Categories
Event

IPN and IHPA : Webinar on Saturday, March 10th 2018 – CRISPR the Next Multi-Billion $ Market

IPN and IHPA are pleased to host a webinar on CRISPR – the ground-breaking gene-editing technology that will revolutionize health, medicine, and touch virtually every segment across the economy.

The webinar – designed and led by experts in Genetics, Technology, and Economics – will quickly bring the highlights of this technology to you and provide a glimpse of the future with a “crisp” eye toward potential careers and economic opportunities – projected to be a multi-billion dollar market worldwide.

The webinar will be held on Saturday, March 10th 2018 at 1pm ET.
Click Here to register!

Presenter:
Dr. Rob Mitra, Ph.D. is Professor of Genetics at Washington University Medical School in St. Louis, MO. Dr. Mitra’s lab remains focused on this technology and has developed several front-end methods such as pooled-sample sequencing and Nested-Patch PCR. In addition, Dr. Mitra serves as Director of the Washington University Genomic Technology Access Center (GTAC), which provides next generation sequencing and analysis to the Washington University.

Moderator:
Karim Budhwani has been CEO of Elixir International, a technology and management firm in Birmingham, AL, for more than 20 years. He also serves as a Visiting Scientist at Coe College with research focusing on the intersections of materials science, nanotechnology, and biomedical sciences.

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Event

IPN Roundtable Discussion : Phoenix, AZ on Friday, February 9th 2018 – A Focus on Disruptive Technologies

IPN West Invites You to the Phoenix Roundtable Discussion- A Focus on Disruptive Technologies

IPN West invites you to learn more about IPN’s programs and services. The IPN West team will share insights on the organization’s objectives as well as how you can leverage the network to advance your career, collaborate on new opportunities and contribute to the Ismaili professionals’ community.

As part of the session, IPN will also host a roundtable on emerging trends within technology, including cryptocurrency and blockchain, artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, machine learning and robotics automation. As technology disrupts our lives at a rapid pace, we must embrace change to maintain leadership in our respective fields as well as identify opportunities for economic and professional growth.

Date: Friday, February 9th, 2018 after Jamat Khana ceremonies

Location: Held in Phoenix, AZ Jamat Khana

Host: Akbar Jaffer, IPN West Honorary Secretary. Akbar is a product strategist and a marketing technologist with over 20 years of industry experience. He currently serves as the Chief Marketing Officer of ZorroSign, Inc., Founding Chairman of the Silicon Valley chapter of the Internet Marketing Association and an author of PointofIntersection.org, a blog about Technology and Humanities.

Food and refreshments will be provided.

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Spotlight

Alim Hirani

IPN Spotlight: Alim Hirani (General Manager/Managing Director at Hilti India)

Alim Hirani has been General Manager / Managing Director of Hilti India since October 2015. He is responsible for the strategy and long term development of the Hilti organization in India. He began his career with Hilti in 2004 in the United States and he has held various diversified roles in sales, finance, strategic marketing and general management. Alim has lived in Houston, Dallas, Tulsa and in San Francisco where he was Divisional Head for Northern California, Oregon, Washington & Alaska.
In 2015, he was appointed as General Manager / MD for Hilti India and relocated to New Delhi for this role. He has always been instrumental in developing and implementing strategy in alignment with Hilti’s mid- and long-term goals. Alim has majorly contributed towards steering the business results through the execution of strategic initiatives while fostering the development of organizational talent. He holds a Bachelor in Finance/Marketing and an executive MBA from the University of Houston.

What skills have helped you in your career?
Empathetic leadership, passion for people, relentless pursuit to deliver results, listening more talking less, being curious and being patient yet persistent.

What do you wish you had known or done differently throughout your career?
Don’t get dishearten by failures. Failing is learning and it is part of the development process. Take every moment positively and don’t be to hard on yourself when things don’t go right. If you are not making mistakes, you are making the biggest mistake.

What do you do for continuing education and improvement?
1) Read – I travel alot and as a result find time to read a lot in the air. I recently read Hit Refresh, by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. It’s an authentic masterpiece about the importance to stop what we’re doing, rethink, re-energize, & recalibrate
2) Social media platforms – I believe social media if utilized correctly can be a huge learning platform to continuously learn and develop
3) External stimuli – once a year I make it a point to engage in an external conference or executive education to gain different perspectives and stay relevant. The world is changing at such rapid speed and it’s important to try and keep up. It’s very easy to get blinders on and begin to see the world from your viewpoint
4) Mentorship – Leadership can sometimes be a very lonely job and it’s important to have someone to give you feedback and that you can reflect with from time to time

What is next for you in your career?
I have had a very simple policy of not worrying about what is next. I believe in focusing on doing the role you are in, doing it well, developing people and delivering results. As long as I am personally growing, having fun and having the opportunity to have an impact and difference in people’s lives, I am happy doing what I do. When the time is right and if I am ready, the organization will give me a new challenge.

