International Business Times put together an article on the top women in technology in the US. I knew the first three, as they’ve been in the news quite a bit recently (Ursula Burns at Xerox, Meg Whitman at HP, and Virginia Rometty at IBM). It was nice to learn some other names in industry, as well as the top women leading technical institutions (including Susan Hockfield at MIT) and heading the EPA and NOAA.
I’ve gotten to meet and talk to President Hockfield on several ocassions. With her strong background in neuroscience and her charisma and ability to engage a crowd, she’s done a good job of pushing MIT to become more inter-disciplinary internally, as well as getting MIT to become more of a voice and leader in solving not only the problems of the US, but also the world. She is also great about getting out there, whether it be traveling to different parts of the world to engage with MIT Alumni, to joining my 10 year reunion event in June to have dinner with us and take some pictures in the photo booth :-). Prof Hockfield certainly serves as a role model and inspiration to me, and it is powerful to think about all of the lives she is impacting and opinions she is changing by serving in the role that she does.