Microsoft Reactor

For this session we will feature 3 folks in a panel about why those chose careers in data and how they got there. They will tell you about the roles they have now and what types of classes, certifications or experience they recommend.
You will be able to ask questions along the way and at the end we will have 30 minutes of optional speed networking.

Speakers:
Ekaterina (Katya) Lazhintseva
Microsoft veteran (20+ years). Career path (or, rather journey), has been built around 3 main areas:

1. International support and localization, where I managed a team of Central and Eastern European program managers to make sure that Windows is fully suitable for local markets, and that MSDN and TN web sites (predecessors of docs.microsoft.com) have the right content
2. Education: I led a team of academic evangelists (predecessors of cloud advocates) to work with local universities to empower STEM-D students to be successful in their IT careers.
3. Data science: explore hidden patterns, detect and analyze anomalies, develop metrics, predict trends in traffic of docs.microsoft.com and connecting those content usage pattens to product usage.

Vivian Li
Vivian is the Head of Advertiser Analytics for Financial Services, Travel and Automotive industry at Microsoft Advertising. Her team provides sophisticated insights to help clients drive meaningful outcome through digital marketing. She is a seasoned data science leader with experience empowering Sales, Marketing, Product and Engineering teams at Microsoft, Facebook and AstrumU.
Vivian lives in the Seattle area with her husband and two children. She has a PhD in Industrial Engineering from Arizona State University.

Pooja Sund
Achievement-oriented finance and technology leader with solid credentials (Gold medalist and two times CFO Award winner). Invited in late 2020 to present the great technology work to Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, and the rest of the LT. Have 15+ years of global experience in setting the vision, and the ability to execute on that vision by leading teams. An enthusiastic leader with deep technical and financial experience & the ability to lead high-performing teams, build strong relationships, foster efficiency, and create an impact. Recipient of Highest Award for Leadership 2018, Dale Carnegie’s “Advanced Leadership Program”.