What advice would you offer to others?
1) Set your own benchmark on what success looks like – don’t let others define your personal journey
2) Have a mentor and be a mentor – I truly believe that you can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want
3) Don’t forget to give back – when you give back (in any form) and are a contributing member of civil society, I believe you always receive much more than you give
4) Discipline and focus are underrated and boring, however, they are cornerstones for success

Krish Dhanam said it best – “Plan w/attitude, prepare w/ aptitude, participate w/ servitude, receive w/ gratitude, & that should be enough to separate you from the multitudes.”

Areas where you can help other Ismailis:
• Building high performing teams
• Career advice
• Sales leadership
• Job placement
• Strategic Marketing

Please provide the link to your LinkedIn profile:
Alim Hirani

If you would like to nominate someone to be a part of the spotlight, click Here.

Categories
Spotlight

Shemin Nurmohamed

IPN Spotlight: Shemin Nurmohamed (CEO, Pitney Bowes)

Shemin is currently CEO of Pitney Bowes France. She joined PB in early 2016. She is a member of the PB Leadership Team, and has been nominated to the PB Technology team to help craft the strategy on innovation, accelerator and machine-to-machine learning. Prior to joining PB, Shemin had a successful 17-year career at IBM, where she held a number of other leadership roles, in both finance and sales, at the national, European, and Global levels.
Shemin started her career on Wall Street working for D.E. Shaw. She is also Chairman of fast-growing startup LiveMon. Passionate about helping young women navigate their careers, Shemin is regularly invited to speak at seminars and conferences in Europe and the Middle East. She most recently gave a Tedx talk on the subject and plans to release her first book on Amazon Nov. 23, 2017.
Shemin holds a BA in Chemistry from Cornell, an MA from the University of Toronto, and an MBA from Henley. She resides in Paris with her husband and two children.

What skills have helped you in your career?
Believe it or not I think that the softer skills which are easily transferable from job to job have helped me in my career. Skills like: a) listening – people are so worried about making an impression so they are always thinking of the next comment they forget to actually listen and this is where breakthroughs are made; b) Compassion – when you care for your team and think of them as people and not just means to a goal not only breed loyalty but you will outperform because you will truly work as a unit and finally c) Consistency -I have found that in terms of career longevity, looking at it like a marathon versus a sprint, in my opinion. Consistently working on long term objective will allow one to achieve incredible results in one’s lifetime. Although these are soft skills, I believe that they can be real game changers in the trajectory of one’s career.

What do you wish you had known or done differently throughout your career?
Well – I really have no regrets, but if I had a time machine I would tell my younger self to not be so hard on herself and not to be scared to take short sabbaticals between jobs. Additionally, I would tell her not to laugh at Jeff Bezos’ startup idea of selling books on the internet in 1995 when we worked at the same investment bank. 🙂

What do you do for continuing education and improvement?
Well first I do take advantage of any opportunities offered by my company – for example IBM offered to pay for my MBA which I did and Pitney has a Harvard Manage Mentor program which I am in the process of completing. Additionally, I try to read as much as I can to find the nuggets that will help me improve my team, my leadership and myself – one small step at a time.

What is next for you in your career?
To be very honest sometimes I have to pinch myself as I never thought I would get this far! Given that it is by the grace of God that I am I feel that it is my duty to help others on this journey. So, in terms of next steps to complement my career, I plan on doing more coaching and speaking and who knows maybe write another book!

What advice would you offer to others?
The two best pieces of advice I had received was:
1) Don’t be afraid to make mistakes just don’t make the same ones twice and
2) You can have it all just not all at the same time – this last piece of advice is really helpful for a working mom as it takes the pressure off being perfect all the time

Areas where you can help other Ismailis:
• Career coaching
• Interview prep for students wanting to go to IVY leagues as I am an interviewer for Cornell
• Women mentorship

Please provide the link to your LinkedIn profile:
Shemin Hirji-Nurmohamed

If you would like to nominate someone to be a part of the spotlight, click Here.

