Recently while walking in a parking lot with my brother, he stopped to observe the adhesive material of a stop sign. He spent several minutes observing this stop sign as if it were a piece of art. He detailed the type material used, its characteristics and even shared the adhesive manufacturer. Prior to this moment, I had driven past thousands of stop signs and only saw red, white and the word stop. What I would typically see prior to this event was of course adequate. But who wants to be adequate when you can be great!What my brother shared provided me with a deeper understanding of signs and adhesives. It opened up a room in my mind that would have been otherwise untapped. This is the essence of how diversity thrives inside of Intel. The diverse individual experiences enrich what we see, innovate what we design, and challenge us to look at things from unique perspectives. We walk away collectively having learned more and with stronger outcomes than we each individually bring to the discussion. Diversity is the one thing we all have in common and at Intel, it is much of the magic behind our successes.
Annually, the Arizona site formally celebrates our diversity efforts with an award event. This month, we honored 16 leaders, 13 employee groups and Veena Mahesh was the recipient of our prized AZ Lifetime Achievement Award. Congratulations to all of the diversity leaders. Malcolm Forbes once said, “diversity is the art of thinking independently together.” It is indeed and is also the glue that weaves innovation together at Intel.
As the Deputy Director of Intel's Diversity in Technology Initiative, Barbara leads the strategy and execution of Intel's recently announced commitment of a $300M Diversity in Technology (DiT) Fund. Barbara works in collaboration with key stakeholders and respective fund decision makers on an integrated strategy that drives Intel's funding selections and public announcements. She is responsible for developing the infrastructure, operational and implementation design of the Fund that positions Intel to successfully achieve its 2020 full representation of women and underrepresented minority goal. As part of her oversight, Barbara also directly leads the team focused on DiT Fund investments in the education pipeline focused on Intel's immediate workforce development needs. Barbara has a BS degree in Electrical Engineering, an MBA and is currently pursuing a PhD in Human and Social Dimensions of Science and Technology at Arizona State University.
Prior to transitioning to the philanthropic side of Intel, she spent 15 years in key leadership and project engineering roles responsible for acquiring and starting up new facilities for Intel Corporation worldwide. Barbara led operations for multiple international startups with fast paced ramps resulting in rich and rewarding cultural experiences. She and her family lived in Costa Rica for two years as Intel established a critical manufacturing presence there. She is a Certified Executive Leadership Coach with the International Coach Federation (ICF) and a Professional Facilitator with experience in the fields of program management, strategy development, and mergers/acquisitions. She is a graduate of the Business for Diplomatic Action Fellows Program that resulted in a three-week global leadership exchange in the Middle East and is a recipient of Intel's Lifetime Diversity Achievement Award.