Tag Archives: Bellevue

Dinner #41 on May 5, 2016

April 22, 2016 11:42 am | 2 Comments |

Happy Cinco de Mayo Seattle Girl Geeks!

REI is thrilled to be hosting our first Seattle Girl Geek Dinner.

Please join us on May 5th for some food, beverages, networking opportunities, and tech talks at our new IT Office in Eastgate. The dinner will include presentations from leaders in our Information Technology and Digital Retail departments, plus, a Keynote from REI’s Chief Information Officer, Julie Averill. Following Julie’s Keynote, we will host a panel discussion moderated by Laura Swapp, Director of Public Affairs and Next Generation Marketing. Please bring your questions for the Q&A portion of the panel discussion.

Be sure to arrive before 7:00pm to enjoy the Cinco de Mayo themed food and beverages, network with members of our IT and Digital Retail departments, learn about career opportunities at REI and build a customized pair of REI sunglasses to take home! Dinner will begin at 6:00pm, presentations will begin at 7:00pm.

Check out some recent news about REI:
REI plans to move headquarters to Bellevue’s Spring District
Working Geek: How REI CIO Julie Averill balances work, home and the outdoors

REI Girl Geek Dinner Agenda:

6:00pm – 7:00pm Registration, food & drinks, networking
7:00pm – 7:05pm Welcoming Remarks from Laura Swapp
7:05pm – 7:25pm Tech Talk with Lisa Nicklin, Gina Cox and Rehnuma Rahman
7:25pm – 7:50pm Keynote from Julie Averill, Chief Information Officer
7:45pm – 8:30pm Panel Discussion with Q&A from audience
8:30pm – 9:00pm Drinks and networking

REI Presenters and Panel Members

Julie Averill – Chief Information Officer
Lisa Nicklin – Divisional Vice President, Digital Retail
Laura Swapp – Director, Public Affairs and Next Generation Marketing
Gina Cox – Director, Digital Retail
Rehnuma Rahman – Manager, Quality Assurance
Liz Finlayson – Sr. Technical Recruiter
Lucinda Lang – Sr. Technical Recruiter

Directions & Parking Information

Address: 15800 Southeast Eastgate Way Bellevue, WA 98008
Parking: Parking is free and ample in the lot in front of the REI building.
Directions:
1. From I-90 E
2. Take Exit 11A for 150th Avenue Southeast toward 156th Avenue South East/Eastgate Way. (This will take you in a loop over I-90.)
3. At Southeast Eastgate Way, turn right.
4. At the light at 158th, turn left and then take the first right into the parking lot.

Upon entering the REI office building, please check in at the reception desk.

*Note: Admission is limited to registered guests only. REI reserves the right to remove individuals from REI’s premises for disruptive or disorderly behavior, or for any other reason in REI’s discretion. Please arrive before 6:30pm to ensure admission to the building.

WHEN: Thursday, May 5, 2016 from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM (PDT)
WHERE: REI – 15800 Southeast Eastgate Way , Bellevue, WA 98008

Eventbrite - Seattle Girl Geek Dinner #41

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Dinner #22 on September 18, 2013

September 3, 2013 2:39 pm | Leave a Comment |

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

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Dinner #14 on February 16, 2012

January 16, 2012 12:15 pm | Leave a Comment |

We’re very excited to announce Dinner 14, which will be at Expedia’s offices in Bellevue.

Be sure to sign up on Eventbrite to ensure your spot!

Expedia loves travel and we love technology. Join us for a fun night of networking with other women in technology. Enjoy refreshments, games & prizes. Hear from our passionate panel of speakers as they discuss how technology has affected the travel industry. They’ll also share their experiences, insight and travel tips from Expedia, where we are revolutionizing travel through technology

When: February 16

Time: 6 pm – 8 pm

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

Map: http://binged.it/xrDyJp

Parking: There are two entrances to the parking lot. One on 4th Street and the other on 108th Avenue NE. Parking will not be validated. There may be free parking in nearby establishments.

Public Transit: If you are planning to take buses, the closest stop is Bellevue Transit Center. You will have to walk a couple of blocks to the Expedia building.

 

Agenda:

Networking Game

Panel discussion & Q/A

Dinner: We will have pasta and wine for dinner. Non-alcoholic beverages will be available.

 

Welcome & Introductions: Dara Khosrowshahi, President and CEO

 

Expedia Panelists:

 

Kristen Graham, VP Engagement & Communications

Kristin has been at Expedia for 5 years and leads employee programs for Expedia, Inc.’s companies, which have more than 100 sites in more than 60 countries. Her team oversees employee communication & events, philanthropy, learning & development, 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, VP Development

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.

 

Katie Lykins, Software Development Engineer

Katie Lykins is a developer on the Package Discovery Service team at Expedia. She’s been at Expedia for 4 years and prior to Expedia, she worked at two different local small companies. She’s a true local, having been born and raised in Seattle and going to the University of Washington. In her free time, she’s active in playing basketball, volleyball and tennis.

 

Diane Omuoyo, Performance Engineer

Diana Omuoyo graduated with a Masters Degree in Information Systems from Baylor University, Waco. Her career in IT has spanned different roles and industries; including Web/Application Development, Network Tech, Business Intelligence and now Performance Engineering. She’s originally from Cleveland, OH and relocated to Egencia last year. During her free time she enjoys playing tennis and music, reading books and travelling adventures.

Sign up on Eventbrite! We look forward to seeing you there!

 

–Liz and Stevi

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Location Change for Dinner #11

June 21, 2011 4:25 pm | Leave a Comment |

All registered attendees should have received an email with these same details.

