Aleksandra is an experienced HR and business professional with a vast track record in the IT industry on various marketing, business development and recruitment positions. As Talent Acquisition Manager at GFT Poland, she oversees all recruitment activities, including strategy, planning and team management.

After work, Aleksandra is passionate about motorsports.

Talk to me about:

• Working in a fast-paced IT environment
• Developing your career
• Talent management
• Future of work in Tech and IT
• Personal branding
•  Competitive advantages of women in IT
• Women in IT –  building and fostering leadership skills
• Working in a male-dominated environment

Julia has a track record in helping Industrial Goods as well as Banking clients with complex IT transformation challenges. Prior to joining BCG Platinion, she was a Director with AlixPartners’ Digital practice and a Vice President with Deutsche Bank, where she held Program-, Line-, and Interim Management roles. Throughout her career, Julia is bridging the gap between business and IT with the goal to create sustainable value for her clients and companies and great places to work for her teams.

Talk to me about:

Let’s speak about embedding a digitization culture – taking traditional organizations along on the journey.

I am always mixing different domains: hardware and software engineering, academia (PhD) and industry experience, engineering and management roles, hard and soft skills.

I am passionate to work with people: customers, stakeholders, engineers to satisfy customer needs with the right technology delivered by the engineering team.

Management style is to define purpose: set vision, mission, goals and strategy, then give autonomy: empower engineering team in defining what and how, and finally let the team achieve mastery: support their career development.

Strengths Finder TOP5: Arranger, Developer, Strategic, Individualization, Empathy. These themes help me to develop team members and grow their careers.

Marek is now Deep Learning Software Engineering Manager working with the team on enabling Deep Learning frameworks to work the best on Intel hardware.

Aleksandra Suchorzewska – Leader in the field of Accenture Technology Strategy in Poland, a long-term advisor to IT directors, PhD in legal sciences specializing in data security and IT systems.

For over 15 years she has been supporting clients in implementation of projects at the intersection of business and IT. She has unique competencies, combining knowledge of criminal law and information security with profound IT knowledge. During her career she has implemented projects concerning IT Strategy, Enterprise Architecture and transformation of the operating model. Academic lecturer, author of many publications, including the book "Legal Protection of Information Systems against the Threat of Cyber-Terrorism".

Talk to me about:

• Trends and new technologies, and how they affect business
• The technological strategy
• Enterprise Architecture
• "New IT" or new operating models in IT

People Development Manager at Arjo, certified coach and moderator of Design Thinking. One of the experts of the social campaign „Work? I like it!”. Designer and trainer of employee development programs, creative workshops and individual coaching.

Talk to me about:

• How to make a good career choices?

Graduated from the Wrocław University of Economics, completed postgraduate studies in Management Accounting and Controlling as well as holds a MBA degree from the ICAN Institute. Her over 15 years of professional experience gained in international corporations is a combination of extensive knowledge and practice in the area of ​​finance, logistics, production and project management. From 2011 associated with Electrolux Poland, currently as Plant Manager at Electrolux Siewierz.

Every day, she cares about the development, motivation and good results of the team responsible for managing the production plant in a way that enables the achievement of goals. She knows SAP from the inside out and twice in her career she was responsible for its implementation in the organization. For several years she has been working as a lecturer, teaching at WSB (project budgeting) and MBA studies (supply chain management).

She is curious about people and new challenges and is constantly expanding knowledge in the field of optimization of production and logistics processes. 

Talk to me about:

• How to successfully lead projects in a mature organization?
• Practical issues related to the technical aspect of public speaking or creating clear concise information to the recipient.
• How to identify the amount of ideas you have in your mind and how to build self-confidence?

I have over 10 years’ experience in designing and implementing advanced analytics solutions for retail, telco, banking and public sector in Poland and abroad. I also coordinate McKinsey’s efforts aimed at capability building and talent development.

I  hold Master’s degree in Quantitative Methods & Information Systems from Warsaw School of Economics, where I also worked as Research & Teaching Assistant. I’m the author of the book about predictive and decision analytics.

