Author Archives: Stevi

Dinner #32 on January 28, 2015

PayScale knows pay – over 40 million people have taken our Salary Survey and more than 3,000 enterprise customers have used our software to help them set their compensation strategy. Join us at the next Seattle Girl Geek Dinner at our office in Pioneer Square for a frank discussion about about salary negotiation in today’s marketplace. Our Director of Analytics and Lead Economist, Katie Bardaro, along with Lydia Frank, Director of Editorial and Marketing, and Aubrey Bach, Marketing Manager, will share secrets on how to understand and increase your worth and negotiate the salary you deserve.

Have a question about salary negotiation? Submit it here: http://bit.ly/1KnUHla

Eventbrite - Seattle Girl Geek Dinner #32
Agenda:

6-6:30pm – Networking and Dinner

6:30-7:30pm – Negotiation Workshop/Q&A Session

7:30pm-8pm – Wrap Up

Panelists:

Katie Bardaro, Director of Data Analytics and Lead Economist

Katie Bardaro is the lead economist and data analytics director for PayScale.com. Katie has provided analysis on compensation data and trends for print/online and broadcast media including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Economist, CNBC, CNN Money, USA Today, Forbes, CBS Radio, Fox Business Network, and Business Insider, among others. In addition to the research done for media outlets, Katie leads the data science team at PayScale, which is responsible for internal data validity studies, data hygiene, and building and maintaining PayScale’s proprietary compensation model. She holds a bachelor’s in economics from the College of the Holy Cross and a master’s in economics from University of Washington.

Lydia Frank, Director of Editorial and Marketing

Lydia Frank is the Editorial & Marketing Director for PayScale.com. While at PayScale, she has collaborated with a number of media partners—The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Today Show, Money Magazine, The Huffington Post, Business Insider, The Chronicle of Higher Education—to showcase PayScale’s data around topics like college alumni career outcomes, the gender pay gap and underemployment. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and previously led editorial teams for both MSN.com and About.com, covering topics including careers, education, technology and personal finance.

Aubrey Bach

Aubrey Bach is the Marketing Manager at PayScale.com where she oversees the publication of PayScale’s content about salary, higher education and career strategy to help individuals better understand and increase their personal worth and earn the incomes they deserve. She is a recovering Diet Coke addict who grew up on the mean streets of Orange County, CA, but since coming to Seattle in 2007 has embraced everything the city has to offer (except, of course, the weather).

 

Dinner #30 on August 14, 2014

Zillow operates the leading real estate and home-related information marketplaces on mobile and the Web.  Come join us for an evening of networking, food, drinks, and panoramic views of Elliott Bay! Our speaking portion of the event will be a panel compromised of a few of Zillow’s Women in Leadership roles. We encourage you  to submit a question that you would like to ask the panel.  You can direct the question at one or all of the panelists. You can drop your questions here! http://goo.gl/4D5b2g

Eventbrite - Seattle Girl Geek Dinner #30

Agenda:

6-6:45pm – Networking and Dinner

6:45-7:30pm – Panel Discussion/Q&A Session

7:30pm-8pm – Wrap Up

Panelists:

Kristin Acker – VP, Product Teams

Kristin Acker is the Vice President, Product Teams at Zillow. One of the initial members of the Zillow team, Kristin has led Program Management and User Interface Design teams at several companies including Microsoft, PictureIQ and Pure Networks. She also led a program management team at Expedia. Her longest tenure was at Microsoft where she worked from 1989 to 2000, primarily on consumer products such as Money, Publisher, Works, and Picture It. Before starting her tech career, she spent a year on the oceans serving on staff for Royal Cruise Line. Kristin attended Stanford where she was a varsity rower and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (AB) in Economics and Political Science. She lives in Lake Forest Park with her husband and three teenage sons.

