Meet Our Industry Advisory Board
The Women's Engineering Program IAB currently consists of 30 members. Click on each member's name to learn more about them:
Jessica Boisselle-Rairkar, Amazon
Jessica Boisselle-Rairkar is currently a Senior Technical Program Manager (TPM) for a part of Amazon’s Global Security team. Jessica is responsible for delivering Amazon-wide engineering programs focused on delivering new capabilities for internal customers. In her role she works across multiple organizations on initiatives related to metrics and reporting, and sharing best practices with her mentees and the broader TPM community. Prior to Amazon, Jessica worked as a hardware Certified Principal Engineer (CPE) and project manager at Lockheed Martin where she was responsible for space hardware in control systems and managing subcontractors across all phases of the program life cycle. Earlier in her tenure, while working at LM’s Advanced Technology Center, she was an Integrated Product Team lead responsible for performing research and development testing leading to Test Readiness Level (TRL) increases for both materials and processes, and controls subsystems. Jessica is also a graduate of LM’s Engineering Leadership Development Program (ELDP) and mid-career Executive Development Growth Enhancement (EDGE) leadership program.
Jessica has been a member of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) since the start of her undergraduate studies, and has continued as a professional member since graduation. Jessica has served on the Cal Poly, SLO Women’s Engineering Program Industry Advisory Board since 2017. Jessica has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and a MS in Engineering from Santa Clara University. Jessica has completed a Certificate in Project and Program Management from UC Santa Cruz and is PMI PMP certified. Outside of work Jessica participates in community volunteer events focused on STEM and mentors women in technical disciplines at the college and early career levels. Jessica’s time outside of work and volunteering is spent traveling with her husband, hiking, kayaking, and taking their high energy dog to the many beaches along the Central Coast.
To view Jessica's LinkedIn, click here.
Tim Calder, Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Tim Calder is a Director of Infrastructure Product Operations within the Storage and Big Data business unit at Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE). Since graduating at Cal Poly in Mechanical Engineering in 1994 he has enjoyed collaborating, partnering and recruiting top talent at Cal Poly while at Silicon Graphics (SGI), NetApp and HPE.
He holds his MBA from Santa Clara University and previously served on Poly’s
School of Business Dean’s Advisory Council (DAC). Tim has a long history of
volunteering and building corporate walk teams for the Alzheimer’s Association and has helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote awareness, fund researching and provide support for individuals and families dealing with the disease. He is an avid road and mountain biker and enjoys all things outdoors.
Mark Carroll, Project Kuiper
Mark Carroll holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Physics from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Mark now works for Project Kuiper at Amazon. He previously worked for HPE and was responsible for the general management and R&D of the Wireless LAN business. This consisted of Product Management, Engineering, and Operations. Prior to this position he also served as VP and CTO for HP Networking, leading the technical and strategic direction for Data Center and Enterprise including Converged Campus.
Prior to HPE, Mark was the VP and GM of Wireless Infrastructure and Networking BU at Qualcomm. In this role, he was responsible for connectivity and networking products. He also served as the Vice President, Engineering, and Product Management for Linksys Division at Cisco where he led engineering and product management for carrier, SMB, and retail.
In addition to serving on the Women's Engineering Program Industry Advisory Board, he also serves on the non-profit Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance.
To view Mark's LinkedIn, click here.
Jessica Chaidez Clark, Microsoft
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Malia Farkas, Lockheed Martin
Malia Francisco Farkas received her bachelors degree in mechanical engineering from California Polytechnic State University in 2005. Currently, Malia is a Systems Engineer and program resiliency mission lead at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company in Sunnyvale, CA. She has been with Lockheed Martin since 2007, holding a variety of positions including thermal engineer, systems safety engineer and multiple project management technical lead positions. She has experience in various technical disciplines ranging from facility analysis and operation, facility and product design, fluid and thermal analysis, systems engineering, launch system integration and operations, systems operation, system safety and technical project management.
