WLI Newsletter | Designing The Difference | Volume 12

Hi ,

The Women’s Leadership Initiative has been busy with in-person meetings, university programming and events. Last week we hosted the inaugural WLI Board-Ready Women’s Event in Palo Alto, California. The event hosted senior women from the semiconductor industry who want to participate on public boards. It brought together some of the most successful female directors to discuss how they navigated their career path and are contributing to public boards. They were incredible!

Keep reading for some excellent articles from industry experts, our whitepaper Unlocking the Value of Women in Semiconductors, and our upcoming events! If you’re interested in contributing an article, video or podcast, please reach out to us. Our quarterly newsletter editions come out in February, May, August and November.

Don’t forget to share this newsletter and encourage your colleagues to get involved. Subscribe now so you don’t miss a future edition of Designing the Difference.

We’d love for YOU to join our efforts! There are many activities planned for this year so drop us an email if you’d like to participate. We’d love to hear from you!

-GSA WLI Team

WISH | October 12, 2023 | In Person | San Jose, CA | Register Now

WLI Lunch & Learn | TBD | In-Person | Austin, TX

WLI Roundtable | October 13 | In-Person | Menlo Park, CA

WLI DEI Roundtable | October 13 | In-Person | Menlo Park, CA

We are also launching a virtual webinar series this August geared towards university students. More information to come, and you can follow along with the series on our website. Check back next week for our fall dates!

In case you haven’t heard, registration is open for the 2023 GSA WLI Women in Semiconductor Hardware (WISH) Conference! This year, WISH will be hosted at the Hayes Mansion in San Jose, CA on October 12. The annual WISH conference is GSA WLI’s flagship event bringing together industry luminaries, entrepreneurs, and university women in STEM. WISH showcases the changing face of technology and offers awards celebrating the women who have helped to break the glass ceiling and those who are following in their footsteps.

WISH is the perfect opportunity to connect with women in technology! Sponsorships for WISH are available.

In support of WISH, we are accepting abstracts from female engineers in the following categories:

Process Technology | System Technology | Design Technology | Validation/Test | Packaging/Assembly Technology

A total of three papers per session track will be chosen. Each speaker will have 20 minutes to present her paper. You can review the complete call for papers online here. The deadline to submit is July 21, 2023.

Additionally, we are offering a WISH Comp code for select university students. If your company has a select few high-profile summer interns that you are seeking to keep engaged when they return back to campus in the fall, please contact the WLI team directly with your request. We have limited free seating we can extend to university students and would be happy to see them there!

We are hosting an industry-specific DEI roundtable the day after WISH entitled “Driving Diversity and Inclusion in the Semiconductor Industry: Empowering Talent and Embracing Change.” Our goal is to invite industry leaders to discuss what it takes to foster an inclusive culture within the semiconductor sector, promoting diversity and empowering talent at all levels. Through a series of breakout sessions focused on early career workforce development, supporting women in semiconductor and leadership, along with a thought-provoking keynote presentation and a virtual pre-meeting, participants will gain valuable insights, tools, and strategies to drive positive change and create a more inclusive industry. We will be sending more information on this event and how to register shortly.

It’s Year 3 of our WLI Awards that will be presented at the annual WISH Conference. Nominate your colleague or company in the following categories:

Dr. Lisa Su Woman of Innovation Award – Submission Form Deadline – June 23, 2023

The Dr. Lisa Su Woman of Innovation Award recognizes female individuals, such as its namesake, Dr. Lisa Su, for their remarkable dedication and exceptional contributions to drive the development, innovation, growth and long-term opportunities for the semiconductor industry.

Female Up & Comer Award – Submission Form Deadline – June 23, 2023

The Female Up & Comer Award recognizes and profiles the next generation of young women in the semiconductor industry. Companies are encouraged to identify women with a technical background and education within their organization who have been in the industry five years or less and have made exceptional contributions toward the development, innovation, growth and success in their short time in the industry.

Designing the Difference Award – Submission Form Deadline – June 23, 2023

The Designing the Difference Award recognizes companies who are making a significant and measurable impact on advancing the industry through diversity and inclusion.

Rising Women of Influence Award – Submission Form Deadline – August 11, 2023

This award will be presented at the GSA Awards Celebration on Dec. 7. The Rising Women of Influence Award recognizes and profiles the next generation of women leaders in the semiconductor industry. Companies are encouraged to identify women with a technical background and education within their organization that they believe will be one of their key corporate executives over the next three years.

Last week we held our first WLI Board-Ready Women’s Event!

It brought together future and current leaders in the world of semiconductor as they shared their thoughts and insights about successfully joining and leading corporate boards. Our attendees were also able to network and make connections with professionals who share similar goals.

We would like to thank all of our panelists and speakers for paying it forward as they shared their expertise for the next generation of leaders. We would also like to thank our sponsors Egon Zehnder and Goldman Sachs for making this event possible.

If you are interested in attending future Board Ready events, please reach out to wli@gsaglobal.com.

