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"I'm super excited and honored to be a winner of a 2018 Tech25 Award", said Lori Boyer, Communications Director for Women & Hi Tech.  "It's amazing to be included with such an outstanding group of individuals from the Indianapolis tech community.”  Now in its fourth year, the Tech 25 Awards honor a prestigious selection of twenty-five individuals who are critical and exceptional performers helping to grow our community’s tech and tech-enabled companies, but who — not being the CEO or other top executives — don’t get celebrated publicly as often. 

"In addition to her job as a .NET Developer, Lori is a tech leader who works tirelessly every day as a member of our Board of Directors to give other women and girls in Indiana opportunities in STEM fields," said Darcy Lee, President of Women & Hi Tech. "Her passion for the work we do is admirable, and we're very proud of her achievements! She is most definitely an exceptional performer helping to grow our tech community."

For more information on the TechPoint Tech25, please go to their website at https://techpoint.org/2018/07/techpoint-announces-class-of-2018-tech-25-winners/.

Women & Hi Tech is pleased to announce that Gerry Dick will emcee the 2018 Leading Light Awards on October 4, 2018 at the Indiana Roof Ballroom. Gerry is the host and creator of Inside INdiana Business television, Indiana's only statewide television business program.  Of his many accolades, Gerry has been awarded the state’s top honor, the Sagamore of the Wabash, three times, by Governors Kernan, Daniels and Pence. He has been awarded Ernst and Young’s prestigious Entrepreneur of the Year Award and recognized by the Small Business Administration as its Journalist of the Year. Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick has received an EMMY four times for best interview/discussion program/series or special.

"Gerry is a visionary who has had a tremendous impact on the state of Indiana. He’s been a longtime supporter of Women & Hi Tech," said Darcy Lee, President of Women & Hi Tech. "As we push forward in our mission to change the landscape of women represented in STEM to be equally inclusive to all, we need male allies like Gerry to facilitate change in our workplaces, and our culture. We’re honored to have him emcee the 2018 Leading Light Awards."

The Leading Light Awards recognize and celebrate women of achievement in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) - women who are innovators in their industries, and have shown expertise, professionalism, leadership, service, courage, and tenacity throughout their careers.  Women & Hi Tech also supports the next generation of women in STEM through scholarships (undergraduate, graduate, and professional development scholarships).  For more information about the Leading Light Awards, please visit our 2018 LLA Overview page. 

On June 30, 2018, Audrey's year-long presidency of Women & Hi Tech came to a close, but not after quite an exciting and eventful year of working toward our goal of changing the landscape of women represented in STEM to be equally inclusive to all. 

Read the open letter to Women & HI Tech from Audrey. 

Angela was recently announced as a member of Class XLIII of the Stanley K. Lacy Executive Series® (SKL).  SKL is a 10-month flagship program that is organized by Leadership Indianapolis and brings together 25 emerging leaders annually to learn about the issues that drive Indiana.  Rebecca King, President & CEO and SKL Program Director at Leadership Indianapolis stated “we are proud to support these emerging leaders and their key role in Central Indiana’s future. Our community will be strengthened by their passion, insight, and leadership.”  John Lechleiter, former President and CEO of Eli Lilly & Co. will serve as Moderator for SKL Class XLIII. 

For more information about SKL please go to their website at http://www.leadershipindianapolis.org/portfolio/skl/   

Women & Hi Tech is pleased to announce the Board of Directors for the term that commenced July 1, 2018. 

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

• President:  Darcy Lee, Director of Accounts & Business Development, Metonymy Media
• President-Elect:  Angela B. Freeman, Intellectual Property/Patent Attorney, Barnes & Thornburg LLP 
• Treasurer: Bobbie LaFollette, Senior Business Analyst, Baker Hill
• Secretary:  Kelly Ragle, Project Coordinator, Pondurance

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

• Communications Director: Lori Boyer, Software Applications Developer, Barnes & Thornburg LLP
• Corporate Engagement Director: Rebecca Bormann, Managing Director of Sales and Services, Bell Techlogix, Inc.
• Executive Women's Forum Director: Linda Hicks, Vice President of Midwest Operations for ECC Horizon
• Individual Membership Director: Wendy Maple, Outreach Consultant, netlogx
  
• Leading Light Awards Director: Ali Hromis, Release Manager, Salesforce
• Membership Administrator: Carol Ganz, Director of Client Experiences, Six Feet Up, Inc.
• Networking Events Director: Maria Alvim-Gaston, Principal Research Scientist, Eli Lilly and Company
• Outreach - Collegiate Director: Barbara J. Alder, Director, Office of Engagement for Metropolitan Indianapolis, Purdue University
• Outreach - K - 12 Director: Janette Allen, Manager Requirements Analysis and Engineering, Roche
• Past President: Audrey Taylor, Founder and CEO, netlogx
• Volunteer Director: Karen Harris, Vice President & Information Officer Manufacturing and Quality, Eli Lilly and Company
  
