Women & Hi Tech is pleased to announce the Board of Directors for the term that commenced on July 1, 2021.

Elected Officers of the Women & Hi Tech Board of Directors:

• President: Linda Hicks, Vice President of Midwest Operations for ECC Horizon

• President-Elect: Maria Alvim-Gaston Ph. D., Advisor – MIH Talent Development Academy Medicines Innovation Hub, Eli Lilly and Company

• Treasurer: Ben Phillips, Director, Katz, Sapper & Miller

• Secretary: Allison Lipps, Partners Program & Project Coordinator, Indiana Hemophilia & Thrombosis Center, Inc.

Elected Directors of the Women & Hi Tech Board of Directors:

• Collegiate Outreach Director: Stephanie Jeffers, Director of Outreach and Student Career Support for the College of Technology at Indiana State University.

• Communications Director: Amber Peckham, Senior Content Manager, Metonymy Media

• Community Outreach Director: Rebecca Leon, Senior Research Scientist, Eli Lilly and Company.

• Corporate Engagement Director: Hannah Stork, Client Executive with Rural Sourcing, Inc. (RSI).

• Engagement, Diversity, and Inclusion Director: Joy Neely, Central Area, Regional Business Manager, Roche Diagnostic Information Solutions

• Executive Women's Forum Director: Linda Calvin, Vice President, School of IT at Ivy Tech Community College

• K-12 Outreach Director: Crystal Morton, Associate Professor of Mathematics Education, Indiana University School of Education – Indianapolis

• Leading Light Awards Director: Lauryn Andrews, Consultant, netlogx

• Membership Administrator:Carol Ganz, Vice President of Sales, Six Feet Up, Inc.

• Networking Events Director: Sahara Williams, Intellectual Property Attorney, Barnes & Thornburg.

• Past President: Rebecca Bormann, Managing Director of Sales and Services, Bell Techlogix, Inc.

Elected Active Emeritus of the Women & Hi Tech Board of Directors:

• Lori Boyer, Software Engineer, Barnes & Thornburg LLP

• Darcy Lee, Chief Operations Officer, AIS

• Susan Vaughn, CEO, The Project Authority

• Tiffany White, Head of Engineering Operations, Defense Sector, Rolls-Royce

Elected Emeritus of the Women & Hi Tech Board of Directors:

• Jo Basey, Retired, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University· 

• Angie Engel, Sales Executive, Perficient

• Gail Farnsley, VP, Executive Partner, Gartner

• Angela B. Freeman, Intellectual Property/Patent Attorney, Barnes & Thornburg LLP

• Deb Hallberg, CEO, Pass the Torch for Women Foundation

• Tonya Hanshew, Proposal Management Team Lead - OLS, Veeva Systems

• Rajinder Heir, Consultant, Electronic Strategies Inc.

• Karen Harris, Vice President & Information Officer Manufacturing and Quality, Eli Lilly and Company

• Ali Hromis, Release Manager, Salesforce

• Bobbie LaFollette, Senior Business Analyst, Baker Hill

• Merri Beth Lavagnino, Executive Director, Compliance & Privacy, Indiana University Health Plan

• Melissa Lavella, Senior Quality Supervisor, Roche Diagnostics

• Patsy Lentz, Retired Business Development Professional

• Wendy Maple, Outreach Consultant, netlogx

• Jane Richardson, Executive Director, IT Strategy and Corporate Strategic Alignment, Cummins Inc.

• Audrey Taylor, Founder, and CEO, netlogx

• Tiffany Trusty, President, Trusty Applications and Manager, Mobile Medical Apps, Eli Lilly and Company

“Women & Hi Tech is pleased to welcome five new members of our board, and to celebrate a new board position,” said Linda Hicks, President of Women & Hi Tech. “I know we’ll continue our legacy of having a highly-inclusive environment with Joy Neeley leading our Engagement, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategies. I’m also excited about the fresh perspectives and ideas our new board members will bring to the table, including getting a pulse of female STEM professionals’ needs outside of central Indiana. We have two new board members joining us from the western and northern parts of the state.” 

Hicks mentioned several upcoming October events she is excited to celebrate with the membership. “We’re having our biennial member retreat in October at French Lick. That’s going to be a great time for networking and professional development. We have also been selected to present our OperationAll™ programming at the Society of Women Engineers National Conference that will be held in downtown Indianapolis in late October. We have assembled a panel of accomplished and sincere male allies who will convey to attendees what it means for men to be an ally to their female staff, peers, colleagues and friends.”

Hicks elaborated on the year ahead, “We have six core strategic objectives: drive our EDI initiatives, including improving diversity of membership; expand our programming across the state; develop a revenue generation plan that supports the growth we’re planning for; get to know our members better to drive better programming decision making; improve our communications and marketing; and grow partnership relationships.”

Hicks is confident this team will achieve all those objectives. “We’re a high-achieving group of professionals who individually have a strong passion for driving inclusivity in STEM professions. Collectively, our re-elected and emeritus members already have fantastic teamwork, collaboration and respect for each other and our members.  We are confident the organization will only be elevated by the addition of our new peers. We will set goals and then put the plans in place to get it done. That’s what we do well together.”