AFCEA International Chapter News
CENTRAL MARYLAND CHAPTER CHAPTER - Apr 19, 2013

Women in Intelligence Speaker Event

Teresa Shea, signals intelligence director, National Security Agency, and Debora Plunkett, information assurance director, National Security Agency, were the guest speakers for the chapter's Women in Intelligence Group (WIIG) Spring Speakers event in April. Nearly 125 women and men attended the event at Northrop Grumman IS facilities, where Jennifer Havermann, director of cyber programs, Raytheon AST, moderated the discussion, “Leadership Strategies for Surviving and Thriving in Times of Fundamental Change.” Both Shea and Plunkett spoke to industry needs and personal philosophies in the workplace. Industry needs were a hot topic, and Shea expressed the need for improved information sharing—a collaboration space for information as well as people. Additionally, she encouraged those in attendance who believed they had a solution for improving information sharing to continue to “push that information up.” Plunkett indicated her organization was focused on increasing the use of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) products, and their mantra was “Automation, Integration and Commercialization.” Personal philosophies on what soft skills are necessary to achieve success ranged from Plunkett's affirmation of her belief that you cannot “rely on just one tool, you need an entire toolkit” to be effective, to Shea's assertion that “it's not all about us all the time” and her reminder that, “we all need to work on getting our people out into the community to ascertain needs to help us achieve understanding and therefore success. At the end of the day, you just gotta role up your sleeves and do the hard work.” The chapter's WIIG provides a forum for women of all career levels and disciplines to address gender-specific challenges in the workplace, lessons-learned and best practices. Through networking events, seminars and education initiatives, the WIIG works especially hard at preparing talented women for leadership within the intelligence community. If you would like more information on the WIIG, please visit www.afceacmd.org.


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