The Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI) has had an exciting and productive few months! From wrapping up our 2nd cohort of the Women in Hardware Mentorship (WHM) Program to hosting Lunch and Learn events and University Programming conferences, we’ve been making significant strides in advancing our mission.
We invite YOU to join our mission and be part of the change. With plenty of activities on the horizon, we’d love for you to get involved! Drop us an email if you’re interested—we look forward to hearing from you!
We’d also like to take this opportunity to give a heartfelt THANK YOU to Credo for their continued support as our WLI Newsletter Sponsor!
Don’t forget to share this newsletter and encourage your colleagues to get involved. Subscribe nowso you never miss a future edition of Designing the Difference.
Read on for updates on what we’ve been up to, upcoming events, and insightful articles from industry experts!
-GSA WLI Team
Navigate Your Way to a Career in Semiconductors | September 19th | Texas A&M University
Navigate Your Way to a Career in Semiconductors | September 30th | UCLA
APAC WLI University Program | October 1st | Taiwan
EMEA Lunch & Learn Event | October 16th | Accenture’s Offices in Munich, Germany
Navigate Your Way to a Career in Semiconductors | October 17th | Purdue University
APAC Lunch & Learn Event | October 30th | Mandarin Hotel in Taipei, Taiwan
The Women in Semiconductor Hardware (WISH) Conference, WLI’s biggest event of the year, brings together industry luminaries, entrepreneurs, and university women in STEM and celebrate the women who have helped break the glass ceiling of the semiconductor industry and those following in their footsteps. This year, WISH will take place on November 7th at the San Jose Convention Center.
WISH also offers awards celebrating industry leaders at all career stages and those following in their footsteps and showcases the changing face of technology through technical panels, breakout sessions and poster sessions. This year we will be introducing the new Rising Women in Semi Award!
This year’s panel topics: Looks Like We Made it, Artificial Intelligence, Allyship.
We’d like to thank the 2024 WLI Technical Steering Committee for making WISH possible!
💠 Debra Bell – Micron Technology
💠 Zoe Conroy – Cisco
💠 Katie Eckermann – AMD
💠 Emel Goksu – Meta
💠 Amber Huffman – Google
💠 Rita Klein – Micron Technology
💠 Muthulakshmi Muthukumarasamy – Cadence
💠 Sherry Xu – Microsoft
💠 Zhan Yu – Marvell
Become a WISH 2024 Sponsor! Reach out to Traci Brandon at tbrandon@gsaglobal.org for more information.
The 6th annual Women in the Semiconductor Industry survey is open! Led by the WLI and Accenture, this survey is designed to gather insights on industry efforts to attract, retain, and promote women. The results will provide participating companies with actionable data to help strengthen their leadership pipeline.
To designate a representative to participate in the survey, please contact Jessica Mueller at jmueller@gsaglobal.org.
GSA WLI will be hosting its first Lunch and Learn event in the EMEA region!
Following the success of similar events in the U.S., we are thrilled to bring this opportunity to our WLI community in EMEA. This event, designed to support the career growth and professional aspirations of the women in our industry, will take place on October 16th in Accenture’s offices in Munich, Germany.
Our aim for the Lunch and Learn series has been to offer a blend of executive and technical topics, featuring women who are leaders in their respective fields delivering keynote presentations and participating in panel discussions. The overarching theme of our Lunch and Learns is “Pathways to Success”. This event will provide an excellent opportunity for women from different companies to connect and network, which we believe is essential for visibility and professional growth.
Event Agenda:
10:30 a.m. – 11:10 a.m. Coffee & Networking
11:10 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. Opening Remarks
11:15 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Keynote Presentation:
12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Lunch and Networking
1:30 p.m. – 2:45 p.m. “Pathways to Success” Panel Discussion
2:45 p.m. – 2:50 p.m. Closing Remarks
2:50 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Networking
We would like to extend our appreciation to Accenture for generously hosting this impactful event at their Munich offices.
If you are interested in attending, please email Ahlam Samad at asamad@gsaglobal.org
WLI’s University Programming collaborates with sponsor companies’ university relations and early talent teams to build programs, establish targeted partnerships, and explore innovative ways to connect with students. These initiatives provide students opportunities to engage with and learn from women leading the semiconductor industry.
The Navigate Your Way to a Career in Semiconductors event invites industry professionals to share their personal career journeys and highlight the importance of diversity of both thought and experience in driving innovation. Representatives from several companies are also invited to attend to provide students with information on the wide range of opportunities and careers they can explore.
Contribute to Strategic Planning or Talent Recruiting
If you would like to contribute to our ongoing strategic planning or share insights about your company’s early talent recruiting needs, please complete our brief survey HERE.
Recent University Programming Events: Navigate Your Way to a Career in Semiconductors, University of Texas, Austin
On August 28th, WLI hosted Navigate Your Way to a Career in Semiconductors, attracting over 100 students. The event featured two panels—technical and non-technical—offering a broad view of the semiconductor industry.
Non-Technical Panel: Panelists from Credo, Marvell, Micron, and Siemens emphasized the importance of communication, teamwork, and leadership in career growth.
Technical Panel: Experts from Arm, AMD, Teradyne, and Renesas discussed innovations in semiconductor technology and early career development.
The event wrapped up with a networking session featuring AMD, Arm,
GlobalFoundries, Marvell, Microchip, Micron, Renesas, and Teradyne, giving students valuable opportunities to explore career paths and connect with industry leaders.
Thank you to all our speakers and company representatives who participated and made this possible!
