Women’s Conference Featured Speakers

Carla Akalarian

Carla Akalarian is an executive career coach for EMBA students and alumni, providing customized and personalized coaching for career development. She specializes in the discovery process, identification of values, and development of an ideal career vision and authentic value proposition. Carla+F is part of the Executive Career Development Team, which provides career services to our executive population to guide them in making successful career transitions.

Session: Getting A.I.R.: Acceptance, Insights, and Relationships 

Elizabeth J. Altman LGO ’92, SM ’92

Elizabeth J. Altman is an associate professor of management (with tenure) at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, Manning School of Business. She is a research affiliate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Initiative on the Digital Economy and a nonresident fellow in the Economic Studies Program at the Brookings Institution. Elizabeth has been a visiting scholar at Harvard Business School and a visiting professor at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.  

Her research focuses on strategy, innovation, platforms, ecosystems, artificial intelligence (AI), leadership, sustainability-driven innovation, and the future of work. She is lead author of the award-winning book, “Workforce Ecosystems: Reaching Strategic Goals with People, Partners, and Technologies” (MIT Press, 2023).  

Her work has been published by Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, the Brookings Institution, Academy of Management Annals, Journal of Management Studies, and other leading outlets. Before entering academia, Elizabeth spent 18 years in industry and served for nine years as a vice president at Motorola. She holds a doctorate in business administration from Harvard Business School, master’s degrees in mechanical engineering and management from MIT, and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell University.

Session: Lunchtime Keynote: AI + Workforce Ecosystems 

Melodi Anahtar SB ’16, PhD ’22 

Melodi Anahtar is the program manager of the Antibody Observatory (ABO), a cross-institutional and transdisciplinary initiative hosted within the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The goal of the ABO is to use serological profiling to power a One Health approach to monitoring, predicting, and responding to infectious disease threats. Initial work is focused on creating a serological tool to predict, track, and respond to infectious diseases affected by climate change.

Session: Biotechnological Advancements and the Future of Humanity 

Natalie Lorenz Anderson ’84 

Natalie Lorenz Anderson received an SB in electrical engineering from MIT’s School of Engineering in 1984. She also holds a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Johns Hopkins University, graduating in 1989. Natalie serves as a member of the Corporation Nominating Committee and Corporation Development Committee. She is treasurer for the Class of 1984 and an educational counselor. Previously she has served as the director of the Club of Washington DC, a Community Catalyst Leadership Program host, a class Fund Reunion Committee member, president of the Class of 1984, an Annual Giving Board Goals Committee member, an Alumni Association Selection Committee member, and on the Alumni Association Board of Directors, among numerous other roles. Natalie was honored with the Harold E. Lobdell ’17 Distinguished Service Award in 2010 and the Henry B. Kane ’24 Award in 2017. Natalie is VP of operations and special projects at 247Solar Inc., which represents the next generation of concentrated solar power. She serves on several corporate boards, including public, private, and two MIT startups, and continues to serve organizations focused on increasing access to STEM education and career opportunities for underserved youth. She is married to MIT alum Bruce N. Anderson ’69 and has three grown children and a stepdaughter, all of whom have STE(A)M in their lives!

Session: Preconference Reception, MIT Museum; Conference Opening Remarks; Closing Plenary; Closing Reception

Lindsay Androski ’98 

Lindsay Androski JD, MBA, CFA is currently CEO of Arbutus Biopharma, an infectious disease company currently developing a treatment for chronic hepatitis B (cHBV). She joined the founding team of Roivant Sciences in early 2016, where she built and led the team responsible for the in-license or acquisition of more than 30 pharmaceutical drug candidates. To date, five drug candidates acquired by Lindsay’s team have been approved by the FDA: Orgovyx (prostate cancer), Myfembree (heavy menstrual bleeding/uterine fibroids), Gemtesa (overactive bladder), Rethymic (pediatric congenital athymia), and VTAMA (plaque psoriasis). She was instrumental in the launch of 16 biotechs in the Roivant Sciences family and participated in three IPOs and the then-largest-ever private biotech financing ($1.1 billion). Lindsay also built and led the intellectual property team across the portfolio of companies and led the hiring of CEOs and CMOs for subsidiary companies, partnership efforts in Japan and China, and alliance management function. In 2020, she founded and, until her appointment at Arbutus, served as president and CEO of Roivant Social Ventures, the social impact arm of Roivant Sciences, which has a mission of improving healthcare access and outcomes for underserved groups and unmet medical needs.

Lindsay serves as a trustee of MIT; chair of the MIT Visiting Committee for the Department of Chemistry; member of the Visiting Committees for Sponsored Research, the Department of Biology, and the Department of Humanities; and member of the Advisory Board for the MIT Press. She is board president of Incubate, an advocacy organization that educates lawmakers on the critical role of venture capital in biopharma, and serves as a director of Eloxx Pharma, a rare-disease-focused biotech, and Caring Cross, a parent company that incubates and launches wholly owned B-corps focused on improving access to cell and gene therapies through manufacturing innovations. Lindsay teaches in the Department of Economics of Duke University and at the UNC-Eshelman School of Pharmacy.