Talk to me about:

• Data Visualization & Exploration,
• Forecasting, Predictive Analytics,
• Machine Learning, Simulation,
• Optimization, R and many more.

William has been with Facebook over 3 years, working in various roles in the enterprise engineering organization. With 15 years experience, starting his career in systems and data analysis, moving through product marketing and now driving systems change and innovation for the global enterprise operations engagement team based out of Dublin. William is a graduate of digital innovation at UCD Michael Smurfit graduate business school.

Talk to me about:

• Working at FB vs “traditional” companies;
• leading business transformations;
• business analysis and Systems analysis

Executive Manager. For the last 8 years in charge of different B2B structures in Orange Polska. Responsible for business planning, B2B customer base management, sales and delivery environment digitalisation and business processes transformation for B2B market. A leader in Razem.One program, supporting diversity management in Orange Polska. 

Charismatic, full of energy and always smiling  leader and mentor.  Experienced in building balanced and engaged teams.  Strongly believing in a sentence: „innovate or evaporate”, especially in this day and age. That’s why she invests time and energy in development of her employees and hers. 

Privately wife, mother, and a fan of life music. 

Talk to me about:

• people development,
• team building,
• engaging people.

Alejandro (Ale) Paz Olivares started his career in Procter & Gamble with an internship and then joined P&G as a full time employee in Caracas, Venezuela, after his bachelor degree in Chemical Engineering from the Simon Bolivar University.

Ale has broad experience across the Data & Analytics space, working with diverse and dispersed teams in some of the biggest transformations in the space for P&G in both Data Visualization, Integration, Solution Architecture and Engineering and currently leading the Data Hub program from Warsaw.  He is passionate about disrupting how teams operate towards a transformation and delivering business results leveraging technology.  Diversity & Inclusion is an area of big passion for Ale, leading activities in this area in the Europe region for IT in the past and as well as being a certified trainer for GenderSpeak.

Tomasz Wasilewski – IT Area Leader in the Payments Tribe in Santander

High-tech enthusiast, fan of agile methodologies in products designing, oriented at people development. Read more on https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomasz-wasielewski-9ba2a71/. 

Talk to me about:

• career planning in IT, especially with people who do not know how to get their carriers started. 
• It will be my pleasure to share with you my experience related to working with traditional and agile teams in areas developing electronic banking services and payment products.

Working at Schneider Electric Poland from January 2015, cooperating with industrial clients in the implementation of comprehensive modernization and energy efficiency projects.

More than 16 years experience in energy efficiency and industry sector.  

In the years 2003-2014 she worked at KAPE S.A., where as the Deputy Director of PJCEE (Polish Japan Energy Conservation Center) she managed industrial projects, energy and energy efficiency audits in medium and large production plants. In Japan, she completed monthly technical, practical training course on energy conservation in industry organized in Sumikin Management Co. (SMC), Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) and Energy Conservation Centre Japan (ECCJ) Japan, Tokyo/Kashima

Certified Lead Auditor of the Energy Management System ISO 50001 (BSI, LRQA). Trainer in energy management in industry.

Lead Trainer on training "EUREM Plus - European Energy Manager".

Mentor of the LEAN in STEM program Perspektywy 2015 - present.

She graduated the Faculty of Power and Aeronautical Engineering at the Warsaw University of Technology, obtaining with honors the degree of MSc. in the field of heat engineering.

She interested in water sports and classical skiing from young age. Polish vice champion in rowing.

ANNA KRZYŻANOWSKA - Map Data Product Owner @ TomTom.

Currently, I am a Product Owner in TomTom. After spending 3 years working in a Scrum Master role I wanted to move closer to end-users and have bigger impact on the product.

Scrum got my interest while I was involved in building Geek Girls Carrots community in Łódź and being part of Zwinna Łódź group. 

At that time I met some real experts and practitioners who made me curious about their fresh approach while facing challenges in their organizations.

I majored in molecular biology of bacteria and went even deeper by doing Ph.D. but then I abandoned Salmonella agar plates and PCRs to work in IT. 

