About Us

Founded in September 2014 as a small Meetup group of Charleston women working in technology, our membership has grown to over 3,000 leaders, educators, students and tech professionals who seek to achieve greater diversity across all STEM fields in our region by increasing opportunity, participation and achievement by women in the tech community. Our mission is to Connect, Support & Prepare Women of all ages for Careers in Technology.

Check out our newest newsletter!!!! • Find us on Instagram @chswomeninteh and join our Facebook Group to stay connected. • Sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date with all the latest CHSWIT news and events!!!

Charleston Women in Tech provides opportunity on many different levels, from hosting our quarterly events with stellar speakers at various tech companies in Charleston, to online webinars & easy access to the resources & people you need to help you on your path.

Board of Directors

An all-volunteer fueled 501c3, Charleston Women in Tech’s leadership consists of accomplished professionals from Charleston’s local and global technology companies.

Suzie Rybicki

Executive Director

Suzie Rybicki is a business leader who is passionate about leaving people, processes, and circumstances better than she found them. With over 30 years of Human Resources and leadership experience, she seeks to maximize the talents and potential in others to drive strong business results.

Throughout her career, Suzie has enjoyed volunteering her time and expertise in leadership roles with organizations such as Chicago SHRM, Chicago Chamber of Commerce, and Charleston Open Source via the Charleston Regional Development Alliance. She was honored to join the board of directors of Charleston Women In Tech in 2020, where she also holds the role of Chairperson of the Programs Committee.


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Jessica Brewer

Board Chair

Jessica Brewer has over 25 years of experience in software, technology and executive leadership. She is currently the President & Chief Executive Officer of 3Together, Inc., a software company she co-founded that is focused on building micro-SaaS applications for the healthcare and finance communities.

Jessica formerly served as Chief Operating Officer of AmplifiedAg, an indoor farming technology company. Prior to that, Jessica was a senior executive at Benefitfocus for almost 13 years, primarily as Senior Vice President of Engineering and Global Services.

Jessica earned a Master of Science in Software Engineering Management from the University of Maryland and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics with a Minor in Computer Science from the College of Charleston. She serves as chairman of the board of directors for the Charleston Women in Tech, vice chair for the board of directors for the South Carolina Aquarium and board member for CORE SC.


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Jenna Colman

Secretary

Jenna is passionate about customers, benefits technology, and continuous improvement. With over 20-years of experience in the benefits technology space, she leads BCI’s implementation and on-going support teams and is focused on delighting our customers and accelerating the efficiency of implementations & renewals through process and technology. Prior to joining BCI, she most recently led Data Strategy & Data Services for a publicly traded company with a focus on advancing data strategy, increasing automation, and improving data quality. She brings extensive experience from previous roles in product management, quality management, and consulting.


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John Drozdowski

Treasurer

John recently retired after a 46-year career in accounting and finance. After graduating from Penn State in 1977 with an accounting degree, he went to work for Arthur Young (now Ernst & Young) where he became a CPA. After that, John worked in a variety of roles in several companies. His most recent role was CFO with Tallo, a start-up focused on helping students match up with career opportunities. In addition to being a board member, John serves as Treasurer for Charleston Women in Tech.


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Christina Lock

Governance Committee Leader

Christina is an entrepreneur, leader, human resources executive, and public speaker with a proven track record of building companies and talent attraction expertise. As CEO of Catch Talent, Christina leads the delivery of technical recruiting services to growing technology, creative, and government contracting companies. Prior to launching Catch, she was a founding member and Vice President of HR and Recruiting at SPARC, where her team hired over 300 Team Members in less than five years. Christina has also held leadership, recruiting, and business development positions at ARAMARK and Aerotek. Christina serves on the boards of the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce, Charleston Women in Tech, Charleston Southern University JRS Coding School, and has spoken at SHRM, DIG South, Pecha Kucha, and the College of Charleston. She mentors fellow entrepreneurs, Mompreneurs and professionals through the Harbor Entrepreneur Center, Women in Tech, and Women’s Entrepreneur Group of Charleston.


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Kaity Miller

Programming Committee Leader

Kaity Miller is the Chief Operating Officer of Build Carolina, South Carolina’s only non-profit organization focused on advancing the state’s technology community through demand-driven job training programs, relevant employer resources and meaningful connections in the industry. She oversees all programs’ development, implementation and day-to-day operations with a passion for lowering barriers into technology careers, especially for underrepresented groups.

