2024 WLI WISH Conference

Alexis Bjorlin

Vice President & GM, DGX Cloud

NVIDIA

Alexis is vice president and general manager for DGX Cloud at NVIDIA. Prior to NVIDIA, Alexis was vice president for Infrastructure at Meta where her team was responsible for Infrastructure hardware/software co-designed systems, including AI Systems, compute and storage platforms, and custom Silicon. Prior to Meta, she served as senior vice president and general manager of the Broadcom Optical Systems Division and previously Corporate Vice President of the Data Center Group and General Manager of the Connectivity Group at Intel where she oversaw three business units: Ethernet/Networking, High Performance Computing fabrics, and Silicon Photonics. Prior to Intel, she spent eight years as President of Source Photonics, where she also served on the board of directors.

She earned a B.S. in materials science and engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in materials science from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Amber Huffman

Principal Engineer, Google Cloud

Google

Amber Huffman is a Principal Engineer in Google Cloud responsible for leading industry engagement efforts in the data center ecosystem across servers, storage, networking, accelerators, power, cooling, security, and more. Before joining Google, she spent 25 years at Intel serving as an Intel Fellow and VP. Amber is the President of NVM Express, on the Board of Directors for the Open Compute Project Foundation (OCP), on the Board of Directors for the Universal Chiplet Express Interconnect, and the chair of the RISC-V Software Ecosystem (RISE) Project. She has led numerous industry standards to successful adoption, including NVM Express, Open NAND Flash Interface, and Serial ATA.

Amber earned a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University. She has been granted more than 20 patents in storage architecture. Amber is known as an inclusive leader and passionate mentor for technologists, including serving on the Global Semiconductor Alliance Women’s Leadership Council and the University of Michigan’s Computer Science & Engineering National Advisory Board.

Angela Dalton

Director of Strategic Research and Advanced Development Operations

AMD

Dr. Angela Dalton is the Director of Strategic Research and Advanced Development (RAD) Operations at Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). She oversees business operations within the RAD organization and leads a portfolio of strategic initiatives on innovative new hardware and software technologies for high performance computing, artificial intelligence, security, and future computing capabilities. Angela has a B.S. in computer engineering from Virginia Tech as well as an M.S. and a Ph.D. in computer science from Duke University.

Belli Kuttanna

Co-Founder & CTO

Rivos

Belliappa (Belli) Kuttanna is a co-founder of Rivos Inc. an early-stage startup developing RISC-V based high performance systems targeting Enterprise Server infrastructure.

Prior to founding Rivos in May 2021, Belli was a Senior Fellow and the chief technology officer of Intel Capital at Intel Corporation for 3 years and the Chief Architect of the New Technology Group. He served on Intel’s corporate-level technical leadership pipeline development team for 5 years while mentoring several top technical leaders including women and other diverse individuals across the corporation.

Since the start of his career in 1989, Belli also held positions in the areas of ASIC and processor design and architecture at Texas Instruments Inc., Motorola Inc., Sun Microsystems Inc., and Qualcomm Inc.

Belli holds 30 issued patents and was the recipient of an Intel Achievement Award in 2008.

Belli earned his bachelor’s degree in electronics and communication engineering from Karnataka Regional Engineering College in India and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Texas A&M University.

Christine King

CEO & Author of Breaking Through the Silicon Ceiling

Henry Schein One

Christine King serves on the Boards of Directors for Skyworks and Henry Schein One, where she also serves as Executive Chair and CEO. Christine began her career at IBM, where she rose from engineering technologist to leader of IBM’s $6B microelectronics business before her appointment at AMI Semiconductor as the world’s first female CEO of a semiconductor company. A book detailing her life and career, Breaking Through the Silicon Ceiling, was published in 2024.

Deirdre Hanford

Chief Executive Officer & Trustee

Natcast

Deirdre Hanford was appointed Chief Executive Officer and Trustee of Natcast in January 2024.  Prior to Natcast, Hanford served as an executive at Synopsys, a technology and market leader in electronic design automation and semiconductor design intellectual property.  Over the span of thirty-six years, Hanford’s roles included being Chief Security Officer, Co-General Manager of the Synopsys Design Group, and leader of a variety of customer engagement, applications engineering, sales and marketing groups.

Well known within the semiconductor ecosystem, Hanford has served on many industry advisory boards, including being a leader in the Department of Commerce Industrial Advisory Committee formed through the CHIPS Act. 

In July 2024, Hanford was selected to receive the 2025 IEEE Frederik Philips Award “for visionary leadership in electronic design automation for secure and energy-efficient microelectronics.” Hanford was additionally awarded the 2024 Brown Engineering Alumni Medal (BEAM) within the Brown University School of Engineering. She has also been named to WomenTech’s 2022 list of Women in Tech Leaders to Watch, VLSIresearch’s 2017 list of All Stars of the Semiconductor Industry, and National Diversity Council’s 2014 list of Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Technology. In 2001, Hanford was a recipient of the YWCA Tribute to Women and Industry (TWIN) Award and the Marie R. Pistilli Women in EDA Achievement Award.