 Dr. Svenja Gudell – Director, Economic Research, Analytics

Dr. Svenja Gudell joined Zillow’s industry-leading economics and analytics group as Senior Economist in 2011. As part of this team, Svenja produces real estate data, including home value forecasts, and performs econometric analysis, including foreclosure, negative equity and price to rent research, on more than 160 markets. Prior to joining Zillow, Svenja completed her Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Rochester. Before starting her Ph.D. program, Svenja worked for Analysis Group in Boston and for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as an Assistant Economist in the International Research Group.

 Chloe Harford – VP, Rentals

Chloe Harford is Vice President of Rentals at Zillow. Prior to joining Zillow in 2005 Chloe worked at eLong, a leading online travel company in Beijing. Before China, Chloe worked in Europe at the Boston Consulting Group where she focused on technology and innovation, and at Expedia. Chloe’s startup career began as a founding member of the Montserrat Volcano Observatory, developing new technologies to monitor an active volcano. Prior to getting hooked by tech, Chloe was a volunteer teacher in a remote Himalayan school in Nepal. Chloe holds an MA in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University, a PhD in Volcanology from Bristol University, and an MBA from INSEAD. Chloe also serves on the Board of Directors of REI, the leading outdoor retailer, and The Mountaineers, a leading outdoor education nonprofit.

 

Dinner #29 on May 15, 2014

Once again, you have forgotten your best friend’s address and you need to get her a birthday card.  What’s a girl to do?  WhitePages to the rescue!  WhitePages is the leading provider of contact information in North America, with a top 40 web property, 10 top ranking mobile apps and over 50 million monthly users.  We ingest billions of records every month from a variety of public sources to help you find the people you need to reach.  WhitePages’ CEO, Scott Sikora, will discuss how we take that data and organize it into a comprehensive contact graph to help you find the information you need faster.  Join us for an enlightening discussion on how we use big data to transform the way people connect.

Eventbrite - Seattle Girl Geek Dinner #29

VENUE

WhitePages HQ

Rainier Tower

1301 5th Ave Ste 1600

Seattle, WA  98101

Doors on the East (5th Ave) entrance are locked after 6pm.  Please use the West (4th Ave) entrance for access to the building after 6pm. The elevators will be unlocked for floor 16 only after 6pm.

PARKING

Parking is available in our building and is valet only.  Cost is $12.00 for 1-2 hours, $16 for 2-3 hours and $20 for 3-4 hours.  $8.00 after 6pm.  Enter on Union between 4th & 5th)  Additional parking can be found in the Hilton Parking Garage.  Cost is $6.00 after 5pm.  Enter on 6th Ave between University and Union.  There is also street parking available – pay until 8pm.  Parking will not be validated.

AGENDA

6:00pm – 6:45pm Networking/Dinner

6:45pm – 7:25pm Presentation

7:25pm – 8:00pm Networking/Dessert

SPEAKER

Scott Sikora - Before becoming WhitePages’ technology leader, Scott was co-founder and CTO of Varolii, a provider of proactive customer communication to Fortune 100 companies, where he grew the company to over 275 employees. He also helped develop technology solutions at UPS, IBM, Amway and Sprint. Scott holds a BS and MS in Computer Science from MIT. Scott is WhitePages’ executive sponsor for increasing diversity on our engineering team.

Dinner #27 on March 27, 2014

Whether you are new to your industry or looking to have intellectual conversations with like minds, the women at DoubleDown will share their stories of how they ‘found their tribes.’ This will be a great opportunity for you to ask women in different stages of their careers any questions on career growth — we are always growing as individuals. Join us for an amazing night, continue building your network and get to know more women in technology!

Eventbrite - Seattle Girl Geek Dinner #27

DATE

March 27th, 2014

TIME

6pm – 8pm Dinner & Discussion

VENUE

Impact Hub Seattle is located within the 220 & Change building at 220 2nd Avenue S, Seattle WA 98104.

PARKING

Street parking is free after 6pm and on Sunday. There are six surface lots and five parking garages within a four block radius of our building. We are located two blocks from the Pioneer Square Tunnel Station and the beginning and end of most bus lines is within 2-3 blocks. We offer bike storage in the basement of the building.

