Albuquerque, NM – March 11, 2015 STC CEO Lisa Kuuttila received an achievement award from the New Mexico Technology Council at its seventh annual Women in Technology awards ceremony on March 5. The award recognizes the success of women working in technology fields and aims to inspire young women to enter STEM fields. See Kevin Robinson-Avila’s March 7 article, “ABQ event honors women in Tech,” from the Albuquerque Journal, reprinted below.
ABQ event honors women in Tech
Sports pioneer Katie Hnida – the first woman to play and score points in an NCAA Division I football game – praised the achievements of eight New Mexico women on Thursday as keynote speaker at the New Mexico Technology Council’s seventh annual Women in Technology awards ceremony.
The awards, held at the Albuquerque Marriott, aim to highlight the success of women working in technology fields to celebrate their accomplishments and to inspire others – particularly young women – to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math.
Hnida said such honors are critical to encourage mutual support among women to grow and excel in education and the workplace.
“A big thing is believing you can do it – having that belief and owning it,” Hnida said. “Women need confidence in themselves and in their abilities. They need to know they belong where they are even when it’s a male-dominated field, and awards like these help with that.”
NM Tech Council Chairwoman Lisa Adkins said the annual awards are the only such program in New Mexico that specifically recognizes women’s achievements in technology.
“Nobody else does it, and people need to know there are all these women in town achieving things and working their way up,” Adkins said. “We want to inspire more women to get involved and be mentors for their peers and for younger women.”
Of the eight women receiving awards this year, five work at Public Service Co. of New Mexico and the New Mexico Gas Co., including: Maureen Gannon, PNM Resources director of environment and safety; Sara Stratton, PNM project manager; Janelle Callahan, PNM IT manager; Emily Dohleman, PNM systems engineering director; Angela Serrano de Rivera, gas systems manager at NM Gas Co.
The other three achievement award winners included: Tammy Jo Martinez, University of New Mexico customer support services director; Katie Szczepaniak Rice, head of the New Mexico office of Epic Ventures; and Lisa Kuuttila, UNM chief economic development officer and head of UNM’s Science and Technology Corp.
The Council also awarded a $5,000 scholarship to Katherine Goodner, a Sandia National Laboratories employee who will use the funds to obtain a master’s of science degree.
The tech awards are being followed by the state’s first “Startup Weekend” for women, taking place from Friday evening to Sunday at the FatPipe ABQ incubator Downtown.
Startup Weekends offer three-day boot camps for aspiring entrepreneurs to pitch ideas about new products or services to other innovators and enthusiasts. Participants then form teams during the weekend to build strategies for new companies, with mentoring and assistance from veteran entrepreneurs, investors and business professionals.
More than 30 participants have signed up for the event, including a few men, said Adkins, who is also the director of FatPipe ABQ.
“We want to get more women interested in becoming entrepreneurs,” Adkins said. “Both men and women can participate, but the requirement is that the teams be led by women.”
Source: Albuquerque Journal
For more information, contact:
Denise Bissell
dbissell@stc.unm.edu