Memorial Church & Gather Streaming Room

Featuring: Allison Byers (Founder and CEO of Scroobious), Cait Levin ( Customer Enablement Lead at Glide), Chareeda Rustanavibul (Vice President of Startup Banking at JP Morgan), Kara Peterson (Co-Founder and CEO of Descrybe.ai)

Whether you’re curious about launching your first startup, exploring entrepreneurship from a nontraditional background, or wondering how to build inclusive and sustainable founder communities, join us for Harvard WECode’s Startups & Entrepreneurship Panel. From across the startup ecosystem, our panelists will share their journeys into entrepreneurship and tech, offering insights on everything from building impactful products, to navigating the startup landscape, to fostering communities of support for women and underrepresented founders in tech!

Science Center Hall B

Featuring: Ramona Ratiu (Head of Cyber Resilience Testing- Zurich Insurance and Executive Advisor of Partnerships & Innovation- SheLeadsTech ISACA Chicago)

In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, artificial intelligence has become both a catalyst for innovation and a powerful weapon in the hands of cybercriminals. This compelling 1 hour session delves into the dual-edged nature of AI, uncovering how it is reshaping the cyber threat landscape and amplifying the scale, speed, and sophistication of modern attacks. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of the evolving tactics employed by threat actors—particularly how AI-powered tools are being used for identity theft, phishing, and the creation of deepfakes. With real-world examples, the session will shine a light on the growing marketplace of AI-fueled fraud tools on the dark web and the risks they pose to organizational resilience. Attendees will leave equipped with actionable strategies to combat these digital threats, including how to harness AI-driven defenses and leverage human intelligence to detect, prevent, and mitigate fraud.

Science Center Hall A

Featuring: Rati Thanawala (Former VP at Nokia Bell Labs, Harvard Advanced Leadership Fellow, and Professor of the Practice of Leadership Education at Tufts University College)

We will discuss the 3 biggest hurdles graduates face as they transition to industry roles, and the requirements (beyond technical skills) to thrive in early careers. We will illustrate, through the lived experiences of “wise” women, how they used some of these levers to progress quickly to positions of influence during internships, and later to tech leads/first line managers. Most importantly, we will discuss which investments in leadership development during college years have the highest payoff, especially for women and students from underrepresented groups, where the journey is more difficult.

Science Center Hall C

Featuring: Barbara Bouza (Executive Director - Live, Work, Play at CannonDesign, Former President of Walt Disney Imagineering)

As the former President of Walt Disney Imagineering, Barbara Bouza has shaped her career fusing storytelling, technology and design to create some of the most memorable and immersive experiences across the globe. At the heart of her work is an instinct for authentic environments that bring people together and leave space for wonder to unfold. Now CannonDesign’s Executive Director of Live, Work, Play, Barbara drives impact through the convergence of entertainment, sports, workplace, residential, civic and community projects that impact our daily lives. Through her personal and career journey, Barbara has inspired more women to take bold career paths, embrace the unexpected, and create meaningful impacts. She is a trailblazer focused on helping others spark innovation, discovery and wonder, all while igniting their own personal and professional opportunities.Moreover, Barbara believes a human centered culture of curiosity engages new leaders in discovery across all facets of daily life and ignites opportunity. In this Solo Talk, Barbara will highlight key moments and insights from her career, life lessons, mentorship moments and ideas for emerging professionals to carry with them on their journeys.

Gather Speaker Room 1

Featuring: Amy Jadesimi (Managing Director of LADOL Free Zone)

Gather Speaker Room 2

Featuring: Pip Jamieson (Founder and CEO of The Dots)

Coming Soon…

Memorial Church & Gather Streaming Room

Featuring: Rosa-Ramos Kwok (Managing Direct at BlackRock), Jean Donnelly (COO/ Director - Parterneships at Sandbox Banking nCino), Kristen Castell (Managing Director at CAFE), Jagathi Gururajan (Managing Director at Novus Laurus, Founder/Board Chair at FinTech Women)

Fintech is transforming the way money, data, and technology intersect, and it’s happening faster than ever. But what actually goes on behind the scenes of the financial tools millions of people use every day, and how do you break into a space that can feel complex, technical, and highly regulated? Join our Fintech Panel for a dynamic, high-energy conversation with women leaders across financial services, fintech startups, AI, and financial equity as they pull back the curtain on building large-scale financial platforms, navigating regulation, scaling startups, leveraging AI, and designing technology that expands access and opportunity. Through real career journeys, technical insights, and hard-won leadership lessons, this conversation will leave you inspired, informed, and empowered to carve your own path in fintech, no matter where you're starting from!

