ChickTech Staff

Katie SanFilippo
Chief Executive Officer
Katie is focused on empowering girls and women in achieving their full potential and to have the confidence to make changes they wish to see in their lives. She has dedicated herself to building community through volunteerism in order to bring positive change locally and globally. Through her career in the nonprofit field, Katie has developed and supported community-based programs ranging from environmental conservation to youth and leadership development.

Tonya Pieske
Director of People and Operations
Tonya is passionate about creating a workplace sanctuary for herself and her team by promoting a culture of respect and positivity. She believes in the power of human connection and approaches her work with empathy and authenticity.

Dani Gehm
National Marketing Manager
Dani is a Portland creative with a passion for accessibility and diversity in marketing and design. Her background in nonprofit brand management, design, and communications is informed by consistent education and activism in social justice issues. She is thrilled to support the ChickTech team in helping young womxn find and follow their passions in tech.

Kerstin Motsch-Reiter
National Youth Program & Partnerships Manager
Kerstin has a lifelong passion for science and an expansive background in both STEM education and community engagement. Her enthusiasm for science began during her childhood in Latin America and drove her to earn both a B.S. and M.S. in Environmental Science. She has previously leveraged her science background working for the Bureau of Land Management and Columbus State University, where she focused on providing accessible, inclusive, hands-on STEM based learning, educator training, and engagement opportunities to the communities she served. She strives to build strong partnerships, foster teamwork, and promote inclusion and equity throughout the work she does and is thrilled to be able to provide meaningful, supportive experiences to ChickTech’s participants and volunteers.

Julianna Nelson
National Development Director

Amber Blum
National Development Coordinator
Board of Directors

Nanci Schimizzi
ChickTech Board President
Principal Owner, Fair Oaks Strategies, LLC
Nanci Schimizzi is a Senior Technology Executive with over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry. As founder and principal at Fair Oaks Strategies, Nanci has served as a Management Consultant at large financial services firms, nonprofits and professional associations. Nanci has extensive experience in IT strategy, business continuity and resiliency planning, business relationship, program management, and software development. She is actively engaged in championing programs supporting STEM Initiatives.

Steve Hufford
ChickTech Board Member
CEO, Hufford Services Group

Elizabeth Gotto
ChickTech Board Member
Vice President – MCE Platform Enablement, Experian
Elizabeth is a results oriented IT professional with 23 years of diverse business experience. She is a Senior Vice President of Technology and the General Manager for Privacy at Ticketmaster. She is responsible for Central Operations including Critical Incident Management, Contact Center Technology and fan privacy. She has a demonstrated history of transforming organizations by building great teams and consistently implementing industry leading technologies. She provides vision and leadership that drive significant cost savings, empower teams with highly available applications that focus on positive customer experiences and implementing programs company-wide. Elizabeth is passionate about encouraging females to join and stay in the technology industry, she started the Denver ChickTech Chapter in 2017. She is a Colorado native, proud mother of two children and enjoys spending time with her family and in the mountains.

Jennie Leigh
ChickTech Board Member
Vice President of Customer Experience & Marketing Operations, Akamai Technologies
Jennie is the VP of Marketing Operations and Customer Experience at Akamai Technologies. Having spent 20 years at the company, she’s performed a variety of roles in that time, from customer-facing sales, services, and support roles, to operations-focused roles in enablement, product readiness, analytics and technology. She most enjoys helping organizations scale up to continually meet customer needs. Jennie became a volunteer for the Chicktech Bay Area chapter in 2014, when she was seeking a way to improve the number of women applying for roles at Akamai. She joined the Chicktech board in 2018, and currently serves as the Board Secretary.

Ross Feinberg
ChickTech Board Member
Vice President of Strategy and Operations, Media & Carrier Division, Akamai Technologies

Jessica Shevitz Rauch
ChickTech Board Treasurer

Christine Pavalon
ChickTech Board Member
Regional Vice President of Sales, RingCentral
Christine has over 20 years of experience in Technology Sales. Her career started off in the early days of Telecom Communication services and has evolved over the years into SAAS Sales. Currently she is a Vice President of Sales for RingCentral. The core business model today is providing Enterprise Voice, Collaboration Tools, and Contact Center solutions to her clients.She came to be introduced to ChickTech in 2018 when she spoke on a panel regarding breaking the Glass Ceiling. Technology Sales is an area that has excited her and open doors to great career advancement which she loves to share and encourage others to consider. Christine resides in the Chicago Suburbs and is the mother to 3 daughters.
Chapter Leadership

Hunter Hamrick
Chapter Director, ChickTech: Austin

Lisa O’Brian
ChickTech: Central Oregon Chapter Director
Lisa O’Brian is a Bend resident who retired after 24 years at Microsoft as a Program / Project Manager where she managed strategic projects that involved leading global and diverse teams. She has a passion for driving positive change, technology and empowering women.

Nicci Frick
ChickTech: Denver Chapter Co-Director
Director of Business Operations, Ibotta Inc.
As the Director of Business Operations at Ibotta, a mobile technology company, Nicci is fortunate to work with many amazing women who are thriving in tech careers. She is passionate about building the pipeline of women pursuing STEM careers, and she strives to increase the confidence of as many girls and women as possible.

Sandra Johnson
ChickTech: Denver Chapter Co-Director
Wildfire Mitigation Project Director, Xcel Energy

Patrice Hagans
ChickTech: Houston Chapter Director
Director, Huron Consulting Group

Kelly Curtin
ChickTech: Raleigh-Durham Chapter Co-Director
My dad wanted me to be a plastics engineer but I refused. I wanted to be a marine biologist because I love the ocean. I discovered biology involved chemistry, which I was really bad at. I changed my major to political science because that was what my sister was studying. Once I realized that political science majors make 16K out of school (it was the 1980’s), I changed my major to MIS. I took my first computer class soon after and was failing. Then one day, a light when on and I got it. I decided to minor in computer science and never look back.
Over 30 years later, I am still writing software and I still love it. I currently am a director of data analysis at Fidelity Investments. I still love the ocean and am an avid scuba diver. My motto is try everything because you never know what you love until you try it.

Rima Chakravarty
ChickTech: Raleigh-Durham Chapter Co-Director
Sr. Manager, Lead Architect/Product Owner | Product Management, Cisco
BayArea 2014 High School Kickoff. Photo by David Kuwaye.