WE Local Keynote Speakers

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LAS VEGAS OPENING KEYNOTE
Doa J. Ross, PE
Deputy General Manager of Engineering
Las Vegas Valley Water District & Southern Nevada Water Authority

As Deputy General Manager of Engineering, Doa oversees the Engineering, Infrastructure Management and Customer Care & Field Services Departments. Her duties include infrastructure design and construction, asset management, expansion in support of development, metering, billing, and system reliability, with an emphasis on implementing innovative solutions for sustainability and conservation.

At WE Local Las Vegas, Doa will discuss her journey of overcoming stereotypes within a male-dominated profession and offer her personal top ten tips on how to go from an entry-level position to management.

LAS VEGAS CLOSING KEYNOTE
Kristina Kennedy
Engineering Associate Professor; Senior Faculty Director
The Ohio State University

Lift While You Lead during WE Local Las Vegas. Kristina Kennedy learned early on the importance of standing up and speaking out.  With this, she will share the ways she found success in her career, but more importantly, helped support junior associates to achieve success by lifting while she led.

BALTIMORE OPENING KEYNOTE
Wendy Cocke
Engineering Leadership Solutions
Founder

At WE Local Baltimore, hear from Wendy Cocke, a dedicated Society of Women Engineers member for 25+ years, bestselling author, and founder of Engineering Leadership Solutions. With a background in leading technical teams for Fortune 500 companies, Wendy, a chemical engineer, now consults and teaches at her alma mater. Through her books, including “Making Flex Work: Defining Success on Your Own Terms,” Wendy advocates a personalized, small business-minded approach to career customization, changing the conversation on work dynamics.

BALTIMORE CLOSING KEYNOTE
Christal LaVecchia
Vice President and Chief Engineer
Lockheed Martin

Don’t miss Christal LaVecchia at WE Local Baltimore! Christal is the vice president and chief engineer for Lockheed Martin’s Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber-Defense and Combat Systems and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C6ISR) line of business within the Rotary and Mission Systems (RMS) business area. In this capacity, she is responsible for the technical execution, products and people who develop next generation solutions in the areas of undersea systems, cyber, unmanned vehicles, battle management, ISR, acoustic sensors and precision navigation. In addition, she is the RMS executive sponsor for the Women’s Impact Network (WIN) and RMS Inclusion Council Lead. She also serves as the Lockheed Martin Executive Sponsor for the University of Central Florida ensuring a strong partnership for the development of a STEM pipeline and innovation.

WICHITA OPENING KEYNOTE
Heather Meyer
Vice President, U.S. Quality
Spirit AeroSystems, Inc.

Join WE Local Wichita to hear from Heather Meyer, who joined Spirit in December 2022 and currently oversees quality operations programs for Spirit’s U.S. sites. Previously at Textron Aviation, Meyer served as Vice President of Quality Assurance, managing manufacturing quality for commercial, defense products, and aftermarket parts. Having been with Textron since 2006, Heather held various roles, including regulatory approval, manufacturing support services, customer quality, and experimental program introduction quality. A board member of the Wichita Symphony Orchestra, she’s been an active community leader in organizations like Leadership Augusta, Kiwanis Club, and Junior Achievement.

WICHITA CLOSING KEYNOTE
Carrie Shapiro
Vice President of Strategic Sourcing and Procurement
Georgia Pacific

Cap off the WE Local Wichita conference with Carrie! Carrie has been with Georgia Pacific for 8 years. She is currently serving as Vice President of Strategic Sourcing &Procurement for Georgia Pacific. In this role, Carrie has responsibility for transformation of procurement operations across GP. Prior to this role, Carrie spent 5 years leading Dixie Manufacturing serving as Vice President of Dixie Operations.  

Carrie’s talk “Lead without Limits” will highlight successes and failures as a leader to challenge and encourage you to make a difference with your teams and organizations through leadership.