- Java Developer, Hargreaves Lansdown
Join us this November for a programme built on peer to peer learning and knowledge sharing. Our passionate tech leaders and diversity advocates will reignite your passion for work, set you on the path for continuous learning and help you make a positive impact on the tech world.
Exclusive Insight
Do you want to discover how companies got creative during the pandemic to thrive and survive? Through metric based learning our speakers will be sharing the secret to their success, with tangible tips for growth and a dose of inspiration.
Stay on Track
Continue the momentum and learning after the online festival. Our speakers will be attaching further reading, resources and exercises you can action after their sessions to fast track your development for future use.
Advocate For Change
The pandemic has disproportionately impacted women, join us as we increase transparency of routes into senior tech roles, provide opportunities for development and progression and explore how to be an active ally for change.
Whether you’re looking for a local or global network, connect with a community that can support your goals. Identify role models, mentors and brands that can change the pace of your career.
Unique Connections
Interested in creating connections that can change the course of your career? Connect with people from companies and topics most relevant to you. Our matchmaking service will recommend your top matches so you can arrange a 1:1 meeting via video or audio to meet your match.
Hiring Hub
Our Hiring Hub is designed to help you make the right connections and push you towards your career goals. Engage in our executive forum, lightning interviews and behind the brands to discover your strengths and future opportunities.
Build Your Community
Join our Virtual Meet Ups for peer to peer learning and conversations. Engage in job title specific groups, or geo based meetups to harness the power of your local networks and knowledge.
Join us as we discuss paths for reinvention and the critical skills that are driving competitive industries. You’ll discover how to embrace new opportunities, advance your career and get out of your comfort zone.
Level Up
It's time to level up and stand out. Gain insight into the fastest-growing technical areas and equip yourself with the most in-demand skills for digital transformation.
Leadership For Tomorrow
Discover new digital leadership skills that will help you master hybrid and international management techniques and unlock the potential of your technical and non technical teams.
Master Change
Discover the soft and industry skills you need to master change and find your way to a more successful and sustainable career in technology.
Discover how to be an integral part of tomorrow. Our leading speakers will highlight what technologies and processes are here to stay after the pandemic and how you can drive them forward. Unlock the power of collaboration and drive personal and professional growth.
Elevate Teams
Organisations who fail to harness diversity will quickly fall behind progressive companies. Through insight from both SMEs and corporates, you’ll discover tactics to foster a culture of growth that better serves your team and customers.
Work Reworked
‘Resilience’ has worked its way into our vocabulary but now It’s time to make the new normal work for you. Discover how to effectively set workplace boundaries, ensure balance when bouncing back, master returnships and carve your dream role.
Leverage Technology
There has been a surge in digital adoption, so we’ve curated this programme around the need to know information. Here you’ll discover what technology needs your attention, understand how to leverage it and change the way you work to maximise it.
Susan is a strategic, dynamic, results-driven executive with over 30 years of success in Business and Technology roles. During her 22 year tenure at Johnson & Johnson, she is known for critical thinking, authenticity and agility across the Pharmaceutical, Medical Device, and Consumer sectors, guiding marketing, strategy, innovation and technology. Susan is currently responsible for corporate technology solutions around the world. Prior roles include VP of Sales, Strategy & Commercialization for Health & Wellness, Worldwide VP of Transfusion Medicine, Worldwide VP for the $2.4B JOHNSONS® Baby business and several pharmaceutical marketing roles.
Prior to joining J&J, Susan was Marketing Director at Nabisco Biscuit Company and a Private Banker at Chase Manhattan Bank. Susan holds a B.A. in Economics and German from Duke University and a M.B.A. in Marketing and Finance from the Wharton School. Susan is an “experience chaser” who loves to travel, explore and try new things. She lives in NJ with her daughter and dogs.
As an experienced and skilled marketer, sales, and people leader, Shimona is focused on shaping the future of commerce by overseeing Shopify’s innovative commerce platform that enables high-growth and high-volume brands, like Gymshark, Huel, AllBirds, and Heinz. Before Shopify, Shimona held senior roles at various software, FMCG, and consumer research companies in Canada and Europe.
A Fun Fact: I began my career in marketing, working for a chicken company!