Hanford earned a B.S. Engineering (electrical engineering) from Brown University and an M.S.E.E. from University of California, Berkeley.

Elif Balkas

Chief Technology Officer

Wolfspeed

Elif Balkas serves as the Chief Technology Officer at Wolfspeed, responsible for building on the company’s strong technology foundation in wide bandgap materials, driving technological improvements to yield products with high quality and reliability as Wolfspeed continues to grow as the only pure play, vertically integrated silicon carbide company. During her 19+ tenure with the company, Elif served in a variety of leadership positions in R&D and operations, dedicating most of her time and focus on developing technologies that are scalable for manufacturing purposes and to enable more efficient and powerful electronic systems.

Elif cofounded the Women’s Initiative at Wolfspeed, to encourage, develop and support women who will lead the way in innovation and execution in every aspect of the business and community, and served as the leader of the Professional Development Focus to create an environment where everyone’s perspectives, ideas and contributions matter. She continues to serve on Women’s Initiative’s Steering Committee to foster diversity at all levels to create better results for the Company and our community.

Prior to Wolfspeed, Elif served as a scientist at Intrinsic Semiconductor where she was responsible for GaN and SiC epitaxy product development with a focus on high quality and efficient processes. Elif holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science with a minor in Electrical and Computer Engineering from North Carolina State University, specialized in GaN crystal growth via physical vapor transport. Elif is also graduate of the Chief Technology Officer Program at Wharton School.

Gayathri Radhakrishnan

Partner

Hitachi Ventures

Gayathri (G) Radhakrishnan has over two decades of multi-disciplinary experience across domains such as product management, product marketing, corporate strategy, M&A and venture investments at both Fortune 500 companies and early-stage startups in the technology sector. As a Partner at Hitachi Ventures, she actively invests in technology startups that are enabling digital transformation. Prior to that, she was with Micron Ventures, focused on applied AI in the areas of Manufacturing, Healthcare, Mobility and also enabling technologies in datacenter and storage related technologies.

She has a Masters in EE from The Ohio State University and MBA from INSEAD in France. She is also a Kauffman Fellow.

Jeanne Trinko Mechler

Fellow, Custom & Compute Silicon

Marvell Technology

Jeanne Trinko Mechler is a fellow at Marvell Technology in Custom & Compute Silicon, with over 30 years of experience in SOC design, including AI/ML accelerators. After 30 years at IBM, she joined GLOBALFOUNDRIES in 2015 and Marvell in 2018, where she has led over 60 chip designs across 10+ technology nodes.

She is the author of High Speed SerDes Devices and Applications and holds more than 20 patents/publications. Jeanne chairs Marvell’s engineering conference and has been an invited speaker at the Design Automation Conference. She holds the M.S. and B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Vermont and the M.S. degree in engineering management from the National Technological University.

Lalitha Suryanarayana

Vice President, Corporate Development and Strategy

Seagate

Lalitha Suryanarayana joined Seagate in 2022 as Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategy. In this role, she leads the company’s strategic initiatives relating to mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, equity investments and emerging growth opportunities. Lalitha’s thirty-year career spans a diverse set of leadership roles in corporate strategy, product management, ecosystem partnerships and R&D within the semiconductor and telecom industries. Prior to Seagate, she served as VP of Strategy and M&A for Infineon Technologies, Americas.

Ms. Suryanarayana is the inventor on fifty issued patents and has multiple publications including a technical book to her credit. During her early tenure as an R&D engineer, she was widely recognized for her pioneering contributions to the industry standardization of mobile and device-independent web technologies.

Lalitha holds an M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from New York University and an M.B.A. from the University of Texas, Austin.

Lama Nachman

Senior Fellow, Director of Intelligent Systems Lab

Intel

Lama Nachman is an Intel fellow and serves as the Director of Intelligent Systems Research Lab within Intel Labs. With a profound commitment to advancing human potential through AI, her research centers on Responsible Human AI Collaboration. Leading a diverse and multi-disciplinary team of researchers, Lama delves into innovative user experiences, sensing systems, algorithms, and applications, with a focus on transferring these advancements to Intel’s business units to shape the future of their products and influence manufacturing and design with AI. With 28 years of expertise spanning context-aware computing, human/AI systems, responsible AI, multi-modal interactions, sensor networks, computer architecture, embedded systems, and wireless technologies, Lama also spearheads Intel’s Responsible AI program and the RAI Advisory Council.

In addition to her research, Lama has made significant contributions to the academic community. She has served as an editor for prestigious publications such as IMWUT (Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies) and TIOT (IEEE Transactions on Internet of Things) as well as many other top tier Technical Program Committees over the years. Furthermore, Lama actively participates in cross-industry programs and partnerships bridging the gap between academia and industry to drive innovation and societal impact.

One of her most notable accomplishments was her collaboration with the renowned Professor Stephen Hawking. Commencing in 2012, Lama led a dedicated team in developing a groundbreaking software platform and sensing system that facilitated Hawking’s communication. She further championed the open-source release of this technology, empowering individuals with disabilities worldwide to communicate effectively and live with increased independence. With a passion for technology and a dedication to responsible AI, Lama continues to shape the landscape of AI research, ensuring that its benefits are accessible to all. Lama’s academic background includes a BS and MS in computer engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and she has over 80 publications across her diverse research interests.

