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Session

Inclusive Leadership in Action: Shaping Strategy, Driving Innovation, and Delivering Enterprise Impact
Women in Technology Roundtable

VIP Theater

Starts: October 14, 2026 2:00 pm
Ends: 3:00 pm
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Abstract:

As enterprises navigate accelerating digital transformation, heightened risk environments, and increasing demands for measurable business outcomes, inclusive leadership has emerged as a critical driver of enterprise performance. Women in technology leadership roles continue to shape how organizations define strategy, execute transformation, and sustain innovation across IT, cybersecurity, and digital functions.

This panel brings together senior women technology leaders to explore how inclusive leadership practices are influencing decision-making at the highest levels of the enterprise. The discussion will examine how leaders are aligning technology initiatives with business priorities, driving large-scale transformation, and ensuring organizations remain agile and resilient in the face of constant change.

Panelists will also share how they are engaging executive stakeholders and boards, navigating complex trade-offs in high-pressure environments, and building cultures that support accountability, performance, and long-term talent development. The conversation will highlight how inclusive leadership is not only a cultural strength, but also a measurable driver of innovation, resilience, and enterprise value.

Key Takeaways:

  • Inclusive Leadership as Strategy: How diverse leadership perspectives are shaping enterprise decision-making and business outcomes
  • Driving Enterprise Transformation: Approaches to leading large-scale technology change while balancing innovation, risk, and execution
  • Executive Engagement: Best practices for influencing C-suite and board-level discussions with clarity and impact
  • Building Resilient Organizations: Creating high-performing teams that adapt effectively in complex and evolving environments
  • Talent and Culture Advantage: How inclusive leadership strengthens talent development, retention, and organizational performance
  • Measurable Business Impact: The link between inclusive leadership, innovation outcomes, and sustained enterprise value
Host

Prachi Choudhari Jha

Senior Information Security Program Manager, eBay

With over 6 years of hands-on experience driving and delivering complex cybersecurity initiatives and over 8 years of experience managing large scale projects. I currently lead multiple high-impact security programs at eBay, including AI Security, SIEM, Security Operations, Vulnerability Management, and GRC. My focus is on aligning technical security efforts with strategic business goals — ensuring scalable, resilient, and compliant systems in an evolving threat landscape. What sets me apart is my ability to bridge technical depth with agile execution. As a Certified Scrum Master and SAFe Agilist, I thrive in dynamic environments, fostering cross-functional collaboration and delivering measurable outcomes across globally distributed teams. 🔹 Passionate about securing innovation — especially at the intersection of AI, cloud, and compliance. 🔹 Known for transforming complex security challenges into actionable roadmaps. 🔹 Committed to continuous learning, leadership, and driving security culture across the organization. 🔹 Managing AI Security Programs to implement protect AI solutions that will prevent Model Injection Vulnerability. 🔹 Managing AI Security Programs to prevent PII data leakage in training model dataset. 🔹 Managed multiple security compliance audits, e.g., PCI, SOX, SWIFT, NACHA and SOC2. 🔹 Certified Scrum Master and Certified SAFe 5 practitioner 🔹 Programming Languages – SQL and Python 🔹 Proficient in MS Project, Microsoft Office – Excel, Word and PowerPoint, OneNote, SharePoint, Smartsheet , Service Now and Google docs.

Speakers

Sarah Bly

CEO, Pathwarden

The hardest part of AI transformation isn't the AI. It's everything underneath: undocumented processes, unclear access controls, messy data, no governance. And once those are fixed, it's still not the AI. It's adoption. Most AI projects don't fail because the technology doesn't work. They fail because nobody designed for how real humans absorb change, push back on it, learn to trust it, or quietly route around it. I founded Pathwarden to do this work properly for growth-stage and lower mid-market companies. We're a full-stack AI consulting firm: strategy, architecture, and implementation of production-grade AI systems, built on the security, governance, and IT foundations that make them actually stick. Audit the foundation, then build AI on something that holds. My path to this work isn't linear, but the through-line is consistent: I've spent my career at the intersection of people and systems, in environments where both have to work or nothing does. I started as a wilderness counselor working with adolescents in crisis, then taught K-12 both outdoors and in the classroom. Both jobs are about reading people accurately, staying calm when things get hard, and designing experiences that actually change behavior. From there I moved into IT and information security leadership, eventually running both functions solo: building the policies, operationalizing the controls, and learning end-to-end what it takes to make a security and IT program work in the real world, not on paper. Pathwarden is where all of that comes together. AI transformation is a technical problem on the surface and a human problem underneath. Senior leaders need decision-ready information. Teams need tools and processes that make their work easier, not harder. The systems need to hold up under load, audit, and time. That's the work. We're currently leading a 21-month, 23-project AI transformation for a fintech client, and selectively taking on new engagements. If you're a growth-stage or lower mid-market leader trying to do AI properly, or a partner building in this space, I'd like to hear from you.

Narinder Kaur

Vice President, WiCyS Western Washington Affiliate

Mentor experience: WiCys (Women in Cybersecurity), EWF(Executive Women's Forum), Microsoft Mentoring Rings, Mentorcruise https://mentorcruise.com/mentor/narinderkaur/. Finalist for WIC Mentor of the year 2026 award. Co-chaired Microsoft Women/ERG Mentoring rings, Leadership development programs, Manager Excellence programs, ERG Speaking events. Extensive hiring experience at Microsoft for Engineers/Architects and driving Engineering role transformations.