INDUSTRY

Solaris Operating System (Solaris OS) Creator's Participation Underscores Commitment to diverse workforce and ongoing growth and leadership development for technical women: Sun Microsystems today announced that seven female employees will be among an elite group of presenters at the sixth Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, held October 4-7, 2006 at the Town and Country Resort in San Diego, Calif. The Grace Hopper Celebration provides a unique opportunity to tap the talents of women and minorities who can, and will, have a major positive impact on women's ability to compete on a global stage. "Sun is committed to supporting and nourishing talent and skills in its employees," said Shari Slate, director of Sun's Global Inclusion Office. "We strongly believe in the conference vision, that a diverse workforce, with women fully represented, stands to revolutionize not only how technology is created, but also what is invented and how those innovations impact society. We look forward to making the Grace Hopper conference a success and bringing our nation closer to increasing women representation in science and technology." Sun Microsystems presenters will speak on a variety of topics pertaining to technology, leadership, mentoring and diversity. Katy Dickinson, Sun's director business process architecture for Sun Labs and member of the advisory board for the Anita Borg Institute will be speaking at the invite only tech leaders panel, "Building and Sustaining Change in Technology Cultures:Showcasing What Works." In addition, Ingrid Van den Hoogen, senior vice president of branding, and executives of Sun Labs, Dr. Radia Perlman, Dr. Gilda Garreton, and Dr. Susan Landau will be speaking on advancing careers, Latinas in engineering, mentoring, research and innovation. Sun Microsystems promotes an awareness of women at Sun by fostering networking, mentoring, and leadership opportunities within the company, which encourages personal, professional, and organizational growth. In addition to the participating speakers at the Grace Hopper Conference, Sun will also be sending 30 employees to the event for education and networking opportunities. Sun is a Gold Sponsor of the event.