Following the 2023 UN theme of International Women’s Day, DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality, Cracking the Code highlights the role that bold, transformative ideas, inclusive technologies, and accessible education can play in closing the digital divide, combatting discrimination and the marginalization of women globally.
Bringing women and other marginalized groups into technology requires breaking barriers, redefining sociocultural, educational and economic codes. By ensuring equal access to education for women and girls and creating clear pathways and inclusive workplaces for women in STEM, we can leverage the transformative power of inclusive innovation - critical to cracking the code towards gender equality.
About Our Speakers
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Sian Leah Beilock is a renowned cognitive scientist and currently serves as the eighth President of Barnard College and President-elect of Dartmouth College, the first woman to be elected to the position in Dartmouth’s more than 250-year history. A cognitive scientist by training, she is one of the world’s leading experts on the brain science behind “choking under pressure” and the factors influencing all types of performance, from business to education to sports.
Dr. Beilock is the author of two critically acclaimed books, Choke and How The Body Knows Its Mind, both of which have been published in over a dozen languages, and she has written over 120 scientific papers. She was chosen as one of 25 "Women to Watch" by Crain's Chicago Business and won several awards from national and international societies devoted to psychology, sport, and education. She is the recipient of a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation and Troland Award from the National Academy of Sciences. Her 2017 TED Talk has been viewed over 2.6 million times. Dr. Beilock has raised Barnard’s eminence in STEM education and is a committed and passionate leader for diversity and gender equality.
Fireside Chat Panelists
Moderator - Sarah Dey Burton, Expert Partner and Innovation & Design team, Bain & Company. Dey Burton is a leader in Bain's Digital practice, which covers a number of areas: customer experience transformation, customer loyalty and Net Promoter SystemSM, employee inspiration, commercial excellence, pricing, marketing and brand strategy. She works across all verticals and in B2B and B2C. After starting her career at Bain in Toronto, she transferred to the Sydney office, then left Bain and worked primarily as the Special Assistant to the President of Gap brand global.
Dey Burton brings to Bain a deep passion for customer experience design. She is Stanford certified in Design Thinking and is an advisory expert across many topics related to customer centric organic growth. She has authored articles in digital transformation, the future of sales and employee inspiration. Dey Burton sits on the board of ASAP, an organization that supports underserved youth to get into and graduate from college.
Speakers:
Dr. Carolina Barcenas, Head of Platform Data Science at Airbnb. Dr. Barcenas is an experienced executive with over 25 years in high-tech companies. She came to Airbnb from Visa Inc. where she was the SVP for Visa Research leading the research organization responsible for innovation in Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain and Security. She has worked in a variety of Fintechs. Her passion is to increase the number of women in STEM careers and is an active sponsor of numerous diversity and inclusion programs. Dr. Barcenas is currently the executive sponsor of Juntos (Airbnb’s affinity group for LatinX) and sits on the Board of Directors for Girlstart, a non-profit organization to help young girls explore careers in STEM. She has received several awards such as the Top 100 Most Influential Women in Tech, as well as the HITEC 100 award. She has seven granted/patent pending patents related to the development and deployment of artificial intelligence applications.
Megan Nakra, Senior Manager, Product, Health Science and Wellness at EY. At EY, Nakra works to strategize and develop technology products which ties into her near decade of experience running large-scale complex technology programs for clients, patients and physicians. She supports the Women. Fast forward initiative, which focuses on three different populations: women entrepreneurs, women in leadership, and Next Generation. Her work focuses on expanding EY programming for Next-Gen Her Digital Skills, which aims to increase the number of girls trained in STEM and remove barriers to help transition their academic careers into STEM careers. Nakra has been an advocate for women's public health issues with the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition, Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and Mary's Place.