WiTWA TechXchange: Creating Communities - Fireside Chat with WiTWA Founders

Announcing our last TechXchange for 2019, back at The Globe, where we kicked off the year with #kindworking and our 2019 theme of "If you can see her, you can be her"!

Join us for a relaxed fireside chat with the original WiT WA (as it was known back then) - founding members Yvonne Parle and Loula Papandreou as they share our origin story. 

Joining Yvonne & Loula is Marjolein Towler who was the Chair of WiTWA for an impressive 17 years!

Connecting the history to the present is Sheryl Frame, previously a WiTWA Board Member for 11 years, one of our 2018 20in20 Winners and now a WiTWA Ambassador.

Soak up the energy from this inclusive, invigorating environment and hear these amazing leaders share their journey including tips for us in the midst of it, what inspires them and the value of creating professional communities. 

With her experiences across many countries, Yvonne will also share some interesting stories and insights on how to create professional communities globally across various cultures, gender roles and languages. 

Please see below for more information on our special guests.  

With all our 2019 TechXChange events selling out, we suggest you secure your tickets early.

Your ticket includes plenty of food, plus a drink on arrival (a glass of wine, beer or soft drink). Extra drinks are available to purchase.

Limited Sponsored Tickets (conditions apply):

Thanks to support provided by the Department of Communities for the WiTWA TECHXchange event series we are able to offer a number of free tickets to women who are currently studying (part-time or full-time), unemployed or looking to transition into a role within the science or technology sectors. A limit of 2 tickets per person applies. If unsure whether this applies to you, please email alana@witwa.org.au.

Mini Mentors / Mentees:

Are you a Uni Student, a parent returning to work, new to the industry (or Perth Tech Scene), upskilling, reskilling or are you without many connections in the industry?

We are excited to offer our "Mini Mentor" program for the last time in 2019.

We have been delighted with the generosity from the community with a lot of amazing women and men who have volunteered to be your "Mini Mentor" on the night. These Mini Mentors work in various roles in Perth Tech - including Technical, Management, Project Management, Account Management etc and across many industry streams.

After organising your ticket here, please visit the link here to register your interest as a Mini Mentor or Mini Mentee.

Our Fireside Chat includes the following Inspiring Leaders:

Yvonne Parle

Yvonne was the founding member of WiTWA (Originally Women are I.T. WA). The majority of her working life has been spent in Program/Project Management as well as in Senior IT Management roles. Yvonne began in IT in Banking & Insurance in the City of London, then in Banking in New York followed by her move to Perth where she worked in Utilities (Gas/Electricity networks) and in Oil & Gas Engineering services companies with a brief stint in an Engineering project management start-up and Academia!

Since moving back to Europe (France, Germany and now Switzerland) Yvonne has spent the past 10 years involved in ERP deployments (UK, Norway, USA, France and Malaysia) in a variety of project roles including Organizational change management and PMO Manager. The past 4 years she spent seconded to Finance to manage IT Compliance & SOX 404 and IT Internal control. Most recently she has returned to an operational role in the Global Change Management team as an IT Technical Change manager responsible for the European region.

Off duty Yvonne is totally passionate about textiles, especially knitting and is building a small business (www.towsertextileart.com) that organizes and markets Knitting Retreats in the beautiful Swiss Jura as well as designing and producing unique blankets, utilising organic yarns and pure cotton/wool fabrics for infants and children. Increasingly she would like to dedicate more time and energy to growing her business so it becomes her main focus when she semi-retires in a few years.

Loula Papandreou

Loula has been influential in raising the profile of the opportunities available to women in the IT industry through establishing the WA chapter of Women are IT (WIT - now WiTWA), and the Go Girl Go for IT Careers Showcase (and being the inaugural Chair of both groups)

To further develop the industry, and to encourage and enable more young people to pursue a career in information and communications technology, Ms Papandreou was a member of the Australia Computer Society (ACS) WA Scholarship Foundation Board committee and a board committee member of the ACS Telecommunications Board.

As a member of the Hellenic community, Loula was instrumental in fundraising and lobbying both the private and public sectors to establish a private Hellenic college and aged care facility. She was appointed Deputy Chair of the school’s inaugural Board and, within this role, assisted with the running and expansion of the school between 1988 and 1997.

Marjolein Tower

Marjolein brings over 30 years of experience as Director of Consultas Pty Ltd with a client base from both the Corporate and Public Sectors. She is a qualified Information Designer, a qualified Facilitator, a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), and a Certified Process Professional Champion (CPPC- Lvl8). Marjolein is a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and completed Internal Auditing for Quality Assurance (BSI). She has also completed and passed the AICD Company Directors Course. Marjolein has extensive experience in the development of business management and project management systems. Majorlein was a member of WiTWA from 1999. She became Treasurer in 2002 then Chair of WiTWA from 2006 - 2016. It was under Marjolein's leadership that Techtrails was developed.

 

Sheryl Frame

Having started four IT-related companies herself, Sheryl has demonstrated exceptional and progressive leadership over many years. Her ability to dismiss boundaries (or, at least redefine them to advantage) is founded on her ability to think and act strategically with extreme confidence. Planning has been a mantra for her; planning that includes progressive initiatives in leadership, diversity, mentoring and inspiration, innovation and more, all of which succeed because of her thoroughness in defining foresight and vision into her strategies. Sheryl is passionate about helping female founders and ensuring women, in general, are empowered to follow their dreams and dismiss perceived barriers. She has been involved in numerous organisations that help women in business; AWISE, Australian Women in IT, Science and Engineering, WiTWA, SBE Australia, AC and several others. She has mentored dozens of businesses, both start-up and established. Sheryl is looked up to by entrepreneurs starting out and is always on hand to offer to advise and guide one through the tough road to getting a company an idea off the ground. Sheryl has been a trailblazer in many ways for young women in IT and in STEM.

Photographer and Videographer Recording at Event

Please note there will be a photographer and videographer recording during this event. By registering and participating in this event, you consent to the recording of your likeness, image and/or voice and authorise WiTWA to use photographs, video and audio recordings containing your likeness, image and/or voice in any medium, for any purpose. Should you not wish to be recorded, please email.