Before Lockheed Martin, Malia previously worked for Northrop Grumman Corporation as a Launch Operations Systems Engineer testing spacecraft launch and deployment systems in orbit.
She is a determined and energetic engineer with exceptional leadership, communication, organizational, people and technical skills. She has been extensively involved in the Society of Women Engineers over her career with various positions at the section, region and society level.
To view Malia's LinkedIn, click here.
Samantha Galicinao, Amgen
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Beth Green, Northrop Grumman
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Hannah Lewbel, Lewbel Consultancy, U.S. Dept. of Veteran Affairs
Hannah Lewbel is an experienced technology leader and passionate advocate for diversity and equality. She has over 15 years inspiring and leading technical collaborative teams, building trust in both her personal and business relationships, designing and executing on high-quality consumer and accessibility products, developing new technologies, and improving innovation and processes. Hannah has worked for Apple designing the first Mac Mini and Amazon as a technical lead and then engineering manager for the early Kindle e-reader and Kindle Fire tablet products.
She leads business and client relations, and oversees software and hardware technical development for both the Lewbel Consultancy and partner organizations as a technical advisor.
Hannah is a strong, proactive role model for girls in STEM programs and an advocate for women in technology industries. She's a board member for orgs that focus on improving women's rights globally, a speaker and panelist at women in tech events, and an advisor for technical University departments and Women in Engineering programs. Hannah earned a Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and a Full-Stack Software Engineering certificate from Hackbright Academy in San Francisco.
To view Hannah's LinkedIn, click here.
Christine Lewis, Abbott
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Audrey Marsalek, CNA Insurance
Audrey holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Audrey now works at Uber. She was previously serving as Chief of Staff to the SVP of Shared Services at Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) in San Francisco. Audrey started her career as an industrial engineering supervisor at United Parcel Service, with roles such as volume forecasting, load planning, route design and time study analysis. She later joined the consulting firm Protiviti, Inc., where she worked as a supply chain manager in the warehouse/inventory management, sourcing/procurement and contract management fields.
Audrey holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Audrey now works at Uber. She was previously serving as Chief of Staff to the SVP of Shared Services at Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) in San Francisco. Audrey started her career as an industrial engineering supervisor at United Parcel Service, with roles such as volume forecasting, load planning, route design and time study analysis. She later joined the consulting firm Protiviti, Inc., where she worked as a supply chain manager in the warehouse/inventory management, sourcing/procurement and contract management fields.
To view Audrey's LinkedIn, click here.
Emily Mattie, The Walt Disney Company
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Cynthia Murphy Ortega, Chevron
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Jessica Napier, GHD
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Jennifer Nichols, TriMedx
Ms. Nichols is currently a Clinical Engineering Manager with TriMedx in Los Angeles. She graduated from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo in 2003, earning a BS in Industrial Engineering and a MS in Engineering with a Specialization in Integrated Technology Management. Jenn's engineering career began at UPS, specializing in logistics and supply chain.
In 2011, Jennifer accepted a position with TriMedx, a healthcare equipment service firm. TriMedx provides clinical technology management services including equipment repair, preventative maintenance, and data management to healthcare organization. After six months of training and job shadowing, Jenn was offered the position of Clinical Engineering Manager at Glendale Memorial Hospital. There she has implemented new processes for technician accountability, established weekly department meetings, launched cost controls measures, and several other items to improve the hospital's practices.
Jennifer has been recognized for her contributions with the following awards: SWE New Faces in Engineering, Los Angeles Council of Engineers and Scientists Outstanding New Engineer, and Inductee to Who's Who in America in Science and Engineering.
To view Jennifer's LinkedIn, click here.
Laura Pickering, Innovation Quest
With 30+ years in the high tech industry, Laura Pickering has a proven record as a leader and catalyst for growth. She has vast experience and success in business development, customer success, sales, marketing and product development. Having joined two very successful, high growth startups when they were young, NetApp and Oracle, Laura has spent the majority of her career contributing to and learning from the best.