AGENDA

6:00pm – 6:45pm Networking/Dinner
6:45pm – 7:25pm Panel
7:25pm – 8:00pm Networking/Dessert

PANELISTS

Courtney Jenkins – Manager, Project Manager
Teagen Densmore – Senior Producer
Jyothee Dass – Software Developer
Silvia Chita – Software Developer
Suzy Langham - Manager Art Services, UX/UI

Dinner #26 on January 16, 2014

Salesforce.com invites you to join us for an exciting evening of food, drink, and flash talks. Discover the reasons behind our success as the leader of global cloud computing and CRM, and listen to our personal experiences with working at one of Fortune’s magazines ‘100 Best Companies to Work for’. Share a fun conversation with a colleague who may provide you with a new perspective or an insight into the common challenges we all face in the tech industry.

Eventbrite - Seattle Girl Geek Dinner #26

 

Panelist:
1. Intro Salesforce – Andrea Leszek
2. Salesforce Architecture – Megha Siddavanahalli
3. Fireside chat: Trials and Chatter Messaging – Hui Shi and Chelsea Baltierra
4. Writing Better Documentation – Erin Tidwell
5. Feeds – Bhavana Rehani
6. Philanthropy – Jamie Park
7. Salesforce Culture
Event Location + Parking:
2001 8th Ave
Seattle 98121
206.701.1755 (desk)
There is a Starbucks on the 1st floor of their building at the corner of Virginia and 8th.
Please use street parking or nearby parking lots. There are a variety of parking lots within a 2 block radius. Here is a link to Parkopedia with several options and rates listed: http://en.parkopedia.com/parking/2001_8th_ave_seattle/. Parking will not be validated.
The dinner will be held in Westlake & Lenora conference rooms located on the 4th fl. SGGD members will have access to the 4th floor via the low rise elevators. There will be a pedestal sign in the lobby with SGGD event information.
Looking forward to seeing everyone in the new year!

 

Eventbrite - Seattle Girl Geek Dinner #26

 

Dinner #25 on December 5, 2013

Come join us for an invigorating discussion on why female leadership in technology is so important for us here at Concur, direct from some of our phenomenal leaders themselves. With our growth in just the last two years doubling the global workforce here at Concur, we are continually evaluating how to provide the best cutting edge technology solutions to fit our clients’ needs.

Event Details:

Harbor Club – top of the Symetra Building

777 108th Ave NE

Suite 2500

Bellevue, WA  98004

Thursday, December 5th from 6:00 to 8:00 pm for Dinner & Discussion

Panelists:

Rietta Stoneman joined Concur Technologies in December, 2010 as our Vice President of IT.  Rietta is responsible for all corporate Information Technology areas that support our global presence. She holds an MBA in General Management from the University of Washington, and a BS from the College of William & Mary in Virginia.

Nancy Callahan joined Concur in March of 2010 to help lead our Product Development efforts and is now leveraging our existing technology to further our Concur Connect Platform Services. The Connect platform enables 3rd party developers to build applications that help deliver the Perfect Trip and create superior travel and expense solutions for clients.  Nancy holds an MBA from the University of Virginia and a BS in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia.

Sarah Kuberry joined Concur in 2000 as a Program Manager and is now a Senior Director within R&D leading the Product Development in Concur’s flagship Expense software solutions.

Raj Singh is our COO and one of the original founders of Concur Technologies, along with his brother, our CEO, Steve Singh, and our EVP Mike Hilton back in 1993. With a box full of paper receipts to file an annual expense report, and a vision of how things could be better, the three of them embarked on this amazing journey. Building one of the globe’s leading SaaS providers, whom Forbes recently ranked as the #1 Most Innovative Growth Company in the World.

