Athena Announces 21st Annual Pinnacle Awards Nominees

SAN DIEGO, April 23, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Athena, California's premier advocate for women in the STEM workforce, announces the nominees for its 21st Annual Pinnacle Awards Celebration held on May 7, 2019 at Qualcomm's Irwin Jacobs Campus.

A staple of Southern California's technology and life sciences sectors, the 2019 Pinnacle Awards showcases the best in class of those advancing the promotion of women working in the STEM workforce.

Athena's 20+ year journey of empowering women leading in STEM is fueled by the sustained support and deep commitment of its corporate sponsors. This year's Pinnacle Awards corporate sponsors include: Qualcomm as Title Sponsor, Sony as Presenting Sponsor and supporting sponsors ARE, Accenture, EY, Intuit, Marsh & McLennan, Mintz Levin, SDG&E, Biotheranostics, San Diego Magazine, San Diego Business Journal and Winkler Designs.

"It's our honor to host the Athena Pinnacle Awards at Qualcomm this year. Every day I have the pleasure of meeting and speaking with our extraordinarily talented technical women," said Vicki-Mealer Burke, Qualcomm's Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer. "The work that Athena does is important - providing community and resources to women on their technical journeys. The Athena team is helping to create the success stories we'll be celebrating on May 7th and we are delighted to be a part of it."

2019 Pinnacle Awards Nominees by Category:

Individual in Life Sciences

Katherine Atkinson | Epic Sciences | Chief Commercial Officer
Denise Bevers | KindredBio | Co-Founder, President & COO
Kara Bortone | Johnson & Johnson Innovation, JLABS | Senior Director, Sourcing & Portfolio Management
Julie Collens | Vivid Genomics | CEO & Founder
Athena Countouriotis | Turning Point Therapeutics | CEO
Andria Del Tredici | Millennium Health | Senior Director of Translational Genetics
Dana DiFerdinando | ResMed | Vice President, Advanced Analytics
Lawrence Fourgeaud | Janssen R&D | Senior Scientist, Neuroscience
Diane Goostree | Alastin Skincare | President & CEO
Sheila Gujrathi | Gossamer Bio | President & CEO
Lauren Howard | San Diego Zoo Safari Park | Associate Director of Veterinary Services
Nadine Lamberski | San Diego Zoo Global | Chief Animal Health Officer
Kim Lim | Ultimate Labs | CEO
Lindsay Mateo | Tempus | Head of Commercial Operations
Gail Naughton | Histogen | CSO, CBDO & Founder
Deborah Nguyen | Cellular Approaches | Vice President, Research
Mary Nguyen | Neox Clinical Research | Business Development Manager
Amara Siva | Millennium Health | Vice President, Laboratory Operations
Jennie Starr | BioForm Solutions | Director of Marketing
Lindsay Stocks | Millennium Health | Software Development Manager
Steffanie Strathdee | UCSD School of Medicine | Associate Dean of Global Health Sciences, Harold Simon Professor, Co-Director, Center for Innovative Phage Applications and Therapeutics (IPATH)
Claire Weston | Reveal Biosciences | Founder & CEO
Nicole Wissemann | Bionano Genomics | Contingent Talent Acquisition & HR Business Partner

Individual in Technology

Theresa Alesso | Sony Electronics | President of Imaging Products & Solutions Professional Division
Alex Balazs | Intuit | Senior Vice President, Chief Architect
Jennifer Benedict | Managed Solution | Enterprise Account Executive
Kimbra Brookstein | Intuit | Senior Program Manager, Tech Women @ Intuit
Jaclyn Carter | Oracle | Senior Manager, North America Applications Consulting Services
Rashmi Char | Qualcomm | Vice President, Engineering
Jaye Connolly-LaBelle | RippleNami | Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
Nagin Cox | NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory | Deputy Team Chief for Mars 2020 Rover Engineering Operations Team
Naomi Fortner | Intuit | Product Development Manager
Mary Gendron | Qualcomm | Senior Vice President & CIO
Michele Gorostiza | Intuit | Director, Productivity & Quality
Angela Guzman | General Atomics Aeronautical Systems | Program Manager, Quick Reaction Capabilities
Andrea Hogan | Qualcomm | Senior Director, Marketing, North America and Australia
Anita Jones-Mueller | Healthy Dining | President & Founder
Alicia Kanbar | Oracle | Internal Talent Advisor
Bridget Kimball | Intuit Consumer Group | Vice President, Fellow & Chief Architect
Rocio Montes | Intuit | Staff Software Engineer
Jennifer Nemeth | General Atomics Aeronautical Systems | Mechanical Engineering Manager, Depot Repair & Overhaul Processing Center
Michelle Nikulshin | Intuit | Director, Information Security
Mia Nunes-Baker | Oracle | Principal Sales Consultant /Enterprise Cloud Architect
Johanna Robinson | F?kcus | COO
Parul Seth | Intuit | Senior Software Engineer
Lorelyn Shannon | F?kcus | CTO
Jessica Shinn | Qualcomm | Information Security & Risk Management
Elizabeth Simmons | Sony PlayStation | Senior Manager, Business Operations
Beth Smits | Intuit | Vice President, Customer Success -- Consumer Group
Joseph Stockunas | Nordson Corporation | Executive Vice President
Maya Wasserman | Sony Electronics | Senior Marketing Manager, Home Entertainment & Sound
Caroline Winn | SDG&E | Chief Operating Officer

Individual in Service

Alysse Cooper | ICE | President
Becky Deller | IT Girls | Co-Founder
Vidya Dinamani | Ad Astra Ventures | Co-Founder
DeLinda Forsythe | ICE | CEO & Founder
Pamela Gardner | Biotech Vendor Services | Founder & CEO
Kristen Janis | Ernst & Young LLP | Executive Director
Linda Kurokawa | Technology Career Institute, MiraCosta College | Executive Director
Allison Long Pettine | Ad Astra Ventures | Co-Founder
Stephanie MaCleod | JLL | Life Science Operations Director
Debra Rosen | North San Diego Business Chamber | President & CEO
Angela Ryan | Ware Malcomb | Studio Manager, Interior Architecture & Design
Stephanie Seidman | Dentons US LLP | Partner
Carla Vallone | Girls, Inc. of San Diego County | President, Board of Directors
Charity Williams | Cooley LLP | Associate

Rising Star

Lola Adeyemo | Thermo Fisher Scientific | Senior Diversity & Inclusion Specialist
Tamara Cherwin | Illumina | Software Engineer II
Shelby Cohen | Intuit | Software Engineer II
Ivel Gontan | Fleet Science Center | Community Programs Senior Manager
Katie Levy | Intuit | Software Engineer II
Parker Pennington | San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research | Postdoctoral Associate
Jenna Ryan | Uqora | CEO
Kylie Taitano | Intuit | Software Engineer
Supriya Thote | Callaway Golf Company | Golf Ball R&D Engineer
Maria Uyeda | Intuit | Full Stack Developer

Join your peers, leaders and supporters on May 7, 2018 as Athena recognizes the extraordinary women and men who personify our mission of empowering 1 million women leading in STEM by 2030. Reserve your tickets today before they sell out.

ABOUT ATHENA

Athena is a women's empowerment organization that fast tracks women in STEM through leadership development. In transforming female scientists and technologists into corporate leaders, the goal is to widen the bridge and empower 1 million women leading in STEM, by 2030.?Its 20+ year history of advancing women in one of the nation's leading STEM hubs marks Athena as a premier women's empowerment advocate. For more information visit:?athenasd.org?and follow @athenasandiego.

SOURCE Athena