Society of Women Engineers: Region B 2009 Conference
Keynote Speakers:
Virginia Connolly, P.E., SWE President FY09
Virginia is a Lean Sigma Master Black Belt for Medtronic, Inc., the global leader in medical technology. In her role, she works in the Office of Workplace Inclusion where she studies health care disparities and employee retention issues. A certified Black Belt and Master Black Belt, Virginia has also worked on numerous Lean Sigma projects while supporting product engineering, manufacturing, and supply chain areas at Medtronic’s Microelectronics Center (MMC) to develop continuous improvement strategy and execution. Virginia also developed a site-specific Lean Sigma team for while serving as the MMC Lean Sigma Deployment Leader.
Prior to joining Medtronic, Virginia worked for an aerospace company where she gained a broad base of experience in a variety of positions in development engineering, manufacturing, and information technology.
Virginia has been involved with SWE for more than 20 years and has held various positions in the Arizona State University (ASU) and Phoenix Sections and the Sonora Region. Her service on the National SWE Board includes Region Director, three terms as the Speaker of the Council, and Director of Education. In 1997, Virginia received the Phoenix Section’s Outstanding Member Service Award.
Virginia has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and a master's degree in industrial engineering from Arizona State University. She is an alumnus and former board member of Arizona Leadership 2000, a women's leadership group, and is also a member of the American Society for Quality.
In her spare time, Virginia enjoys traveling, especially to warm climates to scuba dive with her husband, Rick. She also bicycles to work at least once a week and practices yoga. Virginia and her husband are helping their miniature schnauzer, Derby, raise her daughter, Sophia, to be a well behaved, loving dog, which is turning out to be quite a task.
Jill Tietjen, P.E., Past SWE President and co-author
of: Her Story: A Timeline of the Women Who Changed America.
Ms. Tietjen is the President and CEO of Technically Speaking, Inc. She has spent over 30 years in the electric utility industry, and provides planning consulting services to electric utilities and organizations serving the electric utility industry. Ms. Tietjen serves as an expert witness before public utility commissions and other government agencies. Her technical papers have been published in Public Utilities Fortnightly and Transmission and Distribution. She has co-authored several Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) papers and served as an electrical engineering program accreditor on behalf of IEEE.
Ms. Tietjen’s previous employers include the University of Colorado at Boulder, Stone & Webster Management Consultants, Hagler Bailly Consulting, Mobil Oil Corporation’s Mining and Coal Division, and Duke Power Company. She graduated from the University of Virginia (Tau Beta Pi, Virginia Alpha) with a B.S. in Applied Mathematics (minor in Electrical Engineering) and received her M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina – Charlotte. Ms. Tietjen is a registered professional engineer in Colorado.
Ms. Tietjen regularly speaks on women in engineering, historical women in engineering and science, and leadership topics. Her book Her Story: A Timeline of Women Who Changed America (HarperCollins, 2008) is a local bestseller and is featured on C-SPAN2/Book TV. Her introduction to engineering textbook, Keys to Engineering Success, was published by Prentice Hall in 2001. She is the co-author with Betty Reynolds of the Setting the Record Straight series of which three volumes have been published. She has written articles for and been profiled in SWE: Magazine of the Society of Women Engineers, Graduating Engineer, U.S. Woman Engineer, Woman Engineer, and Engineering Horizons. She served as the 1991-1992 National President of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE). As Jill S. Baylor, she is a contributing author to the 1995 book She Does Math!
Ms. Tietjen has received numerous awards and honors including the 2001 Woman in Technology Award from the Women’s Foundation of Colorado, Subaru, and News4; Tau Beta Pi’s Distinguished Alumna Award, and she was named a Woman of Distinction by Girl Scouts – Mile Hi Council. Ms. Tietjen serves on a number of non-profit boards and was Chair of the Board for Girl Scouts – Mile Hi Council. She is a member of the Board of Directors for the Georgia Transmission Corporation of Tucker, Georgia. Ms. Tietjen is a Commissioner on the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, Inc., and served as the Western Zone Vice President for the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying. She is a Fellow Life Member of SWE and a Senior Member of the IEEE Power Engineering Society. Ms. Tietjen is listed in Who’s Who in Engineering, Who’s Who in Science and Engineering, and Who’s Who in Technology.
In addition to her Keynote Presentation at the Saturday Dinner, Jill will be available earlier in the day at the Career Fair (Saturday 1:30PM – 4:25PM) for a meet-and-greet and book signing. Please stop by!
Also, if you’ll be in town early, Jill will be available for a book signing at Bookworks (4022 Rio Grande Blvd NW) on January 29th at 7PM. Visit Bookworks (www.bkwrks.com) for more information.