WOMEN'S LEADERSHIP PROGRAM

Promote Diversity & Inclusion in Engineering & Manufacturing Fields

For the past 14 years at SMTA International, the committee holds a half day program for all to join and enjoy conversations with their fellow attendees. These programs include technical presentations and round table discussions moderated by industry leaders.

GRAB YOUR DFX UMBRELLA -
IT'S POURING POSSIBILITIES

Real-World Challenges - Innovative Solutions

Step under the DFX umbrella and get ready to soak up inspiration with the SMTA Women's Leadership Program! As possibilities pour down across the ever-evolving landscape of electronics manufacturing, we’re celebrating the incredible women who lead, innovate, and drive change. From the trailblazers who paved the way to the next generation of technology champions, join us as we dive into the opportunities raining down on our industry—and discover how we can shape the future, together.

Invited Keynote Presentations

Invited presentations will be taking place from 1:30pm - 3:45pm

1:30pm-2:15pm

Jennifer Luo, VP Operations

Proficium Inc.

Real-World DFX - Bridging Design, Quality, and Production in Fast-Paced Environments

In today’s fast-paced manufacturing environments, bridging the gap between design, quality, and production is critical to achieving scalable success. This session explores how real-world DFX (Design for Excellence) practices can be effectively applied in resource-limited, time-sensitive, and high-pressure settings to enhance manufacturability, quality, and reliability. Attendees will walk away with practical insights and actionable strategies to align cross-functional teams and accelerate product readiness—without compromising on excellence.

Meet Jennifer Luo Jennifer Luo is the Vice President of Quality and Operational Excellence at Proficium, where she leads initiatives to scale manufacturing, improve product quality, and drive process optimization in the optical communications industry. She brings 30 years of experience in high-tech operations, including her previous role as Senior Director of Operations at Intel’s Silicon Photonics Group, where she led global teams overseeing contract manufacturing, ODM partnerships, supply chain optimization, and new product introductions. Before Intel, Jennifer spent 18 years at JDSU/Lumentum, managing a 40+ member global Product Engineering team and leading complex programs that enabled rapid telecom industry expansion. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Materials Science and Engineering, a Master's in Quality Assurance, and has been an ASQ-certified Six Sigma Black Belt since 2006. Recognized for her fearless leadership, inclusivity, and resilience, Jennifer turns challenges into opportunities for breakthrough performance. In her personal time, she enjoys painting, baking, traveling, volleyball, boxing, and ballroom dancing.

2:15pm-3:00pm

Jessie Rosenberg, Director of Laser Engineering Lightmatter

Scaling AI with Photonic Interconnects: Integration and Manufacturability

As artificial intelligence (AI) datacenters continue their rapid expansion, they face significant hurdles in interconnect bandwidth, power consumption, and latency. While silicon photonics offers a promising solution to these challenges, its widespread adoption has historically been hampered by complexities in integration and reliability.

This talk will trace the progression of photonic interconnects in datacenters, highlighting their journey towards increasingly tighter integration with computing architectures, and delve into the technical advancements that have propelled this progress, making high-performance, energy-efficient optical communication a reality. Furthermore, we'll present a dense 3D integration approach designed to deliver unparalleled bandwidth density, ensuring that future AI models have the computational foundation required for efficient scaling into the future.

Meet Jessie Rosenberg Jessie Rosenberg is the Director of Laser Engineering at Lightmatter, developing scalable laser solutions to support high bandwidth interconnects for supercomputing and machine learning workloads. She received her PhD from Caltech in Applied Physics in 2010, and thereafter joined IBM Research developing a monolithic CMOS-integrated silicon photonics foundry platform for optical interconnects and large-scale photonics applications. After that technology was commercialized in partnership with GlobalFoundries, she moved to the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab in 2019 as Science Strategy Lead, developing AI architectures for intuitive physics as well as aligning the Lab's fundamental research focus with th e technology needs of IBM and corporate partners. In 2023, she joined Lightmatter to leverage the scalability of silicon photonics for AI applications and enable scale-up and scale-out of AI datacenters.

3:00pm-3:45pm

Michaela Nyland, Factory Engineer Manager

John Deere Intelligent Solutions Group (ISG)

Kitting During a Crisis

During a period of severe electronic component shortages, the team at John Deere’s Intelligent Solutions Group faced significant challenges in maintaining production continuity. In response, they developed and implemented an optimized surface mount kitting process designed to increase efficiency and resilience. This solution not only helped sustain uninterrupted factory operations but also improved overall resource utilization during a time of critical supply chain disruption.

Meet Michael Nyland Michaela Nyland brings over 30 years of experience with John Deere, a global leader in agricultural and construction equipment. She began her career at Phoenix International, then a subsidiary of John Deere, where she led the Inside Sales and Marketing departments. After a decade, she transitioned into Operations, taking on leadership roles in Master Scheduling and Order Fulfillment. Throughout her tenure, Michaela has held various leadership positions across Supply Management, Production Scheduling, and Factory Management. She played a key role in the startup and launch of John Deere Intelligent Solutions Group (ISG) facilities in Torreón, Mexico, and Pune, India. In 2020, she was appointed Factory Engineering Manager for ISG’s global production facilities. Michaela resides in Fargo, North Dakota, with her husband, two children, and their dog. In her free time, she enjoys reading, biking, and spending quality time with her family.

Round Table Discussions

Grab a Seat, Share a Thought, Spark a Solution.

Join industry experts and fellow attendees for engaging round table discussions covering the latest challenges and innovations in electronics manufacturing. This year’s topics include cleaning, harsh environments and reliability, PCB fabrication and assembly, quantum computing, repairability, sustainability, and test and failure analysis.

Discussions will take place from 4:00pm–5:00pm. Attendees are encouraged to move between tables every 15 minutes or stay and dive deeper into the topic that sparks their interest. Come ready to exchange ideas, ask questions, and explore the possibilities raining down across the industry!

Cleaning

Hosted by:

Debbie Carboni, KYZEN Corporation

Chelsea Jewell, KYZEN Corporation

Harsh Environments

& Reliabilitiy

Hosted By:
Mumtaz Bora, pSemi
Kelly Flanagan, Rockwell Automation

Melanie Mathon, Inventec Performacnce Solutions

PCB Fabrication

& Analysis

Hosted by:

Jennifer Luo, Proficium

Chrys Shea, Shea Engineering Services

Quantum Computing

Hosted By:
Ron Lasky, Ph.D., P.E., Indium Corporation/Dartmouth College

Ruchi Pendse, IBM Corporation

Kate Smith, Northwestern University

Repairability

Hosted By:
Gayle Towell, AIM Solder

Julie Silk, Keysight Technologies

Sustainability

Hosted By:

Elizabeth Benedetto, HP, Inc.

Viktoria Rawinski, Rawinski GmbH

John Watson, SMTA and Palomar College

Test & Failure Analysis

Hosted By:
Djawhar Ferrah, John Deere

Brad Palmer, John Deere

Connection Reception

We'll conclude the Women’s Leadership Program with our annual Connection Reception. This gathering provides a relaxed atmosphere to continue the conversations from the earlier segments of the WLP, fostering new and renewed connections across the SMTA community

of organizers, speakers, exhibitors and attendees.

Connection Reception: 5:00pm - 6:00pm

Thank You to Our Supporting Companies!

The following companies have generously committed to providing company-branded items for inclusion in the WLP swag bags distributed to all attendees. Looking for more? For $300 you can place company flyers/product listing in the swag bag in addition to your company-branded item. Donating a company-branded item is FREE!

If your company is interested in supporting the WLP, please contact SMTA Headquarters.