2025 Speakers
Chisoo Lyons
Executive Director, WiDS Worldwide
Chisoo was born in South Korea and grew up living in Indonesia, Germany, and Jordan, before moving to the US. She attended University of California Berkeley and received a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering & Operations Research and continued with her master’s focusing on Operations Research. Living in different parts of the world cultivated her ever-present curiosity about people and cultures. Chisoo worked for FICO, a global analytic and decision management company, applying data science to developing, consulting, and implementing decision support solutions for her clients. Her corporate career culminated in leadership roles managing innovation and lines of business. Now, as the Executive Director of Women in Data Science, Chisoo is thrilled to be in service of a global community of amazing women doing extraordinary work in the field of data science.
Reflections and Lessons Learned: A Journey from Data Scientist to Leader
Pam Wang
Senior Data Scientist, KungFu.ai
Pam (Shao-Fang) Wang is a Senior Data Scientist at KUNGFU.AI Consulting, leading end-to-end data science projects and delivering ML solutions across diverse industries. Prior to her work in industry, her PhD research in Cognitive Psychology at Stanford University focused on brain-behavior relationships using neuroimaging and behavioral experiments.
The Academic in Industry: A Cultural and Pragmatic Shift
Transitioning from research positions in academia to data/engineering roles in industry involves more than just securing employment. It is a cultural shift, from prioritizing scientific accuracy to business efficiency—a shift that can be confusing, frustrating, or unexpected. My talk aims to start this discussion and share my journey and insights for those with a research background, and for employers seeking to hire and support talent with an academic background.
Alexandra Ralevski
Senior Data Scientist, Tegria Services Group
Alexandra Ralevski, PhD is a Senior Data Scientist at Tegria Services Group and Providence Healthcare, where she leads the development of a Generative AI training tool to assist physicians in navigating end-of-life conversations. She previously worked as a Data Scientist at the Institute for Systems Biology, where she built predictive machine learning models for personalized healthcare. She also collaborated on NASA’s Periodic Table of Life (PeTaL) project, which used AI to mine the scientific literature for nature-inspired design. Her postdoctoral research at Yale University explored the intersection of plant biology and neuroscience, contributing to studies that bridged natural systems and human health.
Agentic Architectures for Realistic Dialogue: Teaching Empathy in Healthcare with Generative AI
Clinicians often receive less than 15 minutes of formal training on how to handle emotionally charged end-of-life conversations, despite the profound impact such moments have on patient care. Traditional approaches to empathy training—using standardized patients and in-person coaching—are effective but difficult to scale. We introduce a Generative AI system, named EmpathyAI, designed to simulate these interactions through a multi-agent architecture. The system includes a Patient Agent, modeled after realistic emotional and cognitive states, and a Coach Agent that provides real-time feedback. A key challenge was overcoming the overly cheerful tone often inherited from general-purpose LLMs; we address this by dynamically updating system prompts based on a graphical model of the conversation’s emotional arc. This enables the Patient Agent to shift tone, confusion, or distress in response to clinician input. Our preliminary implementation shows promising realism and adaptability, with plans to develop fine-tuned models to further enhance performance and nuance.
Jessica M. Lundin, PhD
Principal Scientist, AI & Large Language Models, The Gates Foundation
Jessica M. Lundin, Ph.D. is Principal Scientist for LLMs and AI at the Gates Foundation, where she focuses on applying large language models to global challenges in health, education, and agriculture. She develops multilingual, multimodal, agentic AI systems and transforms leading-edge research into real-world tools. Dr. Lundin's experience includes founding a startup as CTO, in addition to holding director-level roles at Microsoft Research and Salesforce. Her career reflects a strong track record of translating research into scalable impact across domains including climate, renewable energy, health, and design. She holds a Ph.D. in Geophysics and an M.S. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Washington, and has numerous peer-reviewed publications and patents.
Bridging the Gap: Enhancing LLM Performance for Low-Resource African Languages
Large Language Models (LLMs) have shown remarkable performance across various tasks, yet significant disparities remain for non-English languages, and especially native African languages. This paper addresses these disparities by creating approximately 1 million human-translated words of new benchmark data in 8 low-resource African languages, covering a population of over 160 million speakers of: Amharic, Bambara, Igbo, Sepedi (Northern Sotho), Shona, Sesotho (Southern Sotho), Setswana, and Tsonga. Our benchmarks are translations of Winogrande and three sections of MMLU: college medicine, clinical knowledge, and virology. Using the translated benchmarks, we report previously unknown performance gaps between state-of-the-art (SOTA) LLMs in English and African languages. Finally, using results from over 400 fine-tuned models, we explore several methods to reduce the LLM performance gap, including high-quality dataset fine-tuning (using an LLM-as-an-Annotator), cross-lingual transfer, and cultural appropriateness adjustments. Key findings include average mono-lingual improvements of 5.6% with fine-tuning (with 5.4% average mono-lingual improvements when using high-quality data over low-quality data), 2.9% average gains from cross-lingual transfer, and a 3.0% out-of-the-box performance boost on culturally appropriate questions. The publicly available benchmarks, translations, and code from this study support further research and development aimed at creating more inclusive and effective language technologies.
