Women of the year awards Archives

Atlanta Tech Leaders

WIT Atlanta Features Jeffery Tobias Halter with YWomen and Serena E. Sacks with Fulton County Schools and 2015 WIT Women Of The Year Award Winner

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The work of Women in Technology has an incredible impact.

Since 1992, Women in Technology has had a mission dedicated to promoting the advancement of women in Georgia’s technology community. Through the WIT COMMUNITY, WIT Also educates and encourages girls and young women to pursue careers in STEM.

Jeffrey Tobias Halter/Gender Strategist

Founder

Jeffery Tobias Halter is the country’s leading male expert on advancing women and engaging men. Jeffery is a consultant and the President of YWomen, a strategic consulting company focused on engaging men in women’s leadership issues. YWomen focuses on driving actionable business plans and strategies to help organizations create Integrated Women’s Leadership Strategies. Jeffery is the former Director of Diversity Strategy for The Coca-Cola Company. He has extensive knowledge of the consumer package goods, retail, food service and hospitality industries and is sought after speaker at industry forums and corporate programs.

Jeffery is the author of two books, WHY WOMEN, The Leadership Imperative to Advancing Women and Engaging Men(April, 2015) and Selling to Men, Selling to Women. He was a Panelist at the World Diversity Leadership Summit at Harvard University and led workshops at the Global Summit of Women in Athens Greece. His current clients include two Catalyst Award winning companies, The Coca-Cola Company and Kimberly-Clark. He has led best practice work with companies such as McDonald’s, Deloitte, Publicis Groupe, GE and Clorox. He recently keynoted the opening session for Walmart’s International Women’s Day celebration.

Combining 30+ years in corporate America – from the sales front line to the corporate headquarters and his passion for integrated leadership strategies, Jeffery connects with leaders at all-levels of the organization to create sustainable change and impact to the bottom line. His dynamic and engaging presentations garner positive reviews from stakeholders and attendees. He is available for keynotes, workshops, conference breakout sessions, panel moderation and long-term consulting opportunities.

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Serena Sacks/ 2015 WIT Women of the Year Award Winner

Chief Information Officer | Fulton County Schools

Serena Sacks has been a transformational business and Information Technology leader for more than 25 years across corporate, non-profit, and government sectors. She has gained a comprehensive perspective through a variety of executive leadership positions and C-level consulting roles, working for organizations such as IBM, Walt Disney World, Harcourt, Wyndham, Florida Virtual School, and, now, Fulton County School District in Atlanta. Ms. Sacks earned her B.A. and M.S. in an accelerated program at SUNY Stony Brook, graduating Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa and had the honor of being selected as a Presidential Management Intern. She holds certifications in Enterprise IT Governance from ISACA, Six Sigma/LEAN Process Excellence, and Professional Project Management (PMI) and has extensive training in Strategic Execution through the Balanced Scorecard Collaborative. Appreciated for her strategic vision, excellence in operational delivery, and strong relationship skills, Ms. Sacks has effectively driven top line growth, customer satisfaction, and cost savings programs – depending on the needs of the organization.

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Sandy Welfare / WIT

Sandy D. Welfare is the Executive Director of Women In Technology (WIT). Prior to that, she was the Executive Director of Cool Girls Inc, an award-winning early intervention after-school program dedicated to the empowerment of girls (2009-2015).

Sandy’s career began in 1989 in Greenwich, Connecticut where she joined Rand Insurance as the Controller. Six years later, she accepted a position with Lucent Technologies, an international telecommunications leader, holding a number of positions including serving as Accounting and Treasury Manager in Singapore (1999-2000) and then as Senior Manager in Australia and New Zealand (2000-2002). Sandy returned to Atlanta in 2002 as Senior Manager of Global Financial Services.

In 2003, Sandy accepted a position as Director of Operations for Xchanging, a business processing outsourcing company. In 2006, her career took her to London, England as Managing Director for professional services, where she managed global business processing services for bank financial transactions, insurance and retail.

Sandy received her undergraduate degree from St. John’s University in New York, and a Master of Business Administration from Sacred Heart University in Connecticut. She serves on the board of several non-profits, including Kiwanis Club of Atlanta. Sandy resides in Marietta, Georgia with her husband, Cliff and son, Soloman.

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Atlanta Tech Leaders

Women In Technology (WIT) Special Episode

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The work of Women in Technology has an incredible impact.

