Asad M. Madni
Retired President, Chief Operating Officer and CTO, BEI Technologies Inc.
Dr. Asad M. Madni served as President, Chief Operating Officer & CTO of BEI Technologies Inc. headquartered in California, from 1992 until the completion of its $600 million acquisition by Schneider Electric in 2006. He led the development and commercialization of intelligent micro-sensors and systems for aerospace, military, commercial and transportation industries, including the Extremely Slow Motion Servo Control System for Hubble Space Telescope’s Star Selector System which provided the Hubble with unprecedented accuracy and stability, resulting in truly remarkable images that have enhanced our understanding of the universe; and the revolutionary MEMS GyroChip® technology which is used worldwide for Electronic Stability Control and Rollover Protection in passenger vehicles, thereby saving millions of lives every year.
Prior to joining BEI, he was with Systron Donner Corporation for 18 years in senior technical & executive positions, eventually as Chairman, President & CEO. Here, he made seminal and pioneering contributions in the development of RF & Microwave Systems & Instrumentation which significantly enhanced the Combat Readiness of the US Navy (and its allies) and which provided the DOD the ability (not possible with prior art) to simulate more threat representative ECM environments for current and future advanced warfare training. Dr. Madni is currently an Independent Consultant, Distinguished Adjunct Professor and Distinguished Scientist in the Electrical & Computer Engineering Department at UCLA, Co-supervisor of the High-Speed Electronics Laboratory, and Faculty Fellow in the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies and Connected Autonomous Electric Vehicle Consortium. From 2006 to 2016, he also served as Executive Managing Director & Chief Technical Officer of Crocker Capital, a private venture firm specializing in emerging technologies.
He received an A.A.S. from RCA Institutes Inc., B.S. & M.S. from University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Ph.D. from California Coast University (CCU), S.E. from MIT Sloan School of Management, D.Sc. (h.c.) from Ryerson University, D.Eng. (h.c.) degrees from Technical University of Crete and Tufts University, Sc.D. (h.c.) from California State University and California State University Northridge (CSUN), and Ph.D. degrees (h.c.) from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan. He is also a graduate of the Engineering Management Program at the California Institute of Technology, the Executive Institute and Director’s College at Stanford University, and the Program on Negotiation for Senior Executives and Promoting Innovation and Organizational Change at Harvard University. Dr. Madni is an internationally recognized authority with over 50 years of experience in the development and commercialization of “intelligent” sensors, systems and instrumentation. He is credited with over 230 refereed publications in archival journals, conference proceedings and book chapters; over 100 research reports & internal publications; over 100 keynote addresses, invited lectures, chairs and panels; and 69 issued or pending patents resulting in numerous “industry firsts”.
He has served as a director on the board of 7 highly successful technology companies and serves/has served on advisory boards of several professional and academic organizations including UCLA, USC, CSUN, UTSA, UCSD, TCI, NCTU, IEEE Systems Journal, AutoSoft Journal, International Journal of Smart Health and Smart Cities, Test and Measurement World (Technical Advisor), Microwave Systems News (West Coast Chairman and Director), Honorary Editor of the International Journal on Smart Sensing & Intelligent Systems, Founding Member of the Leadership Board of the Terasaki Institute of Biomedical Innovation, and UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering Dean’s Council of Advisors. He was appointed Distinguished College Professor at TCI College of Technology (the first and only such appointment in the history of the Institute since its founding in 1909 by Nobel Laureate Guglielmo Marconi until its divestiture in 2017).