Science Center Hall B

Featuring: Minerva Tantoco (Senior Advisor at City Strategies Consulting LLC, former Chief AI Officer at NYU McSilver Institute, former 1st CTO of New York City)

Join us for an insightful fireside chat and Q&A session with Minerva Tantoco, Senior Advisor at City Strategies Consulting and New York City’s first-ever Chief Technology Officer. With a career spanning AI, start-up’s and public-interest technology, Minerva has been at the forefront of building technology that serves both innovation and the public good. In this conversation, she will share her "curiosity career” progression, from founding AI startups in both her college and her fifties, to being the first CTO of New York City to her work with the NYU McSilver Institute. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear from a leader who has helped shape how cities and institutions use technology for social impact.

Science Center Hall C

Featuring: April Little (Founder and CEO of Little Talent Group), Brianna Doe (Founder and CEO of Verbatim)

Join us for an intimate fireside chat with Brianna Doe, Founder & CEO of Verbatim, and April Little, Executive Coach for high-achieving women leaders. This conversation explores what it looks like to build a career – and a company – with intention, clarity, and support. Drawing from their mutual mentoring relationship, Brianna and April will reflect on the process of mapping out a business before launch, navigating uncertainty, and using coaching and mentorship as tools for growth. Together, they’ll discuss career coaching from both sides of the table, the realities of entrepreneurship, and why trusted relationships can be a powerful catalyst for long-term success.

Gather Speaker Room 1

Featuring:Karen Dolva (Chief Product Officer of BeCrystal)

Building a product is easy. Building and scaling real value is hard. In this talk you’ll get a deep dive into how to design valuable, sellable products. You’ll get a well-tested design model that you can bring with you, and hopefully lots of inspiration for building your own products in the future.

Gather Speaker Room 2

Featuring: Maria Zhang (Co-Founder and CEO of Palona AI)

At WECode 2026: Beyond the Frame, this talk explores what technology leadership looks like when women define it on their own terms. Drawing from a career spanning big tech leadership, entrepreneurship, and building real-world AI systems, this talk weaves together four pillars: technology leadership for female tech leaders, entrepreneurship as a mindset, integrating personal and professional life, and how AI will fundamentally reshape how we work, lead, and live. Rather than presenting success as a polished snapshot, this session looks beyond the frame to the real decisions, trade-offs, failures, and experimentation that shape technical careers and companies. Through candid reflections on leading teams, building from ground up, integrating ambition with personal life, and preparing for an AI-powered future, the talk empowers students and early-career builders to define success on their own terms, build systems rather than simply succeed within them, and step into leadership in a rapidly changing world.

Memorial Church & Gather Streaming Room

Featuring:‍ ‍Francesca Rossi (IBM Global Leader on Responsible AI and AI Governance), Kara Peterson (Co-Founder and CEO of Descrybe.ai), Minerva Tantoco (Senior Advisor at City Strategies Consulting LLC, former Chief AI Officer at NYU McSilver Institute, former 1st CTO of New York City)

Whether you’re curious about how AI systems are governed, concerned about their societal impact, or eager to understand how ethics can be embedded into real-world technology, join us for our AI Ethics Panel! Bringing together leaders from policy, industry, and entrepreneurship, this panel will explore what it means to build and deploy AI responsibly at scale. Our speakers will share insights from shaping AI governance frameworks, leading responsible AI initiatives, and translating ethical principles into practical tools by covering topics from fairness and accountability to transparency, regulation, and the future of trustworthy AI

Science Center Hall B

Featuring: Rosa Ramos-Kwok (Managing Director at Blackrock, former Managing Director at JPMorganChase, Bank of America & Morgan Stanley)

Hear the story of a Latina technologist who grew up in Washington Heights and carved her path into the fast‑moving world of financial‑services technology, proving that grit and vision can take you far beyond the zip code you start in. This talk blends personal narrative with hard‑won lessons on navigating male‑dominated rooms, owning your voice, and turning a nontraditional background into a competitive edge. It’s a candid look at resilience, identity, and ambition—and an invitation for every woman in the room to claim space in the future of tech with confidence and purpose.

Science Center Hall C

Featuring: Grace Lee (Head of Design for Verticals at Logitech)

Join us for an insightful conversation with Grace Lee, the Head of Design for Verticals at Logitech, as she shares her career journey in design and leadership. With a background spanning hardware design, manufacturing, and human-centered product development, Grace will reflect on the unique path that led her to design leadership, share insights from working across industries such as education, government, and healthcare, and offer advice for students interested in pursuing careers in design. Don’t miss the chance to learn what it means to lead multidisciplinary teams, translate vision into reality, and build a meaningful career in design!

Gather Speaker Room 1

Featuring: Lisa Huang (Managing Director at Fidelity Labs)

Coming Soon..