Making Tech More Diverse - An Actionable Strategy

Those of us who work in tech need only to look around during a meeting and be confronted with an all too real illustration of the lack of diversity and inclusion in our field. Many of us are committed to changing this situation - we truly understand that it is imperative to more fully reflect the perspectives of our diverse customer bases. However, even with all of our good intentions, we’ve had a really hard time creating and implementing a plan to increase diversity in technology. In this talk, hear how Verizon piloted - and then extended - an apprenticeship program, Project Athena, enabling people from underserved communities to grow into awesome technologists in order to build products our customers love.

Jaclyn Damiano
Jaclyn Damiano

Jaclyn is a Director in Verizon's Business Group, where she enables teams to build digital experiences that make Verizon the leading communications company in the U.S. She does that by leading a delivery team that (1) develops websites to support superior customer experience, (2) program manages the digital portfolio to deliver value earlier and (3) acts as the operational backbone for our digital organization, caring for budget, compliance and content management. Jaclyn is also the proud creator of Project Athena, a program that enables people from underserved and underrepresented communities to grow into awesome technologists in order to build products our customers love.

Previously, Jaclyn held roles as a business analyst and project manager at Accenture, AllianceBernstein & Goldman Sachs. Her passions include Digital Experience, Product Management, Enabling Cultural Change at Scale, & Diversity and Inclusion. She earned her B.A. in Economics from Bucknell University.