Events

 

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Women in Technology Panel - Pace for Women
Clarice Kennedy speaks on panel discussing Career Paths in Technology
Pace Univerisity, New York, NY | See participating panelists below:

Clarice Kennedy

Clarice Kennedy is Chairman and CEO of Chamrock Computer Network, Inc., (CCN) a leading Information Technology Service Management company and workforce solutions provider. www.ccncorp.com

Kennedy founded CCN in 1989, and during the past two decades has guided its growth and expansion into a full-service provider of IT services and talent management solutions for the world’s leading companies. CCN has been honored as the 2005 JPMorgan Chase Supplier of the Year; is the recipient of Crain’s Magazine’s New York Small Business Award; and was named as one of Inc. Magazine’s Fastest Growing Companies.

Today, Kennedy manages the strategic development of CCN’s service offerings as well as long-range planning for the firm.

Kennedy began her career as a systems programmer, then evolved into a network engineering role supporting European traders at Security Pacific Bank, now Bank of America. Two years later, the entrepreneurial 24-year-old founded CCN and strategically fulfilled the emerging need for IT services as North American companies began widespread deployment of personal computers across the enterprise.

Her leadership has most recently been recognized by the National Association Women Business Owners (NAWBO) Signature Award, and NAWBO Long Island’s National Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Kennedy was also named a finalist for Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year Award in Information Technology.

Kennedy is an active Board member for Dress for Success, a non-profit organization that empowers women transitioning back into the workforce, and serves on the New York Leadership Board of Women in Technology International (WITI), the nation's leading professional trade association. Since 2001, she has served as the technical advisor for The Michelle O'Neill Foundation, a non-profit that benefits children with cancer. Kennedy is a member of Columbia University’s mentor program for the Executive Master of Science in Technology Management students, offered by the School of Continuing Education.

Kennedy holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science from Buffalo State University, Buffalo, New York. She lives in New York with her husband, and her three greatest accomplishments – her children, Dylan, Connor and Aidan.

Tamsin Roe

Tamsin Roe is the Chief Operating Officer for the FICC IT Technology division and Chief of Staff to the co-CIO at UBS Investment Bank. FICC IT provides technology services for the Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities business areas within the Investment Bank. She works in New York.

Prior to joining UBS Investment Bank in July 2005, Tamsin worked at the industry consortium, SwapsWire, as well at BNP Paribas and WestLB, all in London.

Tamsin started her career in 1997 working as a Business Analyst for West Merchant Bank, the merchant bank that was later absorbed in to WestDeutsche LandesBank (WestLB). Working in a variety of Business Analyst and Project Manager roles, Tamsin designed solutions and managed projects for a variety of business areas.

In 1999, the Investment Bank industry established a bank owned consortium, SwapsWire. The company was established to provide an automated confirmation and booking solution for OTC Derivative trades. Tamsin was asked to be part of the initial team at SwapsWire and delivered the much needed industry-wide solutions to the market. With her experience in re-engineering business processes and designing software solutions to meet business needs, Tamsin was primarily responsible for business analysis and design of the SwapsWire system. However she also undertook many tasks across the organization, such as client interactions and representing SwapsWire on industry-wide associations.

During Tamsin’s tenure at SwapsWire, the company launched the SwapsWire system and won several industry awards, including Risk Awards 2005 Technology Platform of the Year for its design and quality.

After successfully launching key, industry-improving technology solutions at SwapsWire, Tamsin moved to BNP Paribas before joining UBS Investment Bank in 2005 as Chief of Staff for FICC IT. Within 6 months, Tamsin was asked to take on the new role of Chief Operating Officer for FICC IT as well as being the personal Chief of Staff to one of the co-CIOs.

As Chief Operating Officer for the FICC IT (Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities) division, Tamsin is responsible for the operational management of the FICC IT organization worldwide.

Tamsin was born in England and moved to the USA in October 2005. She earned her BA in European Studies with German and Spanish at the University of Southampton, England. She lives with her husband Stewart in Manhattan.

Amanda Skinner

Amanda Skinner is an IT Hosting Specialist at Verizon Business, responsible for leveraging the Verizon Business portfolio of IT Hosting Services. She has over 8 years sales and industry experience including joining the Verizon Business team just over a year ago. Her career in technology began at a Web hosting company called Globix. Amanda’s infectious enthusiasm and strong people skills made her the #1 salesperson at Globix and keeps her in the top 1% of the Specialized Services division at Verizon.

Samar Sleiman Service Manager, AVP Company: BNP Paribas, RCC

Samar Sleiman graduated from Pace University in May 2003 with an BA in Management Information System degree. Throughout her college period, she had started Women In Corporate America (WICA), which had led ultimately to the development of Professional Women In Corporate America (PWICA) and as also involved other organizations as well, such as Beta Alpha Psi. Upon her graduation, she was offered a full-time position to the AXA IT Training Program where she had the opportunity to get a well-rounded skill set for IT from development to project coordinating role. In June 2005, Samar started a new job and worked her way up from Jr. Project Manager to Project Manager at UBS in the IT sector, where she acquired all the Project Management skills and best practices for IT Infrastructure projects. In June 2007, Samar begin her new career path (still within IT) as a Service Level Manager in the IT group where she currently has the responsibilities to build a Service Catalog for the business with accordance to the IT Infrastructure Library model (ITIL), and necessary agreements such as Service Level Agreements. Furthermore, she is also the liaison for the Latin America customers where she has represents the IT group as their Service Providers for specified technologies.

Dr. Connie Knapp

Dr. Constance A. (Connie) Knapp is Professor of Information Systems on the Pleasantville Campus. She holds the PhD in business from the City University of New York Graduate Center, an MBA from Fordham University, and a BA in Mathematics from SUNY New Paltz. She’s been teaching at Pace for 22 years, spending the first 17 ½ on the New York Campus.

Prior to joining the Pace faculty, Dr. Knapp spent 15 years in industry as a programmer-analyst and a manager of financial information systems. She worked at The Equitable Life Assurance Society and The New York Times. She also ran a solo practitioner consulting practice.

In addition to teaching, Dr. Knapp is the co-director of the Pforzheimer Faculty Development Center, which provides support and resources for all areas of faculty development, including teaching. She is happy to be teaching her first honors class, a learning community with Dr. Jane Collins.

Moderator: Jonathan Hill

Jonathan Hill is the assistant dean for special programs at Pace University’s Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems. Jonathan came to Pace with significant private sector managerial experience with consumer-facing internet ventures including Travelocity.com. Previously he had management engagements with United Airlines and Aeroflot Russian Airlines. His higher education experience includes 15 years on the faculty of City University of New York where he developed successful educational programs for international students including establishing the Honors Entrepreneurship program at Queens College. At Pace Jonathan works internally in the recruitment and retention areas and externally with non-profits and technology companies including Microsoft, Verizon, HP and Apple to incorporate technology into the classroom. He was part of the team that received a Pace University Presidential Grant for community service. He has served as a consultant to a number of colleges on technology education and service learning and he has trained teachers for the New York City Department of Education. He and his family live in Central New Jersey with a large dog and a small cat.