Earlier in her career, Lindsay spent a decade as a trial lawyer, including a stint in the U.S. Department of Justice as an assistant U.S. attorney in the newly launched cybercrime unit of the Eastern District of Virginia, where she led high-profile investigations and prosecutions involving cyber and national security concerns. Lindsay holds two SB degrees from MIT, JD and MBA degrees from the University of Chicago, is a chartered financial analyst, and a registered patent lawyer. Lindsay is a frequent public speaker and author, and her writings have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Fortune, Nature Gene Therapy, Chronicle of Philanthropy, and a variety of legal journals. 

Session: Biotechnological Advancements and the Future of Humanity 

Polina Anikeeva PhD ’09  

Polina Anikeeva received her BS in physics from St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University and a PhD in materials science and engineering from MIT. She completed her postdoctoral training at Stanford, where she created devices for optical stimulation and recording from brain circuits. She joined the MIT faculty in 2011 and is currently the Matoula S. Salapatas Professor and the department head of Materials Science and Engineering. She is also a professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and serves as the director of the K. Lisa Yang Brain-Body Center and as an associate director of the Research Laboratory of Electronics. She is an associate member of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research. Polina’s Bioelectronics group focuses on the development of minimally invasive, biologically inspired approaches to record and modulate physiology of the nervous system, especially in the context of brain-body communication. Polinafmf is a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award, DARPA Young Faculty Award, the TR35, Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise, and the NIH Pioneer Award. 

Session: Discoveries in Human Health Science 

Shauna LaFauci Barry 

Shauna LaFauci Barry is an alumni engagement strategist and executive career coach. She provides tailored coaching that empowers alumni and mid-level career professionals to reach their highest potential. 

Shauna’s passion is enabling others to make authentic career connections that transform their lives. She does this by leading the Sloan Industry Advisors Program and facilitating student-alumni mentoring relationships. She is part of the Executive Career Development Team that provides executive career services to our executive and alumni populations and helps them to make intentional choices in their evolving careers. 

Session: Getting A.I.R.: Acceptance, Insights, and Relationships 

Mariel Borowitz ’06 

Mariel Borowitz is an associate professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology and head of the Nunn School Program on International Affairs, Science, and Technology. Her research deals with international space policy issues, focusing particularly on global developments related to remote sensing satellites and challenges to space security and sustainability. Her book, Open Space: The Global Effort for Open Access to Environmental Satellite Data, published by MIT Press, examines trends in the development of data-sharing policies governing Earth-observing satellites, as well as interactions with the growing commercial remote sensing sector. Her work has been published in Science, Strategic Studies Quarterly, Space Policy, Astropolitics, and New Space. Her research has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Mariel is also currently detailed to the U.S. Office of Space Commerce in a half-time capacity as the director of International Space Situational Awareness (SSA) Engagement. In this role, she focuses on the development and implementation of an approach to international coordination on space situational awareness and space traffic coordination. She also works directly with the team developing the Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS), which will provide space safety services to civil and commercial users around the world. Mariel previously completed a detail as a policy analyst for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters in Washington, DC from 2016 to 2018. In 2022, she testified to the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics in a hearing titled “Space Situational Awareness: Guiding the Transition to a Civil Capability.”

Mariel earned a PhD in public policy at the University of Maryland and a master's degree in international science and technology policy from George Washington University. She has a SB in aerospace engineering from MIT.

Session: Looking Forward by Looking Up: MIT Women in Space 

Hannah Riley Bowles  

Hannah Riley Bowles is a leading expert on gender in negotiation. Hannah’s research focuses on women’s leadership advancement and the role of negotiation in educational and career advancement, including the management of work-family conflict. Her work has been featured in Harvard Business Review’s “Definitive Management Ideas of the Year,” and covered by major news media such as ABC News, National Public Radio, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. Hannah’s academic studies are published in journals such as the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Organization Science, and Psychological Science.

She is the faculty codirector of Women and Power, the HKS executive program for women in senior leadership from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. She won the HKS Manuel Carballo Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2003.

Hannah has been actively involved in negotiation and conflict management training, practice, and research for over 25 years, including early career opportunities to work for the governments of Argentina, Costa Rica, and Germany. She has a DBA from Harvard Business School, an MPP from HKS, and a BA from Smith College. 

Session: Pay Equity—The Conversation Continues 

Barbara Braun SM ’95 (moderator) 

Barbara Braun is the assistant general manager of Agile Acquisitions Division within the Defense Architectures and Integration Office of the Aerospace Corporation. Within Aerospace, she has also led support to the Corporate Chief Engineer’s Office, the Space Rapid Capabilities Office, and the Department of Defense Space Test Program. In all these roles, she has supported the development, test, and launch of new and emerging capabilities for a wide range of customers from across the space enterprise, including DoD and academic laboratories, civil space organizations such as NASA and the USGS, and emerging commercial providers. She has also worked extensively in mission operations and logged hundreds of hours on console-supporting satellite missions. She has been decorated for her support to high-visibility special-access space programs, proximity operations missions, and formation-flying earth-observation missions. She is an Aerospace Center for Space Policy and Strategy partner and has written extensively on policy and mission assurance concerns for small and nontraditional satellites. Previously, Barbara served on active duty in the U.S. Air Force and retired from the Air Force Reserves in 2016 after more than 21 years of combined service. She holds an EMT license, performs wilderness search and rescue, and recently participated as the health and safety officer in a full-scale analog astronaut mission at the Mars Desert Research Station. Barbara joined the Aerospace Corporation in 2000 as a senior member of the technical staff. She holds a SB from MIT in aeronautics and astronautics and an MS from the University of New Mexico in mechanical engineering.

