To our talented Dallas SWE Members,
As I reflect on my time as President of Dallas SWE, I wanted to express my gratitude for the support, innovations, and dedication that our diverse and talented membership has contributed to our thriving Dallas SWE section over the past couple of years.
It truly is a very exciting time for Dallas SWE. We are riding the momentum generated this past year of delivering a wide array of Professional Development, Outreach, and Membership events that contributed to the continued diversification of our offerings. Thanks to our efforts in expanding relationships with great companies in the Metroplex, we also were able to generate a record volume of both corporate sponsor renewals and new sponsors. We continue to have active conversations with many exciting companies and plan for new and improved offerings for FY25.
The outgoing officers of FY24 and incoming officers for FY25 just met a couple of weekends ago for our annual transition meeting to reflect on the past year, discuss improvements and opportunities, and strategize for the upcoming year ahead. We are very excited about the great things in our pipeline for this year.
You are in great hands with Katia Gomez leading our section as President. Katia has been deeply involved in Dallas SWE since 2010 and led many of our strategic initiatives within Professional Development and Outreach in the past, as well as engagement cross-organizationally with NSBE and SHPE. She will bring not only her valuable experience to leading our organization, but her passion for leadership development and process improvement so that Dallas SWE can continue to grow and innovate.
Katia will be supported by Cyonna Holmes, transitioning from her role as Vice President of Outreach to President-Elect, a new role implemented this year to further drive internal and external relationship building within the section. Nicole Anklam will continue as our Vice President of Professional Development, as will our Secretary, Sammy Zellner, who continues to do outstanding in delivering all of the important communications to the section. Ashley Johnson is coming on board as Vice President of Membership, replacing Meena Nagappan, who has done a terrific job in creating an engaging and inclusive slate of membership programming the past couple of years. Robyn Broniewski will lead volunteering and community outreach initiatives as our new Vice President of Outreach. After serving our section as Treasurer since FY20 and doing a tremendous to generate more revenue year after year through grants, fundraising, and sponsorship engagement, Katie Mills will be transitioning from the role and Ana Gonzalez, who led Dallas SWE’s professional development in FY23, will be our new Treasurer.
I would like to thank the FY24 officers transitioning out of their roles for their contributions to growing the section and leading their committees to take Dallas SWE further through greater innovations, inclusion, and collaboration.
Thank you to Meena and the Membership Committee for creating many new membership socials and engagement opportunities, driving continual membership recognition, enabling Dallas SWE to earn a Mission Award awarded to us by SWE HQ, and empowering members to apply and earn their own individual awards.
I would also like to recognize Cyonna and the Outreach Committee for leading Outreach so well these past couple of years, expanding relationships with more partner organizations, impacting a greater number of girls in our community to learn about STEM, and pushing the boundaries to deliver STEM initiatives to more underrepresented populations and minorities in our area.
Special thank you also to Katie for driving so much financial growth for our section. Each year, we’ve been able to increase our scholarship allocation due to Katie’s dedication and organization in driving corporate sponsorships and fundraising opportunities. Katie has done a phenomenal job in maintaining the financial records of the section and keeping me honest on sponsorship outreach and engagement, many of which directly led to corporate renewals that increased our investment income. Thanks to her efforts for truly enabling us to carry out our mission by having the fuel in the tank to take us forward. With Katie’s leadership, our tank was always full.
I will continue to be involved in Dallas SWE and support Katia and Ana through our investment committee. I am also excited to step into a new role as a Leadership Coach on SWE’s Leadership Coaching Committee and support other SWE sections around the US.
If you participated and enjoyed any of our programming from last year, from Outreach, to Professional Development, to Member Socials, and more, please consider lending a helping hand to the teams who deliver these great events. Please also remember to renew your SWE membership if you have not already done so. Renewing your membership allows you continued access to the dozens of events we put on a year, networking opportunities, and career advancement.
I hope that you are as energized about this upcoming year as the team is. Looking ahead, I can’t wait to see all of the things that Dallas SWE will accomplish in FY25!
Rana Karimi
Dallas SWE FY23-24 President
