Leadership

2017 - 2018 SWE Austin Officers & Chairs

President
Zarella Rendon

Zarella Rendon is a software engineer at IBM, working as a Senior Solution Architect in the Watson division, where she works with major customers to develop and implement solutions in the cognitive space. Ms. Rendon has been privileged to be part of the XML standards community for more than 25 years, involved in standards development with the W3C, Oasis, ISO, TCIF, RIF, and other vertical groups. This involvement gives her a unique perspective on theoretical aspects of software and web standards that she can then apply to customer implementations. She has published several technical books and papers that serve to help others understand the theory as well as the practice of standards implementation. Ms. Rendon is also an entrepreneur who has co-founded three companies promoting XML standards, and is a charter member of the XML Guild. She has served as the President of SWE Southwest Texas for the past 2 years, and was previously a Section Representative.

Vice President & WE17 Committee
Charu Pandhi

Charu is an Advisory Software Engineer in IBM Accessibility, part of IBM's Research Division. With more then 20 years of experience as solutions engineer and as a member of the IBM accessibility team for over 10 years now, She is passionate about providing equal access to information and technology that makes everyone’s daily routines more pleasant and productive by pushing the boundaries of what defines accessibility and inclusive design. Charu is focused on innovations in accessibility that will help reshape the relationship between people, technology and the environment around us by supplementing and enhancing our human senses with text-to-speech, voice recognition, multi-modal authentication and location-based services.
In her free time, she immerses herself in various outreach programs, empowering women through the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and engaging girls in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) initiatives such as Girlstart and Girls Who Code

Secretary & WE17 Committee
Monica Dettling

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Treasurer
Cheryl Texin

Cheryl has a BS and an MEng in Electrical Engineering from MIT. She is currently working as a Senior RF Systems Engineer at National Instruments with a focus on Aerospace and Defense applications. Prior to National Instruments, Cheryl spent 7 years in the Aerospace Defense industry designing signal processing algorithms for embedded platforms and FPGAs. At NI, she is able to apply her expertise in developing and testing digital modulation and encoding algorithms using LabVIEW FPGA. In her spare time, she enjoys hunting down Austin's best food and pet-friendly activities with her husband and dog.

Cheryl has been a SWE member since 2014, when she relocated to Austin, Texas from Washington, DC. She is a strong believer in the SWE mission to help women achieve their full potential. Involvement with SWE prodded her to coordinate an NI sponsored SWE event where the attendees got to pick the brains of three of NI’s female VPs about their careers. In June 2016 Cheryl took on the role of treasurer for the Austin section.

Section Representative
Suchitra Iyer

Suchitra has an MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from UT Austin. She is presently an Engineering Manager with the IBM Analytics Platform group - Private Cloud.

Suchitra relishes being mom to her 2 children and her hobbies include reading, dancing and cooking. She has been a SWE member since 2014.

Section Representative
Kim Eckert

Kim A. Eckert is one of IBM’s senior technical female leaders with the designation as Senior Technical Staff Member. With 17 years of prior professional experience, Kim joined IBM in 2001, bringing a portfolio of expertise in software development, mainframe systems programming, data center operations, and management. Kim’s practical experiences span several technical domains including Enterprise Architecture, midrange virtualization, and software licensing optimization.

Kim, as a Chief Architect, is an acknowledged leader who is responsible for setting the technical vision and strategy while generating important innovation and standards for delivery. Additionally, she is Open Group Master Certified and IBM Architect certified.

Section Representative & WE17 Committee
Ebalina Roitberg

Professional Committee
Susan Fern

Susan spent much of her career in the Field Applications Engineering organization of Motorola, and later Freescale, where she delivered technical information, solutions, and support to customers in the networking and storage industries. Today at NXP, she manages technical writers in the Information Development team of the Digital Networking business. Susan held several leadership positions in the SWE Boston Section before returning to Austin, where she had originally earned her Electrical Engineering degree at UT. Now, as the parent of a young girl, Susan continues to be passionate about encouraging girls in STEM. When she's not out listening to live jazz, Susan is likely to be on the ballroom dance floor getting ready for her next amateur competition.

Outreach Committee
Grisel Del Hierro
Grisel has a BS in Electrical Engineering from The University of Texas at El Paso and a MBA from Arizona State University. She has experience in construction, mining, and information technology. One moment that influenced her as a person and as a professional was her experience at a copper mine. After completing her MBA, Grisel was hired as and electrical and instrumentation maintenance supervisor supporting a 24/7 critical mining operation at the largest open pit copper mine in North America. She currently works as an IT Project Manager for Ferrovial where she specializes in IT Infrastructure, Service Operations Management, and in establishing a positive and open relationship with stakeholders. Grisel has been a SWE member since 2004 where she has had the opportunity to serve as a scholarship reviewer, and more recently as a secretary for SWE Southwest TX in 2015. On her free time, Grisel enjoys running, swing dancing, and traveling.

Webmaster
Akshaya Iyer
Akshaya Iyer is an associate consultant at Spire Consulting Group LLC in Austin, Texas. She graduated with a Master’s degree in Construction Engineering and Project Management in December 2016 from The University of Texas at Austin. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from BMS College of Engineering in Bangalore, India. Her SWE involvement began earlier this year when she was made the GradSWE International Team Lead for FY18. Having moved to America from India in August 2015, she has experienced the drastic lifestyle change international students go through and is passionate about making future students’ transition easier by providing them with the resources they need to succeed. Akshaya is also a part-time personal style blogger on her blog, The Iyer Order. Given her website experience, she will be the webmaster for the SWE Austin Section. She is also a cute-coffee-shop enthusiast and loves exploring the different vegetarian food options that Austin offers!

Collegiate Liaison & Social Media Manager
Sara Alkayali Alalam

Alternate Section Representative Dianne Beever

San Antonio Committee Jenerica Robinson

Corpus Christi Committee Jeong-sug Yang

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