Tina Rountree and Sonya Meline, San Diego Community of Women in Technolog at the 2015 AITP Holiday Mixer

Meet the San Diego Community of Women in Technology (WIT)

By Tina Rountree, Business Development Manager, Managed Solution and President of the San Diego WIT Community

My career began in the finance industry, but I am proud to say I’ve been working at Managed Solution, a full service technology firm, for over two years now. Since my career in technology began, I’ve been focused on not only learning the ropes, but continuously educating myself on existing and new technologies so I could educate our customers. Technology is exciting in that it is a chance for me to have a real impact in my customers daily experience and I am passionate about helping small businesses flourish, so I’m proud to now consider myself a “Woman in Technology” and I’m excited to celebrate female leaders everywhere.

I have recently been called to sit on the board of IAMCP – San Diego as the chair for Women in Technology. I am very excited and jumping in with both feet to be a part of creating a community that provides women in technology networking opportunities and as importantly reaches out to the young women in our community to encourage them to explore their dreams and pursue careers in this field.

The San Diego Community of Women in Technology’s mission is to connect creative, innovative and hardworking women for the purpose of providing mutual support in achieving professional and personal goals.
Currently we are inundated with headlines that are illuminating the wage gap between men and women. We are also seeing more awareness around the culture of technology companies and how they can produce a very challenging culture for women. Yet, I’ve found several articles citing that women are the fastest growing category and biggest users on every social networking site except for LinkedIn. Women are also more likely to be using their cell phones and spending more time on them than their male counterparts. I know I am guilty of this.

So, I’ve joined forces with two powerhouse women (Sonya Meline and Heather Atkins) to start a community providing more space for women to come together, to support each other, to share ideas and to honor each other’s achievements.
We are excited to share with you our first event, it is a screening of the movie Big Dream and is scheduled to take place today, December 10th. We will be honoring both facets of our mission with an afternoon event hosting young ladies looking to pursue careers in technology from Hoover’s Academy of Information Technology. Later this evening we are rescreening the film for anyone in the community who would like to attend, (bring your daughters!) as a networking opportunity and also showcasing two women CIO’s working locally in San Diego Alicia Fettinger of VOXOX and Leslie Jefferies of California Coast Credit Union. Learn more about the event and register here.

San Diego Community of Women in Technology (WIT) Members

	Tina Rountree, President of the San Diego WIT Community Tina is a lifelong learner and expert at multi-tasking between work and being a mom to four teenagers. She fills multiple roles in the office and on the home front such as coach, teacher, cheerleader and motivational speaker to name a few. Tina's career started in Finance where she spent decades developing and managing relationships with large accounts such as Enterprise Rent A Car. She's now passionate about being a student of technology and says she eats, drinks and breathes Microsoft. With fifteen years of experience working with the small business community here in San Diego Tina has a deep understanding of how the right technology and systems can have a profound impact on the growth of an organization. Tina lives in the Rancho Penasquitos area and loves spending time with her husband, children, cats and their dog - her and her family are huge animal lovers
	Sonya Meline – Vice President of the San Diego WIT Community Sonya is a consummate organizer, group facilitator, and motivator with an entrepreneurial flair and a passion for sharing the tools for success with others. She currently champions sales and marketing for Effortless, a cloud technology firm based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Originally from Colorado Springs, Colorado, Sonya has had an interesting and varied career, which includes starting and growing her own California coffee shop joint venture franchise; consulting as a professional corporate organizer and efficiency coach; working as executive assistant to motivational guru, Tony Robbins; and serving as Paralegal and Executive Assistant to the JAG Officer & Command Master Chief of a Texas Naval Base. During her tenure in the U.S. Navy, she helped fundraise over $100,000.00 for the 9/11 fund, and was distinguished as a recipient of the Presidential Service Award.In her free time, Sonya enjoys spending time with her husband on their permaculture ranch in Southern California, and wilderness trekking with her pack-goats. She is the Vice President of IAMCP Women in Technology’s San Diego Community, Mentorship Committee-Member for Women in the Channel, and Board Chairwomen of Friends in Deed Helping Friends in Need (aka Friends 5o1c3). She supports the Moyer Hospice Foundation and its Camp Erin, and gives freely of her time and talents to the Breast Cancer Fund. She hopes to be remembered by those who know her as a dedicated and compassionate woman of enthusiasm and integrity.
	Heather Atkins – Secretary of the San Diego WIT Community Heather has spent two decades on the front lines of technical sales, product innovation, and customer program management. In that time, she has helped some of the world’s leading technology companies grow their analytics, data, and collaboration products through a combination of technical depth and direct customer engagement. She has deep expertise in Federal- and State-level sales, as well as in document management, search, and workflow solutions; creating complex demonstration environments; and working with technical teams to define and test new product functionality. Heather has a BA from the University of Virginia and an MBA from George Mason University along with numerous technical certifications starting with an MCSE on Windows NT 3.51. She lives in Point Loma in San Diego with her son, her partner, and three very energetic dogs.