Kaity is also passionate about giving back to her community in hopes of making it a welcome place for all to live and work. In addition to being on the board for Charleston Women in Tech, she has previously volunteered with MUSC Children’s Hospital, and as a facilitator and guest instructor for the “Chicora-Cherokee Coding for Kids” program in partnership with the Clemson Extension & the Zucker Family Graduate Education Center. Currently, she also serves as a certified Guardian ad litem working closely with children involved with the Department of Social Services.


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Cynthia Van Meir

Communications Committee Leader

Cindi is a seasoned professional who thrives at the intersection of product management, marketing, and sales, with a wealth of industry experience spanning Healthcare, Life Sciences, Insurance, and Human Capital Management. She currently leads a product marketing team at Veeva Systems, a global provider of cloud-based software solutions for the Life Sciences industries. Prior to Veeva, Cindi spent 15 years at Benefitfocus as a product strategy and marketing leader.

Her professional journey has encompassed experiences from local startups to established global enterprises, affording her the opportunity to observe the intricacies of growth, IPOs, and market expansion firsthand. This extensive and dynamic career, coupled with her unwavering passion for equity, positions her as a crucial contributor to the mission of Charleston Women in Tech, where she leads the communications committee.


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Anna Basinger

Board Member

Anna Basinger is a graduate of the University of South Carolina with a Bachelor's degree in Kinesiology and Exercise Science. She currently serves at Benefitfocus in the role of Customer Support Specialist.


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Rachel Downing

Board Member

Rachel Downing was most recently with AmplifiedAg, Inc where she was Senior Director of Software Development. Prior to AmplifiedAg, Inc, she was with Benefitfocus for over 11 years where she led cross-functional teams including engineering, QA automation, platform control, release management, customer support, the benefit service center and professional services implementation teams. Prior to Benefitfocus, she spent 25 years with Piggly Wiggly Carolina Company in several IT positions ultimately as Director of Information Services.


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Jessica Hudson

Board Member

Jessica is the Chief of Staff and Controller of in/PACT, a technology company that is on a mission to grow the world’s heart by connecting customers of financial institutions and loyalty providers with their favorite charitable causes.

With over ten years of accounting experience, Jessica has facilitated growth in a wide variety of companies. Her attention to detail has provided fiscal improvements in every company she has worked for. Her experience, post graduate school, started at Crowe Horwath LLP as an auditor, where her clients ranged from construction firms to insurance subsidiaries. Prior to in/PACT she was part of the accounting team at SPARC, which was acquired by Booz Allen Hamilton in 2015. She gained tremendous knowledge from day-to-day accounting to assisting in the acquisition.

Jessica received her undergraduate degree in accounting from the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga and a Masters in Accountancy from Belmont University in Nashville.

Traveling is one of her passions and whenever she can, she brings her dog, Merlot, with her. When she is not traveling, her weekends are spent exploring Charleston and volunteering Junior League of Charleston.


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Jackie Jones

Board Member

Jackie is the Chief Operating Officer at Vertical Oceans, an Agritech start-up, redefining the field of aquaculture to support the farming of sustainable seafood.
Prior to joining Vertical Oceans, Jackie held various positions across the country at Vertical Roots, Nestle, Bevolution Group and Amgen. Jackie is a proven manufacturing industry professional. She has more than 15 years of experience in leadership, technical operations, manufacturing, and continuous improvement. She holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Northwestern Ohio and a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering from Wright State University.
Jackie joined the Charleston Women in Tech Board of Directors in 2021. She previously served as the Secretary and Interim Communications Chair during her tenure. Jackie enjoys being a part of CHSWIT because she is able to connect with an inspiring and motivated group of women with similar aspirations for careers in STEM.


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Kadedra Kiner

Board Member

Passionate, driven, problem solver, results-oriented and empathetic. Projects with Kadedra always have clear success metrics and there is little that could stop her from achieving her goals. Kadedra is a strong and thoughtful partner and collaborator which helps create high performing teams.

Kadedra has a special ability to take on any project and somehow see things differently and often uncover opportunities or risks that others overlook. She can see the big picture vividly. She is a true learner and is always looking for data and information that would make her a better leader and drive her initiatives to be overwhelmingly successful.