Session: Looking Forward by Looking Up: MIT Women in Space 

Lily Bui SM ’16, PhD ’20 

Lily Bui is a subject matter expert in climate-related disaster risk reduction, planning, early warning communication, and island communities in the Asia/Pacific and Latin American & Caribbean regions. She received her PhD from MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning, where her research focused on disaster early warning systems on urban islands. She holds an SM from MIT’s Comparative Media Studies and a dual BA in international studies and Spanish from her alma mater, University of California Irvine. With experience across applied research, public policy, media, impact investing, and consulting, she approaches problem-solving from a transdisciplinary perspective. 

Currently at Philanthropy California/SoCal Grantmakers, she provides strategic direction, thought leadership, and partnership coordination in support of developing engagement strategies to increase climate justice and equitable disaster preparedness, relief, and recovery funding across the region and state of California. Previously, she served as assistant director for training, research, and project development at the congressionally authorized National Disaster Preparedness Training Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. She has also held roles as a disaster management specialist/response lead at the Pacific Disaster Center. 

Session: Igniting Change: MIT Alumnae Leading Local Climate Action

Lauren Cerino 

Lauren Cerino is a technical associate at the MIT AgeLab. Lauren’s current research explores topics including longevity planning, social robotics, aging in place, and more. She also comanages OMEGA, an intergenerational outreach program, and contributes to data management across various projects.

Prior to joining the AgeLab, Lauren earned her BA in computer science and human development from Connecticut College, where she was involved in community outreach initiatives and early childhood programming. 

Session: Women, Aging, and What’s Next: Exploring Our Longevity Potential

Heather Clark SM ’04

Heather Clark served as senior director for building sector climate policy in the Biden-Harris White House. She led policy for the all-of-government mobilization to transition the U.S. building sector to zero emissions and mitigate the climate crisis. As both a climate policy and technical building expert, Heather has orchestrated some of the most cutting-edge decarbonization projects in the US. Heather joined the White House from RMI, where she worked on federal and state climate policy—including the Inflation Reduction Act—to advance equitable decarbonization of buildings with a focus on affordable housing. Prior to RMI, Heather founded Biome Studio, a creative design and real-estate development studio that pioneered cutting-edge decarbonization projects, including the first large-scale deep-energy retrofit in the U.S. and the redevelopment of vacant historic buildings into affordable housing. Earlier in her career, Heather established WinnCompanies’ green building program to implement energy efficiency and renewable energy at 90,000+ affordable housing apartments and formed WinnSolar, one of the nation’s first solar-power purchase entities for affordable housing. Heather holds an SM in real estate development from MIT and a BS in environmental science and community planning, summa cum laude, from Cornell University.

Session: Igniting Change: MIT Alumnae Leading Local Climate Action

Catherine “Cady” Coleman ’83 (virtual speaker) 

Cady Coleman is a former NASA astronaut and retired US Air Force colonel (as well as a mom, scientist, pilot, and musician). She flew twice on the Space Shuttle Columbia and spent almost six months living and working aboard the International Space Station. Her recent memoir, Sharing Space: An Astronaut’s Guide to Mission, Wonder, and Making Change, has garnered praise from a wide range of thought leaders for its candid stories and widely applicable insights.

As lead robotics and lead science officer aboard the International Space Station, Cady led and performed one of the first robotic captures of a supply ship from the station, a high-risk ballet at 17,500 miles per hour, 250 miles above Earth. During her second shuttle mission, she launched the $1.6 billion Chandra telescope into orbit just hours after she and her crew expertly navigated one of the most dangerous launches in the history of the space shuttle program.

Cady’s leadership positions over her 24-year NASA career included lead astronaut for Space Shuttle tile repair following the devastating Columbia accident and chief of robotics for the astronaut office. She spearheaded the first supply ship operations with partners like SpaceX, paving the way for today’s flourishing commercial spaceflight collaborations. Before retiring from NASA, she led open innovation and partnership efforts for NASA’s chief technologist.

A sought-after speaker on a wide range of topics, including leadership and team building, Cady is known for her advocacy for inclusion in STEM/STEAM fields. She is also a highly regarded media adviser and on-air expert for space exploration news. She is featured in numerous documentaries including PBS’ Space: The Longest Goodbye.

Cady lives in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, with her husband, glass artist Josh Simpson. They have two adult sons and two enormous Maine Coon cats, Saber and Max. 

Session: Looking Forward by Looking Up: MIT Women in Space 

Audrey Daum SM ’88  

Audrey Daum is a senior vice president–investments in the Boston office of Moors & Cabot. Audrey was a director–investments at Oppenheimer & Co. from September 2010 through April 2017. Prior to Oppenheimer, Audrey was a vice president in wealth management at Merrill Lynch. She also worked as a senior business manager in Merrill Lynch’s headquarters in Princeton, NJ. Audrey’s finance career started at Citibank NY in corporate finance, where she remained for eight years. As a wealth manager, she works with individuals and small business owners on portfolio management, and estate and retirement planning, as well as providing seminars and educational tools for those families that need them. Audrey is a passionate advocate of financial literacy education. She holds an MBA in finance and corporate strategy from MIT Sloan School of Management, spent two years at Harvard Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, and graduated with top honors from Northeastern University. She has been named as a Five Star Wealth Manager in Boston Magazine from 2011 to present (nominated for 2022). Audrey is past president and treasurer of the MIT Sloan Boston Alumni Association (Boston & New York); chair, Women’s Events; and cochair of the Resilience Series. She has served on the executive council of Ellevate Networks, Boston chapter, and has partnered with Invest in Girls. She recently published a book to help young children learn basic money concepts, The Little Floofs’ Book of Money, which can be found on Amazon. 

