Who We Are: BJ Wishinsky

Communities Program Manager

Picture of BJ

My role and my passion are to help technical women connect with each other and find resources, support, and opportunities. I am responsible for Systers and our growing online communities on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter; and for the ABI Ambassador Program.

I bring to ABI more than 20 years of industry experience in graphics and multimedia software development, technical training, and education services management. My first Grace Hopper Celebration for Women and Computing (GHC) was in 1994, and I drew strength and inspiration from the women there. My experiences at GHC and my work on the steering committees of women’s groups at Silicon Graphics (SGI) and Cadence Design Systems made me a champion of the Anita Borg Institute and its programs, and in 2006 I joined the new ABI Ambassador Program.

As a software engineer, I had always been the first or — if I was lucky — the second female engineer on my team. Today I still meet too many technical women in the same situation. So when I decided to follow my heart and change my career direction, ABI was the first place I called. In October 2007 I began working in the ABI office as a volunteer Program Consultant. In March 2008 it was my great pleasure to join the ABI staff as Communities Program Manager.

I continue to be inspired by the women I meet through ABI events, our Ambassador Program, our online community, and the volunteers who contribute so much to the Grace Hopper Celebration. Connect with me on LinkedIn or Facebook, catch my anitaborg_org or GHC Twitter updates, or introduce yourself on the LGBT or systers email lists. Check out more ways to connect with the ABI community at http://anitaborg.org/community/connect.

Officers

  • Telle Whitney, - President and CEO
  • James Beck, CPA & CMA, Managing Director & CFO, Mayfield Fund - Treasurer & Vice President

Corporate Counsel

  • Allison Spinner, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Staff

Our Founder

Board of Trustees

  • William Wulf, Ph.D., Former President, National Academy of Engineering, Board Chair
  • Bill Unger, Partner Emeritus, Mayfield Fund - Vice-Chair
  • Robin Abrams, Investor
  • Margaret Ashida, Director, Diversity and Workforce Programs - IBM
  • Prith Banerjee, Senior Vice President, Research, and Director, HP Labs, HP
  • James Beck, CPA & CMA, Managing Director & CFO, Mayfield Fund - Treasurer & Vice President
  • Francine Berman, Professor, Dept of Computer Science and Engineering, UC San Diego and Fellow, ACM
  • Debi Coleman, Managing Partner, SmartForest Ventures
  • Nora Denzel, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Payroll, Intuit
  • Alan Eustace, Senior Vice President, Research and Systems Engineering, Google
  • Penny Herscher, President & CEO, firstRain
  • Kathy Hill, Senior VP Ethernet and Wireless Systems Technology Group, Cisco Systems Inc.
  • Leah Jamieson, John A. Edwardson Dean of Engineering, and Ramsburg Distinguished Professor, Purdue University
  • Maria Klawe, President, Harvey Mudd College
  • Ike Nassi, Chief Scientist and Executive Vice President, SAP
  • Brian Pawlowski, CTO, and Senior Vice President, NetApp
  • Richard Rashid, Senior VP and VP Research, Microsoft
  • Justin Rattner, Senior Fellow & CTO, Intel
  • Telle Whitney, President & CEO, Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology
  • Linda Bernardi, Emeritus (Term: 1996 -2006)
  • Greg Papadopoulos, Emeritus (Term: 1996 -2006)

Individual and Organizations

Board of Advisors