Best Practices for Hiring, Developing, and Retaining Women Leaders in High Tech Panel Discussion
#WESTbestpractices

Paula C. Beauregard, Co-Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer at Edge Velocity

Since co-founding Edge Velocity Corporation in 2004, Paula C. Beauregard has guided this innovative wireless mesh technology company into commanding positions in first responder, transportation and government markets. Working closely with such key customers as the Fire Department of New York City (FDNY) and key partners including Raytheon. Paula has managed the company through an exciting period of technical and application development, market penetration and sales growth. Named in August 2014 to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing U.S. companies, Edge Velocity was the third fastest growing New Hampshire company, the 21st fastest growing telecommunications equipment provider and was 953 on the overall Inc. 5000 list. Since gaining that recognition, Edge Velocity has also been named (in the October 2014 issue) as the #1 fastest growing woman-led company in New Hampshire by Business NH Magazine, and ranked # 3 as the top 10 fastest-growing women led companies in Boston by Inc. Magazine, and honored by Connected World Magazine as one of the 2015 Women of M2M. Prior to her leadership at Edge Velocity, Paula worked for a partner company of Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1990's, served as Vice President of Business Development for Third-Rail Broadband Wireless Systems and Northeast Channels Manager for Legato Systems, an EMC Corporation company.

Scott Berkey, North America Managing Director and CEO of SIMULIA at Dassault Systèmes

Scott Berkey serves as Managing Director, North America for Dassault Systèmes and is responsible for managing and growing all aspects of the company’s North American business operations.  He also serves as CEO of the company’s SIMULIA brand. Mr. Berkey joined Dassault Systèmes in 2006 as VP of Worldwide Operations for the SIMULIA brand and assumed the role of CEO in 2008. He has more than two decades of experience in enterprise software and previously held several senior executive positions at Structural Dynamics Research Corporation (SDRC), as well as CEO roles at both Proficiency and Axentis. He earned a B.S. degree in Applied Science at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, and a M.B.A. degree at Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Christina Chase, Lecturer at MIT in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the Co-Director of STE@M (Sports Technology Education @ MIT)

Christina Chase is a Lecturer at MIT in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the Co-Director of STE@M (Sports Technology Education @ MIT). Prior to this she was an Entrepreneur in Residence at the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, where she helped MIT students launch successful startups. She has helped hundreds of teams go from concept to company and was recently named by Mashable as one of the 15 People Shaping Boston’s Tech Scene. Christina is an entrepreneur with a track record of success in a several industries, starting her first company when she was 18 years old. Most recently she was the CEO and co-founder of Firehoze, an education technology company that focused on online education that involved over a hundred instructors from the most prestigious universities. Prior to that, for the healthcare IT startup Casenet, she built and ran the marketing and business development division positioning the company to be the industry leader. At the photonics company, Labsphere, Christina ran the Materials and Coating division where, in under a year, she tripled her division’s revenue and led the group to file three key patents. She has also worked at Dartmouth College’s Entrepreneurial Network to help launch startups that commercialized Dartmouth College’s intellectual property portfolio. At HP, Christina managed marketing for the newly formed OEM data storage division and changed the way HP thought about OEM marketing. The division grew by $750 million in a year. Christina is a TechStars mentor and serves on the Board of the MIT Enterprise Forum, SXSW Accelerator Advisory Board and SXSW V2V Advisory Board. In 2013, she was named one of the 25 Most Influential Women in the Boston Tech Community.

Kate Hoepfner-Karle, Vice President of Talent and Organization Development at Medtronic

Katherine (Kate) Hoepfner-Karle is Vice President, Talent and Organization Development at Medtronic, a leading $32 billion global healthcare products company. She is a Fortune 500 Human Resources and Organizational Development leader with innate ability to develop and implement solutions that make a difference. Prior to joining Covidien in 2008, Kate was the Vice President of Learning and Organizational Development and an HR Business Partner for Invensys PLC, a global process technology provider. In her role at Invensys, Kate was responsible for talent management, organization and leadership development, business transformation tools and process, and HR leadership for a global business unit. A native of New Jersey, Kate received her Bachelor of Science degree from Emerson College, a Masters of Education degree in Tests and Measurement from the University of Maryland and a Master of Arts degree in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University. For full bio, click here.

Matteo di Tommaso, Vice President, Research & Development Information Technology at Biogen  

Matteo di Tommaso joined Biogen this year as Vice President, Research & Development IT. Biogen discovers, develops, manufactures, and commercializes innovative therapies for people living with serious neurological, autoimmune, and hematologic disorders. Matteo leads strategy and implementation of IT services for Biogen R&D and has a broad background in biopharma R&D and IT. Before joining Biogen, Matteo led the Research IT teams at Pfizer delivering IT products and services for research groups working between idea and clinical proof of concept. His teams have contributed to OpenSource software initiatives and won multiple industry awards.  Matteo joined Pfizer from Celera Genomics, where he led the development of scientific information products and eCommerce solutions. Prior to that, he established a product line for Genetics Computer Group, and led database product and tools development at the European Bioinformatics Institute. He began his career at Warner-Lambert Parke-Davis, with a degree in Chemistry from Indiana University.