Session: Pay Equity—The Conversation Continues 

Whitney T. Espich HM ’24 

Whitney T. Espich was named CEO of the MIT Alumni Association in August 2017. Prior to this role, she served as executive director of communications, events, and donor relations in MIT’s Resource Development group, playing a significant role in launching the public phase of the MIT Campaign for a Better World. Before joining MIT, Whitney worked in Harvard University’s Central Alumni Affairs and Development Office, first as director of university development communications initiatives and then as senior director of strategic marketing and communications. Earlier in her career, she held communications and management positions at Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Citigate Cunningham, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation (Monticello), and Mary Baldwin College. Whitney serves on the board of the Council of Alumni Association Executives (CAAE) and sits on the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Commission on Alumni Relations. Originally from Virginia, Whitney holds an MA from the University of Virginia and an MPhil from St. Andrews University in Scotland. 

Session: Preconference Reception, MIT Museum

Marzyeh Ghassemi PhD ’17  

Marzyeh Ghassemi is an associate professor at MIT in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) and Institute for Medical Engineering & Science (IMES). She holds MIT affiliations with the Jameel Clinic, LIDS, IDSS, and CSAIL. For examples of short- and long-form talks Marzyeh has given, see her Forbes lightning talk and her ICML keynote. Marzyeh holds a Germeshausen Career Development Professorship and was named a CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar and one of MIT Tech Review’s 35 Innovators under 35. In 2024, she received an NSF CAREER award and Google Research Scholar Award. Prior to her PhD in computer science at MIT, she received an MSc degree in biomedical engineering from Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar and BS degrees in computer science and electrical engineering as a Goldwater Scholar at New Mexico State University. Marzyeh’s work spans computer science and clinical venues, including NeurIPS, KDD, AAAI, MLHC, JAMIA, JMIR, JMLR, AMIA-CRI, Nature Medicine, Nature Translational Psychiatry, and Critical Care. Her work has been featured in popular press such as MIT News, The Boston Globe, and The Huffington Post. 
 

Session: Discoveries in Human Health Science 

Gayle Grader 

Gayle Grader is an executive coach and senior director, Career Development, Executive and Alumni Coaching. She oversees career development for the Sloan Fellows MBAs, EMBAs, and alumni populations and works on strategic initiatives to advance the impact of the CDO across all populations served. She leads the Executive Career Development Team and is responsible for setting the programming strategy, delivering career education workshops, and providing one-on-one executive coaching. Before joining Sloan in 2018, she spent 13 years as a strategy consultant and business coach, working with wide-ranging companies from Fortune 500 to startups. She also built a referral-only private coaching practice where she provided career and executive coaching to mid-career and senior executives going through executive transitions. In her early career, she worked in consulting, investment banking, asset management, and executive search. She is an ICF PCC and a certified Gallup Strengths Coach. 

Session: Getting A.I.R.: Acceptance, Insights, and Relationships 

Kathryn Hawkes 

Kathryn (Kathy) Hawkes is the senior associate dean of external engagement at the MIT Sloan School of Management and a member of the school’s leadership team. Kathy leads teams of talented professionals and is responsible for managing all aspects of the school’s portfolio in support of the 31,000+ alumni, career services for alumni and students, and high-level collaborations with public and private institutions across the globe. In the Office of External Relations, Kathy oversees alumni experience, communications, events, fundraising, strategic initiatives, and operations. She also oversees the MIT Sloan Career Development Office, which builds and maintains corporate relationships and facilitates the career search process for MIT Sloan students. Additionally, she oversees Global Programs’ efforts to bring together multistakeholder initiatives to catalyze regional economic and social impact by implementing new educational models.

Prior to this role, Kathy was the executive director of external relations, where she oversaw the many activities across school for the MIT campaign. Kathy joined MIT Sloan in 2006 and has held a succession of roles at the school, including director of executive boards and director of alumni relations and annual giving.

Before joining MIT, Kathy worked for Netezza Corporation, a data warehousing firm that was acquired by IBM, and worked in operations for the Boston Celtics.

Kathy holds an MBA from Assumption College and a BA in business administration from Saint Anselm College.

Session: MIT Sloan Preconference Dinner 

Legena Henry SM ’10 

Legena Henry PhD is a mechanical engineer who has been the CEO of Rum and Sargassum Inc. since 2021, where her team is commercializing an indigenous renewable transportation solution in Barbados. She is also the lecturer for renewable energy at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, specializing in renewable energy and mechanical engineering. She researches sustainable energy sources in the Caribbean, such as biofuel from sargassum seaweed, ocean thermal energy conversion, and ocean wave energy. 
 

Session: Igniting Change: MIT Alumnae Leading Local Climate Action

Linda Henry SM ’05 

Linda Henry is the co-owner of Boston Globe Media, where she serves as chief executive officer of the thriving 153-year-old multimedia company that includes The Boston Globe, Boston.com, Boston Magazine, the Harvard Book Store, and Stat—a national life sciences publication.