Categories
Event

Career Exploration Panel : Webinar on Sunday, October 22nd 2017 – Forensic Psychiatry, Digital and Web Literacy, Veterinary Medicine and Architecture

“Career Exploration Series” is back!! Learn from this diverse panel representing the areas of Forensic Psychiatry, Digital and Web Literacy, Veterinary Medicine and Architecture. The panelists will discuss their education journey and work experiences as well as will provide insights into what a typical day looks like and the current and emerging opportunities in these respective fields.

Target Audience: Senior Secondary and Post-Secondary Students and their Parents
Date and Time: Sunday, Oct 22nd 2017 at 1:00 PM EST, 10:00 AM PST, 11:00 AM MST
Limited spots are available

Objectives:
• To learn about the fields of Digital & Web Literacy, Forensic Psychiatry, Veterinary Medicine and Architecture
• To gain insights into the educational requirements, growth opportunities and practical tips for navigating these fields
• To broaden perspectives and create awareness of diverse career paths

Register by clicking Here.

Panelists:

Amira Dhalla- Lead of Gender and Education, Mozilla Foundation
Amira Dhalla works at the Mozilla Foundation as the Lead for Women and Web Literacy programs that focus on providing an accessible, safe, open and innovative web for women. She develops programs, writes curriculum and runs trainings, all with the help of key collaborators like UN Women, Web Foundation, Ford Foundation, World Economic Forum, ITU and others.

Like many others, she loves the Internet and the power it gives to individual people. And like Mozilla, she wants the Internet to remain an open and innovative place that is accessible to all people.  Amira has worked for many years building communities and movements among nonprofits, startups, social enterprises and technology-focused organizations. She is a skilled facilitator and presenter who speaks about her passion on protecting the web, creating change for social good, developing inclusive learning spaces and female empowerment.

Izzy Hirji- Veterinarian, Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary
Izzy (Ismail) Hirji is a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and holds an honours B.Sc. in Zoology. With a passion for primate conservation and medicine, he has worked with many apes, monkeys and other wildlife around the world. Most recently, he held the role of resident veterinarian and assistant camp manager for the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Sierra Leone, caring for over 80 chimpanzees and managing both the staff and grounds. Over the last decade, he has gained extensive experience through training and volunteering with several wildlife centres, sanctuaries and zoos around the world. He currently acts as the primary veterinarian for Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary in Durham, Ontario.

For the past decade, Izzy has been actively engaged with local and global organizations involving the environment, social justice, animal welfare, politics and faith. He is extremely passionate about environmental conservation and One Health – integrating animal health, human health and environmental health.

Alia Noormohamed- Senior Designer, FNDA Architecture Inc.
Alia has been an artist and a designer since childhood. Growing up in a household with both parents being designers, and encouraging her artistic side, she was able to nurture and explore her creativity through art and design. This nurturing and exploration led her to scholarships and awards for her art in high school and has since sold many works. As an artist, she has been participating in group and solo exhibitions since 1999. Her other work includes furniture design, custom cabinetry, light fixtures, photography, clothing,
costume and graphic design, with undergraduate studies in architecture, receiving her degree from Carleton University.

She received a 2007 ADEX award for design excellence for her coffee table and lamp design and a 2013 Northwest Design award for best contemporary room design for a house in North Vancouver. Her paintings, furniture, and lighting have also been published in 4 magazines, and a project was featured in September 2014 on television. She had the privilege of taking part in an event named “dinner by design”, where selected designers are given a 12x12x12 space in CBC studios to design a structure or space with a dining space and an intricate “table scape” for a large charity event. Most recently, she was named the winner of the Fantini Design award, which she will be receiving in Milan in October 2017. In addition to many different types of projects she has been the design lead for 4 Jamatkhanas: Kingston JK, ON, Calgary Westwinds JK, Alberta, Downtown Toronto JK, ON, and Ottawa JK, ON

Dr. Sameer K Bandali- Forensic Psychiatrist, Essex National Health Service Trust
Dr. Sameer K Bandali graduated in 2007 from the University of Liverpool with Honours in Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB Hons). Post graduate he completed his 2 year foundation training with the Mersey Deanery across multiple specialities including trauma and orthopaedics, Upper GI surgery, general medicine and Accident and Emergency medicine before settling on a medical career in Psychiatry. He spent the subsequent 4 years training as a Junior doctor in psychiatry with the London Deanery across a number of sub-specialities including general adult psychiatry, old age psychiatry,child and adolescent psychiatry and high secure forensic psychiatry. In 2014 he gained membership of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and spent the next 3 years doing higher training as a forensic psychiatrist across male and female low and medium secure services.

