Eslam is the Information & Operations Technology Director and Digitization Leader for Box Elder; Paper Products Plant in Utah (Producing Bounty, Charmin, Pampers, and Always). He’s worked with P&G for 12 years across different domains (Supply Chain, IT, and Manufacturing) and across different geographies such as Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, and US. Eslam is Egyptian and has an Industrial Engineering bachelor’s degree from Alexandria University, Egypt and Business Informatics Diploma from Nottingham University, UK. Outside of work he enjoys Scuba Diving, Traveling, Movies, and Reading.

Jorge is Granite Construction’s Vice President of People & Culture/Chief Diversity Officer.  In his role, he is responsible for Inclusive Diversity, where he helps the company implement strategies that address Granite’s guiding belief that diverse backgrounds, perspectives, cultures, and experiences enhance creativity and innovation. Jorge brings an innovative approach to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and looks to make a lasting impact at Granite and in the construction industry.

Before joining Granite, Jorge served as Senior Director of Diversity and Inclusion – Leadership Development at Northwestern Mutual and Chief Diversity Officer at Kraft Foods. He spent over 25 years at Allstate Insurance Company and held leadership roles in Human Resources, D&I, Product Operations, Product Development, Marketing, Claims, and Sales. Throughout the years, Jorge has been active in civic and community organizations, such as the Association of Hispanic Professionals for Education, the Urban League of Orange County (CA), Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Los Angeles, Leadership Greater Chicago, the Latino Policy Forum, the Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement (HACE), the Chicago Posse Foundation and served as a board member at Rancho Cielo in Salinas, CA.

Jorge currently sits on the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Committee for the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) and the Associated General Contractors of California. He also serves as the Co-Chair of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association’s (ARTBA) Workforce Development Committee. Finally, in 2021, Jorge became the cohost of Construction DEI Talks, a podcast with tools for building Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the construction industry. Jorge Quezada and his wife, Judith, live in Soquel, California. He is the proud father of his daughter, Venezia, and son Marc Anthony. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Whittier College and a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Sheryl Ehrman is the Don Beall Dean of the Davidson College of Engineering at San José State University, a position she has held since 2017. Prior to joining San José State, she was a member of the faculty of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park, for 19 years, serving as Keystone Professor and Chair from 2010 to 2017. Dean Ehrman’s research interests are in aerosol technology and air pollution, and in the retention and career success of students and faculty from historically underserved groups. Dean Ehrman received her PhD degree from UCLA and her BS degree from UC Santa Barbara, both in chemical engineering. She is a past president and fellow of the American Association for Aerosol Research (AAAR) and a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AICHE).

With over 26 years of experience, Tway Huynh serves as a Senior Proposal Manager at Granite Construction. In her role, she leads teams and oversees the entire proposal process, ensuring both the aesthetics and written content are on point. She values the emotional impact of information and is dedicated to mentoring others to achieve their aspirations. Outside of work, she enjoys collecting rare plants and heart-shaped rocks while also working on her book about kindness. Tway resides in North San Diego County, California.

Vinay is the Oxnard Plant Finance Director at the P&G Family Care site where they make Bounty and Charmin Paper Products. He’s worked at P&G for 20 years, where he’s had a variety of roles in engineering, manufacturing and finance. He graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering and received his MBA at Xavier University. Outside of work, he enjoys hiking, reading, and spending time with his family.

Dan Hata is a seasoned engineering leader at Google, currently focused on driving productivity for backend search engineers. With over 20 years in the tech industry, he combines in-depth engineering expertise with a passion for management and mentorship. He graduated from Cal Poly SLO with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Information Systems. His hobbies include #dogs #sports #parenting #90shiphop #weightlifting

I am a Lead Software Engineer on the Internet Measurement Platform team at Comcast. My passion for technology had sparked when I was first learning to code. Since then, every day has been one of learning, failure, success, and growth. My favorite aspect of this field is the seemingly infinite amount of material explore; there is always a new concept to grasp, a new skill to build, and a new technology to leverage when solving a problem.