I think that we can do something in life and be even expert in this for several years and then switch to something completely new. Just like that. And then it gets more interesting. 

Talk to me about:

• everything because I am good listener
• if you need my advice let's talk about Scrum/Agile/Product Ownership/Scrum Mastership/
• Giving feedback
• Effective communication
• Starting career in IT
• please remember that I am here for you :)

Damian Mierny completed his undergraduate degree in psychology at Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts, followed by a Master of Arts in Industrial Organizational Psychology and an M.B.A. from the University of Hartford in West Hartford, Connecticut.

He began his professional career in higher education, where Damian managed the M.B.A. program at the University of Hartford and taught undergraduate courses in professional development and business networking.  

In 2012 he transitioned into developing a career in talent acquisition, working with various agencies where he gained valuable insights into staffing strategies, staff augmentation, and workforce planning.

He joined TomTom in 2017 as the Talent Acquisition Manager for Easter Europe, executing TomTom's recruitment strategy for Poland, Russia, Hungary, and Serbia.

Damian is now responsible for talent acquisition in Eastern Europe as well as global talent sourcing operations, responsible for developing a sourcing strategy that, among other things, will emphasize the company's commitment to diversity and inclusion globally. 

After living in the United States for 28 years, Damian is now enjoying working in and exploring Europe.

Hi! My name is Monika, I am Team Leader and Data Engineer at Zendesk. I decided to work in IT very early and starting from choosing the right high school I was driving my educational and work efforts to support that goal.

I started working during my third year at the university - I felt that putting to practice what I’ve learned so far will be the best way to grow fast. I started as a frontend engineer, then moved to backend and databases to finally find what excites me the most in Big Data.

It’s been now 6 years when I first started working with Hadoop environment. In that time I had the incredible pleasure to work on machine learning projects and face data modeling and data engineering challenges and develop platform solutions for various data processing scenarios.

At Zendesk I lead Data Platform Team and together we are striving for providing the best environment and tools to work with data for our colleagues.

Talk to me about:

• career in IT
• challenges in the Big Data field.

Ming Yan Reinemer born and raised in Germany to Chinese mother and German father.

Studies in Germany and US followed by a SAP consultant career with PwC and IBM before joining Nestle. Various IT roles in Finance and Global Shared Service Center experience. Currently Sr. Product Group Manager for Financial Accounting for the Nestle IT Group

Mother of two young children; dual career family.

Talk to me about:

• Any career related question
• managing dual careers,
• balancing your work with your private life,
• manage your team, your boss.
• working mom,
• me-time,

She  is a graduate of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). She is a graduate of the Orange Finance and Controlling Business School – a program organized by ESCP Europe business school in partnership with Orange Group (strategy development and implementation, management control tools, communication skills). She has Accounting Certificate issued by the Ministry of Finance and all Polish Certified Auditor exams.

After graduation, she worked as an auditor in PricewaterhouseCoopers. After  5 years  experience in auditing and accounting consulting, she moved to a  newly set-up telco company, Crowley Data Poland (American telco capital). She worked there as a Financial Controller, Chief Accountant and, finally, CFO and management board member. She set up there accounting and finance organization and processes, was  responsible for ongoing accounting and finance tasks and financing acquisition. 

After 8 years experience in Crowley, she moved to Orange for the position of an  Accounting and Internal Control Director. Besides regular responsibilities in accounting and internal control (setting accounting and internal control policies, processes, implementation of accounting and financial systems, reporting, financial statements) she  was involved in key initiatives including: accounting organization and processes  transformation and optimization, merger of mobile and fixed entities  into Orange Polska SA, implementation of accounting standards, implementation of ERP cloud system. She’s worked in Orange since 2009.

Anna Łabno - Kucharska - project manager, trainer and professional career advisor fascinated by personal and employer branding.

She co-created the Mamo Pracuj Online Course, which comprehensively prepares mothers to return to the labor market. Privately, the mother of a wise individualist and the wife of a wonderful husband. 

Talk to me about:

• women empowerment, 
• returning to work after maternity leave, 
• job searching.