Dr. Madni is also the recipient of numerous national and international awards and honors including, the 2024 National Inventors Hall of Fame, 2023 John Fritz Medal (often referred to as the “Nobel Prize” for engineering), 2023 IEEE-USA George F. McClure Citation of Honor, 2022 IEEE Medal of Honor (Institute’s highest honor, often referred to as the “Nobel Prize” for electronic and electrical sciences and engineering), 2022 RAE Prince Philip Medal (Academy’s highest honor), 2022 Elmer A. Sperry Award, 2022 Dean’s Medal from Tufts University School of Engineering, 2022 Tau Beta Pi McDonald Mentor Medal, 2021 IEEE Sensors Council Sensor Systems/Networks Advanced Technical Achievement Award, 2020 ASME Soichiro Honda Medal, 2020 IEEE Aerospace and Electronics Systems Society’s Industrial Innovation Award, 2020 IEEE Heritage Circle Nikola Tesla Society Honored Philanthropist Award, 2019 Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Aeronautical Society, 2019 Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award, 2019 IEEE Frederik Philips Award, 2018 Hind Rattan (“Jewel of India”) Award from the NRI Welfare Society of India, 2017 National Academy of Engineering’s Heritage Society Medal, 2017 IEEE HKN Vladimir Karapetoff Outstanding Technical Achievement Award, 2017 Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Samman Medal from the NRI Welfare Society of India, 2017 Gordon Medal for Engineering Leadership from University of California San Diego, 2016 Ellis Island Medal of Honor, 2016 Dean’s Faculty Award for Service from USC Viterbi School of Engineering, 2016 IEEE San Fernando Valley Section’s Visionary Leadership Award, 2015 IET J.J. Thomson Medal (IET Prestige Medal), 2015 IEEE HKN Eminent Member Recognition, 2014 Tau Beta Pi Distinguished Alumnus Award, 2014 World Automation Congress (WAC) Medal of Honor, 2014 National Academy of Engineering’s Einstein Society Award; 2013 (inaugural) UCLA Electrical Engineering Distinguished Alumnus Award, 2013 UCLA Electrical Engineering Distinguished Service Award, 2012 IEEE Aerospace and Electronics Systems Society’s Pioneer Award (the society’s highest honor), 2010 IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society’s Career Excellence Award (the society’s highest honor), 2010 UCLA Engineering Lifetime Contribution Award, TCI College of Technology’s Marconi Medal (the Institute’s highest honor, 2007) and Citation of Honor (2011), 2008 IEEE Region 6 Outstanding Engineer Award, 2008 IEEE Region 6 South Outstanding Engineer and Outstanding Leadership & Professional Service Awards, 2008 UCLA Engineering Distinguished Service Award, 2008 UCLA Samueli School of Engineering Boelter Society Lifetime Membership Award (2008), 2006 WAC Lifetime Achievement Award, 2005 IEE Achievement Medal, 2004 UCLA Engineering Alumnus of the Year Award (highest honor granted by the school), 2004 Distinguished Engineering Achievement Award from the Engineers’ Council, 2003 George Washington Engineer of the Year Award from the Los Angeles Council of Engineers & Scientists, 2002 UCLA Professional Achievement Award Medal, 2002 Sensors Expo’s Silver Award, 2001 Product Design and Development’s Top 50 Innovations Award, IEEE Third Millennium Medal, Joseph F. Engelberger Best Paper Award at the 2000 World Automation Congress, CCU Distinguished Alumni Award (highest honor granted by the university), Association of Old Crows Gold Certificate of Merit, and is listed in all major Who’s Who publications including Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the World, Who’s Who in Science & Engineering, Who’s Who in Technology, Who’s Who in Finance & Industry, International Who’s Who of Intellectuals, 2000 Outstanding Intellectuals of the 20th & 21st Centuries, Outstanding People of the 21st Century, and Asia Men and Women of Achievement. He has also been a featured guest on numerous television shows including CNN with Casey Wyan and BizNews 1 (now CNBC) with Mike Russell. In 2011 he was elected to the US National Academy of Engineering “for contributions to development and commercialization of sensors and systems for aerospace and automotive safety”. In 2019, IEEE HKN named its top award “The Asad M Madni Outstanding Technical Achievement and Excellence Award” to recognize and honor his nearly 50 years of technical and philanthropic accomplishments, and visionary leadership. In 2022, Tau Beta Pi, the Engineering Honor Society established a Distinguished Alumni Award and Student Scholarship in his honor.
