Inspirational Insights sessions are designed to engage and inspire attendees on a range of relevant and thought-provoking topics. SWE selects speakers who are thought leaders in their respective fields according to identified content needs. Inspirational Insight sessions offer free CEU/PDH for attendees who view the entire session and pass the post-session survey with an 80%.
Supported by
- Thursday, October 26
- 11:00 - 12:00 PM
Quick Confidence: Make Your Presence Felt
Speaker(s):
- Selena Rezvani, Bestselling author of Quick Confidence, Leadership Expert & Content Creator
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Selena Rezvani
Bestselling author of Quick Confidence, Leadership Expert & Content Creator
Selena Rezvani’s mission is to help women carve out paths to leadership. Named by Forbes “the premier expert on standing up for yourself at work,” she’s the author of the Wall Street Journal bestselling book Quick Confidence, and also wrote Pushback and The Next Generation of Women Leaders. Selena addresses thousands of professionals each year and has been featured in TEDx, Harvard Business Review, Inc., The Today Show, and NPR. Today she’s a columnist for NBC News’ Know Your Value. Selena is based in Philadelphia where she lives with her husband Geoff and 10 year old boy-girl twins.
- Thursday, October 26
- 1:15 - 2:15 PM
Revolutionary Collaboration to Achieve Sustainability Goals
Speaker(s):
- Brandon Spencer (Division President, ABB Energy Industries), Jillian Evanko (President and Chief Executive Officer of Chart Industries, Inc.)
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Brandon Spencer
Division President, ABB Energy Industries
Brandon Spencer is currently President of ABB’s Energy Industries, the division responsible for the delivery of solutions and services that digitize, automate and electrify the energy industries to ensure safer, smarter and more sustainable use of resources across oil & gas, power & water and chemicals sectors. Brandon joined ABB in 2006 and within his first three years at ABB acted as the National Account Manager supporting the power segment of ABB’s businesses and has also held responsibility as a Global Account Manager and Vice President of Oil, Gas & Petrochemicals for the US and later, North America. Following his receipt of a bachelor’s degree in Economics, Brandon went on to earn a master’s degree in Business Administration from the Crummer School of Business at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida.
Jillian Evanko
President and Chief Executive Officer of Chart Industries, Inc.
Jillian (Jill) Evanko is President and Chief Executive Officer of Chart Industries, Inc.- serving in this capacity since June of 2018 and previously joining Chart in as Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining Chart, Jill was the Chief Financial Officer of Truck-Lite Co., LLC as well as having held multiple operational and financial executive positions at Dover Corporation and its subsidiaries. She also held financial and operational roles at Arthur Andersen, LLP, Honeywell Corporation and Sony Corporation and serves on Chart’s Board of Directors as well as an independent director of the Board of Parker Hannifin Corporation. Jill received a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from The University of Notre Dame and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from La Salle University.
- Thursday, October 26
- 4:30 - 5:30 PM
Chaotic Yet Symbiotic: Finding, Embracing, and Being the Real You
Speaker(s):
- Morénike Giwa Onaiwu, Ph.D., Founder, Advocacy Without Borders
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Morénike Giwa Onaiwu, Ph.D.
Founder, Advocacy Without Borders
Morénike Giwa Onaiwu, PhD is a global human rights and disability justice consultant, advocate, author, educator, and parent in a neurodiverse, multicultural, twice-exceptional serodifferent biological and adoptive family. A prolific writer and social scientist/activist with both lived and learned expertise whose work focuses on participatory research, meaningful community involvement, intersectionality, and accessibility, Morénike, a recognized leader and content expert in various collaborative endeavors, serves as founder/principal operator of Advocacy Without Borders, a nonprofit initiative offering lectures, advocacy, research, and related projects as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion training. Morénike, who is based in the US, maintains membership within several executive boards and is a highly sought after keynote lecturer and public speaker who has presented at the White House, the United Nations, and numerous peer-reviewed international conferences. Notable publications of Morénike’s include over a dozen monograph chapter contributions, digital scholarship, peer-reviewed articles and editorial work.
- Friday, October 27
- 11:00 AM-12:15 PM
The State of Women in Engineering
Speaker(s):
- Roberta Rincon, Ph.D., Associate Director of Research, SWE Peter Meiksins, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Cleveland State University Claudine Schmuck, Founder and Managing Director, Global Contact
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Roberta Rincon, Ph.D.
