Grace Hopper Kickoff Keynote

The Grace Hopper Celebration keynote this morning was a great start to what will be 3 days of networking, classes, and celebration of Women in technology in computing. We had amazing speakers, who were top technology industry leaders, sharing their inspirational stories. Before I get started on what each speaker had to say, I want to point out a few interesting facts about GHC.

The Grace Hopper Celebration grew from 500 attendees in 1994 to 15,000 in 2016. 1000 attendees were men. Attendees came from 83 countries from around the world. The convention is named after Grace Hopper who was a naval officer and in 1944, wrote the first programming language compiler. This celebration of women in computing and technology inspires women and industries in general, to effectively create a movement that signifies change - that women's roles in technology will continue to grow. We are celebrating achievements by women in history, achievements by women today, and cultivating achievements for tomorrow. Although we do think of women today at leaders and innovators, we still have room to grow. Currently, women hold only 21.7 % of tech jobs 14% of leadership positions. So this is why we celebrate at the Grace Hopper Celebration.

The first speaker, Dr. LaTanya Sweeney, works at Harvard University as a Data Privacy researcher. She is the first African American woman to earn a degree in Computer Science and Software Engineering at MIT. She spoke about how technology impacts people and dictates our future. She shared a about how she recognized problems with data security in the health industry, and how she worked to find a solution.

"We live in a technocracy" was her message, and that we can harness technology for public interests. Her story introduced an important idea that data science can help change and/or save the world - we are impacted by how we treat data. We have unforseen consequences when it comes to data and we must adjust everywhere we can at the design stage. This powerful message will definitely provoke thoughts and ideas within the leadership of tomorrow.

Next, Suzie Armstrong, VP at Qualcomm presented the 2016 ABIE award to Anna Patterson in Technology Leadership. Anna talked about measuring what matters and recognized that women aren't represented enough in technology. "We still have work to do in order to close in on the gender gap."
It was nice to note that 60 organizations participated in Leadership Index - a participation where policies were created to promote more women in the workplace, including a formal leadership development process, gender diversity training, and flexible time policies.

I thought that Ginni Rometti held one of the most pleasant and inspiring talks I have ever heard. She started with some history about herself, her family, and finally how she came to be the CEO of IBM. She shared a touching childhood story about her mother, being a point of inspiration. Her story about where she draws her motivation from, is a story that alone - is very touching and powerful. Although she holds a top leading position herself (as one of Fortune's top leaders at that) - she acknowledges that IBM hired the first female engineer in 1935 and the first female Executive in 1943. She is essentially saying that women have paved the way for her, and that she is proud today to see so many women in technology. She is inspired by women from the past, one of them being Ada Lovelace, a woman who wrote the first algorithm in 1840. She also looks up to women like NASA Mathematicians Catherine Johnson and Mary Vaughn. She left us with several quotes:
"Past is prologue. Era is cognitive."
"Build learning into everything you do. Growth and comfort never coexist."
"Work on something you are passionate and something bigger then yourself."
Ginni is essentially and effectively, paving the way for the future of women in technology and computing.

Lastly, we heard from Alyssia Jovellanos, a 17 year old student who grew up in a town that wasn't exposed to programming. She found ways to promote programming in her hometown by leading an organization to help children learn programming and technology. Hers was a story of fighting for what she believes in, and helping others realize their dreams. Alyssia is set to become a future leader in technology, and we are all proud to have her.