Women's Entrepreneurship Series: Leading women leading change

Kathi Vidal serves as the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) – America’s Innovation Agency. As the chief executive of the USPTO, she leads one of the largest intellectual property (IP) offices in the world, with more than 13,000 employees and an annual budget of more than $4 billion. She is the principal IP advisor to the President and the Administration, through the Secretary of Commerce, and is focused on incentivizing and protecting U.S. innovation, entrepreneurship, and creativity. She leads an agency whose mission is to help American workers and businesses compete and collaborate, especially in ground-breaking technologies and across all demographics. 

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Kate Dei Cas brings over 20+ years of semiconductor industry expertise. As Global Head of Delivery Systems & Services at EMD Electronics, she oversees manufacturing, engineering, quality, field services, and sales for specialty gas and chemical equipment and services. As a diversity advocate, Kate champions the company's inclusion strategy and contributes to the SEMI US Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Advisory Council.

Suezette Y. Robotham, is an executive with nearly 20 years of experience working at the nexus of her passion and purpose: creating equitable access and opportunity for folks from underrepresented groups. She cut her leadership chops in education reform, working for organizations like Teach For America. Her most recent professional experience includes leading global teams at Google, Meta, Gartner, and Salesforce.

Sonia joined Google in 2003. During her tenure, she has grown businesses across Ads, Search, Platforms, Hardware and Commerce. Currently, she is leading the Google Shopping Partnerships team to ideate, build, and scale Google’s consumer shopping initiatives. Her team is bringing Generative AI, Augmented Reality, and Machine Learning to market through first of kind experiences.