Fifteen St. Ursula juniors and seniors had a chance to sit down with local women IT executives, enjoy tea, and talk about careers in technology. At the Cincinnati Bankers Club, Marta Foster, senior vice president at Procter & Gamble, shared invaluable lessons with these girls from her role in P&G in the last three decades. She was joined by Jill Henry, senior IT director at Cintas, Melissa Johnson, CIO at Comair, Cathy Culane, Supply Chain CIO at GE Aviation, Vicki Rogers, vice president of application development services at USBank, Phyllis Adams, CEO of PDR, Michelle Reese, Professional Services Practice Lead at Atos Origin, Robin Smith, North America SAP Practice Director for Atos Origin, and Margie Matthews, Assistant Technology Director at St. Ursula.
The executives involved enjoyed this experience just as much as the girls from St. Ursula. Vicki Rogers said, "I learned a great deal more than I believe I passed on to the girls." Marta Foster recounted, "The girls are truly amazing and it's an honor to be able to interact with them." Rachel Blain, one of the fifteen students involved, affirmed the value of Tea and IT with Marta, stating, "this opportunity to meet with all of you …has made me consider further pursuing a college major relative to business and IT."
The girls from the St. Ursula chapter of the INTERalliance included Rachel Blain, Taylor Daggett, Ann Dirkes, Eileen Donovan, Anne Haag, Kristin Haak, Abby Hanneken, Jennifer Head, Claire Liegel, Christi Mideli, Tara Porter, Emmy Schroder, Anna Sherman, Olivia Shutte, and Megan Weaver.
The INTERalliance hopes to continue with many more of these types of events in the coming years, making certain the young women understand not only the vast opportunities for them in IT in the Greater Cincinnati market, but also how invested Cincinnati's women IT professionals are in their future success.
