The nine women sitting at the table are world-class programmers and technologists, the kind of people directly responsible for RTP’s global reputation.

Deirdre Clarke is director of product management at Bandwidth, while Jeanne Hiesel and Janevieve Grabert are senior software engineers for TekSystems at BASF Plant Science and Reed Elsevier, respectively. Software technical sales business analyst Jane Bossert and senior IT architect Nicole Ann Hargrove are both with IBM, while Angie Jones is a consulting automation engineer with LexisNexis. Beth Kuehnert is a Web developer with NETE Solutions, Rachel Clark is an information developer with TechSmith Corporation and Kylie Geller is a software development intern at Republic Wireless.

Yet they’ve gathered at the Bandwidth office at N.C. State University’s Centennial Campus as volunteers. Clarke is the community leader for the North Carolina chapter of Pennsylvania-based TechGirlz, a nonprofit that organizes free events geared to get middle school girls interested in technology; the other women are her collaborators.

Written by Corbie Hill. Appeared in the News & Observer on February 8, 2016. Read the full article here >