For 8 years we have helped mothers find a balance between family and professional life and fulfill professional dreams.  

I love to invent and implement new projects and watch how our actions change the life of other mums. I have also 8 years of previous experience in export and marketing department of the Nowy Styl Group, where I could use my language skills. 

Talk to me about:

• women empowerment,
• returning to work after maternity leave,
• job searching.

Recruitment Manager with 3 years of Amazon tenure. Leading a team of talented recruiters hiring Reliability Maintenance Engineers for Amazon Fulfillment Centers across Europe. Enjoys Crossfit for the body, social psychology for the mind, vegetarian cuisine for the soul.

Talk to me about:

• Interviewing 
• CV writing
• Talent Acquisition
• Organizational Development Diversity in Engineering
• Intercultural Communication

Poznan University Graduate with degree in Power Engineering. Experienced in electrical engineering currently working as Operations Manager. Interested in new technologies, enjoys long walks in different places with her dog.

Talk to me about:

• How to be a female leader? 
• soft skills
• leadership skills
• engineering
• team engagement 
• project management
• getting things done and geek news
• career development

Her role in CS is Head of the Semantic Technology, Analytics & Machine Intelligence Team (SAMI) within Credit Suisse’s Group CIO

Talk to me about:

• how working in Financial Services is innovative, challenging and fulfilling.

Her roles in CS are: Managing Director in Credit Suisse’s Group Chief Information Office, Head of IT Infrastructure for Switzerland and Head of Workspace Devices Services within the global End User Services organization.

Talk to me about:

• how you can write your own career story in technology.

Purnima leads the Innovation practice for Global Banking and Markets Technology. She has been with HSBC for 13 years and has done several roles in India, US and now UK. She is very passionate about the global opportunities that HSBC has to offer and loves to mentor women and young people to achieve their full potential in the organisation. In her spare time, she loves to travel and read.

Milena leads a team that provides web performance and security consultancy to Akamai customers. Her team consists mostly of Akamai Technical Academy graduates, making it diverse in terms of background, interests and previous experience.She has experience in technical presales, knowledge transfer and forming new teams. As a leader she likes to look for potential in candidates and enjoys seeing her people grow. She believes that the best way to develop a career is to follow what drive ones the most.

Talk to me about:

• worried you will not be successful in a technology company,
• not sure if you can love your technology job,
• wondering what it's like to hire people with different backgrounds,
• afraid that a leadership job will require you to constantly work overtime.

Mieszko leads Engineering Teams specialized in developing software & solutions for data center, based at Intel Poland.

* Teams’ focus is to develop highly specialized and complex software for data center Customers

* The Teams at Intel Poland have wide scope of expertise in multiple data center areas and technologies. They create software products starting at low level firmware and BIOS, going through multiple levels of stack up to creation of full cloud solutions.

* Mieszko leads 2019 DCG Poland Innovator program which enables DCG employees in Poland to explore new areas, innovate and design new products for our Customers

Mieszko started his professional career in 2008 in R&D companies developing wireless systems for telco market. He started as engineer, then moved into multiple sales and management roles.

In 2015 Mieszko joined Intel and started his Blue Journey in the EMEA Business Management Group. After some time he moved to SMG EMEA Inside Sales organization helping to grow the Business Operations team there. Finally, over a year ago, Mieszko moved into engineering management role in DCG.

Paweł Sklarow - always engineer, recently also manager. Software industry veteran, with experience in telco hardware, firmware, and software. Enthusiast of software development methodologies. Intra-extrovert. Servant leadership believer.

Paweł is helping teams involved in firmware for cryptography and compression acceleration, Linux drivers and telco cloud solutions.

Before joining BCG, he was involved in behavioral user identification techniques and models detecting fraudulent transactions at the Polish FinTech Nethone. He started his professional career at Towarzystwo Ubezpieczeń i Reasekuracji WARTA S.A. where he has built statistical models used for the valuation of motor insurance. He graduated from Mathematics at the University of Warsaw. In his master's thesis, he discussed geographic effects modeling techniques in motor insurance.

