Discover CollabHERate at Cleveland WITCON 2024 –
The Premier Cleveland Women in Tech Conference by getWITit!
Get ready to experience a day of collaboration, innovation, and connection at WITCON 2024, brought to you by getWITit in Cleveland. As the leading organization dedicated to supporting women in technology, getWITit is proud to present an in-person conference event focused on fostering collaboration and breaking boundaries for women and non-gender-conforming individuals in the tech industry.
Join us for inspiring keynote speeches, interactive workshops, and invaluable networking opportunities, all designed to empower and elevate women in tech. At WITCON 2024, you’ll have the chance to connect with fellow professionals, thought leaders, and innovators, and be part of a supportive community committed to driving positive change in the tech industry.
Don’t miss this opportunity to CollabHERate, learn, and grow with us at Cleveland WITCON 2024. Reserve your spot now and be part of the movement to advance women in technology!
Join us for inspiring keynote speeches, interactive workshops, and invaluable networking opportunities, all designed to empower and elevate women in tech. At WITCON 2024, you’ll have the chance to connect with fellow professionals, thought leaders, and innovators, and be part of a supportive community committed to driving positive change in the tech industry.
Don’t miss this opportunity to CollabHERate, learn, and grow with us at Cleveland WITCON 2024. Reserve your spot now and be part of the movement to advance women in technology!
Keynote Sessions
Dr. Kirsten Ellenbogen
President & CEO, Great Lakes Science Center
Dr. Kirsten Ellenbogen energetic leadership has included a range of educational partnerships, including a collaboration with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District that reaches every 6th, 7th, and 8th grade class with programming on everything from circuitry to blockchain. The Science Center has been honored for this work and was named a 2021 National Medal for Museum and Library Service finalist, recognizing their pioneering approaches and commitment to community solutions.
Her research and evaluation brings together science communication, rhetoric, and informal science education. Her leadership over the last thirty years has advanced informal science education through the Center for Informal Learning and Schools, the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network, the Museum Learning Collaborative, and as co-principal investigator of the Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education. She serves as co-chair of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Standing Committee on Advancing Science Communication, served on the committee that produced the report Learning Science in Informal Environments: People, Places & Pursuits, and most recently has been appointed to the Board on Science Education.
Recent recognition includes the Community Inspiration Award at STEMCON, Crain’s Women of Note, Cleveland Magazine Women Living STEM, and Cleveland 500 Leaders, Doers, Visionaries, & Idea Generators Who Shape the City. She has volunteered on a number of local and national boards including serving as president of the Visitor Studies Association and as Program Chair of the Association of Science & Technology Centers. She currently serves as Board chair of the Cleveland Water Alliance.
President & CEO, Great Lakes Science Center
Dr. Kirsten Ellenbogen energetic leadership has included a range of educational partnerships, including a collaboration with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District that reaches every 6th, 7th, and 8th grade class with programming on everything from circuitry to blockchain. The Science Center has been honored for this work and was named a 2021 National Medal for Museum and Library Service finalist, recognizing their pioneering approaches and commitment to community solutions.
Her research and evaluation brings together science communication, rhetoric, and informal science education. Her leadership over the last thirty years has advanced informal science education through the Center for Informal Learning and Schools, the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network, the Museum Learning Collaborative, and as co-principal investigator of the Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education. She serves as co-chair of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Standing Committee on Advancing Science Communication, served on the committee that produced the report Learning Science in Informal Environments: People, Places & Pursuits, and most recently has been appointed to the Board on Science Education.
Recent recognition includes the Community Inspiration Award at STEMCON, Crain’s Women of Note, Cleveland Magazine Women Living STEM, and Cleveland 500 Leaders, Doers, Visionaries, & Idea Generators Who Shape the City. She has volunteered on a number of local and national boards including serving as president of the Visitor Studies Association and as Program Chair of the Association of Science & Technology Centers. She currently serves as Board chair of the Cleveland Water Alliance.
Sandra Estok
Sandra Estok, MBA, GIAC-GSLC, CIPM, aC|CISO, Founder of Way2Protect®, utilizes her 25-plus years of experience in the Cybersecurity, IT, and Data Privacy industries and her nightmare ID theft story to inspire her audience to overcome their fears of the cyber world and protect what matters most against hackers, scammers, and Cybermonsters®.
Sandra is the international bestselling author of the award-winning book series Happily Ever Cyber!® and the Cyber Literacy series for children, available in English and Spanish. She is also the podcast host of Cyber Mindful with Sandra.
She is a keynote TEDx speaker and corporate trainer. Throughout her career, Sandra has held numerous positions in Fortune 500 companies and private and public organizations.
Sandra’s mission is to empower women, families, and businesses to take charge of their cyber safety through simple, mindful cybersecurity practices and relatable human stories. Her vision is that “We all live Happily Ever Cyber!”
Sandra Estok, MBA, GIAC-GSLC, CIPM, aC|CISO, Founder of Way2Protect®, utilizes her 25-plus years of experience in the Cybersecurity, IT, and Data Privacy industries and her nightmare ID theft story to inspire her audience to overcome their fears of the cyber world and protect what matters most against hackers, scammers, and Cybermonsters®.