He is also a Chartered Engineer, International Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (UK), International Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, Life Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, Life Fellow of the Washington Academy of Sciences, Fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences, Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, Life Fellow of the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers, Fellow of the Institution of Electrical Engineers (UK), Fellow of the Institution of Engineering & Technology (UK), Life Fellow of the Institute for the Advancement of Engineering, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Fellow of the Society of Automotive Engineers, Lifetime Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics, Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, Life Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, Life Fellow of the Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association and Life Fellow of the International Biographical Association. He is also an Eminent Engineer of Tau Beta Pi, The National Engineering Honor Society; Honorary Member of Upsilon Pi Epsilon, Honor Society for the Computing and Information Disciplines; Honorary Member of Phi Kappa Phi, Interdisciplinary Honor Society; Honorary Member of Golden Key, International Honor Society; Member of Eta Kappa Nu, The Electrical and Computer Engineering Honor Society; Member of Tau Alpha Pi, The National Engineering Technology Honor Society; Member of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society; Member of Delta Epsilon Tau, International Honor Society; Member of Phi Beta Delta, Honor Society for International Scholars; Life Member of the Association of Old Crows; Member of the Internet Society, Member of the International Artificial Intelligence Industry Alliance and Member of the Order of the Engineer. He has also been awarded Honorary Professorships at Technical University of Crete, University of Waikato, University of Texas San Antonio, Ryerson University, TCI College of Technology, National Yao Ming Chiao Tung University (Chair Professorship), and University of Strathclyde.
Dr. Madni is not just a prominent and world-wide recognized innovator. He is a committed mentor to young professionals and a respected philanthropist. He has been a champion of diversity and inclusion (D&I) for underrepresented groups of individuals and equality for everyone for over 5 decades. His dedication to D&I is a synergistic part of his character that has always been fundamental in everything he does. He has shown us that recognizing and valuing the diversity and contributions of all voices is truly the only way to inspire innovation and make positive social impact. He has funded millions of dollars to academic institutions & professional societies. In 2001/2004, he sponsored the “MIT on the Road” Program in California. In 2008, he established the “Asad, Gowhartaj and Jamal Madni Endowed Scholarship in Electrical Engineering at UCLA”. In 2011, he generously gave $100,000 for 2 matching gift challenges to encourage giving by NAE members. It was his intention to “assure the independence of our voice on national policy and to initiate projects vital to our nation’s future.” The challenges generated $452,000 for the NAE. In 2013, he established the “Asad, Gowhartaj and Jamal Madni Endowed Scholarship in Electrical & Computer Engineering at CSUN”. During the 1990s economic downturn in aerospace & defense, he spearheaded, designed and financed the highly successful Certificate Program in Sensors and Control Technology for CSUN, which helped retrain hundreds of displaced engineers to obtain new positions in industrial and commercial industries. In 2014, he established “Madni Best Student Paper Awards at the World Automation Congress”. In 2017, he provided a legacy gift to NAE’s Heritage Society in order to uphold the mission of the NAE. In 2019, he established the IEEE-HKN “Madni Family Fund” which provides IEEE-HKN with the financial resources it urgently needs to drive new levels of recognition & programming. In 2020, together with NAE Member Ming Hsieh, he provided a sponsorship of $100,000 for the production of the 50th Anniversary Commemorative Issue of NAE’s Quarterly Journal, The Bridge. In 2022, he established the Tau Beta Pi “Madni Family Fund” which provides Tau Beta Pi the financial resources to annually fund the Distinguished Alumni Award and a Student Scholarship. In 2023, he established the “Asad, Gowhartaj and Jamal Madni Endowed Scholarship” which annually supports three qualified undergraduate recipients and up to two qualified graduate recipients pursuing a degree in the fields represented by IEEE-HKN, from an active IEEE-HKN Chapter.
Heba Armand
Avery Consumer Products
Heba Armand is Group Product Manager for Avery Consumer Products. She is responsible for top-line growth, profit, brand strategy and communication plans for $200MM portfolio of Avery’s flagship labels business. Prior to Avery, Heba started her career as transmission engineer at Verizon. After receiving her MBA, Ms. Armand went on to work at Procter and Gamble and Nestle USA, where she was able to leverage her engineering degree to problem solve complex business issues. Ms. Armand earned her Bachelor of Science, Electrical Engineering with Computer Engineering in August of 2001 at UCLA and a Master of Business Administration, Marketing and Corporate Strategy in May of 2006 at USC, Marshall School of Business.
Leonard G. Bonilla
Raytheon, Retired
Len Bonilla earned his BS in Engineering from UCLA in 1970. He joined Raytheon (Formerly Hughes Aircraft) in 1971. He had several assignments in increasing responsibility during his career at Raytheon that included technical design, technical line management, and program management. From 1985-1987, he was assigned in Madrid, Spain on a F/A-18 Co-Production Program. Len was a Program Manager within the Engineering Development Center in El Segundo working on the Japanese F15 Radar Upgrade Program. Len also serves as the Raytheon Campus Recruiting Manager for UCLA. He is the focal point for Raytheon Technical recruiting on the UCLA campus. In this capacity he is on campus various times during the year for Interviews, Career Fairs and giving Information Sessions. Len also represents Raytheon Company on the Industry Advisory Board of the UCLA Center for Excellence in Engineering and Diversity (CEED). He serves on the UCLA Engineering Alumni Association Board. He is also a member of the Electrical Engineering Department Alumni Advisory Board.