Associate Director of Research, SWE
Roberta Rincon, Ph.D. is the Associate Director of Research for the Society of Women Engineers, where she oversees the organization’s research activities on gender equity issues affecting girls and women in engineering, in education and career. Before joining SWE, Roberta was a Senior Research and Policy Analyst at The University of Texas System in the Office of Academic Affairs. Roberta received her B.S. in Civil Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin, an MBA and an M.S. in Information Management from Arizona State University, and a Ph.D. in Educational Policy and Planning from UT Austin.
Peter Meiksins, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Cleveland State University
Peter Meiksins, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Cleveland State University. Previously he served Cleveland State University as Vice Provost for Academic Programs, Director of the Honors Program, and Chair of the Sociology Department. He has co-authored SWE’s review of the literature on women in engineering for more than 10 years. His research focuses on the Sociology of Work, particularly of engineering work. Peter is the author of Putting Work in Its Place: A Quiet Revolution (with Peter Whalley), Engineering Class Labour (with Chris Smith), and Changing Contours of Work (with Steve Sweet). Peter is a member of the SWE Research Advisory Council.
Claudine Schmuck
Founder and Managing Director, Global Contact
Claudine Schmuck is the Founder and Managing Director of Global Contact, which provides management consulting to CEOs and decision makers with focus on innovation, NTIC and change management. Since 2008, Global Contact conducts Gender Scan, a global survey on gender balance in STEM. Ms. Schmuck has worked with the Cabinet of the Ministry of Industry, Research and Trade in France and McKinsey Consulting in New York, where she managed and organized global seminars on globalization of mass media. She taught NTIC at the CELSA Paris IV Sorbonne, and is the author of two books : Introduction of Multimédia (1995), Women in STEM disciplines (2017). Ms. Schmuck graduated from the Institute of Political Science in Paris and has a Masters degree from Columbia University. She is president of Science Po NTIC professional group, and member of European Professional Women Network, European Women in Leadership.
- Friday, October 27
- 1:15 - 2:15 PM
The Role of Innovation in Making Human Life Multiplanetary
Speaker(s):
- Gwynne Shotwell, President and COO, SpaceX
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Gwynne Shotwell
President and COO, SpaceX
As President and COO of SpaceX, Gwynne Shotwell is responsible for day-to-day operations and managing all customer and strategic relations to support company growth. She joined SpaceX in 2002 as Vice President of Business Development and built the Falcon vehicle family manifest to approximately 170 launches, representing more than $30 billion in business. In addition to being included on Time’s 100 Most Influential People of 2020, Shotwell was awarded the 2020 Von Karmen Wings award. In 2018 Shotwell was named the Satellite Executive of the Year and she was awarded the AIAA Goddard Astronautics Awards as well as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Ralph Coats Roe Medal. Shotwell received, with honors, her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Northwestern University in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mathematics, and serves on their Board. She has authored dozens of papers on a variety of space related subjects.
- Friday, October 27
- 4:30 - 5:30 PM
Using Your Voice to Craft the Career and Life You Want
Speaker(s):
- Elaine Lin Hering, Founder, Not the Only
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Elaine Lin Hering
Founder, Not the Only
Elaine Lin Hering a facilitator, author, and speaker. She works with leaders to diagnose challenges and build capacity in negotiation, influence, and conflict management skills. She has worked on six continents and facilitated executive education at Harvard, Dartmouth, Tufts, UC Berkeley, and UCLA. She is the former Advanced Training Director for the Harvard Mediation Program and a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School. She has worked with coal miners at BHP Billiton, micro-finance organizers in East Africa, mental health professionals in China, and senior leadership at the US Department of Commerce. Her representative clients include Amex, Chevron, Google, Merck, Nike, Nutanix, PayPal, Pixar, the Red Cross. She is the author of the forthcoming book Unlearning Silence: How to Speak Your Mind, Unleash Talent, and Live More Fully (Penguin, 2024).
