Terms and Conditions

Updated March 24, 2022

 

The following terms and conditions (“Terms”) apply to all individuals who attend the Extraordinary Women in Tech Conference hosted by Avenue Code, LLC (“Avenue Code”) on March 24-25th, 2022 (“the Conference”). By registering for the Conference, and as consideration for your ability to register, attend, and participate in the Conference, you hereby acknowledge that you have read and agree to the following:

Photography, audio and video recording

You consent to Avenue Code using any photos, video or sound recordings, or other media recorded during the Conference of which you may be a part (“Personal Media”) for media outreach efforts, promotional campaigns, various publications/communications, or other business purposes as determined by Avenue Code. You irrevocably grant to Avenue Code all right, title, and interest in the Personal Media without additional payment or consideration and promise not to assert any claims or bring any legal or similar action against Avenue Code or its successors, assigns, or licensees in connection with its exercise of the rights granted by this term.

 

Participation

Avenue Code is dedicated to providing an enjoyable, respectful and safe Conference experience for all attendees. With this in mind, we expect all participants to conduct themselves in a professional and appropriate manner. We do not tolerate bullying or harassment of event participants in any form. We reserve the right to take any and all appropriate actions, including expelling such participant from the Conference with no refund, if we determine within our own discretion that a participant is harassing, bullying, threatening, or otherwise causing harm to other participants or to the hotel venue.

 

Accommodation Requests

You are responsible for advising us at the time of registration or at a reasonable time before the Conference of any special accommodations you may require at the Conference.

 

Registering on behalf of another person

If you are registering on behalf of another person it is your obligation to make sure that the person attending is aware of these Terms and accepts them. By completing and submitting the registration form you are representing and warranting that you have made the person attending aware of these Terms and that they have accepted these Terms.

 

Ticket Conditions

We reserve the right to change the registration prices at any time but any changes will not affect tickets that have already been purchased. We are not obligated to offer any discounts for the Conference and reserve the right to chance or withdraw a discount offer at any time in our sole discretion.

The tickets you purchase are for your own personal use and may not be resold as part of any promotion or competition. Reselling or otherwise transferring your ticket in a manner that is not in accordance with these Terms will void the ticket. Where there has been any resale or attempted resale of any tickets (or any other breach of this term), we reserve the right to cancel the relevant tickets with immediate effect.

 

Changes or Cancellation of the Conference

Circumstances beyond our control may require us to substitute, alter, postpone, or cancel the content, format, panelists, venue, timing, or other details of the Conference. We will try to notify you as soon as reasonably practicable of any substitutions, postponements, or changes by posting the updated information on the Conference website. We reserve the right to make any changes at any time and will not be liable to you for any costs, damages, or loss related to such changes or cancellation apart from refund of the registration fees. 

 

Conference Materials

Materials shared or distributed at or in connection with the Conference (“Conference Materials”) are intended for information purposes only. do not provide any guarantees, conditions or warranties that the Conference Materials are complete or accurate and do not accept any responsibility or liability for reliance by you or any person on any aspect of the Conference and/or Conference Materials.

All intellectual property rights (“IP”) in and to the Conference and the Conference Materials are owned by us, our related companies, and/or the Conference sponsors or speakers participating in the Conference. You agree not to record, reproduce, modify, distribute, license, perform, publish, create derivative works from or use the Conference Materials for any reason not specified in such material.

 

Limitation of Liability

You acknowledge and agree that views expressed by speakers at or in connection with the Conference are their own and we do not accept any responsibility or liability for any advice given or views expressed during or in connection with the Conference. The Conference does not constitute legal, financial, professional, medical or tax advice and cannot be used for such purposes. We expressly disclaim any liability or responsibility for usage of, implementation of, impact from, or communications of the ideas or discussions presented by any attendee, speaker or other participant at the Conference

To the fullest extent allowed by applicable law, our total aggregate liability arising under or in connection with the performance or contemplated performance of the Terms is limited to the total registration fees paid by you to us. Nothing in these Terms purports to exclude or limit liability for any fraudulent statement or act or in respect of any liability that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law.

 

Indemnity

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold us, our related companies, affiliates, third-party service providers, and our respective employees, contractors, agents, officers, and directors harmless from all claims, liability, damages, losses, costs and expenses, including legal fees, that arise out of or are related to any breach of the Terms by you or any other liabilities we incur that arise out of your attendance or participation at the Conference.

 

Privacy Policy

We are committed to protecting your personal information. These Terms include and incorporate by reference our Privacy Policy, which explains the types of information collected, stored, shared and processed in connection with the Conference, how and why we use such information, who we share it with, and your legal rights.