David Doami
Northrop Grumman, Director, Program Manager
David Doami is a Program Director for Northrop Grumman’s Advanced EHF Payload Program. He is responsible for leading program execution in the production, integration, test and delivery of the Advanced EHF Protected Satcom Payloads. His focus is on ensuring mission success through the delivery of robust and reliable high value high performance systems. David has held a variety of increasingly responsible roles since joining TRW / Northrop Grumman in 1987. This includes leadership roles in engineering, production, business development, program management and technology development. His most recent prior assignment was Director of Northrop Grumman’s Electronic Payloads and Integrating Technologies Directorate where he was responsible for all electronic payload technology development, program acquisition and execution, and resource management. David earned a BSEE from UCLA and a MSEE from USC. He supports a variety of activities such as IEEE, USO, many of Northrop Grumman’s Diversity organizations, Hackathons, and his local Education Foundation.
Ani Garabedian
Northrop Grumman Corporation, Section Manager, Communications Systems Engineering
Ani Garabedian worked the Northrop Grumman Digital Products Center in 1999 after graduating from UCLA with a BSEE degree. Her first role was on a commercial satellite venture working part-time as a digital designer for the Demod Emulator while taking classes at USC on the Northrop Grumman Space Technology Fellowship Program where she earned her MSEE degree. In 2006, Ani transferred to Communication Systems Engineering and has supported several space programs in various system engineering roles such as unit Responsible Systems Engineer and ground system architect for future systems. In addition to her project work, Ani is also currently a section manager to 11 employees.
Kevin Geary
HRL Laboratories, Deputy Director of the Sensors and Electronics Laboratory
Dr. Kevin Geary is Deputy Director of the Sensors and Electronics Laboratory at HRL Laboratories. Prior to that he was a Senior Research Scientist and HRL Laboratories’ Applied Electromagnetics Department Manager. He received a Ph.D. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Univ. of California, Los Angeles in 2006 and 2002, respectively, and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Univ. of California, Berkeley in 2000. Dr. Geary has 20 years of experience in the research and development of optical, optoelectronic, RF, microwave, and millimeter wave devices and subsystems. His research interests include: camera systems; radar and lidar sensor technologies; optical beam steering; chip-scale photonics and RF-photonics; millimeter wave imaging; reconfigurable antennas; active impedance matching techniques; and metamaterials. Dr. Geary is the author/co-author of over 35 journal and conference publications and 6 patents. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE and Member of Eta Kappa Nu.
Dan Goebel
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Senior Research Scientist
Dan Goebel is a Fellow of the IEEE, an Adjunct Professor in Electrical Engineering and Aerospace Engineering at UCLA, and an Adjunct Professor in Electrical Engineering at the University of Southern California. He is a Senior Research Scientist at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he develops Electric Propulsion systems for deep space probes and satellites. He is an expert in electric thrusters, satellite communications, microwave sources, high voltage power modulator technology, and the modification of materials by plasmas. At UCLA he teaches courses in Spacecraft Technology and Design, and at USC he teaches Wireless Communications and Electromagnetics courses. Dr. Goebel is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, Fellow of the AIAA, Fellow of the IEEE, and Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS). He is the author of over 125 technical journal papers, 150 conference papers, one book entitled Fundamentals of Electric Propulsion: Ion and Hall Thrusters published by Wiley and Sons in 2008, and holds 53 patents. Dr. Goebel received his B.S. (Physics), University of California at Los Angeles, 1977, M.S. (Electrical Engineering), UCLA, 1978, and Ph.D. (Applied Plasma Physics, Electrical Engineering Department), UCLA, 1981.
William Goodin
Alumni Advisor to Engineering Student Groups
Dr. Goodin is currently a member and advisor to HKN, member and advisor to IEEE, member and Chief Advisor to Tau Beta Pi (TBP), and Fellow and Counselor to the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) at UCLA.