Dinner #24 on November 7, 2013

Join your female Seattle tech colleagues for a fun night of networking! Amazon will be hosting the 24th Seattle Girl Geek Dinner, which includes an amazing panel of experienced Amazonians. These women will walk you through their professional journey which led them to a successful career in the field of technology. This will be a great opportunity to ask the questions that YOU want the answer to on career growth. In addition, members of the Seattle Girl Geek community will be able to build their network with amazing and inspiring women who can help you navigate your path to success.

Eventbrite - Seattle Girl Geek Dinner #24

Panelists (bio’s coming soon):

Laura Grit, Principal Technical Program Manager

Margaux Eng, Sr. Technical Program Manager

Kendra Yourtee, Software Development Manager

Amanda Williams, Software Development Engineer

Event info:

Date: Thursdsay, November 7, 2013

Time: 6-9pm

Location:

207 Boren Ave N (Arizona Bldg)

Seattle, WA 98109

Eventbrite - Seattle Girl Geek Dinner #24

Dinner #23 on October 10, 2013

Seattle Geek Girl Dinner at EMP!

What do Madonna, Chrissie Hynde, Lady Gaga, and Tina Turner (among many, many others) all have in common?  They rock.  What do you and your female counterparts in the Seattle tech community solving tough challenges, delivering innovative solutions, and changing the world we live in for the better all have in common?  You rock too.

It’s time to get all these rockin’ women under one roof to share ideas, build community, and have a little fun along the way!  Please join us at EMP for the 23rd Seattle Geek Girl Dinner, hosted by Microsoft.

Event Details

Eventbrite - Seattle Girl Geek Dinner #23

Date and Time: October 10th, 6:00pm

Venue: EMP, 325 5th Ave N., Seattle, WA 98109

Cost: We’ve got you covered for this one!  Enjoy food and beverages  (beer and wine) and the exhibits.

Must have a ticket and an RSVP to enter.  Space is limited. 

Limit one ticket per person.

Guest Speakers

Tara Roth – CVP, Office

Tara Roth is corporate vice president of Test in the Office Client Services Group, responsible for the Microsoft Office system, an integrated suite of information worker applications, servers and services. Tara is directly responsible for test teams and test engineering in the Office Group. She has additional responsibility to drive engineering standards and methods with other leader across the broader Microsoft community.

Outside of work, Tara enjoys snow skiing, boating, spending time with her husband and two children, and volunteering in local nonprofit work.

Laura Kern – Partner PM

Laura is a firm believer in the power of people and the strength of emotional design.  She has over a decade of large-scale consumer service design at Microsoft across a variety of disciplines. She started her career in the “Geography Unit” back at the formation of Encarta World Atlas and the initial foray online mapping software where she went on to co-found the Geopolitical Product Strategy unit aimed at keeping regional managers out of jail, consumers happy with Microsoft, and products on the shelves in all our markets — with lots of lively moments from world court, government officials, and political factions.

She has spent the last decade in online services, most notably in design and user experience on Bing where she and the other early members learned the ins and outs of building an algorithmic search engine from the ground up, using data in design, and how to run and innovate within agile service models. She also brought the team and the principles together to enable high-value editorial to search as illustrated by the vibrant Bing homepage. She is currently the GM of Design & UX for Microsoft Advertising. Laura is a Minnesota native with a super-charged 5-year-old daughter, a Microsoft husband, and a passion for making things

Joy Chik-Partner Development Manager Windows Server and System Center (WSSC)-Remote Desktop Services

As Partner Development Manager, Joy Chik is responsible for delivering a rich and fluid desktop and application remoting solution called Remote Desktop Services (RDS) which generates $1B revenue as of FY12.  RDS is the workload within Windows Server that enables users to connect to virtual desktops, session-based desktops and RemoteApp programs.  The key value that RDS provides is the ability to centralize and control the applications and data that employees need to perform their job, while making them accessible from the wide variety of devices the employees use.  This provides “work anywhere from any device” while ensuring that your control and compliance needs are met.

Prior to joining Microsoft full time, Joy interned at Microsoft with the Exchange team in 1996.  She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY in 1998.