The location for the June 23, 2011 dinner, hosted by Bing, has changed to:

City Center Building
555 110th Ave NE, 26th FL
Bellevue, WA 98004

Parking WILL BE VALIDATED. Please bring your ticket with you to the dinner. Be sure to bring a business card to enter in the gift card drawing!

Our agenda will be:
6-6:45 – networking game/dinner
6:45-7:30 – Bing Design team panel discussion
7:30-8pm – drawing for Bravern gfit card and wrap up

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Dinner #11 on June 23, 2011

May 23, 2011 12:49 pm | Leave a Comment |

Hello again Geek Girls!

The Bing Design team has offered to host a design centric Geek Girl Dinner. For the first hour of our dinner, we will have an amazing panel composed of several key designers from Bing. They will discuss the latest innovations in design and the various career paths you can take in this discipline.

Not to mention, Bing is hosting our dinner in the café on the 23rd floor of Bravern 2 Bldg in Bellevue. Be prepared for some amazing views of Lake Washington! Side note: parking will be validated …

In the spirit of girl power, the Bing Design team will also be raffling off a $100 gift card to Bravern. You must be present to win!

The dinner is on June 23, and starts at 6 pm. Space is limited, so be sure to register at the Eventbrite page

Below are the biographies of our panelist. We look forward to seeing you again next month!

 

-Liz, Stevi, and Vanessa

 

Laura Kerr

UX DIRECTOR, Bing

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-facing services experience at Microsoft. She SKUs toward V1 problems, of which she still believes Search is one. At Bing, she is working toward an integrated approach that redefines a cultural balance between experience design and technology.

Laura is a Minnesota native but has been in Seattle long enough to truly appreciate the fog and rain and the quiet reflection it offers. She has an eclectic collection of higher degrees, has lived in Greece, Italy, and speaks several languages. She loves to swing dance, explore food culture, and play with her most awesome 2-yr old daughter, Chloe.

Mira Lane

Bing Design PM Lead – Studio Management, Prototyping, UX PM

Mira Lane has been leading User Experience innovation in Bing for the past 5 years. Her most recent accomplishments include the successful launch of Bing where her team was responsible for much of the visible innovations in the product from the homepage to results page. Her innovations have resulted in numerous patents for Microsoft spanning aggregation of categorized opinion data to different methods of previewing and displaying faceted search data. Upon returning from her second maternity leave, Mira has shifted her focus to design validation, prototyping and PM for horizontal user experience features.

Mira graduated from the University of Waterloo with degrees in Computer Science and Mathematics. She has worked as a developer at Quack.com in the silicon valley, which was acquired by AOL, and later at Nuance building speech-driven applications.

Outside of work Mira has a full plate as an artist, a mother of two, and outdoor enthusiast. Though her recent family additions have limited her to Rattlesnake Ledge, her outdoor pursuits have taken her from the mountaintop of Kilimanjaro, to Everest basecamp to backpacking around Asia.

Christina Koehn

User Experience Designer, Bing

Christina has been working professionally as a graphic designer since 2007 and is currently a User Experience Designer for Bing.com. Bing is Microsoft’s search engine and is changing the way that people think about search and finding information on the web.

Prior to this, Christina spent time working with the Microsoft Entertainment and Devices division on interface and information design for connected entertainment and for various print and web design agencies in the Seattle area. Her most recent projects at Bing include a redesign of the global visual language system, as well as many design iterations around html5, and the next generation of search.

Christina graduated from the University of Washington in 2007 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Communication Design and a minor in Art History. When not working, Christina loves to stay active by running and training for half marathons, playing volleyball, doing yoga and volunteering as a dog runner at the Seattle Humane Society and also enjoys traveling and reading about design and technology.

Goldie Chaudhuri

Program Manager

Goldie Chaudhuri joined Bing in the last year and has worked on Windows 8 and the Bing iPad app. She recently joined Bing Design as one of their first Program Managers, working on cross-device cross-team projects. Prior to Bing, Goldie worked on various experimental prototypes like Seadragon and Pivot at Live Labs and Spatial Databases at SQL Server.

Goldie graduated with majors in Computer Engineering and Studio Art from Case Western Reserve University, a weird but awesome campus spread out through 80 of Cleveland’s museums and non-profits. She grew up in Jacksonville, Florida and now lives in Capitol Hill where in her spare time she likes printmaking, soldering glowing costumes, geeking out about food and Belgian beers, wandering farmers markets and folk festivals, travelling, doing yoga, and biking around when it’s sunny.

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Dinner #9 on January 13, 2011

December 15, 2010 11:34 am | 3 Comments |

Happy Holidays Ladies!

The Microsoft Windows Server and Cloud division has decided to sponsor SGG dinner #9! The dinner will be held at the new Microsoft Store in Bellevue Square. Shannon Loftis, Partner Studio Manager of the Microsoft Gaming Studios will talking to us about Microsoft Kinect! I will be sending out her bio and more information on her talk closer to the date.

We will have great food, an amazing speaker, and a Kinect tournament. So, come ready to learn and play!

Also, please bring a business card, as we will be raffling a Kinect!!

Please park in the Nordstrom parking lot area for easy access to the Microsoft Store in Bellevue Square.

Space is limited, so please sign up at Eventbrite.

Have a safe and wonderful holiday season! See you in 2011.

Liz, Stevi and Vanessa

Date: Thursday, January 13th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Location: Microsoft Store, 116 Bellevue Square, Bellevue, WA
Guest Speaker: Shannon Loftis, Partner Studio Manager of the Microsoft Gaming Studios
Registration: Eventbrite

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