Anita Rao has 15+ years of experience in various Product, Data, Business, Operations, and Technology leadership roles across the Hi-Tech, Financial Services, and Payment Cards industries. She is currently at PayPal where she has led Product and Engineering Teams that delivered data products via platforms. Before that, at eBay Inc. Anita was the Chief Product Owner for Global Platform Services that included 24 SaaS and Big Data Platforms. She was also the Vice President and Head of Global Finance Systems at Visa Inc. Anita has also held senior roles at Garage Technology Ventures, and Oracle. She earned an M.B.A. from Rutgers University and is a Six Sigma Black Belt. From UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, she did the Executive Education Program. She has five patents pending in the Data realm.
Leigh is Chief of Staff for Microsoft’s Worldwide Public Sector (WWPS) organization, supporting public sector clients in their cloud adoption and digital transformation journey.
She joined Microsoft’s Public Sector team from the Microsoft Office of Responsible AI. In this role she drove implementation of responsible AI across the company. This included companywide implementation strategy and planning for engineering and in-country teams and the Worldwide Responsible AI Champs program.
Leigh is a seasoned leader, business strategist and communications expert. She has over 20 years as a change agent, driving adoption of new technologies and launching new products, including a deep focus on technology equity gaps in marginalized communities. She is passionate about innovative digital approaches to technology, that positively benefit people's lives and societal overall.
Bode is the Chief Operating Officer at Flutterwave. She is responsible for managing the operations of the organization including strategy implementation, organizational performance and ensuring the company meets its overall goals and objectives.
Prior to joining Flutterwave, Bode worked as an Associate Director in KPMG Professional service. Her experience covers customer advisory, development of strategy plans and models for financial institutions and organisations as well as proposing various ways to scale, improve efficiency and profits. Bode has over 18 years of experience.
Ciara O’Connell is currently Head of Novartis Global Service Center (NGSC) Dublin and Head NBS CONEXTS Ireland. NGSC Dublin is one of Novartis' five strategic capability centers. NBS CONEXTS is the NBS domain that delivers commercial, medical and legal & compliance advisory services to the Novartis enterprise.
Kate is currently Head of Emerging Areas at NVIDIA where she oversees ecosystem, strategic alliances and developer relations for emerging markets, segments and use cases. She works closely with partners and influencers to create disruptive AI applications with a social impact and aims to build a truly global and inclusive AI community.
Prior to NVIDIA, Kate spent close to a decade at various semiconductor companies holding product, ecosystem and business positions in AI, computer vision, and IoT.
A D&I and mentorship advocate, she often mentor teens on career development and startups on tech & business. She regularly advises international organizations on the power of AI to drive social good, speaking at conferences for WEF, UNECA, UNICEF and Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data.
Kate has won multiple accolades throughout her career, including Business Insider Top 100 Business Transformers 2020 and VentureBeat Women in AI Rising Star 2020.
Fun fact
Kate enjoys learning new languages and currently speaks French, English, Spanish, Sango, Japanese and Korean
Joining Mercedes-Benz Turkey in 2002, Dr. Demet Karaali has held a series of increasingly expanding positions, including Executive Assistant to CEO & President, Head of IT for sales, aftersales and retail and CIO of Mercedes-Benz Cars and Vans Turkey.
Since 2010, Dr. Demet Karaali has been a leader in information technology management with a focus on the digitalization. As CIO of Mercedes-Benz Cars and Vans Turkey, Dr. Karaali manages all IT aspects of sales, aftersales, marketing and retail in MB Cars, Vans Turkey and providing various IT services throughout Istanbul to global Daimler locations. Dr. Karaali provides leadership for the continued development of an innovative, robust, and secure information technology environment throughout the company. Under her leadership, IT in Turkey has consistently earned recognition and awards for achievements.
Dr. Karaali received her bachelor's degree in mathematics from Technical University of Istanbul and completed her Phd at the same university in Industrial Engineering. She has completed numerous executive leadership and management training programs during her career.
Heather Miller serves as Chief Transformation Officer at ServiceNow. She has held technology VP/SVP/CIO leadership roles for several Fortune 100 companies including The Coca-Cola Company, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Bank of America and GE.
She a global technology executive, with strong business acumen adept at planning and executing complex, innovative, secure, cloud based digital transformations.
Prior to joining ServiceNow, Heather served as Enterprise VP of Technology Strategy and Portfolio for McKesson. Heather has transformation experience modernizing legacy tech stacks with SaaS and cloud solutions, integrating acquisitions, leading Agile and delivery teams, and supporting infrastructure and operations. She
also led digital transformation strategy, execution and post- breach remediation efforts for the International business at Equifax.
Heather graduated with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and minor in German from North Carolina State University and she holds an MBA from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She is a certified Black Belt.
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