 

COVID-19 Acknowledgment

We will implement preventative safety and health measures to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 but cannot guarantee that participants will not be exposed to or infected by COVID-19 or other infectious diseases.  By attending the conference, you voluntarily assume the risk and responsibility for any possible exposure or infection.  

 

Force Majeure

It is possible that the Conference may be cancelled or postponed at any given time due to a “Force Majeure Event”, including (a) power or server outages or issues (b) update or maintenance periods (c) acts of God, flood, drought, earthquake or other natural disasters; (d) epidemic or pandemic; (e) terrorist attacks, civil wars, civil commotions or riots, war, threat of or preparation for war, armed conflict, imposition of sanctions, embargo, or breaking off of diplomatic relations; (f) nuclear, chemical or biological contamination or sonic boom; (g) any law or any action taken by a government or public authority; (h) collapse of buildings, fire, explosion or accident; (i) any labor or trade dispute, strikes, industrial action or lockouts; (j) non-performance by suppliers or subcontractors; (k) interruption or failure of utility service and/or (l) electronic or communications failure. We will try to notify you of any cancellations or postponements as soon as reasonably practicable. 

We will not be liable to you for any costs, damages, or loss caused by any Force Majeure Event apart from refund of the registration fees. 

 

Changes to This Policy

These Terms apply to you from the date of publishing and until these Terms are superseded by a new version. We may update these Terms at any time.

 

Contact Us

We are happy to answer any questions you may have related to these Terms. Please contact us by email at marketing@avenuecode.com or by mail at 26 O’Farrell Street, Ste. 600, San Francisco, CA 94108, attn: EWIT Conference Organizer.

 

Additional Terms

These Terms (including our privacy policy) contain the entire agreement and understanding between us in respect to the Conference and supersede any other prior, written or oral agreements. You confirm that in agreeing to accept these Terms you have not relied on any representation that is not expressly included herein.. However, nothing in these Terms purports to exclude liability for any fraudulent statement or act.

If we fail to assert any of our rights or require your performance under these Terms, this does not mean we have waived our rights or remedies against you and will not mean that you do not have to comply with your obligations.

Any dispute between you and us that relates to these terms will be settled in good faith.  If you and us cannot agree to a resolution of any dispute within ten (10) business days, then such dispute will be settled by binding arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”).   The arbitration proceeding will occur in San Francisco County, California, and each party will bear its own costs relating to such arbitration. The arbitration and all related proceedings and discovery will take place pursuant to a protective order entered by the arbitrator that adequately protects the confidential nature of the parties’ proprietary and confidential information.

These Terms will be construed will be construed and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the State of California, without regard to that state’s conflict of laws principles.  Any proceeding relating to this Agreement or the subject matter hereof or the relationship of the parties will be brought only in federal or state court in the County of San Francisco, California, and each party hereby generally and unconditionally submits to and accepts the jurisdiction of such courts. 

If a court with jurisdiction over these Terms finds that any part of these Terms is wholly or partly unenforceable, you and us agree that where possible, the court should modify the terms to make that part enforceable while still achieving its intent. If any part of these Terms is determined to be invalid or illegal, the validity, legality and enforceability of the remaining provisions shall remain in effect and full force.

These Terms are personal to you. You agree not to assign or transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms to anyone else without receiving our prior written consent. We may assign or transfer these Terms without your consent by providing you with notice.

You and us agree that no agency, partnership, joint venture, or employment is created as a result of these Terms and you do not have any authority of any kind to bind us in any respect.

You agree that the only way you can provide us with a legal notice is at the address(s) set out in the “Contact Us” section above. We will send all information related to the Conference in electronic form to as the email address you have provided at the time of  registration. 

Grace Song

Data Operations & Governance Director
Allstate

Jessica Wakefield is the VP of Engineering & Operations at Sony Interactive Entertainment. She leads globally diverse teams who deliver the PlayStation platform facilitating business operations, empowering decision-making, and providing crucial insights for PlayStation products and services. With over 100 million monthly active users, 47 million active subscribers and 15 million daily concurrent users for a $16+ billion-dollar business.

As a site leader and global lead for the Women @ PlayStation eNet/Employee Resource Group (ERG), she is also a notable cultural champion making PlayStation the best place to play and work. Prior to SIE, Jessica was with Intuit where she held key roles in the Consumer Tax Group and TurboTax Online Banking capabilities for Intuit. While at Intuit she went to USC’s Marshall School of Business and obtained her MBA, with an emphasis in Globalization.