John Marmie recently retired from NASA Ames Research Center after nearly 35 orbits around the sun.  John obtained a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering from Ohio University.  His career spanned multiple roles and significant achievements that have been instrumental in the continued mission success of the Agency.  His accomplishments to NASA have been numerous from X-planes, high-altitude instrument development and flight testing in Brazil and Ireland, to the Personal Satellite Assistant-a precursor to the Astrobee free flying robots aboard the ISS.  As the Deputy Project manager for the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), the mission confirmed the presence of water ice on the moon and led to NASA's next lunar robotic rover mission "VIPER" and sets the stage for extending our human presence further into our solar system.  As the Assistant Project Manager on the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) mission, scientists today continue to study the solar atmosphere.  John was also involved in early proposal support for the OSIRIS-Rex mission which recently returned a sample from the asteroid Bennu.  He then led the cubesat mission, Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator (PTD) in the early phase. Upon being named the Commercial Partnerships lead on the Asteroid Redirect Mission, he also became Deputy Division Chief of the Programs and Projects Management Division, then ended his career as the Acting Deputy Director of Engineering at NASA Ames.  John has mentored multiple students along his journey and found a stage to combine his passion for songwriting with his love of space.  He has played live at launch events, multiple events at NASA Ames and also at the Star Trek Convention, Las Vegas.  John's hope is that he made a difference during his career and that he educated, entertained and inspired the next generation of explorers.

Jonathan: borned and raised in Congo, moved to the USA as a high school student. Initially started college at Pace University, before transferring to SJSU. Graduated in 2022; and has been working at Google since July 2022. In my spare time, I enjoy working out, playing piano, hiking, and spending time with friends.

Joshua Heier is the Firmware Release Manager for WAN Products at Cisco Meraki, where he has worked for over 9 years. His journey at Cisco encompasses roles in Network Support and Product Management, contributing significantly to growing and supporting Meraki's MX line of network security appliances, which now boasts over 2 million active devices worldwide. Josh graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Computer Networking and Information Security from Champlain College. Outside of work, he runs a website focused on alternative investments and enjoys hobbies like video games, hiking, and playing frisbee.

Katherine Soohoo is a Software Developer at IBM and temporary Lecturer at San Jose State University. She received a Bachelors of Science in Computer Science from San Jose State University and has 7 years of industry experience. At IBM, she works on Db2 for z/OS, a relational database on the mainframe that powers the world's mission critical workloads. In her previous role as a Technical Lead, she led the efforts to modernize the Db2 application developer experience. Outside of work, she likes to cook, play guitar, and go to concerts.

Kelly Masegian is the career counselor liaison to the College of Engineering serving over 5000 undergraduate students. Previously, she worked with the Foothill/DeAnza Internship program at NASA Ames serving as an internship coordinator for 5 years providing career guidance and supervision to up to 125 interns each session. As the mother of four, she is used to a fast-paced environment, and deeply believes in helping students learn to navigate and be proactive in their career planning.

Lisa Nguyen is a principal airport transportation planner for Denver International Airport in Colorado. Lisa specializes in bridging the gap between urban design, planning, and traffic engineering. She graduated with a Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines and earned her Master’s in transportation engineering at the University of Colorado Denver.

As someone who failed her driver’s permit test at the age of 15 and high-centered the driver’s education test vehicle, Lisa quickly realized transportation and safety were critical to our everyday lives- and is often overlooked. Her goal is to help communities move in a safer, more sustainable manner.

Additionally, Lisa serves actively on boards and committees within ITE, WTS, and SASE. In her free time, Lisa enjoys trail running and skiing, devouring poke bowls and boba tea, and visiting the hippos at the zoo.

Marissa is currently a Regional Coordinator for the SASE West Team. She is an ASU Alumni and currently works at Northrop Grumman as an aeronautical engineer. When she is not at work, you can often find her dancing. She has been introduced to Kpop for around for around 8 years and has been teaching Kpop for dance groups for around 5 years. You might have recently seen her at SASE National Conference teaching a Kpop workshop there. Her favorite Kpop groups are Itzy, Mamamoo, and Kard.

Max Rothe graduated from San Jose State with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2023. During his time at SJSU Max placed at the Silicon Valley Innovation Challenge three years in a row, and graduated the Outstanding Graduating Senior of his class. He now works with the Office of Innovation as the Program Manager for the SpartUp Incubator where he works with students, alumni, faculty, and staff to help them bring their ideas to life. He is also an R&D Engineer for a medical device startup in the cardiovascular space.