Talk to me about:

• Machine Learning

Aleksandra Szlacheta  M.E. in Computer Science from Lodz University of Technology. Currently Senior Front-End Developer, working at Fujitsu Technology Solutions.  A strong advocate of approaching technical problems with code quality, good architecture and TDD. Actively focused on expanding soft-skill knowledge to encourage souls to start their adventure with IT. Newbie lecturer at University of Lodz, helping students with Team programming classes.

When I want to recharge my batteries I spend time at dance school, practicing upper levels of Cuban Salsa, Rueda De Casino and Bachata Dominicana.

Talk to me about:

• career paths, 
• front-end development, 
• IoT, testing, 
• software engineering, 
• artificial intelligence,
• dancing! 

She has been working at Accenture for over 14 years. Agnieszka is Lead of SAP-CMT practice in Poland, successfully delivering projects for the biggest telecommunication providers in Europe.

She has experience in ERP Project & Rollout Management with deep knowledge of Finance and Accounting processes. Agnieszka is also Inclusion & Diversity Lead for Accenture Technology in Poland. Privately, a mother of two daughters.

Talk to me about:

• shaping your career in IT consulting.

Laura Lachowicz - UX Researcher. A bit scientific and a bit humanistic mind - has a lot of fun, both in meeting users and in quantitative data analysis. At Allegro for over two years - from first days of work in the Allegro Smart project. Tries to smuggle sport in free time. Recently also tries her hand in abstract painting and learning Italian. 

Talk to me about:

• user experience: e.g. what is UX research what is it for, 
• what is the difference between a researcher and a designer, 
• what are their competences and responsibilities in the team,
• how can You start Your journey in UX.

Over 12 years associated with the IT industries trying to help Business get closer to the IT world and understand the interdependencies in the train called "Digitization".

Specializes in:

• Software Quality Assurance, i.e. software testing, improving the testing process, test management, defect management, software quality measures.
• Agile & Scrum or how to do business in an agile environment.
• Governance IT 

Talk to me about:

• Aviva Test Academy #ATA - development program for Aviva employees and retraining into a professional software tester,
• Software testing,
• Agile Software Development & Testing.

13 years’ experience in Supplier Quality Organization with the focus on development of suppliers, ongoing improvements of market challenges related to suppliers, managing the local SQA Managers in factories, working with cross-functional teams, taking preventive actions, process audits at suppliers etc. She started her career in automotive industry in 2001 in Supplier Quality and joined Electrolux in 2006.

Karolina holds Master’s Degrees from the University of Wroclaw as well as Wroclaw University of Economics and Business. 

Privately, she is a mother of two, fan of travelling, books and cooking.

Talk to me about:

• Women in high positions in corporation, positives and obstacles.
• Prevention tools in quality
• How we measure satisfaction of customers

Director of the Steam Technology Organization at Electrolux, where he leads the R&D team responsible for pursuing world market leadership in steam cooking.

A 10-year veteran of Electrolux, covering different positions: project manager, program manager and team manager. He is a strong believer in the power of multicultural environment and he recognizes that no single approach is the right one for every individual.

Lorenzo is a visionary and business-minded person targeted to innovation. His great passion is working with people to develop products that create better experiences and improve the quality of our life.

Lorenzo’s educational background includes an Executive Master in Technology and Innovation Management, a PhD in Industrial Engineering and a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineer from Bologna University in Italy. 

He is a Bruce Springsteen fan and he loves travel and photography.

Talk to me about:

• Project Management
• Communication
• High Performance Organization

Pawel Baszuro has more than 10 years of experience in software development.

He has worked on many projects across multiple industries and companies, including Microsoft, Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs. He has held multiple technology roles throughout his career, including as a programmer, administrator, tester, architect, business analyst and team manager. Pawel has given lectures at Adam Mickiewicz University and University of Economics in Poznan, Poland. Earlier this year, Pawel wrote a book about IT projects, called  “U mnie dziala. Jezyk branzy IT”.

Talk to me about:

• choosing your own path in IT,
• career change and working in large corporations.

