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Events
Guest Lectures

Guest lectures are held several times per quarter for MSIT students on Saturday class days. Talks are presented over the lunch hour by experienced business and information technology professionals on varying topics focused centrally on technology and leadership.

January 4, 2020

Speaker: Alexandra Korol, Senior Director of Product Management for Duck Creek Technologies, LLC and MSIT 2010 alum
Topic: 
What is Product Management and How I Got Here

November 16, 2019

Speaker: Helen Oloroso - Assistant Dean and Director of Engineering Career Development (ECD), and Brett Boettcher - Associate Director of Professional Program Strategy & Management of the Northwestern Career Advancement Center (NCA)
Topic: IT Career Trends and Northwestern Career Resources for Students and Alumni

October 5, 2019

Speaker: Pramod Sadalage, Director at ThoughtWorks, and MSIT Student 2020
Topic: What Do You Stand For? Managing your professional life as a brand

APRIL 20, 2019

Speaker: David Pessis - currently with Google Cloud Platform, where he currently leads Enterprise Engineering for the Data Analytics organization, and previously with Amazon Web Services, MSIT Alum
Topic: Comparing high performing engineering cultures

February 23, 2019

Speaker: Jorgen Hesselberg - Co-Founder at Comparative Agility, Author of Unlocking Agility - An Insiders Guide to Agile Enterprise Transformation, MSIT Alum
Topic: Unlocking Enterprise Agility - 7 Signs You're On the Right Path

January 5, 2019

Speaker: Vernon Pearson - Technical Analyst, Exelon Corporate Strategy, Innovation, and Sustainability team
Topic: Docker, SQL, and Containerization: A Practical Introduction

December 1, 2018

Speaker: Ruthann Ostrowski - Director, NUIT Cyberinfrastructure Service Operation
Topic: Presentation and tour of the McCormick Data Center

November 10, 2018

Speaker: Helen Oloroso - Assistant Dean and Director of Engineering Career Development (ECD), and Brett Boettcher - Associate Director of Professional Program Strategy & Management of the Northwestern Career Advancement Center (NCA)
Topic: IT Career Trends and Northwestern Career Resources for Students and Alumni

April 21, 2018

Speaker: Rao Pathangi - Senior Systems Architect at Discover Financial Services
Topic: Agile Development and DevOps: A Journey

April 14, 2018

Speaker: Robert A. Musiala Jr. - President and CEO of PennyPay, Inc., Counsel in the blockchain and cryptocurrencies practice at Baker & Hostetler LLP
Topic: Introduction to Blockchain

February 24, 2018

Speaker: Lowell Lindstrom - Founder of Oobeya Group, Member of the MSIT Industry Advisory Board
Topic: The Age of Business Agility: Did You Miss the Fork in the Road?

February 17, 2018

Speaker: Xiaosheng Tan - Chief Security Officer at China's Qihoo 360
Topic: Finding Cyber Threats by Using Big Data Analytics and AI

November 4, 2017

Speaker: Brett Boettcher, Ed.D. - NCA Career Advisor for the McCormick School of Engineering
Topic: Overview of Northwestern Career Advancement (NCA)

May 6, 2017

Speaker: Sara Knizhnik - President of Open Door Communications, Inc. 
Topic: Intercultural Communication: How to work effectively as part of a multicultural team

February 25, 2017

Speaker: Sally Martin - President and Owner of Palace Gate Corporation 
Topic: How to "Speak to the Business" in Resumes and Interviews

January 28, 2017

Speaker: Tony Tang - MSIT 2006 Alumnus, Sr. Enterprise Systems Engineer at Apple
Topic: Apple and the Environment

October 29, 2016

Speaker: Helen Oloroso - Assistant Dean and Director of Engineering Career Development (ECD), and Brett Boettcher - Associate Director of Professional Program Strategy & Management of the Northwestern Career Advancement Center (NCA)
Topic: IT Career Trends and Northwestern Career Resources for Students and Alumni

October 15, 2016

Speaker: Bill Chafetz - Senior Performance Consultant, and Samir Desai - Executive Director of the Learning and Organization Development division of the Office of Human Resources
Topic: Leadership and Organizational Development

October 8, 2016

Speaker: Kunal Grover - Part-time MSIT Student, Class of 2017  
Topic: Virtual Reality

March 26, 2016

Speaker: Melissa Crounse - Executive Director of The Garage at Northwestern
Topic: My Decade in Silicon Valley and Lessons Learned for Building The Garage and the Next Generation of Entrepreneurial Thinkers

January 30, 2016

Speaker: Kevin Glynn - Chair of the MSIT Industry Advisory Board (IAB)
Topic: The CIO Path and High Performance Teams

January 9, 2016

Speaker: Helen Oloroso - Assistant Dean and Director of Engineering Career Development (ECD), and Larry Jackson - Assistant Director of the Career Management Center of Northwestern Career Advancement (NCA)
Topic: IT Career Trends and Northwestern Career Resources for Students and Alumni

October 10, 2015

Speaker: Tony Tang - MSIT 2006 Alumnus, Sr. Enterprise Systems Engineer at Apple

April 4, 2015

Speaker: Bob Gariano - MSIT 2006 Alumnus, President and CEO of Robert Gariano Associates
Topic: Chief Information Officers