Dr Goodin has more than 35 years of experience in alumni and corporate networking and partnerships, mentorship, leadership, marketing, customer service, team building, alumni relations, continuing education, and curriculum development. He currently helps alumni and corporate partners stay connected and involved with UCLA and UCLA Engineering and helps current engineering students connect with alumni and corporate partners. He also serves as an advisor and mentor to numerous engineering student groups and individual engineering students and alumni. In his role as a student group advisor, he has guided many engineering students with career decisions; and invited many engineering alumni back to UCLA Engineering as mentors, volunteers, advisors, panelists, and speakers. He currently invites alumni to speak about their careers as guest lecturers to first-year engineering students in ECE 1, MAE 1, and CS 1.
He was previously responsible for building and maintaining relationships with alumni to increase their participation and involvement within the UCLA Engineering. His responsibilities included organizing alumni networking events on campus and at company and regional locations, supporting technical forums, research reviews, and awards dinners, enhancing student support and mentoring opportunities, arranging company infosessions for hiring students, supporting sports and social events, departmental alumni relations activities and boards, and the Engineering Alumni Association Governing Board and committees. He was also responsible for recognizing alumni through the School of Engineering awards process, and celebrating their accomplishments in publications and on the website.
Dr. Goodin was previously Director of Short Course and Technical Management Programs at UCLA Extension where he was responsible for the development, marketing, and quality assurance of nearly 150 state-of-the-art, one-week short courses in computer and information systems, engineering, and technical management. These courses attract participants from across the US and abroad. His responsibilities also included the one-week Technical Management Program, which is held twice a year. Previously, he served in technical and management positions at Hughes Aircraft Company (defense software), Digital Productions (graphics software), and Dames & Moore (environmental software). He was also a Post Doctoral Fellow at the California Institute of Technology in Environmental Engineering Science.
He is past President of the UCLA Engineering Alumni Association, and a current member of the Governing Board. He has received the UCLA HSSEAS Service Award in 2004 for his volunteer activities in support of HSSEAS, the Rodney D. Chipp Memorial Award from SWE in 2010 for his support of advancing women in engineering, the McDonald Mentoring Award in 2011 from Tau Beta Pi, the Outstanding Branch Counselor Award in 2011 from IEEE, the Practitioner Advisor of the Year by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Region 9 in 2014, and the Outstanding Collegiate Section Mentor by the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Sonora Region in 2014.
Dr. Goodin holds a BA in mathematics from San Jose State University, and MS in computer science, PhD in mechanical engineering, and MEngr in engineering management, all from UCLA.
Robert Green
Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie, LLP, Attorney
In over twenty years of practice as an intellectual property attorney, Mr. Green has procured, licensed, and enforced major patent portfolios in the fields of computer-controlled telecommunications, magnetic storage media and photovoltaics. He has also conducted in-depth studies to evaluate commercial products and processes from a patent standpoint, and his opinions has been relied on by clients of all sizes seeking to acquire business or assess the risks of marketing substantial new products. Mr. Green has broad experience and expertise in the fields of analog and digital electronics, computer-controlled systems, and semiconductor devices. Areas of special expertise include cellular communications, solid-state physics, laser optics, holography, laser-based inertial guidance and navigation systems, digital musical instruments, photovoltaic devices, telecommunications, high voltage power distribution, electromagnetics, complex mechanical and electromechanical systems and the plasma assisted deposition of semiconductor materials. Mr. Green received his BS degree in Solid State Electronics in 1972 from UCLA and his JD degree from the UCLA Law School in 1975.
Sonia Hingorany
Amazon Web Services
Sonia Hingorany is currently a Senior Manager at AWS within the Data Center Delivery organization. She graduated from UCLA with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering in 2008 and from Carnegie Mellon University with an MBA in 2015. While UCLA, she served on the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) board for three years and held the Freshman/Sophomore Class Representative, Evening with Industry Chair, and Internal Vice President seats. She was selected to be the Student Speaker at the HSSEAS Commencement for the Class of 2008.
