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The tech world is fast-moving, highly competitive and male-dominated. But not completely male-dominated. Some of the most prestigious and best-remunerated roles are held by females. Carolyn Leighton, founder and chairwoman of Women in Technology International (WITI ), identifies the most powerful women in tech.

WITI is the premiere global organization empowering women in business and technology to achieve unimagined possibilities. With a global network of smart, talented women and a market reach exceeding 2 million, WITI has powerful programs and partnerships that provide connections, resources, opportunities and a supportive environment of women committed to helping each other. Along with its professional association of Networks throughout the U.S. and worldwide, including Hong Kong, Great Britain, Australia, and Mexico, WITI delivers value for individuals that work for a company, the government or academia, as well as small business owners.

WITI products and services include: Networking, WITI Marketplace, Career Services/Search, National Conferences and Regional Events, Publications and Resources, Small Business Programs, Research, Bulletin Boards.

WITI identified the most powerful women in tech:

Sheryl Sandberg, Judy and Deborah Estrins. Cher Wang, Sandy Carter, Meg Whitman, Ginny Rometty, Maja J Mataric‘, Weili Dai, Mary Meeker

# 1 Sheryl Sandberg

After four years as Facebook's COO-and shepherding the company through its much anticipated and critiqued $100 billion IPO in May-Sandberg was named to the social network's board of directors in June. She is Facebook's first female board member and owns nearly $1 billion of unvested stock in the company.

The Harvard MBA served as chief of staff for the U.S. Treasury Department under President Bill Clinton, and managed Google's online global sales and operations as a vice president.

One of few prominent women in tech, Sandberg has become the torch-bearer for a generation of women hoping to balance high-profile jobs with motherhood, an increasingly fraught issue in 2012. "I don't believe in 'having it all,'" she says. "But I do believe in women and men having both a successful career and family. The more women we get into positions of power, the more likely we'll get that."

# 2 Cher Wang

As co-founder and chairwoman of HTC Corporation, Taiwan's leading tech business, Cher Wang has overseen the development of smart phone and mobile technology, partnering with Google and Microsoft to create globally renowned products that are compatible with the software giants' respective Android and Windows platforms.

Alongside her husband, Wang is also chairwoman and cofounder of VIA Technologies, which supplies PC processor platforms. Wang represents Taiwan on the APEC Business Advisory Council and HTC is an industry partner of the World Economic Forum.

A devout Christian, she was ranked the 276th richest person in the world, with an estimated personal wealth of $4 billion, by Forbes Magazine, which describes her as "the most powerful woman in wireless."

"Her impetus for starting HTC was to develop hardware products that foster easier, more efficient communication. She's led HTC in approaching development from the perspective of creating a holistic experience with a focus on personal choice, observing and listening to create products that cater to a perceived consumer desire," says Leighton.

# 3 Judy Estrin

A serial entrepreneur, Estrin studied computer science at UCLA and electrical engineering at Stanford alongside Vint Cerf, who is recognized as one of the fathers of the internet, in the 1970s. At Zilog Corporation, she led a team that developed one of the first commercial LAN systems, and has co-founded three companies manufacturing networking devices and software. From 1998 to 2000, she served as CTO for Cisco Systems and has been a board member for Disney, FedEx, Rockwell and Sun Microsystems.

In 2008, feeling that the United States had become focused on short-term gains at the expense of encouraging creative opportunities, she published "Closing the Innovation Gap," which looks at how to sustain innovation on an organizational and national level. She is currently CEO of JLabs, a consulting and advocacy "work lab."

"Judy and Deborah (her sister) hail from (быть родом из) a strong family of successful technologists. Both their parents – their mother Thelma, a WITI Hall of Fame winner as well – set these remarkable women on an inevitable path to success, which was accomplished through encouragement and their own merits in their fields of study," says Carolyn Leighton.