Linda is deeply engaged in sports as a partner in the Fenway Sports Group, which stewards teams in the Premier League, MLB, NHL, NASCAR, TMRW Golf, and more. She is an investor at the league level in the PGA Tour, WNBA, LOVB League One Volleyball, and Unrivaled. Outside of sports, Linda is an Emmy-award-winning television producer, Emmy-award-winning documentary producer, children’s book author, and facilitator of a Guinness Book world record.

She is a lifetime learner, holding degrees from Babson, MIT, and Harvard. At MIT, she did a combination course 4, 11, and 15 degree in real-estate development that changed her life. She serves as chair, trustee, director, or advisor to 10 nonprofits that support and empower a wide variety of local and international communities. One such board is The Engine @ MIT, where she has served on the board since its launch in 2016. She got her scuba certification while at MIT, and it remains a favorite hobby that she shares with her two middle-school-aged kids. 

Session: Closing Plenary 

Kim Lesly Hunter ’86  

Kim Lesly Hunter '86 is the alumni volunteer stewardship officer for the MIT Alumni Association. Previously she oversaw the outreach team that serves as staff liaisons to alumni clubs and groups and was an associate director of admissions and the director of the Educational Council at MIT. She also was the marketing director for an import company, managed a cross-stitch publishing company, and ran a needlework business. Kim, an MIT alumna, has been a vibrant contributor to the Institute, having served on the Alumni Association Board of Directors and the National Selection Committee. In 2006, she was awarded the MIT Alumni Association Harold E. Lobdell ’17 Distinguished Service Award. Kim is a vice president and class agent for the MIT Class of 1986, a member of the House Corps Board for the Alpha Phi Sorority, and an educational counselor. She was on the reunion and gift committees for several reunions including the recent 35th reunion. Within her local community she served as vice chair for the Alton Housing for the Elderly, president of the Lakes Region Symphony Orchestra, president of the Lake Winnipesaukee Association, and was a founding incorporator of the Great Waters Music Festival. Kim earned an SB in chemical engineering from MIT.

Session: AMITA/COB Reception at the MIT Museum 

Adela Jamal SFMBA ’22 

Adela Jamal (MIT Sloan Fellows MBA ’22) is cofounder and managing partner at Milemark Capital, a venture capital firm founded by a team of MIT graduates. Milemark focuses on applied AI startups led by diverse teams out of innovation hubs like MIT. Adela is also an angel investor, advisor, and dedicated women’s advancement champion, serving on the AllRaise Steering Committee and AMITA Board. She is committed to fostering innovation and equity in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Her diverse professional background spans working with early-stage tech startups in Silicon Valley, serving in executive leadership roles at Sony Pictures, and launching global platforms aimed at empowering underrepresented communities. 
 

Session: Conference Emcee 

Christine Joseph SM ’19 

Christine Joseph served as a policy advisor at the Office of Space Commerce with NOAA and the Department of Commerce, supporting the Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS) program on technical, policy, and programmatic issues. Prior to her current role, Christine served with the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology’s Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics. Her professional interests include space policy, aerospace human factors, and human-autonomy interaction. She previously worked in the aerospace industry as a human systems engineer with Aurora Flight Sciences. Christine has a BA in electrical engineering from the University of Notre Dame and master’s degrees in aeronautics and astronautics and technology policy from MIT. 

Session: Looking Forward by Looking Up: MIT Women in Space 

Dina Katabi SM ’99, PhD ’03  

Dina Katabi is the Thuan and Nicole Pham Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT and the director of MIT’s Center for Wireless Networks and Mobile Computing. Her research focuses on innovations in digital health, wireless biosensing, and applied machine learning. Dina was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2013 and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She has also received three honorary degrees from the American University of Beirut, the American University of Cairo, and the Catholic University of America. Her research has been recognized with the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Prize in Computing, the ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award, two ACM SIGCOMM Awards and one ACM SIGMOBILE Test of Time Award, the Faculty Research Innovation Fellowship, a Sloan Research Fellowship, the NBX Career Development Chair, and the National Science Foundation CAREER Award. Her students twice received the ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award in computer science and engineering. Her work was also recognized with the IEEE William R. Bennett Prize, three ACM SIGCOMM Best Paper Awards, a Networked Systems Design and Implementation Best Paper Award, and a TR10 Award. Several startups have been spun out of Dina’s lab, including Emerald. Dina earned a BS from Damascus University and an SM and PhD from MIT. 

Session: Discoveries in Human Health Science 

Laura Knott SM ’87 

Laura Knott leads a vibrant chapter of the climate organization Mothers Out Front. In this role, she develops and hosts a broad range of educational programs and assists members working at the intersections of decreased biodiversity, increased environmental pollution, and surging climate change.

Laura is a writer and performer. Her work appears in The Georgia Review, the Boston Art Review, Duke Magazine, Hinterland, and Leonardo, and in publications of the MIT School of Architecture + Planning and the MIT Museum. This summer, she will participate in the Bread Loaf Environmental Writers Conference. Laura performed at the documenta exhibition, in the California desert, and on public television, among many other venues.

