Girls In Tech

On Tuesday, the San Francisco Department on the Status of Women, Verité, along with Calvert Investments, announced the launch of the new Gender Equality Principles (GEP) Initiative at the Merchants Exchange Building in San Francisco. And, it’s about time, right?

Also on Tuesday, the Friends of the San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women, a non-profit group that has worked for thirty-five years to raise awareness and also funding for the Commission hosted an awards luncheon for the eight recipients of the 2010 CEDAW Women’s Human Rights Awards. Those honorees include: Barbara J. Krumsiek, Calvert President & CEO and Cecily Joseph, Director of Corporate Responsibility, Symantec.

At the luncheon, a new website tool was unveiled – (you can see it at: http://www.genderprinciples.org) – that offers practical standards to which companies can aspire and measure against in assessing their progress on seven fundamental gender equality issues. Among the seven issues are: work life balance, management and governance, supply chain, and marketing practices.

The leadership, expertise and knowledge that went into the collaboration between the GED and Calvert were being realized and publicly shared on Tuesday, with a goal to help companies improve gender equality from the factory floor to the boardroom and everywhere in between. This is, as we all now, far overdue. I think people have taken for granted, of late, that there actually is some equality. And, thus, the inequality has been overlooked for much too long. So, we are very thankful for this partnership!

As stated by Dr. Emily Murase, executive director of the San Francisco Department on the Status of Women: “We are proud of this partnership to develop the GEP Initiative. The tool was created with input from leading Bay Area companies who see a strong business case in recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce. As the only city in the world to have adopted the UN Women’s Treaty (CEDAW) as a local ordinance, San Francisco has always been at the forefront of women’s rights. This globally recognized Initiative furthers our innovative work.”

Calvert President & CEO Barbara J. Krumsiek said: “Calvert is honored to be here today as a collaborator on the Gender Equality Principles and on the new website tool as they both embody the tenets of the Calvert Women’s Principles, the first global code of corporate conduct focused exclusively on empowering, advancing and investing in women worldwide, and the most progressive contemporary policies and best practices in gender equality. San Francisco residents should be proud to live in a city that exercises such leadership on gender equality.”

I, for one, am looking forward to what more will come out of this fabulous, very productive and inspirational partnership!

(images & quotes courtesy of www.genderprinciples.org)

Tags: Barbara J. Krumsiek, Calvert, Cecily Joseph, Christine Oneto, Equality, gender, San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women, Women's Human Rights Award, Women's ORganizations
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Girls in Tech NYC is pleased to announce:

The GIT NYC Entrepreneurship and Venture Series Kick-Off with ASTIA

Tickets are available at http://gitnycventure.eventbrite.com/
Copy courtesy of Christine Lemke.
Blog post The Gender Issue sourced from http://nothingventuredblog.com/ by Jalak Jobanputra and I wrote a short piece on VC and Social Media.
Fantastic, ever-present vision and leadership provided by Melek Pulatkonak.
Heart and soul provided by all women pioneers listed here.

The road to raising venture capital is never easy. And as a recent New York Times article, Out of the Loop in Silicon Valley highlights, navigating this opaque and clubby world can pose unique challenges for female entrepreneurs, including lack of visible role models.

So please join Girls in Tech NYC and ASTIA for an evening discussion with high caliber female entrepreneurs who have successfully raised venture capital. Hear tips and experiences from a panel of four women who have taken an idea through the fundraising stage and beyond.

Moderator:

Jalak Jobanputra – Senior Vice President and venture investor at the New York City Investment Fund

Panelists:

Heidi Messer – Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of LinkShare, sold for $425MM. Currently Co-founder of World Evolved.

Stephanie Sarka – Co-founder and SVP Product and Marketing and Executive Director of Overture Europe, Overture was acquired by Yahoo for $1.63B. Currently founder of a stealth social semantic startup.

Jenny Fleiss – Co-founder and President of Rent the Runway, recently funded by Bain Capital and Highland Capital.

Jen Bekman – Founder of 20×200, funded by True Ventures and several prominent technology angels including Caterina Fake, Chris Dixon, Zach Klein, James Joaquin and Scott Heiferman.

Details:

Date and Time: Arrival and reception at 6:30pm, program start at 7pm on Thursday, May 27

Cost: $5 per person to benefit the Girls in Tech organization.

Venue: DogPatch Labs, 36 East 12th Street (between Broadway and University)

Partners:

Girls in Tech would like to thank:

Christine Lemke, Entrepreneurship Series Lead, is COO and Co-Founder of Sense Networks. Most recently, at Microsoft, she was the XBOX World Wide Program Manager in charge of development programs encompassing four global regions and twenty markets. Prior to her work at Microsoft, Lemke was the President and co-founder of Channel Velocity and currently serves as an advisor. Prior to that, Lemke was the first employee and Director of Product Management at Returns Online, Inc., a venture-backed reverse-logistics technology firm. In addition, Lemke has held roles at 3i Group, Paris, where she analyzed the Internet, Software, and Advanced Technologies markets, and at SAP AG, Germany, on the Global Execution Acceleration Team. Lemke holds an MBA from HEC Paris and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from the University of Washington.

Jalak Jobanputra, Entrepreneurship Series Lead, is currently Senior Vice President at the New York City Investment Fund (NYCIF) where she oversees technology and digital media venture investments, Jalak spearheaded the formation of NYCSeed in 2008, a seed fund dedicated to funding early stage tech entrepreneurs in NYC, and sits on its Investment Committee. Prior to NYCIF, she was a Principal at New Venture Partners, a $300 million early stage venture fund. From 1999-2003, Jalak was at Intel Capital in Silicon Valley. In 1997, she was on the launch team of online financial research startup Horsesmouth, and began her career in media, telecom and tech investment banking at Lehman and Broadview in NYC and London.

Jalak has invested in North America, India, Europe, Africa, East Asia and Latin America. She is also active in supporting education reform and social entrepreneurship and serves on boards of Achievement First Bushwick Charter School (Brooklyn) and Echoing Green, and has consulted for the Big Picture and Fenway charter schools in New England as well as Jobs for the Future. She spent four months setting up microfinance programs and training women entrepreneurs in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania after receiving her MBA from the Kellogg School of Management in 1999. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in Communications from the Annenberg School and a BSE in Finance from the Wharton School.

Melek Pulatkonak, Entrepreneurship Series Lead, Melek Pulatkonak is the President & COO of Hakia, a semantic search technology company. Since 2004, Melek has been dedicated to semantic search and can’t wait to see how its successful implementation will change our lives. Most recently, she was the Associate Partner of Star Venture Group (SVG), a VC firm with investments in the U.S. and Turkey. Prior to her work at SVG, she was the Advisor to the Chairman of the Istanbul Stock Exchange. Prior to that, she was a Research Associate at the New York Stock Exchange where some of her academic work was published. She holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a B.Sc. degree from London School of Economics and Political Science. In her play time, Melek co-organizes TEDxEast and TEDxGotham, leads the International Committee at the Columbia Business School Alumni Club and is building the Turkish Women’s International Network.

Tags: ASTIA, Christine Lemke, DogPatch Labs, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, fundraising, gender, Heidi Messer, Jalak Jobanputra, Jen Bekman, Jenny Fleiss, Melek Pulatkonak, New York City Investment Fund, Polaris Ventures, role model, social media, Stephanie Sarka, VC, Venture, venture capital
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