# 4 Deborah Estrin

Deborah Estrin is a professor of computer sciences at UCLA (see Note ), and director of its multidisciplinary $40 million Center for Embedded Networked Sensing, which pioneers new technologies for collecting information from the physical world, and processing and communicating that information in useful ways. The idea is that, embedded with networked microprocessors, environments (buildings, buoys, ecosystems) could report and perhaps even correct in real-time their own faults.

She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineers and was inducted to the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame in 2008.

"Deborah and Judy hail from a strong family of successful technologists. Both their parents – their mother Thelma, a WITI Hall of Fame winner as well – set these remarkable women on an inevitable path to success, which was accomplished through encouragement and their own merits in their fields of study," says Carolyn Leighton.

Note UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) Университет штата Калифорния, Лос-Анджелес, 37 тыс. студентов, 11 факультетов, 163 здания. Проводит большой объём исследований, в том числе в области параллельных вычислений и нанотехнологий. web-site: http://www.ucla.edu

# 5 Sandy Carter

Sandy Carter is Vice President, Social Business Evangelism at IBM, where she is responsible for directing the company's social business initiatives, and working with clients to develop best practices. (Social business is the application of social media tools and techniques to a company's internal and external processes, in order to connect clients, partners, citizens and employees). Since joining the company in 1989, Carter has also been a VP of IBM's Service Oriented Architecture, which achieved 70 % market share under her management.

She is fluent in eight programming languages; has travelled to more than 60 countries; has authored three books about business and social media, and is one of IBM's top bloggers and tweeters, winning MarCom awards for her communities.

"Sandy Carter uniquely combines extraordinary expertise in the worlds of business and technology, traveling the world to evangelize the use of social media to help strengthen communication and revenue in both business-to-business and business-to-consumer strategy. She is a passionate, committed advocate and supporter of young women and girls achieving their greatest possible success," says founder and chairwoman of Women in Technology International (WITI), Carolyn Leighton.

# 6 Ginny Rometty

In October, 30-year IBM veteran "Ginni" Rometty was tapped as CEO, becoming the first woman to head the century-old tech giant. In her first year as chief, she is implementing a five-year strategy to use new markets like cloud computing and business analytics software to drive $20 billion of revenue growth by 2015, a goal she says IBM is "well on track" to achieve. While exceptionally private, she became the center of the conversation this year when historic Augusta National Golf Club upheld its controversial male-only policy and didn't extend an invitation to IBM's newest chief. Rometty started at IBM in 1981 as a systems engineer and climbed to head of global sales, where she oversaw results in 170 markets around the world.

# 7 Meg Whitman

Meg Whitman struck out in the 2010 election for governor of California, but it might have been a much easier job than turning around the struggling tech firm Hewlett-Packard. In January 2011, Whitman joined Hewlett-Packard's board of directors. She was named CEO on September 22, 2011. As well as renewing focus on HP‘s Research & Development division, Whitman‘s major decision during her first year as CEO has been to retain and recommit the firm to the PC business that her predecessor announced he was considering discarding. HP shares are down nearly 25 % this year, which makes the firm the lowest performer in the Dow Jones industrial average and Whitman's responsibilities as CEO are gargantuan.

At a conference in June she said it might take "four or five years" to fix the company. Her incentive stock options could be worth millions-but only if the stock price increases 40 % in the next 24 months under her watch.

She turned down Warren Buffett's invitation in 2011 to join the Giving Pledge, in which billionaires agree to donate half their fortune to charity. Her net worth has grown $300 million since September 2011 thanks to a 50 % surge in the value of her eBay shares.

# 8 Maja Matarić

Maja J Mataric‘ is an American computer scientist and roboticist, and the Chan Soon-Shiong Chaired Professor of Computer Science, Neuroscience, and Pediatrics at the University of Southern California, founding director of the USC Center for Robotics and Embedded Systems, co-director of the USC Robotics Research Lab (robotics.usc.edu) and Vice Dean for Research in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.

She is known for her work in human-robot interaction for socially assistive robotics, a new field she pioneered, which focuses on creating robots capable of providing personalized therapy and care through social rather than physical interaction, through technologies aimed at aiding special needs populations including children with autism spectrum disorders, stroke and traumatic brain injury survivors, and individuals with Alzheimer‘s disease. She is also known for her earlier work on coordination of robot teams, and robot navigation. Her Interaction Lab‘s research into socially assistive robotics is aimed at endowing robots with the ability to help people through individual non-contact assistance in convalescence, rehabilitation, training, and education.

Maja J. Matarić received a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring at a White House ceremony in 2011.

She is one of the 2013 recipients of ABI's Women of Vision Awards.

# 9 Weili Dai

Co-founder, Marvell Technology Group. Dai is the only woman co-founder of an American semiconductor company, and since it began in 1995, she directed Marvell‘s rise to become one of the top semiconductor companies in the world. Ms. Dai's close relationship with her customers has given her a strong reputation for professionalism and integrity throughout the technology industry. Ms. Dai has served a pivotal role in creating some of the Company's most important strategic partnerships and under her leadership Marvell's technology has become an integral component of many of the world's products in enterprise, communications, mobile computing, consumer and emerging markets.

The U.S. – educated "geek" who hails from China co-founded Marvell Technology Group with her husband, Sehat Sutardja in 1995.

The company with 6000 employees and annual revenue of $ 3.4 billion is one of the world's leading producers of "fabless" semiconductors. It has clients like Apple, Samsung, Toshiba and Western Digital. She has a goal to make the California based Marvell, the biggest semiconductor company in China. "t's important for us to stay in Silicon Valley.

That's where the entire eco-system of great talent and technologies resides," says Wei, adding that over 1,600 Marvell employees are based in Shanghai and a second China campus will open soon. She also supports women‘s participation in technology, STEM education for girls. An active philanthropist, her company has a major partnership with the One Laptop per Child campaign.

# 10 Mary Meeker

General Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

Mary Meeker (born September, 1959) is an American [1] venture capitalist and former Wall Street securities analyst. The work that she does is primarily associated with the Internet. She is a partner at Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

Meeker was born in Portland, Indiana, and holds a B.A. in psychology from DePauw University (1981) and an M.B.A. in finance from Cornell University (1986). In addition, she received an Honorary Doctor of Letters degree from DePauw University.

Meeker has been holding court in Silicon Valley for nearly two decades now. In 2011 the famed Morgan Stanley analyst became a partner at Kleiner Perkins, Caufield & Byers. This step, which she took, landed her at No. 42 on FORBES 2012 Midas List of VC royalty. But it is her reputation for a clear vision in the tech industry that makes her a Power Woman.

She earned the title of "he Queen of the Net" after being dubbed so by Barron's Magazine in 1998 when she wrote "The Internet Report".

More lately her 2012 Internet Trend Report put just about every industry on alert. Her persuasive argument urged leaders to re-imagine nearly everything about their businesses in no uncertain terms from advertising, to mobile to media consumption. Meeker serves on the board of Square and is involved in KPCB's investments in Twitter, Groupon, Spotify, Jawbone and One King's Lane.

Questions for discussion:

1) Pick any person in this reading and write a 300 word essay on their life and why they inspire you.

2) Pick a computer scientist from Russia and write a small biography of them. You may say how much they inspire you!

3) Does programming require physical effort, mental creativity, innovative spirit, and a high degree of patience nowadays? What more qualities does a programmer need, to your mind?

4) Will you be considered a famous or great IT person in your lifetime? Write why or why not.

5) What innovative sector would you like to work in? What projects or programs would you take part in? What position would you choose for yourself?

6) Learn the names of developers and their innovations to be able to reproduce the information. Are you surprised at the number of persons in the list?

7) Prepare papers (доклады) and multimedia presentation on the list, discuss main points.