In July of this year following the completion of his training he took up his first Consultant position as Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist for Low Secure Women’s services. Aside from this position he has special experience and expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorder. As a forensic psychiatrist he works with Courts (both Crown and Magistrates), Barristers (both prosecution and/or defence) as an expert witness to identify mental health issues relevant to the case, its impact on ones offending, potential future risk and to advise on sentencing options if necessary.

Categories
Resources

VIDEO: Understanding the Artificial Intelligence Revolution (Sept. 25, 2016)

 

Understanding the Artificial Intelligence Revolution – Amyn Jan
Webinar was held on Sunday, September 25, 2016

Program Overview
Understanding the Artificial Intelligence Revolution: Advancement in Artificial Intelligence in recent years has presented technologies like self-driving cars and machines that understand speech, such as Amazon’s Echo device. Amyn Jan (Spotlight), Technical Director with the US Government, spoke about concepts like Deep Learning and its application in Medicine, Agriculture, Media and other industries in the webinar held on September 25th, 2016.

Speaker Profile
Amyn has spent over ten years with the US Government in various technical leadership roles working with diverse emerging technologies such as natural language processing, telematics & advanced cellular technologies. He is well-experienced in seeding several leading edge technical programs. Amyn has taught emerging technology classes in several US Government research forums as well as pioneered technical breakthroughs in this area. Prior to joining US Government, he spent ten years at private sector in applied research and product development. Amyn holds a Master’s Degree in Electrical and Biomedical Engineering as well as an MBA.


The presenter(s) have granted permission for use of this content for IPN members only.  Please do not share this content outside of IPN without requesting permission from the presenter(s).

Categories
Resources

VIDEO: Cyber Security Trends for 2016 & Beyond (May 1, 2016)

 

Cyber Security Trends for 2016 & Beyond – Zulfikar Ramzan
Webinar was held on Sunday, May 1, 2016

Program Overview
With cyber security breaches on the rise, are there any chances that your data has been targeted? What technology and market trends are occurring to meet the changing cybersecurity landscape? What does this mean for 2016 & beyond?

Join RSA CTO Zulfikar Ramzan (Spotlight), as he reveals the top trends that will impact cyber security practices. Watch this webinar and learn:
· Why cyberattacks continue to increase in sophistication, magnitude and velocity?
· Which security technologies and processes have changed to accommodate the demands of digital business?
· What trends will have the largest and smallest impact on cyber security in 2016 and beyond?
· What new career opportunities this brings for Technology professionals?
· What skills will be in demand?

Speaker Profile
As CTO, Dr. Zulfikar Ramzan leads the development of RSA’s technology strategy and focuses on bringing to market the innovations that protect RSA customers from the growing number of advanced threats. Prior to RSA, Ramzan served as CTO of Elastica (acquired by Blue Coat), where he leveraged machine learning and natural language processing to enable customers to more securely use cloud services. Before Elastica, he served as Chief Scientist of Sourcefire (acquired by Cisco) and malware analytics company Immunet (acquired by Sourcefire). Ramzan was previously Technical Director of Symantec’s Security Technology and Response division and architect for the company’s reputation-based malware detection technology. Ramzan holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT.


The presenter(s) have granted permission for use of this content for IPN members only.  Please do not share this content outside of IPN without requesting permission from the presenter(s).

Categories
Spotlight

Shamshuddin Lalani

IPN Spotlight: Shamshuddin Lalani (Senior Account Executive, NSX at VMware)

Shamshuddin has over 10+ years of experience in technology sales while working for VMware, Riverbed and Cisco Systems. He started his career in engineering sales and transitioned to account management and strategy. Shamshuddin works with some of the largest global companies, ranging from defense contractors for the US Government to large financial institutions on Wall Street. He has degrees in Economics, Electrical Engineering and an MBA.

What skills have helped you in your career?
Having a technical background has set me apart from most sales executives. Having an Engineering degree in combination with an Economics/MBA has given me both breadth and depth to excel in my career. It brings instant credibility when speaking with leaders in any organization. Listening is another critical skill that speaks volume. Let the customer speak; understand their business issues, drivers and challenges – so you can position your products and solutions accordingly. Most sales executives do not understand how critical this skill is.

What do you wish you had known or done differently throughout your career?
Networking is the KEY! Building relationships and rapport early in your career goes a long way. Establish trust, work hard and create a “marketing plan” for yourself. Find a mentor, outside of your reporting chain who can help and guide you in your development plan.

