WLI Newsletter | Designing The Difference | Q4 Edition (Volume 22)

The WISH Conference is WLI’s largest technical conference bringing together industry luminaries, entrepreneurs, and university women in STEM. This year, WISH took place on October 1st at the San Jose Convention Center. The event welcomed around 1,000 attendees, including industry luminaries, visionary entrepreneurs, and brilliant university students in STEM, and showcased the evolving landscape of technology.

The fireside chat with GSA CEO Jodi Shelton and Sylvia Acevedo, Board Member of the Board of Directors at Qualcomm and Credo, captivated the audience. Sylvia’s incredible story of resilience and strength through adversity was such an inspiration. Our dynamic panels featured women making breakthroughs in the industry who offered valuable advice in their areas of expertise and how to navigate the semiconductor world as women. The room was alive with collaboration, mentorship, and the kind of energy that only happens when brilliant minds of all generations gather in one space.

You can view all WISH photos, recap video and presentations on our past events page.  Read the recap here.

2025 Award Winners

Four awards were presented to industry women throughout the day at WISH, beginning with Dr. Julie Sheridan Eng from Coherent, who was recognized as the recipient of the Dr. Lisa Su Woman of Innovation Award, for her exceptional dedication and contributions to the development, innovation, growth, and long-term opportunities for the semiconductor industry. Manisha Gambhir from Marvell was presented the Rising Women in Semi Award, Yanfang Le of AMD was presented the Female Up & Comer Award, and the Designing the Difference Award was awarded to Marvell.

Thank you to our WISH 2025 Sponsors!

Want to get more involved and become a WLI Sponsor? Visit our WLI Sponsorship page or contact wli@gsaglobal.org for available opportunities.

WISH 2026 will be happening in Q4, date TBD.

Lunch and Learns

The GSA WLI Lunch and Learn series continues to provide invaluable opportunities for participants in the industry to connect, network, and learn from one another’s stories of success. These smaller, invitation-only events are designed to support the career growth and professional aspirations of the women in our industry.

Thank you to Astera Labs for hosting our upcoming Lunch and Learn event on February 4th, 2026 in San Jose, California!  This is an invitation-only event and limited seats will be available, so please reach out to WLI@gsaglobal.org for more information.

APAC Taiwan, November 7th, 2025

The November 7 program at t.Hub Taipei opened with an inspiring keynote by Alexander Gorski, COO of Infineon, who emphasized that diversity drives performance and that resilience and achievement naturally build confidence. He encouraged women to “speak up, share their perspectives, and leverage their unique strengths,” highlighting that empathy, resilience, and shared ownership are key traits of great leaders.​ This was followed by a powerful panel discussion with Kathy Yan (TSMC), Carol Lu (Infineon), and Zeno Chen (Micron), moderated by Ellen Wu (RESET Carbon). ​

The panelists shared heartfelt stories of overcoming challenges and personal growth, echoing the theme of embracing imperfection, staying curious, and building strong support systems—a message best summed up as “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

Silicon Valley, August 26, 2025

On August 26th, we held our 2025 California Lunch and Learn event at Credo's offices in San Jose with over 100 attendees from various companies. Inspiring welcoming remarks were given by our host, Diane Vanasse, VP of Marketing Communications at Credo.  Keynote presenter Ann Minooka, Chief Marketing Officer, at Synopsys delved into the power of technical fluency and how to communicate one's value effectively. Then, Grace Yang Padovani, Director of Strategic Accounts, at Synaptics expertly moderated the panel discussion "Pathways to Success", sparking important conversations between an impressive line-up of panelists.​ Thank you Diane Vanasse and Credo for hosting!​

Keynote: Ann Minooka (Chief Marketing Officer, Synopsys) ​

Panel Moderator: Grace Yang Padovani (Director of Strategic Accounts, Synaptics and now with Credo​) 

Panelists: ​Sylvia Acevedo (Board Member, Credo and Qualcomm​) Paroma Sen (Vice President of Corporate Marketing Astera Labs),​ Lakshmi Ramagiri (Partner Firmware Engineering Manager Microsoft​), Fariba Danesh (Chief Operating Officer PsiQuantum) 

Webinar: Women in Leadership Speaker Series featuring Astera Labs

On August 14th Astera Labs had a dynamic panel discussing what it takes to lead a company from startup to scale, navigating the complexities across the domains of engineering, strategy, operations and marketing. The webinar covers what unique strengths women bring to the high-stakes, fast-moving world of semiconductors. Discover the untold stories behind building a semiconductor powerhouse!​

ICYMI: Find the webinar here​

Panel Moderator: Paroma Sen (Vice President of Corporate Marketing, Astera Labs)​

Panelists:​ Priyanka Agrawal (Director of Strategy and Operations, Astera Labs​), Justina Provine (Fellow, Astera Labs)​, Ramya Shankar (Senior Director, Astera Labs)

Women in Hardware Mentorship (WHM) Ending Event

We held our ending event for the 2025 cohort at Marvell’s offices in Santa Clara on August 27th. Our mentors and mentees have all forged new connections with this program while expanding their resources, tools and strategic insights to further their careers. A special thank you to Marvell Technology for hosting and making this an unforgettable event. Thank you to our speakers for spending the day with us as we closed out this year.

Speakers: Rupa Budhia (Senior Distinguished Engineer, Marvell), Antonietta Oliva (WHM Founder), Ingrid Cotoros

Thank you to our esteemed mentors for your leadership and making this program possible.

WHM Alumnae Networking Breakfast

On October 2^nd our WHM Alumnae Networking Breakfast had a great turnout! WHM Mentors and mentees from previous cohorts met the day after WISH, catching up over a wonderful breakfast.