Sandy Welfare, Janet Barnard, Jackie Breiter

Sandy Welfare / WIT

Women in Technology (WIT) today announced the appointment of Sandy Welfare as its Interim Executive Director. Sandy will lead WIT, the Atlanta-based non-profit organization dedicated to supporting women and girls in STEM careers – through a transition from an association management firm to a more independent model.

“Given Sandy’s international business and systems background, as well as her multiple years’ experience leading a non-profit, she was an excellent choice for WIT as we assimilate our operations back in-house,” said Tricia Dempsey, WIT Inc. Board President.

Prior to joining WIT, Sandy was the Executive Director of Cool Girls, Inc., an award-winning early intervention after-school program dedicated to the empowerment of low-income girls. “Sandy has a clear passion for the empowerment of girls, a valuable contribution to our continued growth,” added Denise Reese, WIT Foundation Board President.

Sandy’s career began in 1989 in Greenwich, Connecticut where she joined Rand Insurance as the operations controller. Six years later, she accepted a position with Lucent Technologies, an international telecommunications leader, holding a number of positions from 1994-2000, including serving as accounting and treasury manager in Singapore and then as senior operations manager in Australia and New Zealand. Sandy returned to Atlanta in 2002 as senior manager of global financial services.

In 2003, Sandy accepted a position as director of operations for Xchanging, a business processing outsourcing company. In 2006, her career took her to London, England, as managing director for professional services, where she managed global business processing services for bank financial transactions, insurance and retail. Two years later, Sandy returned to the Atlanta area and was asked to chair the Cool Girls’ Board of Directors. In 2009, Sandy was offered the Executive Director position, which she accepted and led the organization until stepping down in October 2014.

Sandy received her undergraduate degree from St. John’s University in New York, and a Master of Business Administration from Sacred Heart University in Connecticut.

Welfare will be based at the new WIT Executive Offices, effective December 2014.

Janet Barnard/Manheim North America Cox Automotive

President

Janet Barnard is president of Manheim North America. In this role, she acts as a member of Cox Automotive’s leadership team and directs several groups at Manheim engaged in transforming the company’s core auction business with its 79 operating locations into one that incorporates an expanding digital and mobile strategy. Groups that report to Barnard include Sales, Inventory Services and Customer Experience. Barnard most recently served as executive vice president and chief operating officer at Manheim. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises.

Prior to joining Manheim, Barnard served as senior vice president and general manager for Cox Communications’ (CCI) Central Region. Her responsibilities included growing the $1.2 billion region’s voice, data and video services across its residential and commercial base of more than 700,000 customers. Prior to that role, Barnard was senior vice president and general manager for other Cox Communications regional business areas including Northern Virginia, Middle America and Omaha.

Recognized by Women in Technology (WIT) as one of Georgia’s top women leaders, she was the winner of the 2014 Woman of the Year in Technology Award in the Large/Enterprise Organization category. In 2010, Barnard was named as a Betsy Magness Leadership Institute Fellow, which honors the most successful female leaders in the cable and telecommunications industry. She was also selected by CableFAX as a Top 25 Regional Player and as one of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Cable.

Barnard gives back to her community by representing Cox Enterprises on the Board of Governors of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and through her role as the Executive Sponsor for Cox Automotive’s Go Green Council which implements best practices designed to reduce the company’s environmental footprint. In addition, she supports and participates in the Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America (KPCRAA) to raise funds and awareness for Victory Junction and other charities supporting chronically ill children.

She resides in Atlanta with her husband Bryan, and has two children and three grandchildren. She enjoys golf, travel and motorcycling.

Jackie Breiter/Emory Goizueta Business School

COO and CIO

Jackie Breiter drives the strategic direction and management for all aspects of technology relating to teaching, faculty research, students,

and administration for the Goizueta Business School at Emory University. She is a recognized leader that combines technological knowledge with strong strategy and communication skills. Her particular expertise is in aligning organizational objectives with real-world solutions and a “get it done” approach.

Prior to joining Goizueta, Jackie built and led teams in various industries including telecommunications, software, and health care. Jackie served for nearly four years as vice president of global customer success for CA Technologies, an IT management software and solutions company. At CA she led a global team responsible for increasing customer loyalty among the firm’s top CIO clients. She previously served for nearly three years as vice president of technical services at PharMerica Inc., where she was responsible for setting the technical vision and managing the operations of PharMerica’s IT services. Jackie started her career at AT&T, where she worked for 12 years in logistics management and automation, as well as in almost every functional area within IT. It was at AT&T where she built the foundation for her leadership and technology expertise.