She served as the lead curator of the exhibition Rivers of Ice: Vanishing Glaciers of the Greater Himalaya, the first exhibition on climate change ever shown at the MIT Museum.

Laura studied environmental art at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT and political science and dance at Duke University. She has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and The Shifting Foundation and taught at Tufts University and in the MIT Program in Art, Culture, and Technology.

She was born in Mississippi.

Session: Igniting Change: MIT Alumnae Leading Local Climate Action

Monica Lee EMBA ’19

By White House Executive Order 14028, Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity, Monica Lee is a NASA detailee serving the Federal Reserve Bank National IT in the Office of the OCISO. In this role, Monica manages cyber engagement and enablement to ensure products and services are protected from malicious actors and threat agents.  
Monica is the former chief of staff for the NASA Johnson Space Center and is a senior leader in the agency. 

Monica has over two decades of low-Earth-orbit human-risk mitigation, as well as operational and sustaining engineering experience. She has executed over 3,000 hours in the Mission Control Center–Houston as an International Space Station flight controller, where she specialized in electrical power systems and was the first to earn three electrical power flight-controller certifications.

She brings an extensive mastery of negotiations and federal contracts as she served as the contracting officer technical representative managing Russian space contracts valued at over $4.4 billion USD, the largest international contract in the NASA agency.  

She has applied her scientific and financial acuity to expand human exploration in commercial activities, innovation theory, and applied technology transfer. She was awarded NASA’s Exceptional Achievement Medal.  

Monica worked as a contract consultant with Ernst and Young in Montreal, Canada, creating models to mitigate financial banking risks and establish corporate risk mitigation protocols. 

She has published research performed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on K-shell energies and transition rates for the Auger and radiative decays in carbon-like ions, which is used internationally in atomic and nuclear studies. 

Monica is an avid STEM and STEAM advocate.  

As a keynote speaker, Monica focuses on women’s empowerment; diversity, equity and inclusion; leadership for radical times; and creating exponential value in a connected world. 

Monica supports numerous nonprofit organizations. She is also a mentor to youth and girls through various affiliations. She is a board member for the MIT Leadership Center and a member of the Houston Arts Alliance Advisory Council.  

By the age of 21, Monica earned a BA in physics from Southern University and A&M College. She holds a MBA from MIT, where she was selected as a Sloan Leadership fellow. 

Session: Realize Your Superpower 

Deborah Liverman 

Deborah Liverman sets the strategic direction for Career Advising and Professional Development (CAPD), the Institute’s hub, to explore and prepare for jobs, internships, fellowships, and medical or graduate school. She oversees Career Services, Distinguished Fellowships, Prehealth Advising, and Graduate Student Professional Development, which provide opportunities centered on career and professional development and success for students, postdoctoral scholars, and alumni. Through strategic collaborations, department engagement, and student input, Deborah and her team provide career and professional development exploration and success

At MIT, Deborah coleads the Pay Equity Working Group, a team of collaborators across the university that promotes pay equity for MIT students and graduates from diverse backgrounds and experiences at the beginning, and throughout, their careers. The Working Group has been acknowledged for its efforts in increasing resources around pay equity for college graduates.

Session: Pay Equity—The Conversation Continues 

Kristina Masson EMBA ’23 

Kristina Masson is cofounder and EVP Business Operations at Acrivon Therapeutics, Inc., a publicly traded, Boston-based clinical stage company, and president and CEO of the company’s research subsidiary, Acrivon AB, located in Medicon Village, Sweden. Here she has established all infrastructure, heads all operations, and runs the phospho-proteomic discovery and early drug programs for the company’s proprietary AP3 platform. In 2016, she founded and operated OncoSignature AB, a small biotech company focused on identifying predictive biomarkers for clinical-stage cancer therapeutics. OncoSignature’s business was subsequently acquired by Acrivon AB.

Prior to being a biotech founder, Kristina was a principal scientist at Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, focusing on the discovery of biomarkers and combination strategies for the pipeline of oncology drug candidates. Before joining Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, she was a postdoctoral fellow in the Golub lab at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, developing novel cancer therapeutics.  

Kristina holds a PhD in molecular signaling and a MSc in biomedicine from Lund University, Sweden, and she received her executive MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. Kristina is a member of the board of directors for Acrivon Therapeutics, Inc. and Aqilion AB. 

Session: Biotechnological Advancements and the Future of Humanity 

Susan Neal 

Susan Neal is an entrepreneur-in-residence (EIR) and director of operations for the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship. Also, she is a lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management. She has over 20 years of experience in ecommerce/digital, marketing, technology, and product development. Before MIT, she was CEO/cofounder of ATACAMA, Inc., a revolutionary 3D microfluidics technology company with product applications in retail/manufacturing, healthcare, and the military. Prior to launching her own business, she was the EVP of marketing, ecommerce, and information technology at Tailored Brands, a $2.5+ billion specialty retailer of men’s apparel.

Susan holds an MBA from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France, and a BA in economics from Harvard University. 

Session: Entrepreneurial Orbits

Julie Newman (moderator) 

Julie Newman is a distinguished leader in sustainability, currently serving as the founding director of sustainability at MIT, a role she has held since 2013. In this capacity, she spearheaded the launch of MIT’s Office of Sustainability and serves as a lecturer in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning. Prior to her tenure at MIT, Julie was the founder of the Office of Sustainability at Yale University in 2004, where she also held a lecturer appointment with the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Her sustainability expertise dates to 1997, when she helped establish the University of New Hampshire’s Sustainability Institute.