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Todd Lant

Board Member

Todd Lant is Blackbaud’s Chief Customer Officer responsible for advancing the visibility and value of the customer’s end-to-end experience. Todd is a 20-year Blackbaud veteran who has been deeply engaged with customers and dedicated to fostering a customer-centric culture.

As Chief Customer Officer, Todd is focused on customer retention, time-to-value, enhanced customer experience, digital-first customer support, delivering and measuring customer outcomes, delivery of professional services internally and through partnerships, and integrating education services into customer offerings.

Prior to stepping into the Chief Customer Officer role, Todd served as the company’s Chief Information Officer. As CIO, he helped lead the company’s digital transformation, including developing subscription and cloud-based solution offerings and supporting platforms. He also led Blackbaud’s Cybersecurity team, a critical partner in protecting the company’s and its customers’ data and infrastructure.

Todd serves as a board member for Charleston Digital Corridor, Trident United Way, YMCA of Greater Charleston, and Charleston Women in Tech. He is also an advisory board member to The Citadel’s Department of Engineering Leadership & Program Management. Todd holds a BS in computer science and an MBA from Georgia State University.


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Curtis McGinnis

Board Member

Curtis is head of US DevOps at Amazon Web Services (AWS). He oversees DevOps customer engineering initiatives across the US, as well as, Principal DevOps engineers who focus on global transformational initiatives for a variety of AWS customers. Curtis has over 20 years of experience as a leader in tech, ranging from developer to analyst to project manager, and senior leader. Prior to joining AWS, Curtis was a senior engineering leader at a Charleston SaaS firm and also worked in various technology roles at a major insurance company headquartered in Illinois.

Curtis’ most important job is serving as father to his 2 sons and his daughter. In his spare time, Curtis enjoys the local music scene, making music of his own, and recording music in his home recording studio. Additionally, he enjoys fishing, boating, running, and biking throughout the low country. Curtis is also a Veteran of the US Army.


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Emma McKenney

Board Member

A pivotal member of Charleston's tech community and the CEO of McKenney Marketing, Emma is dedicated to demystifying the digital world. Educated at Trident Technical College in computer programming, she's skilled in translating tech concepts into approachable insights. Emma's commitment goes beyond her professional endeavors; she's deeply passionate about mentoring, especially in guiding newcomers to the local tech ecosystem. Continually inspired by the intricacies of business, she sees technology as a bridge, not a barrier.

With a heart for community, Emma is a proud advocate for women in Charleston's tech space, championing collaboration and shared growth.


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Jenifer Padilla

Board Member

Jenifer is a Product Designer at Paylocity, a Fortune ranked company (No. 9) on the annual 100 Fastest-Growing Companies list. Jenifer is thriving in this innovative environment where creative thinking is the norm, but so is caring and supporting one another. She is designing peer to peer recognition software and a suite of communication and collaboration tools for this leading HR software platform. Jenifer is a mentor, designer, UX instructor, and in her free time is a studio artist at Redux Studios in Charleston, SC. She is excited to begin a new adventure as a Board Member of Charleston Women in Tech connecting, preparing, and supporting women with careers in technology.

Jenifer’s educational background includes a BS from NC State College of Design in Art and Design and further study at California College of Art (CCA) San Francisco, School of Visual Arts, NYC and Pratt Institute, NYC.


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Ullas Perez

Board Member

Ullas is an accomplished and business-savvy professional with a wealth of experience delivering outstanding results and business value in fast-paced, high-growth environments. Her expertise lies in building key relationships with various business segments and leading complex, multi-disciplinary initiatives from concept to market, all while cultivating high-performing teams.
She is known for fostering a culture of innovation, trust, teamwork, and accountability. With a hands-on approach to program management, she excels in dynamic and intricate environments, consistently achieving success. She is recognized for her out-of-the-box analytical thinking and thrives in fast-paced settings, where she excels at implementing programs and enhancing critical information security objectives.


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Jenny Schutzman

Board Member

Jenny is a Full Stack Software Engineer at Liberty Mutual Insurance and the founder of Charleston Women Devs. Jenny can't sit still if she isn't actively challenging herself and learning something new. She is full-time Software Engineer at Liberty Mutual Insurance and the Executive Director of Charleston Women in Tech.

