Past Speakers
February 2022:
Kaja Coraor
Kaja (pronounced kaya) is a software developer in the Risk division at SAS and builds solutions for financial institutions and insurance companies. Originally from New York, she moved to North Carolina to attend UNC Chapel Hill where she studied Computer Science and Mathematical Decision Sciences. During one summer at UNC, she interned with GE Aviation in Ohio which sparked a passion for the world of aviation. She now spends any free moment flying in her 1946 Piper Cub. She started working at SAS right after graduation as an analytical consultant and decided to move into software development after three years of consulting. She also got her Master of Science in Analytics through Georgia Institute of Technology while working at SAS.
January 2022:
Petek Sener
My name is Petek Sener. I'm 25 years old. I was born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey. I came to the United States in 2014 to attend college at Duke University. I studied biomedical engineering as an undergraduate and got my bachelor of engineering degree in 2018. I continued my education at Duke and graduated with a masters in biomedical engineering in 2019. I work as an ultrasound engineer at MicroElastic, a medical device start-up. In my free time, I enjoy cooking and running.
October 2020:
Lynette Sapienza
Lynette’s career started as an engineer with General Motors. After several years with GM, she left to return to graduate school. From there, she began her now 20-year career with Deere. During these 20 years, she has held subsequent positions of increasing leadership in Marketing, Portfolio Management, and Project Management. Throughout her various roles at Deere, Lynette has helped to push process changes in product portfolio management, leading her team to be awarded a Deere President’s Award for Excellence, and to push customer user experience innovation on a digital platform. This team was awarded a Deere Innovation Award for their dedication to excellence in innovation. Regardless of the position she has been in, she has actively and passionately been involved in STEM outreach to the local schools and overall volunteerism in her community. View her full bio here.
September 2020:
Beth Barksdale
Beth Barksdale is the CEO of Encore Exchange, a nationally known healthcare technology company. Encore Exchange was the first to embed revenue cycle software into the world's leading HIS (Healthcare Information Systems) platforms. Ms. Barksdale has been with the company for 30 years now, and started when she graduated from college. She became President when she was 38 years old and transitioned the company to an employee-owned business when she was 39. When she started, the company had 20 employees and she was the first female to ever serve on the management team. At the time, Encore Exchange was a hyper-focused niche business; today it has over 100 employees, the leadership team is predominantly female, and they have significantly diversified their product offering. Along with her position at Encore Exchange, Ms. Barksdale is also a Chaplain and teacher at the boarding school Chatham Hall, where she has spearheaded the school’s entrepreneurship program.
July 2020:
Dr. Robin Coger
Dr. Robin N. Coger is the Dean of the College of Engineering and a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. Prior to joining N.C. A&T’s faculty in July 2011, Dr. Coger served as a Professor and Center Director at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Her career at UNC Charlotte spanned over 15 years, where she served as a dedicated educator, researcher, and administrator. Dr. Coger’s research expertise is in solving design and performance problems related to tissue engineered organs, with special emphasis on liver replacement devices and their safe storage for off the shelf availability. Her work has resulted in numerous publications in the areas of liver tissue engineering and cryopreservation, one patent, and two patent applications. Click here to learn more.
June 2020:
Catherine Cassell
Catherine Cassell is currently the manager of the Server Operations team at RTI, International in the IT department. She has a Chemistry and Food Science degree from Virginia Tech and has held jobs in a variety of STEM fields – from a Food Science and Quality Technician to a Systems Administrator. Catherine also enjoys painting, scrapbooking, hiking, and playing board and computer games with friends. She lives with her wife, two children, and two grey cats.