Chad Womack, Chair
Dr. Chad Womack currently serves as the Senior Director of National STEM Programs and Initiatives at the UNCF. At the UNCF, Dr. Womack has raised over $70M to support a portfolio of STEM programs that include the Annual HBCU Tech Innovation Summit, HBCU CS Academy, HBCU Center for Excellence in Computing and Computer Science, and the Ernest E. Just Life Science Initiative. In addition, Dr. Womack is the Founding Director of the UNCF Fund II Foundation STEM Scholars Program – a $50M and 10-year commitment to support 500 academically talented African American high school students pursuing STEM as majors in college and careers in the tech industry. Dr. Womack also manages several partnerships and programs in collaboration with several Silicon Valley tech companies including Google, Facebook, and Genentech.
Katy Knight, Vice Chair
Katy Knight is the Executive Director at Siegel Family Endowment, a foundation focused on understanding and shaping the impact of technology on society. Katy brings diverse professional experience to the role, drawn from her previous work in education, technology, and community-based organizations.
Immediately prior to joining SFE, Katy worked on community engagement at Two Sigma Investments. Her earlier career includes several roles at Google on the public affairs and community relations teams, and before that, various roles in the worlds of nonprofit development and real estate.
Katy earned a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and is a proud alumna of Prep for Prep.
Lucy Sanders, Treasurer
Lucy Sanders is CEO and Co-founder of the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT). Lucy has worked in R&D and executive positions at AT&T Bell Labs, Lucent Bell Labs, and Avaya Labs for over 20 years, where she specialized in systems-level software and solutions (multimedia communication, and customer relationship management). Lucy was awarded the Bell Labs Fellow Award, the highest technical accomplishment bestowed at the company, and she has six patents in the communications technology area. Lucy currently serves as a Trustee for the Colorado School of Mines, the Center for American Entrepreneurship in Washington D.C. and the International Computer Science Institute at the University of California, Berkeley. She has served on the Information Technology Research and Development Ecosystem Commission for the National Academies and the Innovation Advisory Board for the U.S. Department of Commerce. Lucy received her B.S. and M.S. in computer science from Louisiana State University and the University of Colorado Boulder, respectively.
Rajeev Kaul, Secretary
Rajeev is a Master Technology Architect and the Head of Cloud & Software Engineering for the South Market Unit for Accenture, the world’s largest professional services firm. His organization focuses on helping the world’s largest companies design and build systems that drive Innovation and Business Agility using Software, Data, and the Cloud.
Rajeev has had a long tech background after graduating in Computer Science from the University of Maryland in 1999 where he spent time in a few Washington DC-based startups before beginning his career at Accenture in 2003 and now serves as a Managing Director for one of the largest employers of technology talent in the world
He previously served on the board for the Washington Leadership Academy, a technology-centric charter school that went on to win the XQ Super Schools grant for $10M, which was focused on complimenting the group of educators with technology and industry knowledge.
Rajeev currently lives in Bethesda, MD with his wife and two sons that are 6 and 8 years old.
Leigh Ann DeLyser
Dr. Leigh Ann DeLyser has spent her career building the K-12 computer science (CS) field. As a managing partner of CSforALL (csforall.org), she oversees programs and strategic planning and supervises research to build support for high quality CS education at all levels. A former high school and university CS educator, Leigh Ann understands challenges faced by teachers, administrators, and students developing their competency in the field and accessing high-quality learning opportunities and resources. Her influential “Running on Empty” report guides policies and research that support high-quality program implementation. Previously, Leigh Ann was Director of Research and Education at CSNYC, which built a foundation for CS in New York City public schools. She received a PhD in Computer Science and Cognitive Psychology, with a focus on CS education, from Carnegie Mellon University.
Chase Lochmiller
Chase is the co-founder, chief executive officer and chairman of the board of directors at Crusoe Energy Systems, an energy technology company that captures stranded energy to power modular data centers and improves the environmental performance of both the energy and technology industries. The company has become one of the largest privately held cryptocurrency mining businesses in North America and operates a cloud computing platform with industry-leading climate and cost performance. Chase’s leadership experience at Crusoe has included building a high functioning team of more than 250 professionals encompassing engineering, technology, business development, manufacturing, finance, law, operations and administration. Chase has also held key roles in more than $600 million of fundraising with venture, project and credit capital investors for Crusoe. Crusoe’s investors include G2VP, Founders Fund, Valor Equity Partners, Bain Capital Ventures, Inclusive Capital, Lowercarbon Capital, Mubadala, OIA, IDO, Polychain Capital, Winklevoss Capital, Dragonfly Capital Partners and others.
Chase is an avid tech enthusiast that is passionate about enabling new technologies like AI and blockchain to positively impact people’s lives. Prior to founding Crusoe, Chase was a General Partner at Polychain Capital, a multibillion-dollar fund investing in blockchain technologies and digital assets. Chase was previously a quantitative researcher and trader at Jump Trading and GETCO, where he developed and managed a portfolio of algorithmic trading strategies. Chase holds undergraduate degrees in math and physics from MIT and a masters degree in computer science from Stanford, where he specialized in artificial intelligence. As a personal interest, Chase has climbed five of the “seven summits” including Mt. Everest.
Evan Korth
Evan Korth is a Clinical Professor of Computer Science at NYU where he is faculty advisor to their chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and Tech@NYU, as well as coach of the ICPC Programming Team. In addition to teaching some foundational CS courses, he teaches ‘Information Technology Projects,’ a course in which students solve real-world problems with NYC companies, including some well-known startups. In 2006, he revived the long-defunct Computers in Society course. Evan is a Co-founder of hackNY, Director of the New York Tech Meetup and Girls Who Code, TechStars mentor, VP of the Internet Society of NY, and a member of the investment committee for the NYU Innovation Venture Fund.
Allison Scott
Dr. Allison Scott is the CEO of the Kapor Foundation, part of the Kapor Center family of organizations, aiming to increase racial diversity in tech and entrepreneurship so that the promise and potential of technology can be harnessed to create a more equitable future. At the Foundation, Dr. Scott leads efforts to (a) conduct research on barriers and solutions to racial inequality in tech, (b) operate programs advancing diversity in the tech/entrepreneurship workforce, and (c) partner with stakeholders to advocate for transformational policies and practices to expand racial equity in technology. Dr. Scott is currently a Principal Investigator on multiple national grants to expand equity in computer science education and increase participation of women of color across the computing pipeline, and in her previous role as the Chief Research Officer, authored foundational research on disparities in tech, inequity in CS education, and interventions to improve STEM outcomes for students of color. Previous positions include Chief Research Officer at the Kapor Center; Program Leader for the National Institutes of Health’s Enhancing the Diversity of the Biomedical Workforce Initiative; Director of Research and Evaluation for the Level Playing Field Institute, and Data Analyst for the Education Trust-West. Dr. Scott holds a Ph.D. in Education from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Hampton University.
Neil Shrimanker
Neil Shrimanker works in product marketing at Meta, where he works on elections integrity and regulatory readiness for the company’s business products. In particular, he works on designing and implementing solutions intended to reduce foreign interference in elections and increase transparency of who is running elections ads. He also works with policymakers on understanding Meta’s business products and solutions, while leading solutions development to meet regulatory compliance. Prior to Meta, Neil worked at Bain & Company as a consultant in the company’s tech and private equity groups, advising Fortune 500 companies on tech-focused strategies, including acquisitions, product development, and digital transformations. He’s also previously worked at a startup that builds voter files and political campaign data tools. Neil holds an undergraduate degree with honors from the University of North Carolina and a MBA from Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Originally from North Carolina, he currently resides in New York City.
Jose Antonio Tijerino
Jose Antonio Tijerino is president and CEO of the Hispanic Heritage Foundation (HHF), a national nonprofit focused on education, workforce, social impact, and culture through innovative leadership. HHF is acknowledged as a creative, agile, impact-focused organization that has been recognized by The White House, U.S. Congress, Fortune 500 companies, other nonprofits, and the Government of Mexico. Tijerino also serves as executive producer of the Hispanic Heritage Awards at the Kennedy Center broadcast on PBS Stations.
Fred Wilson, Founder, Chair Emeritus
Fred Wilson has been a venture capitalist since 1987. He is currently a managing partner at Union Square Ventures and also founded Flatiron Partners. Fred has a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and an MBA from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