Eventbrite - Seattle Girl Geek Dinner #23

Dinner #22 on September 18, 2013

Expedia, one of the world’s leading online travel companies, invites you to join us, network with other technology enthusiasts, and learn about some of our products. Our panel of speakers will discuss how Expedia is using technology is used at Expedia and how we are using it to revolutionize travel.

When: Wednesday, September 18

Time: 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Venue: Expedia Inc. Headquarters

Address: 333 108th Ave. NE, Bellevue, WA 98006

Register for this event on Eventbrite!

Eventbrite - Seattle Girl Geek Dinner #22

Map: http://binged.it/xrDyJp

Parking: Parking is available at the Expedia Inc. building parking lot and nearby establishments. Please note that parking will not be validated.

Public Transit: If you are planning to take the bus, the closest stop is Bellevue Transit Center. The- Expedia building is a couple of blocks from there.

Agenda:

6:00 – 6:45  Check-in, networking

6:45 – 8:00  Panel discussion & Q/A

8:00 – 8:30  Raffle and more networking

Dinner, dessert, wine and non-alcoholic beverages will be served.

Panelists

Kristin Graham, VP – Engagement

Kristin has been at Expedia for more than 6 years and leads global communications and employee programs for Expedia, Inc.’s companies, which have more than 150 sites in more than 70 countries. Her team oversees global communication & events, philanthropy, diversity, and engagement/branding initiatives. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University and an MBA from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Aman Bhutani, SVP – Technology

Aman Bhutani leads the engineering team for the Expedia brand. The brand technology team focuses on the web tier of our global platform and services that offer differentiation from other brands. The Expedia technology team is at the heart of the brand’s product based growth strategy and has team members in many cities across the planet. Aman joined Expedia in 2010 after many years in financial services and consulting.

Sarah Gavin, Director – Public Relations

As Director of Public Relations and Social Media for Expedia, Sarah Gavin holds responsibility for influential programs across press, bloggers, broadcast and social media for the Expedia brand. Sarah has a strong background in technology communications and came to Expedia after six years at Waggener Edstrom where she worked on Windows and Internet Explorer. Sarah is passionate about the marriage of technology and travel and joined the Expedia team in fall 2011.

Jennifer Capasso, Director – SEM Product and Technology

I started my career in consulting, and then went to get an MBA at Carnegie Mellon, which first sparked my interest in technology.  I joined Expedia as a product manager 6 years ago. I have worked on both our hotel and check out product and last year, I moved from the customer facing web product to SEM {Search Engine Marketing} product and technology.

Maria Tiganus, Sr.  Software Engineer in Test

Originally from Romania, I came to the US 7 years ago, with a dual degree in Computer Science and Economics. I joined Expedia five and a half years ago, and I have been working in BFS (Best Fare Search) ever since. As a Software engineer in Test  for BFS & Air Shopping,  my role is to ensure that the quality of our product thrives with every release, leveraging developed automation to guarantee high performance, accuracy and competitiveness in the results.  I love psychology and movies, which is what I occupy my spare time with.

Julia Stefani, Technical Product Manager

I am originally from Tirana, Albania. I moved to the states to do my undergraduate studies in Computer Science and Business Administration/Finance at Truman State University. I then moved to St. Louis, MO where I got my graduate degree in Information Management from Washington University of St. Louis. I joined Expedia in April 2012 as a Technical Product Manager for the Mobile Web team in San Francisco. I love learning new things, traveling, foreign languages, food/cooking and keeping up with technology.

Register for this event on Eventbrite. Eventbrite - Seattle Girl Geek Dinner #22

Dinner #21 venue change

You should have received an email update if you’re signed up, but we wanted to make sure everybody knew that the Code Fellows Dinner venue for August 20 has been changed. The correct location is:

World Sports Grille in SLU
731 Westlake Ave N
Seattle, WA 98109

Look forward to seeing you there!
Liz and Stevi

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