Women in Autonomy
  • Home
    • About
  • Gallery
  • Speakers
    • Apply
  • Blog
  • Learn
  • Join
    • Mentorship

Our Speakers.

All our invited speakers are female executives, engineers, policy makers, and academics who help solve the unique challenges facing autonomous technology development. 

Last Event:
From Ambition to Reality: The Path Toward a Carbon Free Future (Virtual)
Picture

Bonnie Datta.
 Founder, Plug to Grid Strategies


​Passionate about disruptive technologies, Bonnie Datta is an international market strategist who brings to bear a combined policy and business background to positively impact decarbonization pathways, with deep expertise in transport electrification and grid modernization. Prior to founding Plug to Grid Strategies, a niche advisory firm that guides early-stage start-ups, Bonnie led Regulatory Affairs for Siemens Digital Grid and eMobility platforms. She is also the co-founder of an EV/AV infrastructure start-up that is currently in stealth. Bonnie has previously worked at the inward-investment arm of the Singapore Government, this being a pivot from her earlier position leading a 15-country marketing operation in Asia Pacific for the enterprise unit of Nokia. Bonnie serves on the Board of the Interstate Renewable Energy Council and on the Advisory Board of Electrada, the Blackrock-funded Charging-as-a-Service provider. 





Dr. Carolin Funk is Partner at Blue Bear Capital investing at the intersection of climate tech and the digital enterprise transformation. Carolin has spent her career supporting the energy transition across government agencies, large corporations, and early-stage ventures. Blue Bear is a venture capital and early growth equity firm driving the expansion of digital technologies into multibillion-dollar verticals across the energy, infrastructure, and climate industries. Prior to joining Blue Bear, Carolin served as COO of two Bay Area based energy storage startups. Before that, Carolin was Director of Venture Technology at Siemens. Carolin holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA from the Technical University of Berlin.


Picture

Dr. Carolin Funk.
Partner, Blue Bear Capital 

Picture

Qiong Sun.
VP & GM, Automotive E-mobility Business, TE Connectivity


Qiong Sun has over 27 years of transportation experience and a diverse industry consulting background specialized in vehicle electrification, energy storage and active safety. At TE Connectivity, she is responsible for the automotive E-mobility business P&L and oversees product portfolio, business plan, technology strategy, product development, and launches for E-mobility solutions. Prior to that, Ms. Sun held several global leadership positions including VP of global electrification business at Lear Corporation, VP of global engineering and product management at Tenneco Clean Air, and director of engineering in hybrid battery systems at Johnson Controls. Ms Sun was named a 2019 Crain’s Detroit Business Notable Women in STEM and holds 4 U.S. patents. Ms. Sun holds a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering, Controls from Michigan Technological University.





Past Speakers. 

Lisa Partch Betlem - Senior Delivery Partner, Blue Yonder
Dr. Heidi Wyle - Founder & CEO, Venti Technologies
Daniela Rus - Director, CSAIL/MIT
Julie Derence - Co-Founder, TBD Robotics LLC
Apoorva Sachdev Lakshmanan - Technical Program Manager, Waymo
Jessie Smith - Senior Staff Technical Lead, Perception Simulation, Aurora
Dr. Shani Jayant - UX Research and Design Manager, Inclusive Mobility Initiative, Volkswagen Group of America
Erin McCurry - Product Manager, Accessibility, May Mobility
Myrna Peterson - Founder, Mobility Mania; Minnesota Governor’s Council for Connected & Automated Vehicles; Minnesota Council On Disability
Apeksha Kumavat - Co-Founder & Chief Engineer, Gatik
Amy Jones Satrom - Head of Operations, Nuro
Lia Theodosiou-Pisanelli - Head of Partner Product, Programs, and Operations, Aurora
Neda Cvijetic - Head of Product Management and Product Marketing: Autonomous Vehicles, NVIDIA
Deepti Mahajan - Machine Learning Research Engineer: Driver Assistance Technology, Ford Greenfield Lab
Nandita Mangal - Platform Owner HMI - Vehicle Experience: Autonomous Driving, Aptiv
Genevieve Smith - Research Director: Center for Equity, Gender & Leadership at Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley
Indu Vijayan - Head of Product Management, AEye
Julia M.C. Friedlander - Senior Policy Advisor: Autonomous Vehicles, SFMTA
Sydnee Journel - Local Policy & Community Manager, Waymo
Jill North - Innovation and New Technology Program Manager, SJ DOT
Xantha Bruso - Autonomous Vehicle Policy Manager, AAA Northern California, Nevada & Utah
Holly Gordon - Head of Policy, Ike Robotics
​Candice Plotkin - Lead Counsel, Regulatory Policy, Cruise
Jennifer Haroon - Nauto COO
Wei Luo - DeepMap COO
Manuela Papadopol - Designated Driver CEO

Home

Gallery

Speakers

​Blog

Learn

Join

  • Home
    • About
  • Gallery
  • Speakers
    • Apply
  • Blog
  • Learn
  • Join
    • Mentorship