In this talk, Ms. Gangas answers crucial questions like, Just because we can build it, should we? Just because we can scale it should we? The questions we must ask ourselves as designers, makers, and consumers of technologies. It took her getting lost in many rooms throughout her career to ask the questions that matter. She is here to share with you that in order to be responsible creators and beneficiaries of innovation, it's important to prioritize representation in tech, ask the tough questions, and create equitable rooms. This is our responsibility to enable the next generation to drive innovation forward that matters. Lili Gangas is the Chief Technology Community Officer at the Kapor Center for Social Impact. In this role, Lili helps catalyze Oakland’s emergence as a social impact hub of tech done right – where tech, diverse talent, and action driven partnerships can tackle pressing social and economic inequities of our communities. Lili advises inclusive tech entrepreneurship ecosystem building activities and Oakland initiatives such as Oakland Startup Network, TechHire Oakland, Kapor Center Innovation Lab to name a few.
Before coming to the Kapor Center, Lili was an Associate Principal at Accenture Technology Lab’s Open Innovation team, based out of Silicon Valley, building bridges between startups and commercial clients. She was also a founding member of the Innovation Services team at Booz Allen specializing in crowdsourcing, prize challenges, and open data solutions at the federal level. Before that, Lili could be found in the lab working on software and hardware solutions for the aerospace industry as a Senior Multi-Disciplined Software Engineer at Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems.
Lili is a proud immigrant from Bolivia who believes in fostering inclusive tech ecosystems for all. Lili holds an MBA from New York University Stern School of Business, a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California and Systems Engineering Certification from UCLA Extension. Lili was an active TechStars Startup Weekend DC organizer, a judge of the Small Business Administration (SBA)’s Startup in a Day Challenge, an open data innovation panelist at the White House Council of Women and Girls session, advisor to Dreamwakers.org and OpenDataNation.com, and a 2018 New America CA Fellow. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx