FDM has always championed Women in Tech. With over 31% of our global workforce identifying as female, we proudly support female talent and provide access to the array of opportunities the technology sector has to offer.
The last session of our Tech Week will be hosted as a panel made up of current FDM Consultants, Trainers and Scrum Masters who identify as female. Our panelists will share their stories, their successes, and the challenges they’ve had to overcome within their tech careers.
Meet the panellists:
Gwen Price
Gwen Price joined FDM in 2020 through our Career Development Program. Upon completion of her TechOps training within FDM’s Training Academy Gwen was selected to become part of FDM’s Internal Consultant Operations Team. As a Scrum Master, her responsibilities include ensuring pods run smoothly through Agile coaching, assisting with sprint reviews and overall helping new consultants prepare to succeed. Gwen has earned a Bachelor of Science in both Biology and Chemistry from University of North Texas. She decided on a career change into technology because she “always enjoyed working with data and numbers though, so I had a solid background in Excel and had decided to teach myself SQL at the start of the pandemic”.
Tracy Panford
Tracy is a U.S. Navy Veteran who served during the Gulf War where she developed the work ethic that has made her successful in life. She smoothly transitioned into the customer service world where she became a Flight Attendant. Because of her superb communication and interpersonal skills, she rose to manage over 200 Flight Attendants. Exceeding in the airline industry, Tracy has managed, recruited, and trained with her commitment to quality and excellence.
Fulfilling her dream to work on Wall Street, Tracy found FDM Group at a Veteran Fair and now is a Professional Skills Trainer, where she has a real impact on furthering the careers of hundreds of consultants that have been placed by FDM. She knows that the new Trainees must put their best foot forward when entering the workplace, and she is here to provide them with the professional tools they will need to become successful in the tech world.
She is a proud Mom to her furbaby (Bentley) that she recently adopted during the pandemic. A die-hard New Yorker who now resides in New Jersey, her pride and joy are her two nephews.
Laura Finneran
Laura has over twenty five years’ experience in training, facilitation and instructional design in banking, financial institutions, information technology and academic arenas. She has an MBA in Organizational Development and extensive experience in adult learning theory. Laura joined FDM as an Academy manager in 2015 and was promoted to SVP in 2018 and Global Director in 2020.
Prior to joining FDM, Laura was at JP Morgan where she led training on a US regulatory reporting and compliance project. She was responsible for training corporate finance employees on software applications. She designed training curriculums, created training manuals, facilitated Q&A sessions with SME’s and managed project plans. Laura collaborated with stakeholders from key business lines to develop and implement learning solutions in Global Finance Training. Prior to JP Morgan, Laura worked at BNY Mellon for fifteen years in the wealth management division and taught Money and Banking and Leadership courses at University of Bridgeport, Concordia College and Mercy College MBA programs.
On a personal note, Laura has three daughters and currently is a director on two charitable boards.
Bersabeh Aklilu
Bersabeh is a Chemical Engineering graduate with a passion for all things Tech. After going through the Tech Ops training program at the FDM Academy, she currently works for TD as a Software Release Manager. In her role, she oversees and track over 10 projects annually that deliver innovative features to TD’s Business Banking Web application. She is also ITIL and Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certified.