Display Week’s second annual Women in Tech forum brought together female innovators, scientists, executives and experts at the forefront of the field who shared their personal and professional journeys and how to succeed in the fast-moving, unpredictable world of technology.

Pictured (left to right): Moderator Tara Akhavan, Founder and CTO, IRYStec, Marketing Vice-Chair, Society for Information Display; Nadya Ichinomiya, Director of Information Technology, Sony Pictures, Co-founder, Women in Tech: Hollywood; Rosalie Hou, CEO of ELIX Wireless Charging Systems, Inc.; Poppy Crum, Ph.D., Chief Scientist at Dolby Laboratories, Adjunct Professor, Stanford University Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics and Program in Symbolic Systems; and Robinne Burrell, Chief Digital Product Officer, Redflight Mobile/Redflight Innovation.

Over the past decade, Robinne Burrell has been at the forefront of technology and emerging media, having worked with brands spanning digital, interactive, mobile and social experiences. She led product development and strategy at Amazon/IMDb, and myspace during its peak and Match.com/Tinder. Through her company, Redflight Innovation – an interactive development company located in Los Angeles and Johannesburg – she has built digital products for NBC’s The Voice, Comedy Central and Steven Spielberg’s The VR Company, among others. Robinne was also an on-air correspondent at the Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama, covering the logistical technology used during the ceremonies. She is the first African-American woman to be nominated for an Emmy in VR.

At Dolby Laboratories, Dr. Poppy Crum directs the growth of internal science, responsible for integrating neuroscience and sensory data science into algorithm design, technological development, and technology strategy. At Stanford, her work focuses on the impact and feedback potential of new technologies, including gaming and immersive environments (such as AR/VR) on neuroplasticity and learning. She has also been named to Billboard Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential female executives in the music industry.

Rosalie Hou, CEO of ELIX Wireless Charging Systems, led the Emerson Process Management in China, a $300 million business, before joining ELIX. She worked with Emerson from 1995 to 2016, and and held various positions. She was also a business leader in Rosemount Analytical, Inc. and its sales leader in East China.

As Director of Information Technology at Sony Pictures, Nadya Ichinomiya acts as a product manager for her group, leading teams that create world-class mobile apps and websites to support television shows like Outlander, Better Call Saul, The Blacklist, and Shark Tank. Four years ago, she co-founded Women In Technology: Hollywood, a cross media and entertainment initiative with 1600+ members from all the major studios. She was also the co-chair of Women in Technology at Sony Pictures. She is the CEO and founder of Solve For Equality by 2025 in Hollywood and Technology Initiative, which has the mission to disrupt discrimination and racism in these two industries, creating an environment where everyone has a voice and no one is left out.

Tara Akhavan is a technology entrepreneur. She is the founder and CTO of IRYStec a Series-A startup based in Montreal. She has raised and helped raise more than $8 million in angel and VC funding. Prior to founding IRYStec, she was awarded for scaling an Operations and Maintenance Center (OMC) product in the telecommunications industry – from analyze and design to deployment – in a 3GPP mobile network with 20 million subscribers. Ms. Akhavan holds a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering, a master’s degree in artificial intelligence and a Ph.D. in image processing and computer vision from Vienna University of Technology.

The Women in Tech Forum at SID Display Week 2018 was sponsored by Microsoft and CLEARInk.