On September 27, Chris Rys (image below), Systems Engineering Manager at Cisco (Cisco Public Sector Segment), will present on STEM & Girls in IT: Outreach Opportunities. She has worked with and helped head up CISCO's interactions with STEM schools. She is a big promoter of girls in IT. She hails from Mt. Prospect, IL and is currently lives in Bartlett, Illinois. She has been in the IT field for her whole career. Upon graduating from high school she went to work for Cook County in the Computer Operations Department. Based on that experience, she took the opportunity to work for United Airlines in mainframe operations. At United, she worked her way up to Senior Manager of Network Implementation and Design, where she managed 42 engineers within the U.S. After 16 years with United, she was offered a position with Zurich Insurance where she led their IT operations and design and implementation teams focusing on building network infrastructure to serve as an IT outsourcer to other insurance companies. She joined Cisco Systems in 2005, where she has served in leadership roles in Systems Engineering. Her bio notes that she loves to give back. She clearly makes a great role model for young girls to pursue education and careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) and IT.
