SIMCAC Women is proud to host its 4th Annual Leadership Summit.  All current members are welcome, and eligible prospective members are encouraged to join us as a way to get to know our community.

As the business world continues to grow and thrive while building their brands and creating streams of revenue and profitability, they are also recognizing the benefit of being intentional on programs that reflect a diverse, inclusive workforce.  Companies are making a concerted effort to fully embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion as a strategic objective, thereby, creating an environment for all stakeholders (customers/clients, staff, shareholders, board of directors) to enjoy representation, inclusion, and diversity among all levels of staff.
Research has shown that there are benefits to organizations with DEI programs:

• Every employee shows up without fear of showing their true selves.
• It fosters loyalty amongst staff.
• It spurs a wider net around ideation, innovation, and contributions. A diverse group of thinkers from various backgrounds, experiences, brings to bear a variety of ideas and innovative thinking that can only enhance the bottom line.
• It conveys a positive image for the organization as customers and other stakeholders view it as forward thinking and showcases representation and acceptance.
• It offers a competitive edge.  An organization with robust DEI programs, sits above its competition for talent and business opportunities. Many high-level job seekers are fine tuning their search around companies that reflect diversity.
  

Hear more about how Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is such a critical corporate imperative to add value and elevate your organization.  In addition, we will discuss ways that you can ensure your technology organization is inclusive and welcoming to all.

Our Moderator

C. Fara Francis, Global CTO, Center for Creative Leadership

C. Fara Francis is the Chief Technology Officer for the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) - a top-ranked, global provider of leadership development. CCL's human-centered approach to leadership creates a fertile space for executing on forward-looking frameworks to make the right decisions in selecting and deploying value-add tools, systems, and platforms to advance the mission. Prior to CCL, she served as Chief Information Officer for ASCD, where she contributed thought leadership and spearheaded the strategic implementation of technology solutions to effectively service over 100,000 global association members.  Prior roles include CIO for AGC of America, and Senior Technology Consultant and Manager for both Grant Thornton, LLP and BroadPoint Technologies.  Fara is PMP Certified and holds an Executive Leadership Certificate in Strategy and Innovation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management, and an M.B.A. in Finance from Marymount University.  She serves on the Board of the Society for Information Management (SIM) Capital Area (DC) Chapter and as an Advisory Member for the SIM National Chapter Advisory Board.  Fara enjoys encouraging and inspiring uplifting others to pursue their dreams and goals.

Our Panel

Shermila Lemos-Martina, MBA, IT Engagement Director, Kforce IT Solutions

Shermila is an IT Engagement Director on the service delivery side of KForce Inc, and she reports into the CIO. During her career at Kforce, which spans over two decades, Shermila has significantly contributed to the success of several enterprise wide programs and products, including Kforce’s recent CRM shift from a legacy platform to Dynamics.  She believes in not being average, and she is passionate about ensuring that people have a voice so that they can be heard.  It is this passion for inclusivity that made the CRM transformation project such a great success.  Sometimes it does take a village.  Shermila earned her MBA from USF after being born and raised in Curacao.  She is married with two children and loves Sci-Fi moves (as is apparent by her “Sherminator” nickname), Thai Food, cooking, board games and dancing.

Rubyna Zito, Vice President, Technology Operations and Services, FINRA

Rubyna Zito is a Vice President of Technology Operations and Services and the Chief of Staff to the CIO at FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority). She manages Technology Operations and Services that include Technology Compliance Office, Training, Communications, Reporting, Space planning and redesign. Her responsibilities as Chief of Staff include coordinating strategic priorities, driving key initiatives and monitoring progress against critical deliverables.  She also owns the implementation and governance of the Vendor Management Office, enterprise wide at FINRA, which includes management of the Vendor management system, Fieldglass, supplier optimization, and executive reporting. 
 
Prior to this role, Rubyna has held a variety of leadership roles at Citi including Chief Administration Officer and Communications manager for ICG (Institutional Clients Group) Technology, Compliance manager in Global Transaction Services, and led the Technology Strategy and Planning team within ICG. Most recently prior to FINRA, she was a Program Director of a Global Re-engineering initiative across technology where she was responsible for creating and improving processes, standards, and helped in the planning for technology investments, and on ongoing initiatives to improve the organization’s overall efficiency.
  
Rubyna received her undergraduate degrees in Economics and Philosophy from Rutgers University. 

Robert Lohfeld Jr., Founder and CEO, Sev1Tech, LLC

Robert Lohfeld Jr. is the founder and CEO of Sev1Tech, LLC headquartered in Woodbridge, Va. He is a industry leader with over 25 years of experience in IT facilities design and integration, IT strategy, and large-scale performance-based program management.

Prior to founding Sev1Tech, Mr. Lohfeld served as deputy director of the Enterprise Data Center Operations Group for U.S. Customs and Border Protection where he managed mission-critical operations, IT service delivery and infrastructure management and business continuity.

Robert holds a master’s degree in international management from the University of Maryland and a Bachelor of Arts degree in international political systems from Mount Saint Mary’s University. Robert is a justice of peace for the State of Virginia and a member of the Inc. CEO project.

Noelle Johnson, CEO, My Interview Buddy

Noelle Johnson has over a decade of experience working in operations and transforming company culture to be more equitable and an overall happier work environment.

In addition to this role, Noelle is the CEO of My Interview Buddy, a career services company. In this position she manages a team to help job seekers land their dream job and works with organizations on LinkedIn, recruiting efforts, and personal branding workshops for their staff. 

Noelle has earned a positive reputation for her expertise and has been quoted in Forbes, Fast Company, Glassdoor, NPR, and more. She has also written for Medium, Cameron Diaz's Your Body Book, and professional women's websites like InHerSight and PowerToFly. She has also been interviewed and has co-hosted several podcasts including the Sugar and Spikes Podcast. 

Noelle has given speeches and lead workshops to small and large groups, in person and digitally on topics including but not limited to; microaggressions, establishing inclusion effort at work, self-advocacy at work, developing a diverse network, allyship, and addressing unconscious bias.