In addition, Jessica is an active volunteer at her daughter’s school, Vice President of the San Diego Children’s Museum Board, and CEO of the Loving Amber Foundation, 501 (c)(3) nonprofit that raises funds and awareness for kids impacted by rare bone marrow and blood disorders.

Panel # 4

Topic

Igniting Passion: Unleashing Your Potential and a New Era in Tech

Description

The panel discussion showcased the pivotal role of passion, purpose, and leadership in the tech industry. The panelists’ insights provided valuable lessons on fostering innovation, empowerment, diversity, and inclusion, adapting to change, overcoming challenges, and maintaining a healthy work-life balance, making it an informative and inspiring discussion for both aspiring and seasoned tech leaders.

Yulia Pavlova

Director Technology Innovation
Thomson Reuters

Yulia Pavlova is the Director of Technology Innovation at Reuters News Agency. With over 10 years of experience in Applied Research and Development, Yulia leads an Applied Innovation lab at Reuters that focuses on AI/ML enhancements and MLOps lifecycle of enterprise products. She develops new technological opportunities to improve the company’s offerings and works cross-functionally with business partners and stakeholders to ensure business and customer impact.

One of her recent achievements is the development of a customer-facing AI tool for Reuters video content that generates automated time-coded transcripts, translation of many languages into English, and identification of public figures. This tool is part of the Reuters Connect service, which offers access to over 600,000 videos, six live streams, and 23 million pictures from Reuters journalists.

Panel # 2

Topic

Empowering Journeys: The Path to Tech Executives

Description

The panel discussion is expected to provide a comprehensive view of leadership in the modern corporate landscape, touching upon personal growth, resilience, empowerment, diversity, innovation, and the challenges of digital transformation. The diverse experiences and strategies shared by the panelists will offer valuable insights for both aspiring and current leaders in various industries.

Rama Akkiraju

VP, Enterprise AI & Automation
NVIDIA

Rama Akkiraju has 20+ years of leadership experience at IBM as an IBM Fellow and Master Inventor. Formerly CTO of IBM Watson AI Operations, Rama developed AI services such as Personality Insights, Tone Analyzer, Emotion Analysis, and Sentiment Analysis. She holds a master’s degree in Computer Science and an MBA from New York University.

Rama has co-authored 100+ technical papers, holds 50+ issued patents and 25+ pending, and has received multiple awards, including being named one of Forbes ‘Top 20 Women in AI Research’ in 2017. In 2022, Rama was named ‘USA Industry Innovator of the Year 2022’ by Women in AI and ‘AI Industry Leader of the Year 2022’ by Women Leaders in Data & AI (WLDA).

Panel # 2

Topic

Empowering Journeys: The Path to Tech Executives

Description

The panel discussion is expected to provide a comprehensive view of leadership in the modern corporate landscape, touching upon personal growth, resilience, empowerment, diversity, innovation, and the challenges of digital transformation. The diverse experiences and strategies shared by the panelists will offer valuable insights for both aspiring and current leaders in various industries.

Jessica Wakefield

VP of Engineering and Operations
PlayStation

Jessica Wakefield is the VP of Engineering & Operations at Sony Interactive Entertainment. She leads globally diverse teams who deliver the PlayStation platform facilitating business operations, empowering decision-making, and providing crucial insights for PlayStation products and services. With over 100 million monthly active users, 47 million active subscribers and 15 million daily concurrent users for a $16+ billion-dollar business.

As a site leader and global lead for the Women @ PlayStation eNet/Employee Resource Group (ERG), she is also a notable cultural champion making PlayStation the best place to play and work. Prior to SIE, Jessica was with Intuit where she held key roles in the Consumer Tax Group and TurboTax Online Banking capabilities for Intuit. While at Intuit she went to USC’s Marshall School of Business and obtained her MBA, with an emphasis in Globalization.

In addition, Jessica is an active volunteer at her daughter’s school, Vice President of the San Diego Children’s Museum Board, and CEO of the Loving Amber Foundation, 501 (c)(3) nonprofit that raises funds and awareness for kids impacted by rare bone marrow and blood disorders.

Panel # 4

Topic

Igniting Passion: Unleashing Your Potential and a New Era in Tech

Description

The panel discussion showcased the pivotal role of passion, purpose, and leadership in the tech industry. The panelists’ insights provided valuable lessons on fostering innovation, empowerment, diversity, and inclusion, adapting to change, overcoming challenges, and maintaining a healthy work-life balance, making it an informative and inspiring discussion for both aspiring and seasoned tech leaders.