Heather Whiteman
Associate Teaching Professor, University of Washington
Heather Whiteman, PhD is an Associate Teaching Professor at the Univ. of Washington iSchool, a U.S. ISO representative & Fulbright Scholar. She’s held executive positions leading analytics & technology at global firms. She specializes in how work & worker data can be used to create a better workplace. She believes data should be for (not just about) people.
Using Data Science to Eliminate Workplace Sexual Harassment: A Case Study
Can data science and AI help end workplace sexual harassment? ELSA, a Peruvian startup founded by Marlene Molero and Ivonne Quiñones, thinks so—and they have results to back it up. This session shares a case study conducted by Dr. Heather Whiteman on ELSA and explores how technology, data science, and gender expertise can be combined to drive meaningful impact. It also dives into the strategic challenges they face as they scale: which innovations to prioritize, how to stay mission-focused, and how to allocate limited resources while maintaining measurable change.
Panel Discussions
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A career in data science offers a dynamic path that blends technology, analytics, and business strategy. Every major data science product relies on a team of diverse talents, both technical and not. Data Engineers build the infrastructure and pipelines that make clean, accessible data available for analysis. Data Scientists use that data to develop models, generate insights, and drive smarter decision-making. Project Managers ensure collaboration, timelines, and resource alignment across all teams. Together, these roles (and more) create a powerful ecosystem that turns raw data into impactful business outcomes. Let's discuss the skills and opportunities involved in these different paths.
Jenifer DeFigueiredo
Technical Project Coordinator
Jeny is a Technical Project Coordinator at Amazon, leading a team migrating to next-generation data ecosystems. Previously Community Manager at DVC.ai, she's passionate about streamlining workflows for data scientists. As Board Member-Treasurer for Diversity in Data Science, she's worked for 6 years to amplify diverse voices in the field. A former Olympian in Rhythmic Gymnastics, she applies that discipline to problem-solving and project management across marketing, operations, and community building.
Malvika Singh
Software Engineer
Software Engineer with 5+ yrs in B2B/B2C SaaS, focused on cloud tech, ML, and data privacy. Skilled in big data projects at AWS, Azure, GCP, and leading cross-functional teams. Host of the GenAI podcast, featuring AI pros, researchers & policy analysts. Passionate about data-driven, real-world impact.
Madison Swain-Bowden
Senior Data Engineer
Madison is a Senior Data Engineer & Former Team Lead out of Seattle and an avid Python user/organizer. She currently works at Babylist, and has previously been sponsored by Automattic to work on the open source project Openverse, worked at Ookla (Speedtest.net), the Allen Institute for Cell Science, and the Broad Institute. In her spare time she can be found baking, building digital tools to help those battling oppression, contributing to open source, walking her dog, reading queer fiction, or playing video games.
Vaishali Khandelwal
Senior Data Scientist
Vaishali Khandelwal is a Senior Data Scientist at Microsoft, driving growth and retention strategies for millions of Office subscribers. She specializes in large-scale experimentation, forecasting, and data storytelling, and actively mentors early-career talent while championing women in tech.
Join us as industry leaders dissect the transformative potential of Generative AI. This panel explores the latest trends in using, building, and safeguarding GenAI. We’ll hear perspectives on evolving workflows, hype-versus-reality, and the social impacts of emerging applications of this technology.
Cornelia Carapcea
Director of Product @ Netflix
Cornelia is a Director of Product at Netflix, where she focuses on AI and ML that enable creators to tell the most authentic stories. Cornelia has a background in AI/ML-centered consumer and enterprise products, having worked on Bing Search then led the Computer Vision suite of products in Azure.
Tao Tao
Direct of Software Engineering @ Databricks
Tao Tao is Director of Engineering at Databricks, leading the Collaboration and Ecosystem team. Her career has focused on empowering organizations with data and AI. Previously, she led platform efforts at Tableau and worked on Microsoft’s big data platform Cosmos. Tao holds a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from University of Pennsylvania.
Akriti Chadda
Applied Scientist @ Microsoft
Akriti Chadda is an Applied Scientist at Microsoft, building AI that powers how people search online. She fine-tunes ranking models, explores generative AI, and makes tech human. A new mom, she’s raising a toddler, reading again, and dreaming up parenting tools, always with coffee in hand.