We are proud to share our upcoming University Programming Schedule for the 2024 – 2025 school year:
Upcoming Events:
Texas A&M – September 19, 2024
UCLA – September 30, 2024
APAC WLI University Program, Taiwan – October 1, 2024
Purdue University – October 17, 2024
MIT, Northeastern, Amherst, Boston College, Boston University – February 25, 2025
Howard University – April 2025
In Planning:
Prairie View A&M
University of Texas, Dallas
Georgia Tech
NC State and NCAT
UC Berkeley
If you’re interested in participating in upcoming university events, please contact lraich@gsaglobal.org
Diane Vanasse, VP of Marketing Communications at Credo gave an insightful keynote presentation and shared her personal experience on navigating career challenges with positivity, determination and confidence. She highlighted the importance of taking on tough tasks and rising to the occasion, especially when others deemed it impossible, and of leading with kindness while staying true to one’s aspirations.
Following the keynote presentation, we held a panel discussion, moderated by Maggy Ibrahim, Semiconductor Strategy Manager & Transformation Executive at Accenture. Our amazing panelists and speakers are listed below!
The panel explored essential strategies for career growth, leadership, and embracing change — offering a comprehensive view of how to navigate career challenges, lead with confidence, and embrace the continuous evolution required for success in the fast-paced world that is the semiconductor industry.
“Transformation is important. Uncomfortable and hard but essential” – Anubha
A special thank you to Accenture for hosting this memorable event for the second consecutive year and to all our speakers for making the afternoon such a success!
The Women in Hardware Mentorship (WHM) Program was founded in January 2023 by Antonella Oliva and senior industry women leaders with a goal to increase the presence of women in leadership positions in hardware engineering by sharing mentor women leaders’ strategies. It is the first and only cross-company mentorship program.
Year two of the WHM program was a huge success and to celebrate the mentors and mentees, we had a successful ending event at Intel’s offices on July 30th.
Speakers: Lalitha Immaneni, Intel; Jennifer Zhao., ams OSRAM; Donna Trinko Majcen, Keysight Technologies; Jeanne Trinko-Mechler, Marvell
Special thank you to our 2024 Mentors: Nitza Basoco, Sanchali Bhattacherjee, Fadoua Chafik, Angela Dalton, Sonia Leon, Yan Li, Ramune Nagisetty, Nevine Nassif, Jeanne Trinko-Mechler, Antonietta Oliva, Janet Olson, Padma Parthasarthy, Elene Terry, Kathy Wilcox, Olivia Wu, Emily Yang, and Jennifer Zhao.
Thank you again to all of our lead mentors, guest mentors, mentees, and outstanding speakers who contributed to this year’s successful wrap-up event! It was an honor to bring together so many remarkable women, paving the way for future women leaders in engineering.
When I attended the recent WLI Lunch and Learn in Austin, I was impressed and overwhelmed by the diversity of women attending the event. Some were just starting their careers, while many were seasoned industry veterans. There was talk of balancing life with children but also a tribe of “pet moms.” Most impressive to me were the companies represented – it seemed like every noteworthy US based semiconductor company was in attendance!
I walked away excited to attend the WISH conference in November, with a slew of new contacts, and a lot of excitement about the rising influence of women in the semiconductor industry.
After listening to the “Pathways to Success” panel, as well as meeting numerous other amazing women, I came with away with three areas I want to focus on more and will encourage my team to focus on as well.
How to gain more knowledge, know-how and leadership by sharing management responsibilities.
An interview with Julia Binder and Luise Titze, working at Infineon Technologies AG, a German DAX40 company, on their leadership tandem, preparing for success, navigating challenges, and fostering trust and recognition.
In this article, Jun Li, VP of Engineering at Renesas speaks about the benefits of building a gender diverse engineering team at Renesas’ Design Centre in Beijing.
The Women’s Leadership Initiative is excited to introduce the Women on Board Spotlight Series, an expansion of our Entrepreneur Blog. This new series will showcase the achievements of women who have made significant contributions on public boards. We are thrilled to feature Maggie Wilderotter in our inaugural post.
The Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI)’s Allyship Program not only recognizes and celebrates men who champion the advancement of women, but it actively fosters a culture of inclusion and support within the semiconductor industry.
Our purpose is to highlight individuals who actively support, mentor, and advocate for women in the workplace, fostering an environment where every voice is heard, and every talent is recognized. Through our Allyship Program, we strive to inspire collaboration, break down barriers and pave the way for a more equitable and vibrant future in semiconductor technology.
Additionally, we are excited to feature an Allyship Panel at WISH this year featuring several of our WLI Allies!
Nominations are open for everyone. There is no deadline to submit, the only requirement is that the nomination be made by a woman. You can learn more about the program and submit a nomination here!
WLI Speaker’s Bureau – The Speaker’s Bureau serves as a database of women who can speak on business trends, market drivers, and technical topics. WLI is committed to promoting female leadership and welcomes any level of expertise to participate.
Visibility Campaign – WLI showcases inspirational women in the semiconductor industry on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook. We ask submitting companies for 1-2 photos of the selected woman, a brief explanation about why she was selected, and any other relevant information, such as why she loves working in the industry or a personal anecdote about her experience. Submissions can be sent to marketing@gsaglobal.org
Career Tips of the Week Campaign – Female leaders in the semiconductor industry are invited to explore and share their expertise to empower other women in the industry by offering tips and guidance.
Entrepreneur Spotlight – Female entrepreneurs and CEOs are invited to partake in a short interview and share their stories with our community. Our goal is to inspire women to pursue the avenue of entrepreneurship and ultimately increase the number of women CEOs in the semiconductor industry. If you want to share your story or know anyone that would be interested, please reach out to wli@gsaglobal.org.
We are excited to announce that we are expanding our Spotlight Series to female board-members. Please reach out to wli@gsaglobal.org if you would like to participate or know someone who would be interested in sharing their story.
