Who We Are: BJ Wishinsky

Community Manager and Social Media Strategist

Picture of BJ

My role and my passion are to help technical women and their advocates connect with each other and find resources, support, and opportunities. I am responsible for our growing online communities on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and more; the Systers Pass-It-On Awards program; and the ABI Ambassadors 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 of Women and Computing (GHC) was in 1997, 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 a service year 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, the Ambassadors network, 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. You’ll find 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 & COO, Mayfield Fund – Treasurer, Vice President & Corporate Secretary

Corporate Counsel

  • Allison Spinner, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Staff

Our Founder

Board of Trustees

  • Leah Jamieson, John A. Edwardson Dean of Engineering and Ramsburg Distinguished Professor, Purdue University, Board Chair
  • Francine Berman, Vice President of Research and Professor of Computer Science, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute – Vice Chair
  • Robin Abrams, Investor
  • Anushka Anand, Ph.D Candidate, University of Illinois at Chicago
  • James Beck, CPA & CMA, Managing Director and COO, Mayfield Fund – Treasurer, Vice President and Corporate Secretary
  • Mark Bregman, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Neustar
  • Debi Coleman, Managing Partner, SmartForest Ventures
  • Nancy E. Cooper, Retired, EVP and Chief Financial Officer, CA Technologies
  • Kelli Crane, Senior Vice President of Global Enterprise Information Solutions, LexisNexis
  • Nora Denzel, Senior Vice President, Big Data, Social Design and Marketing, Intuit
  • Alan Eustace, Senior Vice President of Knowledge, Google
  • Penny Herscher, President and CEO, firstRain
  • Kathy Hill, Senior Vice President, Development Strategy and Operations, Cisco Systems Inc.
  • Tracy S. Keogh, Executive Vice President, Human Resources, HP
  • Sarah Loos, Ph.D Candidate, Carnegie Mellon University
  • Brian Pawlowski, CTO and Senior Vice President, NetApp
  • Richard Rashid, Chief Research Officer, Microsoft
  • Justin Rattner, Senior Fellow and CTO, Intel
  • Mike Schroepfer, VP of Engineering, Facebook
  • Bill Unger, Partner Emeritus, Mayfield Fund
  • William Wulf, Former President, National Academy of Engineering
  • Telle Whitney, President and CEO, Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology
  • Margaret Ashida, Emerita (Term: 2003- 2009)
  • Linda Bernardi, Emerita (Term: 1996 -2006)
  • Wayne Johnson, Emeritus (Term: 2002-2008)
  • Maria Klawe, Emerita (Term: 1996-2011)
  • Greg Papadopoulos, Emeritus (Term: 1996 -2006)

Individual and Organizations

Board of Advisors