Since graduating, Sonia has continued to be involved with alumni activities including serving as a current member of the UCLA EAA Governing Board, attending UCLA EAA Alumni-Student connection meetings, the 2020 UC Womxn's Conference as an engineering alumni guest speaker, an ACM-W at UCLA event in March ’21 as an engineering alum guest speaker, reviewing student scholarships for two years, and serving as a mentor for SWE, IEEE WATT, and on the UCLA ONE platform. Since she now lives in Seattle, she has been attending the UCLA Seattle Bruins alumni board meetings for the past two years and has helped host Dean Jayathi Murthy at the Amazon campus in 2016 to network with UCLA Engineering alumni in Seattle.
Grace E. King
Deloitte, Attorney
Grace E. King is a Data Privacy and Security Transactional Attorney with Deloitte. Previously, Grace was a Privacy & Cybersecurity Associate at Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP where she focused on advising clients on privacy, cybersecurity, and patent protection matters. She is also a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and Information Privacy Technologist (CIPT). Grace graduated from UCLA in 2010 with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and from the USC Gould School of Law in 2014.
Anthony Lai
Cobham Advanced Electronic Solutions
Anthony Lai, Chief Architect, Microelectronics Division, brings to Cobham Advanced Electronic Solutions or CAES his expertise in large-scale and complex system of systems development for space platforms, technology transition to be qualified for use in space, and system engineering. Specifically, he is responsible for leading future product roadmaps and work with customers to create optimal system solutions to meet mission objectives, using his extensive expertise in hardware, real-time software, component, and system engineering for military and civilian space platforms such as Orbcomm Generation 2 constellation, FalconSat/ORS satellites, Mars rovers, Lunar gateway, NASA CLPS lunar landers/rovers, on-orbit servicing satellites and military imaging payloads. Mr. Lai had fielded systems in every human rated platform after Apollo including the Space Shuttle, International Space Station, SpaceShipTwo, CST-100 capsule, Orion, Dream Chaser and other future human-rated space vehicles. While at JPL, Mr. Lai successfully managed the integration of instruments for the Mars rover programs, which included qualification and selection of various instruments and devices for use on the Spirit and Opportunity twin rovers.
At CAES, one of his key roles is leading technology advancement with leading-edge technologies to enable high performance processing, edge computing and cloud computing nodes in space. Mr. Lai not only has unique experience and expertise to manufacture products developed from SBIR technologies, but he is also an expert in components engineering, radiation characterization of electronics for natural space and tactical nuclear environments with EMI/EMC characterization. Mr. Lai received 3 patents from POC in a variety of technologies. Mr. Lai earned his B.S.E.E. and a minor in Applied Mathematics from the University of California, Irvine in 1993 being the EKN President from 1992-1993 at the UCI chapter and his M.S.E.E. from UCLA in 1995 under retired Professor Alan N. Wilson Jr in signal processing specialty.
Professional profiles:
Leticia Solis
Director Wayside Systems Rail Communications, LACMTA
Currently, Leticia Solis is the Deputy Executive Officer leading the Wayside Systems team at the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) for the Maintenance and Engineering team. The role encompasses leading the operations of wayside systems, including train control, traction power, track, rail communications, and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems that support six (6) rail lines transporting over 7.4M riders across Los Angeles County monthly. Prior to leading the Wayside Systems team, Leticia was the Director for Rail Communications. Her team was responsible for maintaining 11 wayside communication systems including the monitoring of the fiber-optic backbone network, security systems, customer information systems, and fire, life and safety equipment.
Before joining LACMTA, Leticia held various leadership roles at Frontier and Verizon Communications. At Frontier (formerly Verizon California), she managed the field operations team supporting customer service, market growth and community engagement in the core service area responsible for delivery of broadband, video and voice services to residential and large business customers. With Verizon, Leticia was the Director of the Consumer Sales & Service Centers for the Verizon California Region. The Sales Center’s primary function focused on selling strategic products to the Consumer customers. Leticia also lead the Verizon Center for Customer with Disabilities (VCCD), which provided the highest quality of service to the customers with mobility, cognitive, hearing & vision disabilities by empowering them with accessible telecommunications products & services. Prior to leading the Sales team, Leticia was the Director of FiOS Operations for the Verizon California Region. Her team was responsible for the installation and maintenance of FiOS for Consumer and Business customers. She also led the Construction organization in California, Oregon and Washington. The team was responsible for supporting installation and maintenance of the outside plant and the Multi Dwelling Units/Multi-tenant Units program.