Laura is currently managing partner and co-founder at Innovation Quest, a nonprofit corporation dedicated to fostering innovation and entrepreneurship at public universities. Most recently, Laura was CEO of Novawise, a Nova Scotia-based developer of enterprise software. Laura was also CEO and co-founder of Sizijee, Inc. a US developer of Internet applications. Laura retired from her position as vice president, Office of the CEO, and Environmental Responsibility Officer at NetApp, Inc. where she was a key advisor to and member of NetApp’s executive team and led the Company’s environmental initiatives. Prior to joining NetApp, Laura held key leadership, sales, development, and marketing positions at NetManage, Data General and Oracle.
Laura has a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronic Engineering from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.
To view Laura's LinkedIn, click here.
Julia Riss, Cisco
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Beth Ritcher, Keysight
Monique Roberts, AECOM
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Joe Roberts, Aera Energy LLC
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Erin Shaw, Northrop Grumman
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Angie Simon, Maxim Consulting Group
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Shelly Springer, Santa Maria High School
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Alison Sweet, Consulting Engineer
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Lynda Tesillo, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Lynda has been with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory since 2015. She has worked as a systems engineer in LLNL’s Defense Technologies Engineering Division. She graduated Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 2015 with a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering.
Before graduating, Lynda held a number of internships with a variety of companies. She interned for PCL Industrial Services as a Field Engineering, for Eaton Corporation as a Clutch Engineering Intern, and for Apple Inc. as a Battery Qualification Intern.
To view Lynda's LinkedIn, click here.
Cassidy Thompson, Mazzetti
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Deanna Toy, PG&E
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Anika Tuba, Boeing
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Audrey Van Belleghem, Google
Audrey Van Belleghem currently works at Google. Before this she was at Facebook and before that she was the Vice President of Operations at the Anita Borg Institute for Women in Computing, a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the representation of women in technical roles at all levels. Additionally, Audrey served as Vice President and General Manager of the Grace Hopper Celebration, the world's largest conference for women technologists. In addition to her work at ABI, Audrey has formerly volunteered to serve on the TechWomen program as a Technical Mentor. TechWomen pairs women in Silicon Valley with their counterparts in the Middle East and North Africa. Audrey has previously held Chief of Staff and Director positions at NetApp, a storage and data management company. She is a past recipient of the Top 100 Women of Influence award, given by the San Jose/Silicon Valley Business Journal. Audrey holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from UCLA and an MBA from the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley.
To view Audrey's LinkedIn, click here.
Tracy Van Houten, Nasa - JPL
Tracy Van Houten is a systems engineer for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, CA. Highlights from her 10-year JPL career include working as the lead systems engineer on a concurrent engineering design team called Team X and being a systems engineer on the Mars Science Laboratory project that landed Curiosity on Mars in August 2012. She is currently working on two projects -- SMAP, an orbiter launching in 2014 that will map Earth’s soil moisture and Mars2020, the Curiosity-like rover with a new science payload that will launch in 2020. Tracy is committed to inspiring the next generation of space explorers and engineers and has mentored more than twenty summer interns during her career, many of whom now work full time at JPL.
Tracy Van Houten is a systems engineer for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, CA. Highlights from her 10-year JPL career include working as the lead systems engineer on a concurrent engineering design team called Team X and being a systems engineer on the Mars Science Laboratory project that landed Curiosity on Mars in August 2012. She is currently working on two projects -- SMAP, an orbiter launching in 2014 that will map Earth’s soil moisture and Mars2020, the Curiosity-like rover with a new science payload that will launch in 2020. Tracy is committed to inspiring the next generation of space explorers and engineers and has mentored more than twenty summer interns during her career, many of whom now work full time at JPL.
To view Tracy's LinkedIn, click here.
Laura Wilson, The Aerospace Corporation
To view Laura's LinkedIn, click here.