Ma Bell y Yo: Celebrating Latino Contributions at AT&T New Jersey

55 Stockton St,Princeton NJ 08540

15 February, 2023

Description

Join Morven Museum & Garden, the Newark Public Library, HISPA, and HACEMOS for a special program celebrating the many contributions of Latinos throughout the history of AT&T. The program will also mark the journey of Hispanics Inspiring Students’ Performance and Achievements (HISPA) and today’s employee resource group at AT&T, HACEMOS. All are invited to share in the celebration! The program will feature: A hybrid (offered both in-person and virtually) panel conversation with past and present Latino AT&T Bell Labs scientists and engineers, including: Ivonne Shepard (YMS & Associates) - attending virtually; Dr. Jorge Valdes (USPTO); Dr. Alicia Abella (Google Cloud); Pedro Mirabal (AT&T); Dr. Ivonne Diaz-Claisse (CEO of HISPA); and Mayra Caceres (Current President of AT&T HACEMOS NJ)Opportunities for Latino leaders who worked for AT&T, or still work for AT&T, to share memorabilia and anecdotes with the NJ Hispanic Research & Information Center (NJHRIC)Visits to Morven’s current exhibition Ma Bell: The Mother of Invention in New JerseyLight refreshments and networkingAgenda 4:00 – 6:00 P.M. Share with the NJHRIC The NJ Hispanic Research & Information Center (NJHRIC) at The Newark Public Library currently houses HISPA's historical records in the Puerto Rican Community Archives. You are cordially invited to add to HISPA's historical records by donating your memorabilia, flyers, letters, photographs, etc. to be preserved and made available to the public. Your donation will help fill the gaps of HISPA's history at AT&T and capture the contributions of Latinos throughout the years. As part of this collaboration, NJHRIC is inviting individuals to record their anecdotes with emphasis in capturing technical and non-technical contributions to the advancement of AT&T on behalf of Latinos and other communities in the state. You can visit the NJHRIC in the Stockton Education Center Classroom to share materials and anecdotes. Visit Ma Bell: The Mother of Invention in New Jersey Morven’s current exhibition, Ma Bell: The Mother of Invention in New Jersey, will be open for attendees to visit. 5:00 - 6:00 P.M. Light refreshments available in the Stockton Education Center. 6:00 – 7:00 PM Attendees will head to the Stockton Education Center’s Gathering Space for a hybrid (offered both in-person and virtually) panel conversation with past and present Latino AT&T Bell Labs scientists and engineers, including Ivonne Shepard (YMS & Associates) - attending virtually; Dr. Jorge Valdes (USPTO); Dr. Alicia Abella (Google Cloud); Pedro Mirabal (AT&T); Dr. Ivonne Diaz-Claisse (CEO of HISPA); and Mayra Caceres (Current President of AT&T HACEMOS NJ). 7:00 – 7:30 PM The panel conversation will conclude with an open conversation and Q&A session with participants. Panelist Biographies Yvonne Shepard started her successful career at AT&T in Bell Laboratories where she developed software for computer Operating Systems and Data Networks. In 1992, she was appointed President and COO of AT&T of Puerto Rico leading the turn-around of that organization, a $240M, 400 employee subsidiary of AT&T, to a leadership position in its industry. After retiring from AT&T in 1999, she founded YMS & Associates, specializing in improving the consumer and small business marketing, sales, customer service, and retention efforts of Latin American and US Corporations. Yvonne is the Chair of the Board of HISPA. Dr. Jorge L. Valdes is an Education Program Advisor and STEM Educator in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). At AT&T Bell Labs, Dr. Valdes was responsible for managing global R&D organizations and received the E.O. Lawrence Laureate gold medal award from the U.S. Department of Energy in 1996. He was honored for his pioneering work in reagent generation, a technology essential to the energy-efficient production of high-purity chemicals, environmental health, and cost reduction in manufacturing. Dr. Alicia Abella is the Managing Director of the Telecom, Media & Entertainment Industry Solutions organization, for Google Cloud leading the North America and Latin America regions. Prior to joining Google Cloud, Dr. Abella was VP of the Integrated Systems Engineering and Realization organization of AT&T Labs driving the company’s network infrastructure deployments, SDN, Edge, and 5G programs. In 2011, she was inducted into the prestigious WITI (Women in Technology International) Hall of Fame. Pedro Mirabal is an AT&T Technical Solutions Consultant responsible for supporting the top 500 global customers by providing technical design solutions for their businesses and using the most current innovative technologies. Pedro was recruited by AT&T in 1980. He is the co-founder and past president of the AT&T Hispanic Employee Association (now HACEMOS). Dr. Ivonne Díaz-Claisse is the founder, president and CEO of HISPA (Hispanics Inspiring Students’ Performance and Achievement). Her professional background includes a 10-year career at AT&T as an Operations Research Analyst supporting network capacity planning initiatives by providing expertise in data analysis, optimization and forecasting. Under her leadership HISPA received the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (2020); and the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics’ “Bright Spot in Hispanic Education” (2015). Mayra Caceres is is a technology planner in the Global Technology Planning organization in AT&T, responsible for a multi-million dollar budget in the area of Voice over IP (VoIP), to offer state of the art network capabilities in support of advanced Voice and Collaboration services as well as interconnectivity between AT&T and other carriers. Prior to working as a technology network planner, Mayra worked in AT&T Labs Research and Development department as a technical lead and program manager for the evolution of AT&T wireless network to 4G LTE and VoLTE and expanding AT&T’s optical transport network into Europe and Asia Pacific. Mayra is the current President of AT&T’s Hispanic Association, HACEMOS. Funding for Ma Bell: The Mother of Invention in New Jersey has been provided in part by AT&T Services Inc., The Hess Foundation, Liza and Schuyler Morehouse, The Astle-Alpaugh Family Foundation, Richard Lounsbery Foundation, Lisa and Michael Ullmann, Fulton Bank, and Church & Dwight Co., Inc. The exhibition closes on March 5, 2023 so don’t miss your opportunity to visit! Photo caption: 2011 HACEMOS High Technology Day at AT&T Research Labs in Florham Park in partnership with HISPA This program was made possible in partnership with the following organizations: