Telle Whitney Explained

Telle Whitney
Birth Date:June 5, 1956
Occupation:Past CEO and President of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology 2002-2017
Alma Mater:BS in Computer Science from the University of Utah,Ph.D. in Computer Science from Caltech

Telle Whitney is the former CEO and President of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology. A computer scientist by training, she cofounded the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing with Anita Borg in 1994 and joined the Anita Borg Institute in 2002.

Early life

Telle Whitney was born on June 5, 1956, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Raised in a Latter-day Saint family descended from Brigham Young, she moved to Southern California when she was 7, and then back to Utah when she was 15 after her mother died.[1] Her father was a lawyer and her mother was a housewife who returned to school to be a history teacher.

Education and early career

Whitney received a bachelor's degree in computer science from the University of Utah in 1978 and a Ph.D. in computer science from Caltech in 1985. She moved to Silicon Valley to work in the chip industry, creating chips and the software that supports them.[2] She held senior technical management positions at Actel and Malleable Technologies, as well as senior roles at several startup technology companies.[3]

Founding of the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing

In 1994, Whitney and Anita Borg founded the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference, which is the largest gathering of women in computing in the world. With simply the initial idea of creating a conference by and for women computer scientists, Borg and Whitney met over dinner, with a blank sheet of paper, having no idea how to start a conference, and started to plan out their vision. The first Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing was held in Washington, D.C., in June 1994, and brought together 500 technical women.[4] Telle Whitney described walking into the conference and being surrounded by 500 technical women as “life-changing.”

Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology

In 2002, Whitney became President and CEO of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology, then known as the Institute for Women and Technology. This was originally intended to be a temporary situation, while the organization searched for a replacement for Anita Borg, but ended up being a turning into a permanent role for Whitney.[5]

Under Whitney’s leadership, the Anita Borg Institute has expanded its size and programs. Since 2003, six Grace Hopper Celebrations have been held, and in 2010, the first Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing India was organized.[6] [7] In addition to the Anita Borg Institute Women of Vision Awards, a new awards program has been established to recognize companies that support technical women, the Anita Borg Top Company for Technical Women Award.[8]

Telle Whitney retired as President and CEO of AnitaB.org[9] on September 30th, 2017 and Brenda Darden Wilkerson became the President and CEO on October 1, 2017.[10]

Other activities

In 2004, Telle Whitney co-founded the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) with Lucy Sanders and Robert Schnabel.[11] She has served as Secretary/Treasurer of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and is co-chair of the ACM Distinguished member committee. She was a member of the National Science Foundation CEOSE and CISE advisory committees, and she serves on the advisory boards of Caltech’s Information Science and Technology (IST), California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, and Illuminate Ventures. She is also a member of the Forbes Executive Women’s Board.[3] [12]

Awards

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Oral-History:Telle Whitney - Engineering and Technology History Wiki. ethw.org. 26 January 2021.
  2. Web site: Telle Whitney and Greg Papadopoulis Interview pt1. Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology. 30 May 2008. 30 June 2011.
  3. Web site: Telle Whitney. ACM-W. ACM. 30 June 2011. dead. https://archive.today/20130223113314/http://women.acm.org/who_we_are/profiles/telle_whitney.cfm. 23 February 2013.
  4. Web site: Anita Borg Celebration: Changing the World for Women and Technology. Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology. YouTube. 22 June 2011. 30 June 2011.
  5. Web site: Anderson. Melissa J.. Voice of Experience: Telle Whitney, CEO and President, Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology. 11 May 2011. 30 June 2011.
  6. Web site: Colborn. Kate. Grace Hopper Celebration sells out in Atlanta. 30 June 2011. Winter 2010 – Spring 2011. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110928005133/http://www.diversitycareers.com/articles/college/10-winspr/ontheroad_grace_hopper.htm. 28 September 2011.
  7. Web site: Colborn. Kate. 2008 Grace Hopper Celebration: "We build a better world". 30 June 2011. December 2008 – January 2009. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110928005121/http://www.diversitycareers.com/articles/pro/08-decjan/soc_news_grace_hopper.htm. 28 September 2011.
  8. Web site: Barrett. Jerri. Anita Borg Institute Women of Vision Awards: Inspiration for All. ValleyZen. 30 June 2011. 26 May 2011.
  9. Web site: AnitaB.org's President and CEO Dr. Telle Whitney to Retire at the End of 2017. AnitaB.org. 6 November 2017.
  10. Web site: Meet Brenda Darden Wilkerson, AnitaB.org President. AnitaB.org. 6 November 2017.
  11. Web site: Cohoon. J. McGrath. NCWIT Offers Community, Resources, and Results. Computing Research News. Computing Research Association. March 2011. 30 June 2011.
  12. Web site: Who We Are: Telle Whitney. 30 June 2011.
  13. Web site: Titlebaum. Jessica. Highest Leaf Awards Expand to Chicago. The Glass Hammer. 24 July 2008. 30 June 2011.
  14. Moshe Y. Vardi. June 2009. Whitney recognized for distinguished service. Communications of the ACM. 52. 6. 106. Association for Computing Machinery. 30 June 2011.
  15. Web site: Taylor. Emily. Dr. Telle Whitney Receives Marie R. Pistilli Award for Contributions to the Advancement of Women in EDA. Design Automation Conference. 30 June 2011. 1 June 2009. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110928062823/http://www.dac.com/App_Content/files/46th_DAC_Pistilli_Award_Winner_FINAL_06_01_09.pdf. 28 September 2011.
  16. Web site: 19 March 2009 . Silicon Valley Women of Influence recognized . Silicon Valley Business Journal .
  17. Web site: Schwartz. Ariel. Telle Whitney. 2011. 30 June 2011.