The Power of Mentorship

Event Description:

Have you ever had a mentor that helped you to be your best and move you forward on life’s path? Have you helped others along the way? The value of mentorship can profoundly change lives. Join us to learn more about mentorship from experiencedmentors and through the personal stories of senior executives who have been on both sides of the relationship. JHTC will be launching a pilot mentorship program this fall and as a prelude, this program will explore what Mentorship is from several differentviewpoints. Come and see how mentorship can nurture the greatness in ourselves, and those around us and participate in giving your input as we finalize our pilot mentorship program.

Keynote

Deanna Kosaraju, CEO, Global Tech Women

Deanna Kosaraju is Founder and CEO of Global Tech Women. Deanna has worked with hundreds of companies, large and small, around the globe such as IBM, Microsoft, Intel, State Farm Insurance and Google in their mission to increase diversity leading to productivity, innovation and profitability in the corporate and academic sectors while creating career satisfaction for their employees. Mentorship is a part of this equation. Deanna has a degree in accounting from Cal State University Fullerton, a degree in Gender and Women’s Studies summa cum laude from U.C. Berkeley and Women Leaders of the World Program at Santa Clara University. Deanna was awarded the Women of Influence Award by the Silicon Valley Business Journal in 2010.

Fireside Chat

Ken Ross, CEO Coach, Advisor and Angel Investor

Ken Ross is an Advisor, Board Member, CEO Coach and angel investor for a variety of early to mid-stage information technology firms with an emphasis on B2B and enterprise software. Representative companies include mscripts, Tinfoil Security, Apptimize, Adaptive Insights,Electric Cloud, and Fintel. Ken was the founder / CEO of Seriosity, Extricity, Pillar, Documentum and Ross Systems. Ken was also a General Partner at RRE Ventures, where he headed the firm’s Silicon Valley office. Ken received his B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his MBA from Stanford University.

Laura Yecies, Entrepreneur, Executive, Investor, Advisor, Strategist

Laura Yecies is a serial high-tech entrepreneur with twenty-five years of experience leading top brands such as SugarSync, ZoneAlarm, Yahoo and Netscape. Laura has been CEO of two venture-backed startups. Most recently, Laura served asCEO of Context Engines, and then before that Catch.com. A passionate, multilingual internationalist with expertise in a building global business, she has embraced the value of mentorship throughout her career. Laura received her MBA from Harvard, plus an MSFS from Georgetown School of Foreign Service with honors in international business diplomacy. She received her A.B. Magna Cum Laude in Government from Dartmouth and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She speaks Portuguese, Spanish and French.

Irene Lefton, VP Customer Success (Fireside Chat Moderator)

Irene is a Customer Success leader who has worked globally across startups, small companies and large public enterprises. Coaching and mentoring staff has always been a critical factor in Irene’s success. Most recently she was VP Customer Success at Cloud Cruiser, a venture backed start-up in the cloud analytics space.

Structured Conversation

Marcia Stein, SHRM-CP, PHR- Facilitator Recruiter and Trainer, Stein Consulting (Facilitator)

Marcia works with closely teams to improve communication and align employee development with business needs. Her work facilities strategic and tactical changes often implemented though organizational training and modified employee manual, policies and procedures. Marcia is the founder and leader of Silicon Valley Women in Human Resources…and Friends, a 3,000+ member networking networking, mentoring and educational group for professionals.