Veena joined 3M in 1993 as a product engineer in Canada. She holds bachelor of science degrees in chemistry and chemical engineering from the University of Western Ontario in Canada. Throughout her 3M career, Veena has held several key positions of increased leadership, and most recently served as vice president, chief ethics and compliance officer.

Previous appointments include, business director in IATD (Industrial Adhesives and Tape) and (Automotive and Aerospace Division) AASD, managing director of 3M Indonesia and before that held business, sales, and R&D roles in our SPSD (Separation and Purification Sciences Division), and abrasives businesses, among others. These experiences have enabled her to develop a global lens, which is critical in her current role as she leverages 3M technology to advance customers around the world.

Veena is passionate about STEM education and the empowerment of women and children. She is a board member of the Minnesota Independent School Forum (MISF), which focuses on STEM educational K-12 programming.

At 3M, she is part of the Advisory Board of the Asian and Asian American Employee Resource Network and is an advocate for the Women’s Leadership Forum. She serves on the 3M Foundation Board and the CEO Inclusion Council.

Talk to me about:

• STEM education and the empowerment of women and children
• Management

Anna is the Director of the Cisco CX Center Security team in Krakow. She previously led the Krakow Advanced Services (AS) team and was the Director of the EMEAR Strategy and Business Operations team. 

Anna joined Cisco in 2006 in the Emerging Markets Business Operations team and was the Commercial and Games Time Operations Manager for Cisco’s very successful London 2012 Olympic Sponsorship program. 

Before Cisco Anna was a Finance Manager at O2 UK, she is also a Chartered Accountant and has a degree in Economics from the University of London.

Anna relocated to Krakow from the UK with her husband Liam and their two dogs. Outside of work Anna enjoys long walks in the country, yoga and travelling – Italy, Hawaii and San Francisco are favourite destinations.

Talk to me about:

• career advice, 
• authentic and inclusive leadership, 
• business skills, 
• leadership development.

Kamil Gierach is Global Command Center (GCC) Duty Manager responsible for Global CC in EMEA region, flawless delivery of Citi Technology Infrastructure (CTI) Command Center services, Global Single Point of Failure process owner as well as Service Delivery Improvement Head for Insitutional Clients Group L1 Application Support. 

Throughout his 14 year long carrier in Citi he held multiple roles in CTI and Global Consumer Group leading Distributed and Enterprise Scheduling teams in EMEA, coordinating tests of wealth management CitiPlanner module during Rainbow project and running Service Delivery Management Center that was providing end user experience monitoring services for Consumer business with main focus on supporting Citibank branches and call centers across all regions. 

Out of hours, passionate about martial arts, all sorts of outdoor activities, travels, photography trying to pass on his passions with his kids, family and friends. 

Kasia Łosiewicz - Senior Marketing Operations Specialist 

Working at the intersection of King’s Marketing, Technology and Data teams, as well as 3rd party solutions, Kasia drives optimisation of CRM marketing tools, data structure and processes to ensure the successful and efficient delivery of world-class experiences to our 270+ million players. 

Talk to me about:

• Project Management 101: 
• Getting Marketing and Technology to speak one language. 
• How to secure buy-in and solidify relationships with your stakeholders in successful Project Management. 

Katarzyna Grabowska - IT Architecture & Integration Team Manager, Chief It Architect

I have been working at Nationale-Nederlanden for many years. I started as a programmer, later an analyst, IT architect, finally reaching the position of the Chief IT Architect and Manager of the IT Architecture and Integration Department. This year, for several months I was replacing the IT Director in his duties.

I participated in many initiatives and projects, developing solutions ranging from simple through complex corporate systems to the project of the entire company. I have built a stable team of experts to support me in this work. In addition to designing and implementing solutions, I work out directions and plans for changes in system architecture, so that they meet business and technological needs, while cooperating with many internal and external partners.

I graduated from the Faculty of Technical Physics at the Gdańsk University of Technology, I continued my scientific work at the Polish Academy of Sciences, which I finished with a PHD. I also completed several types of postgraduate studies related to various IT fields, which allows me not to leave the habit of continuous learning and getting deeper into various topics.