Michael Ashley, AKA Mash, is an Adjunct Professor and Launch Director at San José State University, where his expertise spans Operations Management, International Business, Entrepreneurship, and Go-to-Market Strategy. As the Launch Director for the SpartUp Incubator at SJSU, Mash has played a pivotal role in incubating over 30 startup teams, significantly impacting the entrepreneurial landscape. His real-world experience as an entrepreneur and advisor, marked by four successful exits, lends practical insights into his teaching and mentorship. 

At the forefront of innovation in strategic alignment, Mash is the founder of Foclarity, where he is developing strategic alignment software designed to enhance the efficiency of small teams. His work in the field of business strategy, coupled with a rich educational background in business and technology, position him as a thought leader in strategic alignment and entrepreneurship. Mash's approach to business is characterized by a blend of academic rigor and real-world pragmatism, making him a sought-after speaker and expert in the startup community.

Nathanael Lacuata is an Associate Mechanical Engineer working at Northrop Grumman and has been working in this position since August 2023. He is also an SJSU Alumni, graduating Spring 2023 with a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering with a focus in Systems and Design. During his time at SJSU he’s been very involved in SASE, having served as the chapter’s 2021-22 Marketing Chair and the 2022-2023 President. In his free time, he enjoys cooking, baking, 3D printing, and video games.

Prat Prem Sankar is currently a Sales & Business Development Manager at Flexiv Robotics handling the Midwest Territory.

In his current role he is responsible for finding key accounts, building a channel partner integrator network, and handling direct sales via cold outreach.

He graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) with a Bachelor’s in Robotics Engineering and has experience in working with robotics arms, autonomous mobile robots, and industrial control systems.

His hobbies include 3D printing, Badminton, Ultimate, and Board Games.

Rachel Williams is a senior design researcher with experience at Ford across the human centered design, venture startup, and experience design teams. Her project work has focused on electric vehicle adoption, the future of work vehicles and pickup trucks, and loyalty and memberships. She is involved in DE&I initiatives in the Ford workplace community as well as in her research and design practices. She graduated from Auburn University with a major in Industrial Design and a minor and focus area in Sociology and Urban Planning. Outside of work she enjoys playing with her dog, trying new recipes, and hiking in the East Bay.

For many years, Ronke Majekodunmi (she/her) has been a noteworthy leader and powerhouse in product management. She has dedicated her career to creating outstanding, world-class products and investing her time to educate the next generation of product leaders. Her mission is to make the world of product management more accessible for diverse product makers entering the field - providing insights and authentic experiences for the next generation to draw from. As the former Director of Product at Promevo, Ronke led the product management department, overseeing product development and teams dedicated to delivering value to both the company and its customers. Ronke is widely recognized for her expertise in product management, making her a highly sought-after figure in the professional community.

Roy Antonyraj is a entrepreneur, maker and mentor. He is the co-founder and CTO of Zycada Networks. He focuses on building great products in networking and security. Before Zycada, he was building security solutions in Symantec and VeriSign. In his free time, he loves to read or hike.

I am Subbu Srinivasan, Senior Director of Engineering for Emerging Technologies at Zscaler, an enterprise cloud security company.  I have 30 years of experience in the hi-tech industry and hold over 20+ patents. My current focus areas are delivering products using the latest AI/ML technologies.

I hold a Masters in computer Science and Bachelors in Electrical engineering.

Thuc Nguyen is a Senior Software Engineer with more than two decades of experience working for many companies in the Bay Area including eBay, PayPal, LinkedIn, and Google. He graduated from UC Berkeley with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. He is a regular volunteer with the Second Harvest Food Bank and Catholic Charities. He is currently transitioning to a teaching career. Some of the frequently used apps on his phone are Headspace (meditation), Duolingo (Spanish), NYT Games (crossword puzzles), Audible (audiobooks), Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, RunKeeper (running), and Strong (weightlifting).

Dr. Wendy Lee is an assistant professor of Computer Science and the graduate coordinator of the MS Bioinformatics program at San Jose State University. She holds a Ph.D. in Bioinformatics from UC Santa Cruz, an MS in Molecular Biology from SJSU, and a BMath in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo. With over a decade in the industry, she specializes in developing bioinformatics analytical tools and pipelines. Her research centers on applying bioinformatics and machine learning to analyze next-gen sequencing data. She actively promotes women and girls in STEM and serves as the faculty advisor for SJSU Girls Who Code and the Bioinformatics Club.