Nuno Ramalho

Executive Director, R&D

Synopsys

Nuno Ramalho is an Executive Director of R&D at Synopsys responsible for Worldwide CAD in Solutions Group and Site Leader for Synopsys in Lisbon. Prior to joining Synopsys in 2009, he was VP at Chipidea Microelectronica and Director of R&D. Before joining Chipidea, Nuno worked 13 years as a research engineer and design manager at Philips Research and Philips Semiconductors in The Netherlands, UK, France, and at IMEC in Belgium, specializing in Analog and Mixed-Signal IC design for Audio, Video, Magnetic Recording and Optical Communications.

Nuno received his BAI and MSc degrees in Microelectronics in 1988 from Trinity College, University of Dublin. He has put numerous ICs into production, co-authored 6 papers, and holds 14 US and European patents. Inclusion & Diversity initiatives are part of his identity, born in the Azores but lived from an early age in 8 countries across 3 continents, has dual citizenship and speaks four languages.

Parthasarathy (Partha) Ranganathan

Vice President & Technical Fellow

Google

Parthasarathy (Partha) Ranganathan is currently a VP, technical Fellow at Google where he is the area technical lead for hardware and datacenters, designing systems at scale. Prior to this, he was a HP Fellow and Chief Technologist at Hewlett Packard Labs where he led their research on systems and data centers.  Partha has worked on several interdisciplinary systems projects with broad impact on both academia and industry, including widely-used innovations in energy-aware user interfaces, heterogeneous multi-cores, power-efficient servers, accelerators, and disaggregated and data-centric data centers. He has published extensively (including being the co-author on the popular “Datacenter as a Computer” textbook), is a co-inventor on more than 100 patents, and has been recognized with numerous awards. He has been named a top-15 enterprise technology rock star by Business Insider, one of the top 35 young innovators in the world by MIT Tech Review, and is a recipient of the ACM SIGARCH Maurice Wilkes award, Rice University’s Outstanding Young Engineering Alumni award, and the IIT Madras distinguished alumni award. He is one of few computer scientists to have his work recognized with an Emmy award. He is also a Fellow of the IEEE and ACM, and has also served on the board of directors for OpenCompute.

Rani Borkar

Corporate Vice President, Azure Hardware Systems and Infrastructure

Microsoft

Rani Borkar has served as Corporate Vice President, Azure Hardware Systems and Infrastructure, at Microsoft Corporation, a global technology provider, since June 2019. She also served as Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Cloud Capacity, Supply Chain and Provisioning, from 2017 to June 2019. From 2016 to 2017, Ms. Borkar was Vice President, OpenPOWER Development at IBM Corporation, a global technology and consulting company. Prior to IBM, Ms. Borkar worked at Intel Corporation for 27 years, most recently as Intel’s Corporate Vice President and General Manager, Product Development Group.

Ms. Borkar serves as a member of the board of directors of the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA).

Ms. Borkar joined the Applied Materials board of directors in 2020.

Rajeev Pal

Vice President, Engineering

Qualcomm

An accomplished leader with over two decades of experience in Software Project and Global Team leadership. Proven track record of successful leadership in industry-leading products such as 5G Modem/chipset, 2 Gbps LTE/Snapdragon X24, 5G Multimode/NAS, Snapdragon 810, Snapdragon X5 LTE Modem, and BREW. Demonstrated ability to translate visions into missions, and deliverables and delighting the stakeholders with exceptional execution. Effective leader with the capacity to build, mentor, and manage high-performing global teams including onsite and offshore employees. Excellent technology background including experience in large-scale software development, integration, and process deployments including the market launch of multiple chipset and handset products. Extensive international experience includes managing various programs and directing multi-site operations. Proficiency in engineering as well as business management.

Sylvia Acevedo

Board Member

Qualcomm & Credo Technologies

Sylvia Acevedo is an eminent leader who has made an enduring impact across diverse industries, excelling in both corporate and public sectors as a pioneering trailblazer. Beginning her career as a rocket scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Sylvia’s journey took her through executive roles at renowned companies such as Apple, Autodesk, Dell, and IBM. Sylvia currently serves on the Public company Corporate Board of Directors of Qualcomm and Credo Technologies.

From 2016 to 2020, she was the CEO of the Girl Scouts of the USA, modernizing the organization with over 126 new STEM badge programs. Sylvia also served as a White House Commissioner during the Obama Administration.

Sylvia authored the bestselling memoir, ‘Path to the Stars: My Journey from Girl Scout to Rocket Scientist,’ promoting perseverance and self-determination.

Sylvia holds a Bachelor’s degree with Honors in Industrial Engineering from New Mexico State University and a Master’s engineering graduate degree from Stanford University, where she was one of the first Hispanics, male or female, to earn such a degree. Sylvia was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Washington College, and in 2022, Duke University awarded her an Honorary Doctorate of Science.