversations - Mentoring and Beyond (Women in Technology Festival) | Data - Driving from the Customer Seat (Intuit) | Cost of Complexity (Intuit) | Surviving Domestic Violence (Compass Center For Women and Families)

Cynthia Lopez

Team LeadSan Diego Gas & Electric

Expertise

Operations | Speaking Up | Mentoring Females In STEM | Leadership | Team Development and Independence

Speaking Appearances

Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) Alumni Speaker | San Diego State University Electrical Engineering Panel | SDG&E City Council Meeting | D&I Speaker | SDG&E Virtual Career Fair for Women In Construction

Susan Poser

Vice President, Culture and EngagementOracle

Expertise

Managing Your Career as a JOB (Joy, Opportunity, Brand) | Attracting & Engaging Employees for Success | Being an Ally to Drive D&I

Speaking Appearances

Ascend Inspiring Across Generations | San Diego State University Aztec Mentor Program Talks | Oracle Women Leaders | Oracle Professional Asian Leadership | Out & Equal Summit | San Diego Women's Week

Lauren Ross

Senior AssociateFragomen

Expertise

Options for Non-Citizen STEM Professionals to Work in the United States | Pathways to Permanent Residence for Non-Citizen STEM Professionals | Immigration as a Recruiting Tool for STEM Employers | Naturalization & Citizenship Law

Speaking Appearances

2022 AILA Border Issues Virtual Conference | Tech San Diego Presents | AILA California Chapters Conference | AILA Annual Conference on Immigration Law | AILA Agora | MBL Benefits | ILW Audio Seminar | New York Law Journal

Manna Semby

Founder & CEOAruna Personalized Medicine and Center for Cognitive Resilience

Expertise

Navigating Midlife Health Changes with Naturopathic & Functional Medicine | Navigating Perimenopause & Menopause | Hormone Optimization | Preventing & Reversing Early Stages of Dementia

Speaking Appearances

The Perimenopause "Broken Rung" Hypothesis: Bridging Health and Career Gaps for Women in Corporate America | The Value of Being Proactive About Midlife Health | Workshops and Webinars: How to Prevent Dementia, The Importance of Heart Health for Women | Expert Panel: How ReCODE 2.0 Can Help Prevent Dementia | Numerous podcasts

Holly Smithson

CEOAthena

Expertise

Women's Leadership Advocate & Keynote Speaker | Diversity & Inclusion for Corporate Culture | Data-driven Strategies on DE&I & Profits | Why Male Allyship is Key to DE&I

Speaking Appearances

United Nations 74th General Assembly | The Atlantic Magazine - Innovators Lab | DeviceTalks West Conference | BD's International Women Day Conference | Illumina's Destination for Diversity - Advancing Women in a Global STEM Hub | 2023 VMUG UserCon

Hitomi Taguchi

Certified Life and Career Coach

Expertise

Leadership and Coaching Skills for Scientists and Engineers | Confidence | Renaissance Soul | Creativity

Speaking Appearances

American Chemical Society | Electrochemical Society | Pittcon | TEDx | US Department of Energy - Energy Frontier Research Centers | Universities

Dr. Alessandra Wall

FounderNoteworthy

Expertise

Psychologist | Leadership | Women in Tech | Executive Coaching | Career Planning | Building Social Capital | Speaking Up | Finding Allies

Speaking Appearances

Athena Leadership Academy | Opting In: Becoming a Male Ally in the Workplace | Women's Week San Diego | European Women's Network | Marine Corps | Cisco | Northrup | HP | Bank of America

Anne Welsh, PhD, ACC

Clinical Psychologist & Executive CoachDr. Anne Welsh

Expertise

Supporting Working Parents | Navigating Parental Leave for Employees and Managers | Emotional Intelligence | Workplace Wellness | Mental Health | Perinatal Mental Health | Women in STEM Leadership | Mindfulness as a Leadership Tool | Fair Play (Sharing the Mental Load) as a Leadership Tool

Speaking Appearances

Technology Networks | San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium | University of New Hampshire | Harvard University | Women In ETFs | Cambridge Preschool of the Arts | Podcast guest on over 15 podcasts including Wisecast: Women In STEM, Brave Women at Work, and Mission First, People Always

Shirley Yager

Director, Product ManagementQualcomm

Expertise

Business Strategy | New Business Opportunity Analysis | Market Research | Business and Product Development | Startup Consulting | Mentorship | Career Coaching

Speaking Appearances

Athena Racing Podcast | Sales & Marketing Leadership Alliance | San Diego State University Aztec Mentorship Program | Various Qualcomm women's groups