Sonakshi Pandey
Data & Product Leader @ Google
Sonakshi Pandey is a Data Analytics Leader at Google Cloud. She has over 8 years of experience in the cloud computing industry, working for leading cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). She is a well-recognized thought leader in cloud computing and has published over 10 articles on various cloud solutions. She has also been featured as a Top Women in Cloud influencer for 2023 by Whizlabs. Her blogs on cloud technology have been published on various platforms including Dice, Thrive Global, AWS, and Google Cloud. In her current role at Google Cloud, Sonakshi helps organizations migrate and build their data platforms on the cloud. She has a deep understanding of the cloud computing landscape and helps organizations achieve their business goals using data analytics on Cloud. Sonakshi is a passionate advocate for women in technology. She is a mentor to many young women who are interested in pursuing a career in Cloud Computing. She has spoken at 10+ events and conferences on careers in cloud computing. Learn more about Sonakshi's journey and her work - https://www.thesonakshipandey.com/
Lunch & Learn Panel by WiDS Worldwide
Whether you're landing your first job, positioning yourself for a promotion, or negotiating at the executive level, how you advocate for yourself can shape your career trajectory. In today’s unpredictable economic climate, compensation conversations can feel daunting, especially for women. In this candid discussion, learn from senior HR and industry executives as they share real-world insights on what’s working, what’s changing, and how companies are evolving their approach to pay and career advancement. From first-time negotiations to high-stakes leadership moves, you’ll walk away with actionable strategies, fresh perspective, and the confidence to take your next bold step—wherever you are in your journey.
Laura Kuehl
Senior Director, Credit Risk Management @ T-Mobile
Laura is a senior executive with over 30 years of experience in the telecommunications and banking industries. She has spent 26 years at T-Mobile, where for the past 19 years she has focused deeply on Credit Risk Management. Laura currently leads the strategic oversight and delivery of fraud, credit, and collections decision engine capabilities across the customer lifecycle—helping the business make smarter, faster decisions through powerful platform solutions.
Laura’s career began as a customer service representative, an experience that laid the foundation for her people-first leadership style and her passion for solving complex problems. She is known for building strong, lasting relationships—with her teams, colleagues, and partners—and for leading with both head and heart. Laura believes in the power of collaboration and influence through trust, and she takes pride in delivering results, especially when executing high-impact, complex projects that require both vision and follow-through. She thrives on bringing structure to complexity and turning strategy into action.
Born and raised in Bellevue, Laura now lives in Sammamish with her three sons, including twin boys who are about to graduate. Family is at the center of her life, and she is savoring every moment of this season, knowing how quickly time passes.
Lucas Petto
Compensation Partner @ Google
Lucas is a compensation business partner at Google, acting as an internal consultant for teams such as YouTube, Devices and Services (aka Pixel and Android), and the R&D teams. Much of his time is spent on managing effective compensation strategies at scale to retain the most critical and at-risk talent at Google, while balancing fairness and pay equity. Prior to his time at Google, he worked in various compensation roles at Electronic Arts, Redfin and Microsoft where he helped scale and optimize programs that brought rigor and governance to compensation management.
Lucas is a midwest-born transplant that found his way to Seattle after completing an Undergraduate degree in Psychology as well as a Masters degree in Human Resources, both from Michigan State University. While his free time has recently shifted to entertaining his infant daughter, he also enjoys the occasional round of golf and concert-going.
Ella Hale
Vice President, Executive Compensation @ Visa
Ella currently leads executive compensation at Visa, bringing deep expertise in designing and implementing executive compensation programs at companies like Electronic Arts, Microsoft, and WTW. Throughout her 18-year career focused on executive compensation, she has developed and scaled executive pay programs that enhance leadership development, align with business strategy, and meet shareholder expectations. She focuses on translating complex data into clear and actionable insights, facilitating informed decision-making at the highest levels.
Born and raised in Seoul, Korea, Ella moved to the US as a teenager. She received her BA degree in Communication with focus in Journalism at George Mason University and Masters in Public Policy at American University. Ella and her family live in Kirkland, WA.
Tristan Orford
Vice President Total Rewards @ SentinelOne
Tristan is a seasoned total rewards executive currently leading compensation and benefits at SentinelOne. He joined the company in 2022 and leads the teams responsible for all aspects of compensation —including sales, executive, and equity—as well as employee benefits. Prior to SentinelOne, he led executive and broad-based compensation at Electronic Arts. Prior to that, he led the global compensation team at Riot Games, building programs and practices during a period of substantial business and headcount growth for the company. Tristan began his career in finance, working in investment banking and private equity before making the transition to the world of total rewards.
Tristan grew up near Portland, Oregon and received his degree in International Political Economy summa cum laude from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. He also holds both the CCP and GRP certifications from WorldatWork.
Tristan and his wife Andrea live near Seattle with their three kids and their dog. When not working, he’s usually either reading, playing games, or enjoying the outdoors - ideally, all of the above!