Julie is an editor for the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education and Discover Sustainability and frequently lectures and consults with universities both nationally and internationally. She is also an active participant on a variety of advisory committees, where she continues to shape the future of sustainability in higher education nationally and globally. 
 

Session: Igniting Change: MIT Alumnae Leading Local Climate Action

Taylor Patskanick 

Taylor Patskanick is a research specialist at the MIT AgeLab, where she co-coordinates the MIT AgeLab 85+ Lifestyle Leaders panel, leads AgeLab research on older adult vaccination practices, contributes to research on financial losses preceding a formal dementia diagnosis, the future of advice, and people’s perceptions of longevity. Taylor also works with the Age Gain Now Empathy System (AGNES) and comanages OMEGA, an intergenerational summit and scholarship program.

Taylor’s research interests include examining people’s health and well-being practices as they age, exploring work as a social determinant of health, and enhancing professional development for workers in the aging services network and in the increasingly multigenerational workforce.

Taylor is a doctoral student at Boston College and the immediate past president of Boston Bridge, Inc., a Massachusetts-based professional development organization for leaders in the field of aging. Taylor is a licensed certified social worker (LCSW) and an adjunct faculty member at Simmons University in Boston, MA. She earned her MPH and MSW from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis and her BSW from the University of Georgia.

Session: Women, Aging, and What’s Next: Exploring Our Longevity Potential

Georgia Perakis 

Georgia Perakis is the John C Head III Dean (Interim) of the MIT Sloan School of Management and a professor of operations management, operations research & statistics at the MIT Sloan School of Management. She is on leave from the roles of codirector of the Operations Research Center and associate dean for Social and Ethical Responsibility in Computing (SERC) in the Schwarzman College of Computing and MIT Sloan.

Her widely published research has received many awards and focuses on analytics/AI, in particular on the intersection of optimization and machine learning with applications in pricing, revenue management, supply chain, and healthcare, among others. She received the PECASE Award from the Office of the President on science and technology. In 2016, she was elected as an INFORMS Fellow and, in 2021, as Distinguished MSOM Fellow.

Georgia has a passion for supervising PhD, master’s, and undergraduate students, having graduated 30 PhD and 59 master’s students.

She has received numerous awards for teaching, including the Graduate Student Council Teaching Award (2002), the Samuel M. Seegal Award (2012), the Jamieson Prize for Excellence in Teaching (2014), and the Teacher of the Year Award (2017) at MIT Sloan. Georgia is currently the editor-in-chief of the M&SOM journal and has served as editor at a number of other publications.

She holds a BS in mathematics from the University of Athens, an MS in applied mathematics, and a PhD in applied mathematics from Brown University. 

Session: MIT Sloan Alumnae Preconference Dinner 

Angeliki Diane Rigos PhD ’85 
 

In her various positions at MIT and her volunteer work, Diane Rigos is passionate about empowering STEMM graduate students, postdocs, and early career scientists to become the leaders that will help accelerate the energy transition and find solutions to the long list of challenges our planet is facing. She cocreated leadership programs for the Massachusetts Chapter of the Association for Women in Science and the MIT School of Science (MIT LEAPS) and founded a nonprofit, Epistimi, to expand this work for women in STEMM globally. She is the president of the MIT Club of Boston and the membership chair of AMITA. 

Session: AMITA/COB Reception at the MIT Museum

Nicki Roth

Nicki Roth is the lead coach for the MIT Leadership Center. The focus of her career has been to draw out the potential in everyone so they can show up as their most whole self. Her background in psychology, teams, and organizations positioned her for senior roles in consulting, human resources, leadership development, and psychotherapy.

Over time, Niki’s work zoomed in on leadership development. She witnessed too many organizational missteps due to ineffective leaders. She has supported executives across industries and continents to increase their self-awareness, make deeply personal changes, and evolve into compassionate role models.

Being at the Leadership Center has been Niki’s dream job. It integrates everything she knows that works for developing leaders. She is humbled every day to encounter remarkable students, alumni, and staff who are truly living the school’s mission. 

Session: Realize Your Superpower 

Kristin Smith ’04 

Kristin Smith is a lawyer based in Washington, D.C. She’s a MIT Course 10 graduate from the Class of 2004. In 2020, she cofounded the AMITA Pay Equity Working Group, and in 2021, she became a founding member of the MIT Equal Pay Working Group, led by Deborah Liverman and Mary Jane Daly. In addition to being a founding member of the Kandace Law Group, Kristin is also a cofounder of ArticleIP, Inc., a legal tech software company that is being incubated at Pear VC in Menlo Park, California. 
 

Session: Pay Equity—The Conversation Continues 

Megan Smith ’86, SM ’88 

Megan Smith is an award-winning entrepreneur, engineer, and tech evangelist. She is currently CEO & founder of shift7, board member of MIT, Vital Voices, LA28 Olympics, Thinkof-Us, PlanetRead, Algorithmic Justice League, and Earth Conservation Corp. Megan served as the third U.S. chief technology officer (U.S. CTO) and assistant to the president from 2014-2017 under President Obama, where she worked on issues from AI, data science, and open source to inclusive economic growth, entrepreneurship and workforce development, structural inequalities, government tech innovation capacity, and criminal justice reform. Championing national networks for capacity building, she cocreated all-hands-on-deck initiatives, including public-private programs TechHire, Computer Science for All, The Opportunity Project, AI town halls, and Image of STEM. 
 