What do you do for continuing education and improvement?
I read a lot about new technologies within my direct and adjacent fields. I attend industry seminars and networking events to build relationships. I highly recommend getting a subscription to, The Harvard Business Review, which has some great case studies and the Economist that provides a global perceptive on current events. Staying current is extremely important.

What is next for you in your career?
Continue down the path of technology sales with a focus on running a $100M sales region.

What advice would you offer to others?
Take risks! It is OKAY to fail, use it as a learning experience. You are not going to get it right 100% of the time and things are not always going to end up the way you want. If you do not take risks, you may never know your true potential. Believe in yourself.
In addition, your personal brand and credibility is very important. It is hard to build but easy to lose. If you say you are going to do something make sure you do it.

Areas where you can help other Ismailis:
• Leadership development
• Career development
• Mentorship
• Job placement

Please provide the link to your LinkedIn profile:
Shamshuddin Lalani

If you would like to nominate someone to be a part of the spotlight, click Here.

Categories
Spotlight

Javed Hussain

IPN Spotlight: Javed Hussain (Director of Global Technology Planning, Delivery and Governance, PepsiCo)

Javed Hussain has been a resident of Plano, Texas since 1995. He has over 25 years’ experience in the field of information technology and has a diverse background and extensive experience enterprise solutions and delivery. As a Global Technology Executive with PepsiCo and a Global Account Director with SAP America, he led several successful business transformations for high growth Fortune 100 companies.

What skills have helped you in your career?
Although I have extensive technical expertise, the key to my success has been my business-oriented approach, driving stakeholder engagement, building global high performing teams, and creating relationships and partnerships.

What do you wish you had known or done differently throughout your career?
Nothing. How could I? Looking back to reflect and learn is great. However, spending too much in the past thinking about reasons for what we could have done differently and what outcome it could have produced, is not a good use of time. My one advice is to simply focus on present. What are your priorities? What are you passionate about? What can you do now to enhance your career?

What do you do for continuing education and improvement?
I read a lot. I collaborate and invest time with industry leaders and experts. Speak at technology events and stay connected with various technology innovations via technology partners, providers and suppliers.

What is next for you in your career?
Every 3-4 years I have taken new into role to address business challenges while learning addressing business needs from holistic perspectives. I am looking to apply extensive technology, transformation and business experience to make much bigger contribution.

What advice would you offer to others?
Stay open to possibilities, but know what you want and why. If a right opportunity presents itself and it meets your criteria then don’t over think it and take the journey and explore.

Areas where you can help other Ismailis:
• Mentoring
• Leadership development

If you would like to nominate someone to be a part of the spotlight, click Here.

Categories
Spotlight

Shirin Lalani

IPN Spotlight: Shirin Lalani (Senior IT Program Manager, American Airlines)

Shirin lives in Phoenix, AZ but her hometown is Chicago, IL. Currently, Shirin is a Sr IT Program Manager at American Airlines. She has been trained in various Project Methodologies over the years and has a PMP. Shirin has been a PM with the company for 6 years in areas of HR, Portal, Revenue Accounting, Alliances and Reservations. Her education background consist of a Bachelor in Science (double major in Psychology and Sociology) from Loyola University of Chicago and a Masters in Business Administration (E-Business concentration) from DePaul University, Chicago. Her past experiences include working for Rotary International and EDS.

What skills have helped you in your career?
Not only I have the Business background, but have the IT certifications (Microsoft, Cisco, etc.) to go hand in hand with it. In addition, my Psychology and Sociology education has helped me with building and maintaining strong relationships with my colleagues and Managers, while helping me create network of mentors.

What do you wish you had known or done differently throughout your career?
I wish I would’ve identified someone in my field to partner up with earlier in my career. Mentors are very important as I have realized, and having that right guidance really can make a huge difference in where you end up. Better late than never though, always surround yourself with folks that represent where you would like to be.

What do you do for continuing education and improvement?
Keeping up to date with project methodologies and attend seminars and forums for project managers. A member of the PMI network that allows me to network with other professionals in the area.

What is next for you in your career?
Leading a team of project managers and/or leading a team of IT professionals (Developers, QAs and PMs) in delivery of IT projects.

What advice would you offer to others?
Keep updating your skills. Always challenge yourself with new training and/or new roles. Never stop learning. Also, align yourself with a mentor or mentor(s) professionally, this relationship helps you create a brand for yourself and at the same time gives you champions around you who support and promote your skills.

Areas where you can help other Ismailis:
• Mentorship
• Networking
• Career development and planning in IT and Project Management

If you would like to nominate someone to be a part of the spotlight, click Here.