On April 3, WLI University Programming made its way to Riverside, CA to host the GSA WLI SoCal Microelectronics Symposium at UC Riverside. We were thrilled to be back with the next generation of semiconductor professionals to enjoy a keynote address from Peter De Dobbelaere of Cisco and a panel discussion with representatives from Cadence, proteanTecs, Renesas and Qualcomm, before a rich networking session focused on the benefits of a career in semiconductors. We had over 100 students in attendance, who were majority junior and senior classmen, representing majors such as Business Administration, Public Policy, Material Science and Engineering, as well as Chemical and Environmental Engineering to cite a few. Marvell, the WLI Ally of Women Sponsor also joined this event by hosting a recruiting table for the networking session.

Then on April 6, we made our way to UC Davis for the GSA WLI Pathways Conference at UC Davis. With over 90 students in attendance, we had an impressive line up of speakers including a keynote from Samantha Fontaine of Analog Devices, as well as a dynamic panel moderated by Ponni Carlin of Tessolve with representatives from Cadence, Intel, Keysight Technologies and proteanTecs. We saw a majority of Junior and Senior classmen again, as our student audience represented majors such as Applied Mathematics, Physics, Materials Science, and Electrical Engineering & Computer Science. Marvell, Microchip Technology and Texas Instruments participated in this event, by hosting recruiting tables throughout the event.

The past WLI events full recordings for April 3^rd and 6^th are available now for viewing on our website.

Also if you’re interested in participating in upcoming university events or would like to become a sponsor, contact wli@gsaglobal.org.

Upcoming University Events

Launching in August! Join us for an empowering 12-month webinar series, Careers in Semiconductors: A Women’s Leadership Speaker Series, designed to equip university and high school students from all backgrounds with the essential skills and mindset to become outstanding leaders. Through a series of thought-provoking talks and panel discussions, visionary thinkers, accomplished professionals, and renowned experts will share invaluable insights and experiences to inspire individuals to unlock their full potential and make a lasting impact. This series goes beyond the traditional confines of leadership roles, exploring the core principles of leadership and providing a platform for individuals to cultivate and hone their leadership mindset. In addition, select universities will have the opportunity to host in-person appearances with panel discussions and keynote presentations through our Designing The Solution Conferences.

Upcoming fall university program dates will be released at our next committee meeting in June. WLI member companies are encouraged to join us for on-campus programming. Please feel free to contact Honeyrock Ingram, WLI University Programs Manager, directly with any specific program requests at hingram@gsaglobal.org

The Diversity and Inclusion Task Force presents Diversity in STEM, with Jyotika Athavale, a Senior Technical Leader in Functional Safety at Nvidia Corporation. Prior to this, she worked as Principal Engineer and lead Functional Safety Architect at Intel Corporation. She is a recognized industry expert with in-depth technical knowledge of dependable technologies and architectures for Automotive, Transportation and Avionics Safety Critical Systems. Based in the US, her 24 years of industry career experience in the semiconductor and EDA industry has spanned technical leadership positions as well as people management roles.

We are thrilled to bring you a discussion on her career growth, overcoming challenges, and how volunteering with IEEE Computer Society has given her a global perspective to computing. Read more.

Shelagh Glaser, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at Synopsys, always loved math and the challenge of a good problem to solve. After majoring in economics from the University of Michigan and earning an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University, she launched her career at Intel while the company was still considered relatively small—the days when Andy Grove was CEO and Gordon Moore was chairman of the board. It was the first time an under-the-hood tech company acted like a consumer brand, and “Intel Inside” became a household mark. Read more.

International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated annually on March 8. This day celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. It is also an opportunity to showcase commitment to equity, launch new initiatives, celebrate women’s achievements, raise awareness, and highlight gender parity gains. This year’s theme is #EmbraceEquity. GF was proud to celebrate International Women’s Day and recognize women across the company for their outstanding work. Read more.

What’s in a name? Shakespeare’s question comes to mind when looking up Nebabie Neutron Kebebew on LinkedIn. To quell any doubt about her embrace of carrying the name of a subatomic particle, the discovery of which was central both to physics and to some of the most important developments of the 20th century, she lists her entire name in ALL CAPS in her profile, which of course begs the question about the backstory. Here, Nebabie shares the story, which spans M.I.T., Ethiopia and the Silicon Valley, and includes her siblings too. She also talks about what she’s hearing from Siemens’ semiconductor customers, cloud-readiness in EDA, and the mindset change that gives her optimism about climate issues, a focus on which has finally come even to the world of chip design. Read more.

WLI is committed to promoting female leadership through the GSA Women’s Speakers Bureau. We are currently building a comprehensive database of women who can speak on business trends, market drivers and technical issues. Interested in participating? Know someone who would like to contribute?

Fill out this form

Closing the talent gap is a dire issue facing the semiconductor industry. The need to hire thousands of engineers represents an opportunity for women to fill these roles and for companies to help narrow the existing gender gap.

View the latest WLI white paper, Unlocking the Value of Women in Semiconductor, to access the results of a GSA and Accenture joint study focused on recruitment strategies, retention benefits, and advancement programs designed for women.