Stacy Mill

VP of IT and CISO - Run the entire IT Dept and Cybersecurity for Corporate systems
Nashville Electric Service

Stacy Mill is the VP of IT and CISO at Nashville Electric Service, responsible for all IT strategy and execution across corporate systems, including cybersecurity. She has built global teams across several industries and has held leadership roles in the State of Kansas, Spirit AeroSystems, KAR Global, and Yum. Stacy has a background in security and serves on the boards of various organizations. She enjoys spending time with her family and mentoring emerging leaders.

Panel # 4

Topic

Igniting Passion: Unleashing Your Potential and a New Era in Tech

Description

The panel discussion showcased the pivotal role of passion, purpose, and leadership in the tech industry. The panelists’ insights provided valuable lessons on fostering innovation, empowerment, diversity, and inclusion, adapting to change, overcoming challenges, and maintaining a healthy work-life balance, making it an informative and inspiring discussion for both aspiring and seasoned tech leaders.

Surbhi Kaul

VP, Global CX
Juniper Networks

With 20 years of experience leading product design, development, and strategy in Fortune 500 companies, Surbhi has built and led product and engineering teams at Google, YouTube, Netflix, and Cisco. She has launched successful products that use AI and machine learning. Currently, Surbhi leads Juniper’s Customer Experience charter, focused on creating omnichannel engagements and ML-based support capabilities. Surbhi has degrees from IIT Kanpur, Texas A&M University, and Harvard Business School. She also leads Global Inclusion & Diversity initiatives at Juniper and supports the IIT community.

Panel # 2

Topic

Empowering Journeys: The Path to Tech Executives

Description

The panel discussion is expected to provide a comprehensive view of leadership in the modern corporate landscape, touching upon personal growth, resilience, empowerment, diversity, innovation, and the challenges of digital transformation. The diverse experiences and strategies shared by the panelists will offer valuable insights for both aspiring and current leaders in various industries.

Christine Sarros

SVP, Product Development
Oracle

Christine has been with Oracle and previously SUN Microsystems for more than 25 years. As Senior Vice President of Oracle’s Enterprise Engineering organization, she is responsible for Oracle’s internal cloud transformation and delivery of multiple cloud services. Her team partners with enterprise and development organizations across the company to evolve on-premises services into native cloud solutions and leads our global migration program. In addition, Christine delivers traditional IT services for our more than 170,000 global employees.

Panel # 3

Topic

Women in Leadership: Career Evolution in the Tech Industry

Description

Diverse companies excel, boasting better performance, a knack for attracting top-notch talent, highly engaged employees, and impressive retention rates. Yet, in the tech realm, women still find themselves in the minority. Change, the driving force behind progress, calls for transformation and innovation, which, in turn, rely heavily on diversity. This dynamic forms a continuous cycle, one that particularly highlights the crucial role of women leaders in tech. Women, with their unique perspectives and experiences, have a distinctive lens through which they view and approach challenges, making them trailblazers and innovators.

Sudha Raghavan

SVP, Developer Platform
Oracle

Sudha is an engineer and product VP in the Oracle Cloud Observability and Developer LifeCycle Services organization. She manages teams that run large scale distributed services used by 1000s of engineers every day. Her inclusive leadership has led to her directs being one of the most diverse teams in Oracle.

She is also a founding committee member of the Oracle Women’s Leadership (OWL), Seattle chapter and runs several mentoring rings. She has an Masters in Computer Science and has worked at Microsoft. She is a goal-driven leader hoping to attract more women into leadership positions.

Panel # 3

Topic

Women in Leadership: Career Evolution in the Tech Industry

Description

Diverse companies excel, boasting better performance, a knack for attracting top-notch talent, highly engaged employees, and impressive retention rates. Yet, in the tech realm, women still find themselves in the minority. Change, the driving force behind progress, calls for transformation and innovation, which, in turn, rely heavily on diversity. This dynamic forms a continuous cycle, one that particularly highlights the crucial role of women leaders in tech. Women, with their unique perspectives and experiences, have a distinctive lens through which they view and approach challenges, making them trailblazers and innovators.

Petek Utku

Vice President - OCI Technical Operations
Oracle

Petek Utku is the Vice President of OCI Technical Operations at Oracle. In this role, Petek drives the pursuit of operational excellence within Enterprise Engineering and OCI cloud classic, ensuring unparalleled support and world-class operations for internal and external customers. Petek is a technology executive with 25+ years of experience who has developed high-growth IT strategies and led global teams in finance, investment, technology, and cloud companies. Prior to joining Oracle, Petek was the Vice President