  

• Jo Basey, Retired, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University
• Angie Engel, Sales Executive, Perficient
• Gail Farnsley, Senior Executive Partner, Gartner
• Deb Hallberg, Business Development Manager for Industry Groups, Barnes & Thornburg LLP
• Tonya Hanshew, Founder & CEO, Write 4 the Win, LLC
• Rajinder Heir, Enterprise Security Program Consultant, Information Services Agency, City of Indianapolis | Marion County
• Melissa Lavella, Quality Supervisor, Roche
• Patsy Lentz, Retired Business Development Professional
• Jayne Merryman, Enterprise Account Executive, Dell EMC
• Jane Richardson, IT Strategy and Corporate Strategic Alignment Leader, Cummins Inc.
• Tiffany Trusty, President, Trusty Applications and Android Architect, Eli Lilly and Company
• Susan Vaughn, CEO, The Project Authority
• Tiffany White, Head of DaVinci, Rolls-Royce
  
  

Our friends at Ladies in SaaS, IWiT, and Powderkeg have put together a survey to analyze the state of the Indiana tech workforce, and we'd like to ask you to complete the survey which can be found online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SeeYourselfHere 

The purpose of the survey is to analyze the state of the Indiana tech workforce regarding pay, promotions, opportunities for advancement and leadership role, and more. By contributing your responses, you are helping the Indiana technology industry to drive better programming and incentives to drive Indiana to become a tech leader in the nation!
 
Please be sure to complete the survey by July 18, 2018, and then keep an eye out for the results, which will be launched in mid-August.

ICYMI: Here's our segment from Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick where Darcy Lee and Ali Schultz Hromis talk about Women & Hi Tech and the upcoming 2018 Leading Light Awards. 

Know an amazing woman in STEM? Be sure to nominate her for a 2018 Leading Light Award or Scholarship at http://womenandhitech.org/2018-LLA-Overview #WomenInSTEM #2018LLA

 

Women & Hi Tech (W & HT) would like to thank everyone for making the 2018 Spring Networking event a huge success.  Dressed in brand new, ladies-cut W & HT t-shirts, event attendees began their evening at the Legends Club in Bankers Life Fieldhouse with all-you-can-eat food and beverages, including an ice cream sundae bar, as attendees enjoyed an action packed basketball game where the Indiana Fever succumbed to the LA Sparks. 

During half-time of the game, Women & Hi Tech was featured with an official announcement about the organization as the W & HT Board waved to the audience and to attendees in the Legends Club from the game floor. 

After the game, W & HT attendees met at center-court of Bankers Life Fieldhouse for the following pictures.  (Click the pictures to see a larger version). It was a great night of food, fun, and networking with members of Women & Hi Tech and ladies of the Indiana Fever!   More pictures from the event can be found online here.

  

There was a wonderful turnout for Pass the Torch for Tech on April 24, 2018, as there were over 400 guests in attendance.  There was diversity of all types; gender, racial, life experience, educational level, and even political affiliation.  Everyone working toward changing the landscape for women represented in STEM to be equally inclusive to all. The event was even highlighted on Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick.  

There were members from Women & Hi Tech, Pass The Torch For Women, and Indy Women in Tech in attendance as well as friends from TechPoint, Eleven Fifty Academy, and many other organizations who were all there to celebrate mentorship. When asked to name his mentor, Mayor Joe Hogsett said Mayor Greg Ballard had been a mentor to him on Women in STEM issues.

During this amazing event, we raised over $4,100 for the Carla Perinne Perry Award. These funds will be allocated to provide scholarships to multiple IWiT Project Grow students. If you did not get a chance yesterday and still wish to donate, please visit the website here.

To learn more about the three organizations in the formal partnership, Pass The Torch For Women, Indy Women in Tech, and Women and Hi Tech, be sure to check out their websites!

Should you be interested in mentoring or learning more information about Pass The Torch For Women Foundation, please email info@passthetorchforwomen.org. 

The April 24, 2018 Executive Women’s Forum was a candid conversation with four powerful and successful women who have experienced challenges, frustrations, harassment, culture issues and more throughout their careers.  This conversation offered suggestions, ideas and data as to why this happens, how we can choose to handle situations, and learning to recognize our own super power and in turn, what that requires us to do.

Reading list from the event.