The Anita Borg Institute Announces Industry, Academia, and Government Leaders to Keynote 2014 Grace Hopper Celebration

PALO ALTO, CA--(Marketwired - Jun 2, 2014) - The Anita Borg Institute (ABI), a non-profit organization focused on advancing women in computing, today announced three celebrated technology leaders who will keynote this year's Grace Hopper Celebration. They are Shafi Goldwasser, Professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT and 2012 ACM Turing Award recipient; Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft; and Dr. Arati Prabhakar, Director of DARPA.

ABI also announced that registration is open for the 2014 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, to be held October 8-10 at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Click here to register www.gracehopper.org.

The Grace Hopper Celebration is the largest gathering of women in computing in the world, and is the "go-to" conference for women technologists at all levels. It is expected to attract approximately 6,000 participants, from over 50 countries. Attendees of the Grace Hopper Celebration include all levels of academia, industry, and government, including top technology executives, university faculty, students, and young professionals.

This year's theme, "Everyone. Everywhere." will focus on the ubiquity of computing in society today, and the need to include diverse groups in the innovation process. The event features sessions on cutting edge research, professional development, and technical innovation. Technical sessions will feature technology leaders including Elizabeth Churchill, Director of Human Computer Interaction at eBay Research Labs; Lorrie Faith Cranor, Director of the Carnegie Mellon Usable Privacy and Security Laboratory, Carnegie Mellon University, and a member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation Board of Directors; Rayid Ghani, Research Director and Senior Fellow at the Computation Institute and the Harris School for Public Policy at the University of Chicago; Yoky Matsuoka, VP of Technology at Nest Labs; and Linda Northrop, Chief Scientist of the Software Solutions Division of Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute (SEI).

The Grace Hopper Celebration has been a source of inspiration for women in computing for the past 20 years. The 2013 conference drew record crowds of over 4,700 attendees, hailing from 53 countries. In the 2013 Grace Hopper Celebration Impact Report, a majority of attendees reported feeling inspired by the role models they heard from and met during the event, and left feeling less isolated as women in computing. The Grace Hopper Celebration has always been a valuable destination for students, but in recent years the conference has seen exponential growth in the attendance of professional women at all career levels.

"We are thrilled to offer such a diverse and prestigious line up of keynote and technical speakers to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing," said Telle Whitney, president and CEO of the Anita Borg Institute. "It is an honor to share this important milestone with all those who share our passion for technology innovation and understand its importance in business, research, and education. We are focused on connecting women technologists around the world with the opportunities they need to succeed, and the Grace Hopper Celebration is the embodiment of this mission."

GHC Keynote Speakers: Bios

Shafi Goldwasser is the RSA Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT and a member of MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). She is also a professor of computer science and applied mathematics at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. Goldwasser was the recipient of the Gödel Prize in 1993 and another in 2001 for her work on interactive proofs and connections to approximation. She was awarded the ACM Grace Murray Hopper award and the ACM Turing Award for 2012. Goldwasser received a BS degree in applied mathematics from Carnegie Mellon University, and MS and PhD degrees in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Satya Nadella is Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft. Before being named CEO in February 2014, Nadella held leadership roles in both enterprise and consumer businesses across the company. Joining Microsoft in 1992, he quickly became known as a leader who could span a breadth of technologies and businesses to transform some of Microsoft's biggest product offerings. Most recently, Nadella was executive vice president of Microsoft's Cloud and Enterprise group. Previously, Nadella led R&D for the Online Services Division and was vice president of the Microsoft Business Division. Before joining Microsoft, Nadella was a member of the technology staff at Sun Microsystems. Originally from Hyderabad, India, Nadella earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Mangalore University, a master's degree in computer science from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, and a master's degree in business administration from the University of Chicago.

Arati Prabhakar is the director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Dr. Prabhakar has spent her career investing in world-class engineers and scientists to create new technologies and businesses. Her first service to national security started in 1986 when she joined DARPA as a program manager. In 1993, President Clinton appointed her director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, where she led the 3,000-person organization in its work with companies across multiple industries. From 2001 to 2011, she was a partner with U.S. Venture Partners, an early stage venture capital firm. Dr. Prabhakar worked with entrepreneurs in energy and efficiency technologies, components for consumer electronics, and semiconductor process and design technology. In her role as DARPA Director, Dr. Prabhakar works to anticipate, create, and demonstrate breakthrough technologies that hold the potential to deliver extraordinary advances in national security capabilities.

The 2014 Grace Hopper Celebration features leading technical speakers, career development sessions, awards, a poster session, a hackathon, and the largest women in computing job faire in the industry. Participants who sign up before June 20, 2014 will receive the early bird price of $725 for general attendees, a $135 discount from the regular rate. For more information, visit www.gracehopper.org.

The 2014 Grace Hopper Celebration sponsors include the following:
Platinum Sponsors - Bank of America, CA Technologies, Cisco, GoDaddy, Google, HP, IBM, Intel, Juniper Networks, LinkedIn, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Nationwide, Thomson Reuters, VMWare. Gold Sponsors - American Express, Bentley University, Carnegie Mellon University, Georgia Tech, Lincoln Laboratory, Palantir, Purdue University, Stanford University Computer Science Department, Two Sigma, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, Virginia Tech, WalmartLabs. Silver Sponsors - AAAS, Accenture, Addepar, Airbnb, Akamai Technologies, AMD, Argonne, Aruba, AT&T, Barclays, Bloomberg, Box, California Institute of Technology, Comcast NBC Universal, EMC, FactSet, Freddie Mac, The FreeBSD Foundation, General Electric, GitHub, Goldman Sachs, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Macy's, Morgan Stanley, Mylan, NCWIT, Neustar, Oakland University, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Prudential, Penn State, Salesforce, Shopify, Square, State Farm, Symantec, Teradata, Travelers, University of Michigan Computer Science and Engineering, ViaSat, The Walt Disney Company, White Pages, Yahoo!, Yelp.

About the Anita Borg Institute (ABI)
The Anita Borg Institute (ABI) connects, inspires, and guides women in computing and organizations that view technology innovation as a strategic imperative. Founded in 1997 by computer scientist Anita Borg, our reach extends to more than 53 countries. We believe technology innovation powers the global economy, and that women are crucial to building technology the world needs. As a social enterprise, we recognize women making positive contributions, and advise organizations on how to improve performance by building more inclusive teams. ABI partners include: Cisco, Google, HP, Microsoft, Thomson Reuters, Amazon, CA Technologies, Dell, Dropbox, eBay, Facebook, First Republic Bank, IBM, Intel, Intuit, Juniper Networks, National Science Foundation, NetApp, SAP, Symantec, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Bank of America, Broadcom, EMC, GoDaddy, LinkedIn, Lockheed Martin, Nationwide, Neustar, Rackspace, Raytheon, Salesforce.com, VentureLoop, VMware, Xerox and Yahoo! The Anita Borg Institute is a not-for-profit 501(c) 3 charitable organization. For more information, visit www.anitaborg.org.

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