If we can’t clone Ann, what actions can we all take to improve the gender balance and general approach to diversity and inclusion in our tech organisations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SPEAKERS
Speaker 1 – Ann Ledwith, SAGE
Speaker 2 – Helen Baker, SAGE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AGENDA
Arrival: from 18.00 for refreshments and networking
Event: 18.30
Introduction and Welcome 5 minutes
Ann Ledwith 25 minutes
Helen Baker 25 minutes
Questions and discussion 15 minutes
Networking
Close 20.00
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SYNOPSIS
There will be two talks at this event
Talk 1: How we at Sage leverage automation, technologies such as infrastructure as code, and delivery blueprints to better support our application delivery teams.
Talk 2: If we can’t clone Ann, what actions can we all take to improve the gender balance and general approach to diversity and inclusion in our tech organisations. Why should we bother and how can tech amplify our opportunity here.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Ann Ledwith: biography:
After completing a master’s in bioinformatics, Ann started her career as a pre-clinical researcher but soon moved across to developing clinical trial systems. She joined Sage eight years ago where she is an advocate for security, continuous delivery and DevOps. Within Sage she champions learning and development delivering talks and workshops about cyber security, CI/CD and DevOps. She also plays an active part in bringing the Manchester tech community together through talks and workshops. A self-confessed geek she spends her spare time automating SmartThings or writing Alexa skills to control them via IoT.
Helen Baker: biography
Helen Baker left Uni with a Masters in English and no obvious aptitude for the field of technology. So, it was a complete surprise to her, when Sage took her on as a Technical Support technician training her in Payroll and Accounts. Before long, Helen’s gift for simplifying the complex and solving technical problems was clear and a few years later saw her career move into the Product Engineering side of the business where she progressed through information architecture roles into leading teams of technical authors and in later years, teams of developers and testers. From here to more senior management roles, where she set test strategy for teams before securing the QA Director role for the Product Engineering teams in the UK and Ireland, shifting quality left to bring it into the whole development lifecycle. Following increased involvement in programmes such as Degree Apprenticeships, Neurodiversity in testing and STEM coaching in schools, Helen has recently taken a very different path into the discipline of Inclusion, securing the role of Global Director of Diversity and Inclusion.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For overseas delegates who wish to attend the event please note that BCS does not issue invitation letters.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THIS EVENT IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY: Newcastle and North East Branch - visit https://www.bcs.org/membership/member-communities/newcastle-upon-tyne-district-branch/