Earlier, Megan spent over 11 years as a vice president at Google leading new business development, where she managed early-stage partnerships, pilot explorations, and technology licensing across the global engineering and product teams. She led acquisitions of Google Earth, Maps, and Picasa; championed inclusive advancement; led Google.org, adding Google Crisis Response, GoogleforNonProfits, Earth Outreach, and Earth Engine; and later cocreated WomenTechmakers and SolveforX. Megan served as CEO of PlanetOut, an online LGBTQ community and digital media company in the early days of the internet, was an engineer on early smartphone technologies at General Magic, and coled multimedia at Apple Japan. She was also a Cofounder of the Malala Fund and United Nations Solutions Summit; an advisor to USC Viterbi, Indigigenius/FLAIR, and Silicon Valley Comes to the UK; a visiting Shorenstein Fellow at HKS; and a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer. Megan holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from MIT and completed her master’s thesis work at the MIT Media Lab. She cofounded the MIT Solar Car team and was part of the student team that designed, built, and raced a solar car 2,000 miles across the Australian outback in the first World Solar Challenge. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the National Academy of Engineering. 
 
Today, through shift7 boards and advising, Megan works collaboratively on systemic social, environmental, and economic problems—finding opportunities to scout and scale promising solutions and solution makers and engage proven tech-forward, open, shareable practices to drive direct impact together. 

Session: AMITA/COB Reception at the MIT Museum 

Laura Stoppel PhD ’17 

Laura Stoppel is a partner at RA Capital Management. Laura works on both public and private investments and serves as a board director for Artiva Biotherapeutics, Nimbus Therapeutics, and Acumen Pharmaceuticals. Previously, Laura covered hematologic malignancies, cell therapies, retinal diseases, and orphan neurodevelopmental disorders. Laura holds a BA in biology and psychology from Harvard University and a PhD in neuroscience from MIT. Her graduate research investigated synaptic translation in syndromic autism. 

 

Session: Biotechnological Advancements and the Future of Humanity 

Shari Van Cleave EMBA ’15  

As a leader of global, multidisciplinary teams, Shari spearheaded digital transformations across industries, launching over 250 products in 55+ countries and consulting for 20+ Fortune 100 companies, including P&G, Bayer, and Johnson & Johnson. She’s helped transform organizations across the US, Europe, and Asia, encompassing product development, marketing, engineering, sales, and business innovation.  

Her team’s pivotal role in enabling Wells Fargo to introduce AI-based financial guidance marked it as the first major US bank to offer predictive banking to tens of millions of digital customers. In 2021, Shari steered a platform migration and modernization for Standard Chartered Bank, enabling AI, digital sales, servicing, and mobile adoption across 40+ countries. 

She’s not a leader who maintains the status quo. Instead, she serves as a change agent for teams that require vision, courage, creativity, and structure to venture into unknown landscapes. Under her leadership, teams build new products, launch new channels, and enter new markets, simultaneously advancing organizational culture. 

As the founder of The Retreat, a members-only leadership community, Shari is committed to fostering lifelong learning and service that cultivates inclusive, robust leadership within organizations. This commitment stems from her belief that organizations change our world through their products, supply chains, and employees. Her work has garnered attention in publications such as The Economist, CNN, and Fast Company. 

For over two decades, alongside her corporate career, she's dedicated herself to serving NGO boards and developing solutions for underserved communities globally. In 2024, she developed an AI tech accelerator for Opportunity International, with her Farmer AI initiative featured in Bloomberg and her work featured in Time magazine. 

Whether developing tech solutions for B2B, B2C, or farmers in Rwanda, Shari found that problem-solving requires consistent skills: listening intently, asking probing questions, challenging accepted norms, and confronting discomfort within herself and others with honesty and grace. 

On a personal note, she’s lived in the US, Europe, and Asia, received her yoga teacher certification in Bali, and considers the Pacific Northwest home, where she loves to go birding and hiking with Lala, her adventurous King Charles. 

Session: Entrepreneurial Orbits

Janelle Wellons ’16 

When Janelle Wellons graduated from MIT with a SB in aerospace engineering, she had no idea that it would spark the beginning of a career operating science instruments and spacecraft at the Moon, Saturn, and our own planet, Earth. She is currently a senior mission operations engineer at ispace inc., leading routine and critical space operations from the HAKUTO-R Mission Control Center as a flight director for the companies’ lunar lander missions.

Previously, Janelle worked at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) on the Earth observing MAIA, Sentinel-6, and SWOT missions, as well as the Cassini mission to Saturn and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Speaking to students about pursuing careers in space has been a constant throughout her career, and she has been grateful to share her message through features by PBS SciGirls, Nike, Lego, and more. At JPL, she was awarded the Bruce Murray Award for “inspiring students to engage in STEM, quenching their thirst for knowledge, and sparking a curiosity greater than the stars in the sky.”  

When she isn’t on-call to operate robots in space, you can find her exploring her new home in Japan and doing outreach for communities traditionally underrepresented in STEM. 

Session: Looking Forward by Looking Up: MIT Women in Space 

Speakers list is subject to change.