I like changes in my professional and personal environment, I like people who are a challenge for me and from whom I can learn both substantive knowledge and life attitudes. I am passionate about off-road travels, reaching places where few people commute. I'm particularly fascinated by Central Asia with its diverse culture and openness to people.

Talk to me about:

• designing and implementing IT architecture (systems, infrastructure, data / information), 
• managing teams of experts and other topics related to the world of technology, in particular inside a corporation.

I was born and raised in California, schooled at the well renowned University of California, Berkeley and have over 15+ years working experience.

I started my career in the hub of Silicon Valley working for the Big Four, Ernst & Young, for 7 years as Audit Manager of Tech and Biotech companies, small and large, public and private. After which I decided I needed to gain life/work experience abroad. 

I've always had a desire to travel but wanted to live and work in a foreign country. With the tech bubble coming to a slow down, I was not able to make an internal transfer, instead I decided I needed to pave my own way. I moved to Europe with a one-way ticket, two suitcases and no job in hand. I had to trust in myself and my skills to survive and brave the unknown. In a matter of weeks, thanks to the Facebook generation, my network reached out to me with a unique opportunity to possibly work for a UN organization. Barely two months abroad and I landed my first freelance consulting job, implementing IPSAS for the IAEA in Vienna.

A few years of uncertain contract durations, I made the move to the Netherlands for personal reasons. Starting the job search, learning the salary scales, and adjusting to life in yet another new country was daunting. Five years in the Netherlands, working, then taking time off to be a stay at home mom, and then returning to the workforce after two years off, I finally feel like I have settled into a sweet spot and life has come full circle.

I'm a happy mother of two, finding the balance as a full time working mother for Palo Alto Networks which connects me back to my "home" / tech world in California. 

Talk to me about:

• working for leading cyber security company,
• US-based company with EMEA headquarters,
• being an expat,
• living and working abroad,
• and/or life as a full-time working mom.

Paweł Ostrowski has worked in a number of segments. He was a customer relationship manager in Corporate Banking, he managed business effectiveness in the Retail Sales Network. He was also Product Owner in NEOCRM+ and was in charge of the CRM Systems Development Department. Paweł was the leader of IT changes stream during the  bank’s rebranding.

Since 2015, when he started combining business with IT, he has been working in agile. His mission as an IT Area Leader consists in providing the best-in-class software through:

- responsible team work,

- courage to undertake brave initiatives and commit errors,

- focus on growths in the sprint,

- high quality from the very first lines of the code,

- TTM, NPS, results.

Talk to me about:

• business & IT (people, projects, organisation), 
• work in scalable SCRUM,
• leadership, 
• effectiveness in a daily work.

Kamila Różana, Senior Manager, Information and Cyber Security.

Kamila has been connected with the world of technology in the financial sector for almost a decade. She started her professional career in an insurance company and then moved to work for global banks operating in Poland.

She joined Standard Chartered Bank’s Warsaw-based team in early 2019 to help protect the bank as a member of the global Cyber and Information Security Office (CISO) function.

Her earlier professional experience includes Risk and Compliance Manager role at Citi, which focused on cooperation with Unix administrators, definition and implementation of controls and IT risk assessment.

She’s a graduate of Citi Technology Infrastructure Management Program and was a founding member of the bank’s Women in Technology initiative.

At Standard Chartered she co-founded and is now one of the leaders of Women@Work, an organization operating within the bank’s office in Poland, focused on supporting the professional and personal development of female employees and contributing to gender balance-dedicated initiatives.

Kamila holds an MSc diploma from Warsaw School of Economics and is passionate about helping young women in starting their career path in the world of technology (she served as mentor of ITforSHE program).

She enjoys spending time with her Weimaraner, watching good TV series and reading books (preferably crime stories).

Talk to me about:

• finding a career path for yourself in the technology world (even if you’re not a student or graduate of technology-related studies), 
• professional development in IT, 
• cybersecurity and risk management 
• about achieving work-life balance.

