Research Center to Host Women in IT Conference

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Information Technology Research Institute in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at University of Arkansas will hold the seventh annual Women in IT Conference on Thursday and Friday, March 10-11.

Jill Puleri, vice president and retail global industry leader for IBM Global Business Services, will be the keynote speaker. The event, “Discovering Tomorrow Together: How the IT Woman of the Future is Created Today,” will be held at the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Enterprise Development on the University of Arkansas campus. For more information and registration, go to the Women in IT Conference website.

“On Thursday, the program starts at 1:45 p.m. with registration and a tour of the University of Arkansas RFID Research Laboratory,” said Eric Bradford, director of the Information Technology Research Center. “After the lab tour, we are holding an ‘Aspirations in Computing Award’ reception for participants.” The institute and the National Center for Woman and Technology are collaborating to offer the first ever Affiliate Award in the region, presented to eight high school girls from Arkansas and northeastern Oklahoma.

The second day of the conference will feature a full roster of speakers beginning with Puleri. She has vast experience in retail technology and over 20 years of experience in the IT industry. In her current role at IBM, Puleri is responsible for the strategy and development of offerings and solutions that address retailer’s pain points around the store, merchandising, supply chain and multi-channel. She has previously been IBM vice president worldwide for retail store solutions and has worked on store transformation projects with clients such as Carrefour, Talbots, Gap, American Eagle and Marshalls. Prior to IBM, she worked for NCR Corp., selling point of sales solutions to national accounts headquartered in the Boston area. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in marketing from the University of Massachusetts, graduating summa cum laude and is an active member of the National Retail Federation.

In addition to the insightful keynote, the conference will provide speaker sessions on leadership, cloud computing and project management while discovering ways to move women forward in information technology.

Registration information, a tentative agenda and sponsorship opportunities can be found at the Women in IT Conference website.

Educators can receive eight professional development credits and a 20-percent discount off the registration fee.

Other questions? Call Carlan Pine at 479-575-4261 or e-mail cpine@walton.uark.edu.