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“Spring Forward with Women Leaders” Free Events Series
Seattle is a city on the rise. Well-educated and engaged, Seattleites are eager to take the next step toward living their progressive values. Our people and companies have a pioneering spirit and amazing knack for innovation well known world-wide. Our burgeoning tech and business communities have begun to rival those in places long synonymous with leadership in those fields.
But our strength does not benefit everyone equally. Our region struggles with issues of equity, diversity and inclusion in much the same way other regions struggle with these challenges. The Puget Sound, in the form of the public and private organizations—including community organizations, residents, businesses, local governments, and philanthropic groups—have committed to addressing these challenges head-on, and with as much creativity and urgency as we can muster.
The Spring Forward with Women Leaders event series grows out of our region’s collective commitment to do better on topics such as gender pay equity, diversity and inclusion in leadership and in technical and STEM-based fields, entrepreneurship and investing.
The Spring Forward with Women Leaders series is presented as a joint effort of Ada Developers Academy, Artemis Connection, Cambia Grove, CoMotion (at the University of Washington), Galvanize Seattle, the Washington State Department of Commerce and Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA).
We invite you – men and women alike – to Spring Forward with our partners and Series Sponsors, so that we can all rise together.
- March – April of 2016
- Eight events hosted at four venues
- Focused on women and women leaders in tech and STEM fields (including investors & entrepreneurs), especially where underrepresented
- Three tracks:
- Take Action! (results in something tangible)
- Leading Forward (for executives and other leaders)
- Spring Forward Interactive (creativity track of series)
Take Action! Programming Track
Speed Mentoring for Women in Tech
March 10 at Cambia Grove
The statistics on the wage gap between women and men are well-documented and readily available – while the gender wage gap is narrowing, it’s narrowing at a rate that won’t bring us to the level of equal pay for men and women until after the half way point of this century.
The issue of pay equity is complicated by the issue of gender diversity in technical fields – typically some of the economy’s best-paying jobs. Wage gap statistics for black and Hispanic women are significantly worse than the overall numbers. Adding to this is the absence of women in critical leadership roles in the technology field– according to a Silicon Valley Bank survey of 1,100 executives worldwide, 45% of respondents said their companies didn’t have women in executive or board positions. And just 29% currently had programs in place to change that.
During Equity Programs that Work and How to Build One (For You or Your Company), Liz Vivian of 100% Talent will engage three panelists working to increase gender diversity and inclusion and improve pay equity for women in an honest and productive discussion about how we all (men and women alike) can start to aggressively address these issues.
For Company Leaders And CEOs: Increase Gender Diversity On Your Teams
March 15 at Galvanize Seattle Campus
A look at how successful health care, technology and investing organizations create and support gender diversity on their teams.
Speed Mentoring for Women in Tech
March 24 at CoMotion, Fluke Hall
Women working in the tech industry – especially in technical roles – are rare. How many times have you gone to tech events hoping to meet and learn from women leaders you admire, only to find that approaching them is just TOO awkward? This Speed Mentoring event helps mentees get actual face time with some of the tech industry’s rare women executives. And it all happens in just one hour. Mentors are sourced from WTIA’s Executive Women in Tech (EWiT) community.
Mentees and mentors meet in a fast-paced setting, asking and answering questions, with the option of making a longer-term connection. We will have 10 mentors from small and big tech companies, representing both technical and non-technical roles. Sign up early – attendance is limited to 40 mentees. There will be four rounds with eight minutes for each round. This event is open to women only.
Getting On Board(s)
March 30 at TUNE (note: location change)
Even in fields where the ratio of men to women is fairly balanced, there is a lack of gender diversity in leadership positions. This holds for the C-suite, and especially in the Board room – despite the wealth of data that shows gender diversity on for-profit boards leads to better decisions and more successful companies.
At Getting on Board(s), you’ll hear from Cate Goethals, who has been working to elevate women into the Board room for the last decade with a host of corporate partners and at the UW Foster School of Business. Panelists Rhonda F. Rhyne (President, CEO, Board Director at Prevencio, Inc.) and Edith Dorsen (Managing Director, Women’s Venture Capital Fund) will discuss with Cate what it takes to get onto a for-profit Board – with all of the professional benefits associated with that. They’ll address what it’s like to serve as the only woman on a Board, and what makes diverse Boards so much more effective.
Leading Forward Programming Track
Leader Keynote
April 5 at Cambia Grove
Keynote and conversation between two women who are working to address issues of inclusion, equity and diversity across industries.
Happiest Hour
April 5 at Cambia Grove
Speed Networking and Happy Hour. To follow keynote.
Moonshots for Health Care & Technology
April 14 (Venue TBD)
Moonshots are massive ideas that can change the world for the better. The term “Moonshot” derives from the 1969 Apollo 11 space mission, and in recent years, with the launch of Google’s “moonshot factory” and President Obama’s initiative to cure cancer, the Moonshot movement has become a galvanizing force for big thinkers and doers around the world.
Join hosts and former Disney Imagineers Lauren Baldesarra and Laura Youngkin, in partnership with Artemis Connection, for a two-part creative workshop and take the first step to launch your Moonshot into reality.
User Generated Content (Audience Choice)
April 21 at CoMotion
For this event, series attendees will choose the topic! Topic chosen in February via social media.
Spring Forward Interactive Programming Track
Battle Decks Tournament
April 27 at Galvanize Seattle Campus
A March Madness-style tournament where people compete to create the best presentation from a random deck of 10 slides of images. Stand-up meets the Board Room. There will be brackets and winners. Prizes!
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