Leticia has over 20 years of experience working in the Telecommunication Industry, having lived and worked in various locations and capacities, she also had a three-year assignment in Tampa, Florida, where she managed Consumer and Large Business maintenance call centers and managed the Copper Installation and Maintenance organization for Verizon.
Prior to joining Verizon, Solis worked as an electrical engineer for PacifiCorp, a power company, in Wyoming and Oregon for five years. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from UCLA in 1990. She currently resides in Los Angeles, California with her husband Dr. Christopher Solek.
Divya Sudhakar
Technical Advisor to MMV, a Venture Capital fund investing in pre-Series A Healthcare startups
Divya Sudhakar is a Senior Software Engineer with over 12 years of experience working in large distributed systems. She works as a technical advisor to MMV, a Venture Capital fund investing in pre-Series A Healthcare startups. Her prior role was in Airbnb building a data platform to perform private data analysis on user data with the end goal of identifying gaps in how different demographic groups use and experience Airbnb features. Before Airbnb, she worked at Google on products including Youtube Music, Ads Forecasting, Google Fiber, Google Calendar, and in Cisco building software for devices used in data centers and by network providers.
Divya earned her MS in Electrical Engineering from UCLA, where she was also the Secretary for the Engineering Graduate Students Association, and her Bachelor in Technology degree from Anna University in India. She is passionate about equitable access to technology opportunities and education and loves mentoring early career engineers and students.
Leo Szeto
Nusano, Inc., Lead Controls Engineer
Leo Szeto is a recent graduate of UCLA in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and has been spending the last few years designing and building Shanghai Disney Resort as an Imagineer, specializing in Ride Engineering. A strong believer in the creative potential of everyone, Leo has given numerous talks in the US and China on the “Technical Creative”; People who can dream, design, and execute, with vision and passion. To that end, Leo had built his interests and hobbies around building and creating things; He has worked on and lead projects such as GPS guided bomb sniffing dogs, Skype based telepresence robots, a walk-in Christmas snow globe, and most recently, a card game about designing evil dungeons for unsuspecting heroes. Leo is now the Lead Controls Engineer of Nusano, Inc.
Martha Ventura
T-Mobile, Vice President Engineering & Operations, Greater LA Area
Martha Ventura has been in the telecommunications field for 30 years. Her career in wireless spans 23 of those years. She has found the fast paced and dynamic pace of wireless exhilarating and has grown her career from Sr. Engineer to Vice President. Martha began her wireless career with Pacific Bell Mobile Services, a new PCS venture in California, as a Sr. Switch Engineer. PBMS eventually became Cingular Wireless, where Martha was promoted to Director of Operations in 1999. Cingular Wireless became AT&T Wireless where she became Executive Director of Engineering & Operations for Greater Los Angeles in 2001. Martha joined T-Mobile in 2008 as Director of Engineering & Operations for the Inland Empire. She was promoted to Vice President in 2018, having responsibility for the three Los Angeles Area Markets: Los Angeles North, Los Angeles, and Southern California. She oversees RF Engineering, Site Development, Field Operations and Switch Operations. She has a team of 220 employees spread over three offices: Simi Valley, Ontario and Irvine. T-Mobile has been a great fit for her desire to put strategy into action, place the customer first, promote operational excellence and develop future leaders. The Los Angeles Area leads the nation in performance, project delivery, forging partnerships and people development. She is part of T-Mobile’s Women in Leadership group and an officer in the Women in Technology group. She currently mentors three women in Engineering who are looking to further their careers within Technology in T-Mobile.
Wenrui Yang
Qualcomm, Inc., Senior Engineer
Wenrui Yang is a senior power management integrated circuit (PMIC) product and test engineer at Qualcomm, Inc. At Qualcomm, she works on developing and debugging hardware and software solutions for production testing and qualification for devices from different PMIC production lines. Previously she worked as a field application engineer for Teradyne, a semiconductor automated test equipment company, supporting various customers with utilizing the hardware and software platform of Teradyne testers. She is passionate about advocating for women in engineering both at UCLA and at Qualcomm. She is an active member for WE@UCLA and Qwomen (a company-wide women engineer organization), founded a peer group for 120 women in her department. She has been part of ECE 1 seminar course for ECE freshmen and part of the SWE mentorship program at UCLA. She graduated from UCLA in 2014 with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering (EE) with Antenna and Microwave pathway and obtained a M.S in EE from Columbia University in 2017 while working full time.