Sandra is the international bestselling author of the award-winning book series Happily Ever Cyber!® and the Cyber Literacy series for children, available in English and Spanish. She is also the podcast host of Cyber Mindful with Sandra.
She is a keynote TEDx speaker and corporate trainer. Throughout her career, Sandra has held numerous positions in Fortune 500 companies and private and public organizations.
Sandra’s mission is to empower women, families, and businesses to take charge of their cyber safety through simple, mindful cybersecurity practices and relatable human stories. Her vision is that “We all live Happily Ever Cyber!”
Emma Finestone, Ph.D.
Associate Curator and the Robert J. and Linnet E. Fritz Endowed Chair of Human Origins
Dr. Emma Finestone uses archaeological fieldwork to investigate adaptive shifts in the human lineage that relate to the early manufacture and use of stone tools. The origins of toolmaking have important implications for our ancestors’ relationship with their environment and their ability to forage for a wide range of food resources. Dr. Finestone’s field projects in eastern Africa span evolutionary changes over the past 3 million years and focus on reconstructing the mobility, range expansion, and landscape use of toolmakers to illuminate how early tool technology facilitated the spread of human ancestors around the globe. She studies some of the earliest-known stone tools, which were used to butcher hippos more than 2.6 million years ago. Her work has received awards from the National Science Foundation, the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation, and the American Association of Biological Anthropologists.
Dr. Finestone is passionate about fostering diversity, equity, and access in the field of biological anthropology and spearheads several initiatives in science communication and outreach. She is enthusiastic about sharing international fieldwork in human origins with the Cleveland community by acting as a local resource and ambassador for science. Before joining the Cleveland Museum of Natural History as Assistant Curator of Human Origins, Dr. Finestone served as Group Leader of Archaeology and Head of the Archaeology Laboratory Unit at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena, Germany. Previously, she served as an instructor at Lehman College and Hunter College and as a research affiliate of the National Museums of Kenya.
Dr. Finestone received her Ph.D. in biological anthropology in 2019 from the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center. Prior to her time at CUNY, she worked in the Conservation and Science Department at the Lincoln Park Zoo studying the foraging and tool behaviors of chimpanzees and gorillas. Dr. Finestone earned a B.A. with honors in anthropology and biology from the University of Chicago in 2010.
Associate Curator and the Robert J. and Linnet E. Fritz Endowed Chair of Human Origins
Dr. Emma Finestone uses archaeological fieldwork to investigate adaptive shifts in the human lineage that relate to the early manufacture and use of stone tools. The origins of toolmaking have important implications for our ancestors’ relationship with their environment and their ability to forage for a wide range of food resources. Dr. Finestone’s field projects in eastern Africa span evolutionary changes over the past 3 million years and focus on reconstructing the mobility, range expansion, and landscape use of toolmakers to illuminate how early tool technology facilitated the spread of human ancestors around the globe. She studies some of the earliest-known stone tools, which were used to butcher hippos more than 2.6 million years ago. Her work has received awards from the National Science Foundation, the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation, and the American Association of Biological Anthropologists.
Dr. Finestone is passionate about fostering diversity, equity, and access in the field of biological anthropology and spearheads several initiatives in science communication and outreach. She is enthusiastic about sharing international fieldwork in human origins with the Cleveland community by acting as a local resource and ambassador for science. Before joining the Cleveland Museum of Natural History as Assistant Curator of Human Origins, Dr. Finestone served as Group Leader of Archaeology and Head of the Archaeology Laboratory Unit at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena, Germany. Previously, she served as an instructor at Lehman College and Hunter College and as a research affiliate of the National Museums of Kenya.
Dr. Finestone received her Ph.D. in biological anthropology in 2019 from the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center. Prior to her time at CUNY, she worked in the Conservation and Science Department at the Lincoln Park Zoo studying the foraging and tool behaviors of chimpanzees and gorillas. Dr. Finestone earned a B.A. with honors in anthropology and biology from the University of Chicago in 2010.
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SPEAK AT WITCON 2023
- Data Science/AI/ML
- Product Development (Includes Front-end, Back-end, Coding, QA and Testing, Integration)
- User Experience (UX) and Design
- User Adoption and Change management
- Data Privacy, Security and Ethics (includes Blockchain, Universal ID, Privacy)
- Infrastructure -- includes Networks, Cloud, Mobile
- Startup and Innovation - IOT, Enterprise, Digital
- Leadership (Includes Leading teams, CIO Track, IT Strategy, Transformation, PMO)
- Professional growth and development
- Improving Team performance (includes Project management, program management, Agile, Scrum, Product Management)
Become a Sponsor
Our mission is to inspire more women to enter the field of technology by building a supportive environment where those women can flourish and create opportunities for more women to ascend into leadership roles. As we are a non-profit, we rely on the help of external sponsors to help us unite, support, and promote diversity in tech throughout the Cleveland region.
Interested in getting Involved? Send all sponsorship inquiries to: cleveland.oh.chapter@getwitit.org