I'm excited to announce that Caroline Simard, Ph.D., associate director of Diversity and Leadership at Stanford School of Medicine and a STEM diversity consultant, will be this year's keynote speaker at the Red Hat Women's Leadership Community Luncheon. This complimentary luncheon is open to the public and will take place on Wednesday, April 16, 2014, during Red Hat Summit 2014 in San Francisco.

Simard leads Diversity and Innovation Services for Exponential Talent LLC, a human capital and diversity consulting firm. She also serves as associate director of Diversity and Leadership at the Stanford School of Medicine, where she is responsible for the implementation of a pilot initiative to increase the work-life integration and career development of faculty.

Prior to joining Stanford, Simard led the Anita Borg Institute's research and executive program initiatives. Her research on the barriers facing women in technology received national attention. She led the design, data collection and analysis, writing and dissemination of the Institute's first major research initiative, "Climbing the Technical Ladder: Obstacles and Solutions for Mid-Level Women in Technology." In addition, she has published major reports on underrepresented minorities in technology, employee retention strategies, attributes of senior technical women and issues facing K-12 computer science education. She is on the board of the Ada Initiative, a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the representation of women in open source technology.

Simard holds a Ph.D. in Communication Studies from Stanford University and a master’s in Communication and Information Studies from Rutgers University. She is a board member of The Ada Initiative, a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing the representation of women in open source technology, and an advisor for Global TechWomen, a newly formed organization dedicated to supporting women in technology around the world.

Simard is passionate about building better workplaces for women and underrepresented minority talent in STEM fields. She hopes to help create a worldwide platform for women to successfully realize and achieve their own definition of success.

Space at the luncheon will be limited. If you're interested in attending, please pre-register by sending an email to ITWomen-Lunch@redhat.com.

Hope to see you there!

• WHAT: Red Hat Women’s Leadership Community Luncheon
• WHEN: Wednesday, April 16, 2014, 11:50 a.m. – 1:10 p.m. PT
• WHERE: Golden Gate Ballroom, Marriott Marquis, Red Hat Summit 2014
• REGISTER: Email ITWomen-Lunch@redhat.com