PALO ALTO, CA--(Marketwired - Sep 16, 2015) - The Anita Borg Institute, a non-profit organization focused on the advancement of women in computing, announces that industry luminaries Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer at Facebook and founder of LeanIn.Org and Megan Smith, United States chief technology officer, will be plenary speakers at this year's Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (GHC.)
"We are delighted to welcome back to Grace Hopper both Sheryl and Megan," said Telle Whitney, president and chief executive officer of the Anita Borg Institute. "Both of them are true inspirations for all women in technology, and their remarkable achievements in their respective careers epitomize the 2015 GHC theme of #OurTimeToLead."
As COO of Facebook, Sandberg oversees the company's business operations. Sandberg is also the author of the bestsellers Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead and Lean In for Graduates. She founded LeanIn.Org to empower all women to achieve their ambitions.
"I'm honored to be returning to GHC to celebrate the next generation of women pursuing their ambitions in computing," said Sheryl Sandberg. "There's never been a more important time for women to embrace computing and technical careers, yet the number of women in these fields is declining. The women at the GHC are changing this, and I'm excited to discuss how we can get more women to choose careers in STEM."
Sheryl will be participating in an onstage conversation with Nora Denzel, an independent board director for Ericsson, AMD and Outerwall. Nora also serves as Vice Chair of the Anita Borg Institute Board of Trustees.
Prior to the conversation, ABI will gather questions for Sheryl via social media channels. Please visit the GHC Facebook Page to leave a question regarding women in technology for Sheryl: https://www.facebook.com/gracehoppercelebration. Please submit all questions by September 23, 2015.
Megan Smith is U.S. Chief Technology Officer, a role in which she serves as Assistant to the President and focuses on how technology policy, data and innovation can advance our future as a nation. As a former Vice President at Google, where she oversaw new business development, Megan brings an entrepreneurial spirit to her role helping the U.S. Government apply innovative solutions to problems while encouraging more women and people of color to pursue tech careers.
"The Grace Hopper Conference is a big part of solving so many of the challenges society faces due to our lack of equal opportunity for technical women -- from challenges faced raising venture capital, to disparate promotion and hiring processes, to unequal inclusion in media, events and even team meetings," said Megan Smith. "Grace Hopper (GHC) brings together thousands of extraordinary technical women to advance the digital age overall and provides a needed venue for ongoing work to debug the gender gap in tech."
About the Grace Hopper Celebration
The 2015 Grace Hopper celebration, the largest gathering of women in computing in the world, expects 12,000 attendees this year, a 50 percent increase from the previous year. The conference, held in Houston, Texas, takes place October 14 - 16 2015. This year's conference features leading technical speakers, career development sessions, awards, a poster session, a hackathon and the industry's largest career fair for women in computing.
2015 Grace Hopper Celebration Sponsors
Diamond sponsors include: Apple, Capital One, Cisco, Google and Microsoft.
Platinum sponsors include: Accenture, Airbnb, Amazon, Avanade, Bank of America, CA Technologies, Dell, Dropbox, eBay, EMC, Ericsson, Facebook, GoDaddy, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Intuit, Juniper Networks, LinkedIn, Lockheed Martin, MasterCard, Nationwide, NetApp, PayPal, Qualcomm, Rackspace, Thomson Reuters, ThoughtWorks, Two Sigma, Visa and Yahoo!.
Gold Academic sponsors include: Carnegie Mellon University, Georgia Tech College of Computing, Harvey Mudd College, Montana State University, New York University, Purdue University, Rice University, Stanford University Department of Computer Science, Texas A&M University Department of Computer Science, University of California - Berkeley, University of California - Los Angeles, University of California - San Diego Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Houston Department of Computer Science, University of Maryland, Baltimore County and USC.
Gold Labs and Nonprofits sponsors include: ACM, Dignity Health, Internet Society ISOC, MIT Lincoln Laboratory and NCWIT.
About the Anita Borg Institute (ABI)
The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABI) connects, inspires and guides women in computing and organizations that view technology innovation as a strategic imperative. Founded in 1997 by computer scientist Anita Borg, our reach extends to more than 65 countries. We believe technology innovation powers the global economy, and that women are crucial to building technology the world needs. As a social enterprise, we recognize women making positive contributions, and advise organizations on how to improve performance by building more inclusive teams. ABI has over 50 industry partners, which you can view at http://anitaborg.org/partner-with-us/our-partners. The Anita Borg Institute is a not-for-profit 501(c) 3 charitable organization in the US and a non-profit organization registered as a section-8 Company under the Companies Act, 2013 in India. For more information, visit www.anitaborg.org.
Follow the Anita Borg Institute on Twitter at @anitaborg_org and become a fan at http://www.facebook.com/anitaborginstitute.
Contact Information:
Media contact:
Christine Deakers
Eastwick
415-820-4486