National Board of Directors

Matt Horner | Chair Executive Vice President, Global Enterprise Sales World Wide Technology

Gail Fierstein | Vice President SVP, Global Head of People CaaStle

Stephen M. Murphy | Secretary Sr. Managing Director, Financial Services Technology Global Lead Accenture

Viola Maxwell-Thompson | Treasurer CEO Emeritus Information Technology Senior Management Forum (ITSMF)

Michael Fugett | Board Observer NPower TX Graduate - VP, Production Management - U.S. Army - Citi

Luisana Estevez | Board Observer NPower NY Graduate - VP, Data Center Production Operations Engineer - Meta

Gerald Charles Jr. VP and Head of Product for Omni Customer Servicing

Capital One

Craig Cuffie Chief Procurement Officer HSBC

Dean Del Vecchio EVP, Chief of Operations and CIO

The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America

Ami Desai Chief of Staff to Founder, Chairman & CEO Vista Equity Partners

Guillermo Diaz, Jr. Founder & CEO Conectado, Inc.

Michael Fey Co-Founder & CEO Island

Kateau James Global Chief Operating Officer Deloitte Technology

Tony Kerrison Chief Technology Officer Bank of America

Debra King Digital and Technology Officer Bunge

Jennifer Kleinert Chief Operating Officer, Enterprise Infrastructure Operations & Technology Citi

California Regional Advisory Board

Eddie Borrero CISO, Blue Shield of California

Alicia Johnson

Principal, Technology Transformation Ernst & Young

Troy Johnson

Managing Director, Western Regional Technology, Deloitte

Mark Patterson SVP, Chief of Staff to Chairman & CEO Cisco Systems

Frank Pedersen Partner Apply Digital

David Reilly Tech Excecutive

Diane Schwarz VP, Chief Information Officer Johnson Controls

Dwight D. Shepherd REAR ADMIRAL (RETIRED) Executive Strategy & Standards, BISO IBM

Anupam Singhal Senior Vice President and Business Head Tata Consultancy Services

Josh Sutton Chief Executive Officer Agorai

Peter Trizzino President Dell Technologies Select

Sangy Vatsa

Founder Digital Insights, LLC

Bertina Ceccarelli

Chief Executive Officer NPower

Ed Morales

Chief Information Security Officer Royal Business Bank

Thao Nguyen Senior Vice President & Group Manager Comerica Bank

Kris Stradelman Founding Partner Peerwayz

Jim Wong Chairman of the Board National Veterans Transition Services

Phil Dillard

Founder, Thruline Networks

Commencement Speaker

Jameeka Aaron

CISO @ Okta

Jameeka Green Aaron is the Chief Information Security Officer, responsible for the holistic security and compliance of Okta’s Customer Identity Cloud, platform, products, and cloud infrastructure.

She is a recognized industry leader and brings 25 years of experience to the role, with a career that has spanned a wide variety of industries, including aerospace and defense, retail, and manufacturing, at both Fortune 100 and privately held companies— including Nike, Hurley, Lockheed Martin, and the U.S. Navy.

Jameeka lives in Irvine, CA, with her husband Amilcar who serves as Diversity Equity and Inclusion Commission for the City of Irvine. She is committed to advancing women and people of color in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. She is an advisor for U.C. Riverside Design Thinking Program, a board member of Digital Brands Group, and a member Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. She enjoys traveling and all things outdoors; glamping, hiking, snowboarding, and lounging on the beach.

Alumni Speaker

Jazmin Lopez

Working on projects in high school is what inspired me to get into the field of technology. The fact that technology has touched almost all industries, has pushed me to pursue this as a career. I had initially planned to enlist in the Air Force, however a turn of events, a car accident, caused me to change my plans. NPower’s free program allowed me an opportunity to pursue a career without impacting my finances with student loans/debt. It also allowed me to pursue a passion which I had during high school working in technical projects.

After finishing Tech Fundamentals, I continued advancing my knowledge and achieved certificates in Agile Project Management and a Certificate of Achievement for Data Analytics. I am now learning programming languages. I want to be able to apply my skills and knowledge and make a difference in the field. I also plan to come back to NPower and take advantage of the resources and other courses they offer like Cybersecurity and Cloud Computing. I would like to thank the NPower Team, Instructors and Social Support Managers for all of their patience, support and working with me to help me complete the course. I am excited to continue to grow as a Technical Professional and come back to NPower to share what I have learned in the field. Thank you!

Student Speaker

Betty Martin-Finneran, Ph.D U.S. Air Force Pleasant Hill, CA

I am a US Air Force veteran; my specialty was office administration, and this specialty did not include any computer technology at that time. Before NPower, I was employed as a retail associate and wondered if I would ever find a job using my advanced degrees. I completed my Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies at The Union Institute, University Graduate College, Cincinnati, Ohio.

My original goal was to teach in some area of Adult Education, and I have 3 years of prior experience working as an instructional assistant in a business computer lab at a community college. Despite my degrees, I had great difficulty finding employment in education. Thus, I returned to college and completed my Master of Science Degree in Information Management Technology at Grantham University, Kansas City, Missouri. This is an IT manager-centric degree. I have no interest in IT management and was interested in gaining IT certifications to pursue alternative roles.

I was introduced to NPower through a VA newsletter and decided to pursue technology. I would love to be employed as a NPower instructor. Three years from now, I see myself as an experienced NPower Instructor teaching either technology or professional development.