Before her hard pivot to software in 2017, Jenny worked 10+ years with various international and local non-profits. During that time she led projects for more than 50 grants which ranged from $10k to over $1 million, coming from agencies such as USAID, UNWomen, US Department of Justice, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, large anonymous foundations and several Canadian agencies. In her new life of software development she brings these honed leadership skills to the table to push ingenuity, team cohesion, and a general excitement about being part of something bigger than one’s self.

Jenny made the switch to software development in 2017 and has never looked back. After attending the local JRS Code School, she has worked for a number of Charleston-based and national companies


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Karan Sorensen

Board Member

Karan Sorensen is the Director of Academic Technology and Grants and an adjunct professor for Charleston Southern University. She is also President of Sorensen Strategies, a strategic management consulting firm specializing in transforming businesses and organizations, facilitating innovation and technology solutions, and driving profitable growth and operational excellence for corporate and institutional clients.

Karan has over thirty years of experience in executive and general management roles in Fortune 500 companies across multiple industries. A proven leader and technopreneur, she also serves as a board member and advisor for technology start-ups, colleges and universities, business and industry standards organizations, and the Better Business Bureau (Board Chairperson).

Karan formerly served as Chief Information Officer for Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development, Centocor R&D and Life Technologies. At Johnson & Johnson, she also served as Total Oncology Digital Officer and Vice President of Global Infrastructure Programs. Her earlier career experiences included planning and implementing information technology, manufacturing and engineering solutions for Merck, Jacobs Engineering, General Electric, and DuPont.

Her expertise includes entrepreneurial startups, implementation of innovation and technology solutions, organizational transformation, coordination of mergers and acquisitions, international business collaborations, building Centers of Excellence specializing in Technology, Innovation and Engineering, and implementation of operational excellence programs and solutions. She has assisted several organizations in turn-around revitalizations. Her accomplishments have been acknowledged by CIO magazine and other executive and industry publications and organizations. She has garnered numerous awards including, Bio-IT World Best Practices, CIO magazine and CIO.COM awards including the CIO 100 award and CIO 100+ Competitive Advantage award

Her educational background includes: Educational Leadership EdD program at Liberty University, Technology Management PhD program at Stevens Institute of Technology; MBA, Stevens Institute of Technology; MS, Management of Technology, Stevens Institute of Technology; BSc, Management Information Systems and Business Administration, Charleston Southern University.

Karan is a visionary and strategic thinker with a proven track record that demonstrates the ability to communicate ideas, inspire and engage teams, and deliver next-generation solutions.


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Valerie Warnock

Board Member

Each day presents new opportunities, experiences and adventures...so I never stop learning and loving life! Everyone who meets me know that I'm passionate about providing exceptional customer service, love interacting with others and has a powerful drive for success. The more challenging the work environment, the better. I appreciate working hard to see the success of others, my company and the future.

Geocent has provided me with a career that connects these passions with potential for success for myself and everyone around me.

Networking is my favorite past time and I would be happy to connect!


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Jessica Watkins

Board Member

Jessica Watkins is a seasoned corporate communications professional with a track record of success spanning nearly two decades. Currently serving as a Senior Corporate Campaigns Manager at Blackbaud in Charleston, SC, she excels in project management and cross-functional collaboration to drive large-scale corporate campaigns with a global presence.
Prior to her time at Blackbaud, she served as the Community Outreach Coordinator for the City of Charleston Police Dept., where she established and nurtured relationships while spearheading outreach programs for several communities throughout the city of Charleston.

Her diverse career journey also includes roles as a Marketing Director for SkyBahamas Airlines in Nassau, Bahamas, an Outreach and Communications Coordinator, and an Executive Assistant, each contributing to her expertise in marketing, communication, and community engagement. Furthermore, she is committed to making a positive impact as a board member for Charleston Women in Tech and Grace Impact Development Center. She is deeply dedicated to effective communication, strategic planning, and community involvement.


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Special thanks to our Silver Sponsors SwellChat, Salty Oak Farm, and Veeva.

Thank you for your continued support, we look forward to this continued parternship.

A special thank you to our Gold Sponsor BenefitFocus

Thank you for your continued support of Charleston Women in Tech. We look forward to working with you in the future.