Session Abstract:
Join us for the third of four in our 2023 series: “Industry Movers and Shakers”. Throughout the year, you’ll continue hearing from women who are illuminating IoT across industries. In this session, thought leaders will explore real-world use cases focused on transforming Manufacturing and Energy. Join us to learn how Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and Computer Vision (CV) play a pivotal role in this transformation. Panelists include industry experts from SAS and Link Labs.
Speakers:
Michele Null is an evangelist for IoT, Edge, artificial intelligence and open hybrid cloud. She works closely with customers and partners to understand market requirements and then works in conjunction with product management and engineering to ensure technology and solutions meet key market needs and will help drive business value. She collaborates with partners to support strategic joint go-to-market initiatives in target verticals. Michele enjoys being an active member of global IoT consortiums including the IoT Community, serving on the Board of Directors and also as the Co-Chair of the Women in IoT Center of Excellence since 2019. She is an active member of RIoT, serving as a partnership leader and member of the Founders’ Roundtable. Michele was included on CBT’s list of Top 25 IIoT Influencers in 2021. She was also recognized as the IoT Community MVP for her work in 2020. After graduating from the University of Virginia, Michele began her journey in the technology field, which has spanned over two decades. Prior to joining Red Hat in 2021, Michele spent 7 years at SAS in various roles involving IoT go-to-market strategy. She became one of the initial team members of the IoT Division, which she helped charter. She led product and partner marketing within the IoT Division. Michele also held various roles during her 10-year tenure at IBM, including product management, product marketing and program management.
Erika Franco is a technical leader with over 15 years of experience in networking and 6 years in industrial automation. She currently works as a Technical Leader at Cisco in the IoT Solutions group. She is responsible for designing end-to-end architectures for manufacturing and leading the validation efforts to ensure secure and reliable implementations. Erika is a contributor to the Cisco and Rockwell Automation Converged Plant-wide Ethernet (CPwE) design guides. She works closely with automation and control partners such as Rockwell Automation and Schneider Electric and serves as a representative of Cisco in the ODVA Conformance interest group. Erika is certified as a Profinet network engineer, areas of expertise include cyber security for industrial solutions, software defined networking (SDN), and Cisco TrustSec.
Jennifer Halstead is the chief financial officer at Link Labs, a leading provider of an end-to-end IoT platform for tagging, locating and monitoring equipment, supplies and assets anywhere at any time. An expert in start-up and early-stage financing, Jennifer plays a vital role in projecting, forecasting, budgeting and reporting the capital required to support Link Labs’ go to market strategy. With more than 20 years of experience in finance and legal compliance, she also plays an essential role in the company’s marketing, human resources and operations management. Prior to joining Link Labs, Jennifer spent seven years as the director of finance with Cloudistics, an on-premises cloud computing company, delivering a complete public cloud experience with composable on-premises infrastructures to medium and large enterprises. During her time with Cloudistics, she supported the company through its integration of core technology into Lenovo’s ThinkAgile CP and acquisition by Fungible. Preceding Cloudistics, Jennifer was the controller for AppAssure Software, a software provider of backup, replication and recovery solutions for virtual, physical and cloud infrastructures, where she led the company’s sale to Dell Technologies. During her tenure at AppAssure, she played a key role in driving the company’s 33 consecutive quarters of revenue growth. After the acquisition by Dell Technologies, Jennifer was the controller for Dell Software’s data protection division, managing worldwide finance functions for all data protection products. For 15 years, Jennifer also ran her own public accounting firm, Halstead & Halstead PC, which specialized in outsourced CFO services to software companies and non-profit organizations. Jennifer holds a master’s degree in accounting and business management. She is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), passing the CPA exam in the top 1% in Virginia. Jennifer is a musician who performs regularly with her spouse and seven children, including performances at The White House.
Hardi Desai is an experienced computer vision industrial researcher who has successfully built and deployed deep-learning models for various customers. She supports the Product Management team and customers when integrating SAS AI and ML tools for analytical solutions. She has previously worked with Conduent Labs (formerly Xerox Research Center). She completed her master’s in Electrical Engineering at NC State University with a specialization in computer vision and machine learning. In her free time she enjoys cooking and hiking.
Amanda Healy is an award-winning marketing leader, social media expert, and national speaker. As, Head of IoT Global Demand Generation, Awareness, Marketing Operations for Cisco’s Internet of Things (IoT) group, she drives thought leadership, brand awareness, and advocacy for IoT at Cisco. Amanda has trained world-class teams ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies on how to leverage social media, spoken at industry-leading conferences including the Massachusetts Conference for Women, Women in Technology International Summit, Microsoft Envision, Social Tools Summit, Watermark’s Lead On Conference for Women, and more, and regularly conducts workshops for small, medium, and large companies, trade shows, and groups. Get in touch with Amanda on Twitter at @amanda_healy, or send her an email at Amanda.Healy37@gmail.com to bring her in to speak at your organization or event.
Lori Kimbro has 20+ years of experience in embedded software development. She has spent the last 12 years in the “things” side of IOT via industrial motor controls and metering. Her prior experience includes robotics and medical devices.
Register Now for the IoT Grand Slam Live 2023 event at HPE global headquarters, Texas, USA, December 13 – 14, 2023