For 20 years, Timothy has been working in different roles that have all contributed to his experience and knowledge, including success and failures. Sharing his experiences is a natural thing to do – especially when it has the potential to connect talented women with roles in IT. He strongly believes that the best teams have different cultures, skills, genders, backgrounds and ages. 

Talk to me about:

• Onboarding talent,
• coaching technical and non-technical skills,
• Servant leadership,
• building teams,
• Software development in an agile world.

Małgorzata Szyrmer - Supply Chain Analytics Manager.

She started her professional career 16 years ago, right after graduating from Warsaw School of Economics. Her FMCG Supply Chain expertise gained in Poland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom covers areas such as: Customer Service, Production and Demand Planning and Supply Chain Analytics.

Her passion is optimisation of processes, innovation in Supply Chain but most importantly -  creating and managing teams who can deliver.

Currently she manages a very talented team of data analysts and data scientists who use their statistical knowledge and skills to optimise Supply Chain processes in Z-EMENA.

Talk to me about:

• Supply Chain Analytics in FMCG, 
• Career development – trade-offs, hard choices,
• Working abroad – cultural adjustment, challenges, benefits.

I started my professional career as a Market Analyst in Euromonitor International in London. After my return to Warsaw I was offered an opportunity to work as an Analyst in the banking industry and more precisely in ABN AMRO that later became Royal Bank of Scotland. Soon my role has developed into a Project/Change Manager to finally become the Scrum Master and People Leader in the Technology in NatWest Bank.

My motto is: one action is more valuable than 100 ideas (Emre Yilmaz). In line with that thought, I always start the changes from myself, constantly developing and inventing my time in various initiatives in order to inspire people.

Privately, I am the happy mother of 2- years old Zosia and  I really enjoy spending my free time with my family. I love travelling and broadening horizons.

Talk to me about:

• Managing international projects,
• Agile/Scrum,
• Creativity, positive energy and enthusiasm.

Mining engineer, mother of two kids and outdoors activities passionate. Has background in concrete industry currently working as Maintenance Manager in Amazon Fullfilment Centre in Spain.

Talk to me about:

• Building an Engineering team Women leadership in masculine world (maintenance and engineering area)
• Family and work, how to achieve a work-life balance (not an expert, but experienced herself)
• Creative ideas to motivate technical teams (fun activities, project ideas,…)

Dr Rachel Cooke is a technical leader with over 15 years of experience in global operations in food and drink and logistics. She has held a range of supply chain roles including engineering, operations, procurement and project management and is currently Head of Central Engineering Programs for Amazon Europe where she leads several teams that support the growth in Amazon's warehousing capacity with capital planning, analytics, standards, change management and vendor management.

Talk to me about:

• Career Planning
• Building a Network
• Professional Development
• Volunteer Work

12 years of experience in international companies (6 years in HSBC). Has been involved in business analysis for 9 years. Aleksandra has the international CCBA® certificate in the field of business analysis issued by the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA). Constantly follows the latest trends in business analysis and related fields. Aleksandra is happy to share the knowledge and experience by participating in programs supporting people interested in starting work in the field of business analysis. In addition, conducts 'What is your personality color code' interpersonal workshops used as a team building activity inside the company.

Talk to me about:

• Demystifying IT roles
• Business Analysis
• Diversity &Inclusion within the global company
• Career planning and development
• Customer-facing applications

Olga has been pioneering the RPA Program at Electrolux since 2016. She is an experienced RPA Program Manager and Digital/Transformation Project Manager with a proven record of successful projects execution and team leadership. During her 12 years of experience at Electrolux she was covering different positions across the organization.

She holds MSc Degree of Cracow University of Management and Banking as well as Bachelor’s Degree in Financial Management from Polish Open University.  She is a PRINCE2, Agile/Scrum and Six Sigma certifications holder.

Passionate about digital transformation, emerging technologies and innovations. Privately, mother of two wonderful kids, culinary enthusiast & food lover and a former basketball champion.

Talk to me about:

• Robotics Process Automation (incl. Operating Model, Implementation, Expansion, Change & People Management)
• How to successfully drive the digital related project
• How to identify emerging technology trends and innovative best practises