- Saturday, October 28
- 8:45 - 9:45 AM
A New Frontier of Emerging Technologies: A Panel Discussion on Department of Defense Innovations
Speaker(s):
- Dr. Jeremy Lanman (CTO, US Army Program Executive Office), Karen Saunders (Program Executive Officer, U.S. Army Program Executive Office), Carmela Rice (Chief of SoS Software Integration & Architecture), Jaclyn Fontecchio (Deputy Director of the Combat Capabilities DEVCOM Soldier Center)
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Dr. Jeremy Lanman
CTO, US Army Program Executive Office
Dr. Jeremy Lanman is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for the U.S. Army’s Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation (PEO STRI) in Orlando, Florida. With over 1,000 personnel and managing multi-billion-dollar programs, PEO STRI supports global military training and oversees Foreign Military Sales initiatives. As CTO, Dr. Lanman advises on science, technology, and architecture, shaping technical missions and future strategies. He leads enterprise-wide technology planning, system engineering, and standards implementation. Formerly Assistant Program Executive Officer (APEO) for Integration, he directed modernization efforts for the Synthetic Training Environment (STE) and managed complex acquisitions. Dr. Lanman’s industry experience includes pivotal roles at Lockheed Martin and MITRE Corporation. He holds degrees from Butler University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and the University of Central Florida. A recognized achiever, he’s received prestigious awards and serves as a scholar and adjunct professor.
Karen Saunders
Program Executive Officer, U.S. Army Program Executive Office
Karen D.H. Saunders, SES (Tier2), is the Program Executive Officer for Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation (PEO STRI) in Orlando, Florida. With over 30 years of military and leadership experience, she manages a multi-billion-dollar portfolio in testing, training, and threat solutions. She oversees a diverse team of over 1,000 military personnel, government civilians, and service support contractors. Karen’s career highlights include serving as Senior Official for the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology, Chief of Staff for the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, and Executive Director of the Defense Science Board. She culminated her distinguished U.S. Army career as a Colonel, serving as Chief of Staff for ASA(ALT). She holds advanced degrees in Computer Science (Artificial Intelligence/Robotics) and National Security Strategy and is a Level III certified Program Manager. She has made notable contributions to military progress and global collaboration through leadership and international missions.
Jaclyn Fontecchio
Deputy Director of the Combat Capabilities DEVCOM Soldier Center
Ms. Jaclyn Fontecchio is the Deputy Director of the Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center, overseeing innovative science and technology solutions for Soldier optimization. Responsible for business activities, strategic planning, and administrative actions, she entered civil service in 2002 as an aerospace engineer, contributing to cargo delivery and mission planning tools. Notably, she was part of the 2007 Advanced Concepts Technology Demonstration Team of the Year. Ms. Fontecchio gained legislative insights as a Military Legislative Assistant, representing NY’s 29th District. From 2014-2017, she led a Technology Enabled Capability Demonstration focusing on Soldier and Small Unit protection. She received a Commander’s Award for Civilian Service for this effort. With a Mechanical Engineering degree and a Management Master’s, Ms. Fontecchio resides in Massachusetts with her husband and three children.
Carmela Rice
Chief of SoS Software Integration & Architecture
Carmela Rice is a seasoned engineer and software developer with a diverse background. She commenced her career in engineering and software development, contributing to significant defense projects for top contractors, such as Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics. Transitioning to Federal Service in 2001, she led software initiatives for multiple high-profile programs, including the System of Systems (SoS) level for the Future Combat Systems (FCS) program. With a strong record of achievement, she directed complex projects within the Department of Defense (DoD), earning accolades like the Commander’s Award for Civilian Service and induction into the Honorable Order of St. Barbara. Carmela holds degrees from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and Carnegie Mellon University, along with certifications in software engineering and systems planning. Currently, she is the Chief Engineer for the Unified Integration and Transformation Enterprise, pioneering transformative software development practices across the PEO Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation.
- Saturday, October 28
- 12:30 - 1:30 PM
Strategic Leadership: Empowering Teams to Win
Speaker(s):
- Alicia Morgan, PMP ®, Independent Consultant
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Alicia Morgan
PMP ®, Independent Consultant
Alicia Morgan is an accomplished executive leader with expertise in project and program management, change management, and agile leadership. She holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Aerospace Engineering from Tuskegee University and a Master of Science Degree in Industrial Engineering from New Mexico State University. She has managed high-performing teams across various sectors, including Fortune 500 companies, nonprofits, and college/workforce readiness initiatives. As a PMP-certified consultant, she is recognized as an industry expert and thought leader in project and program management. Alicia is an award-winning professional, Women in Technology Awards Advocate Honoree, WE Local Engaged Advocate K-12 Educator, and a TEDx speaker. Her work is in several publications, including SWE Magazine’s Women Engineers You Should Know, Dallas Morning News, Dallas Business Journal, Crain’s Chicago Business, and The Hill. Alicia excels in executive and people leadership, stakeholder engagement, and strategic planning. With excellent communication and organizational skills, she builds trusted relationships and identifies new strategic partnerships.