WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NY —With Westchester emerging as a biotech and health tech hub, the Westchester County Association is working to encourage women to enter STEM careers. Historically, fewer women than men have chosen careers in STEM fields. The good news is that attitudes are changing, WCA officials said.

Three years ago, the WCA inaugurated the Women in Tech Awards Luncheon to honor the pioneering women in STEM fields who work locally. The Fourth Annual Women in Tech Awards Luncheon June 22 will honor four more outstanding women. "The Women in Technology luncheon provides a forum for outstanding women in their professions to share their stories and for us to shine a light on their success," said William M. Mooney, Jr., President and CEO, of the Westchester County Association. "It also calls attention to the need for us to attract and retain talent in Westchester, which has become a national hub for biotech and healthcare."

The 2017 Honorees are: Jaime Fabricant, Senior Marketing Manager, Cultural Foresights & Innovation at Pepsi Beverages North America has managed the company's brands through digital and customer marketing, and brand innovation and launched new products for Kellogg, Campbell, Colgate, and Claritin with her team.

Building on her experience in product innovation, Jaime now focuses on marketing innovation by helping PepsiCo marketers learn about andexperiment with activations at the cutting edge of culture. She believes in the power of creators (techies, startups, artists, etc.) and seeks to collaborate and co-create never-been-done-before experiences, in partnership with PepsiCo brand teams. Ms. Fabricant is known for making creative and smart connections between PepsiCo teams and partners to drive both marketing innovations and brand relevance within the PepsiCo's beverage portfolio. She earned a BA from Muhlenberg College and an MBA from Fordham University Gabelli School of Business. Jeannine Haggerty, General Manger of Con Edison's Bronx and Westchester Electric Operations, is responsible for managing the operations of Con Ed's Electric Distribution Systems serving 1.4 million customers in a 41 square mile area. Prior to this, she was a Director in the company's Information Technology (IT) organization where she oversaw technology-related initiatives such as leading an enterprise wide HR/Payroll system and developing strategic roadmaps for mission-critical applications, including Distribution Automation, Outage Management and iOS mobile apps.

Ms. Haggerty led several other initiatives that included system design and architecture, application development and implementation. She devotes a great deal of time mentoring employees with a special interest in attracting women into IT and has led various IT-focused recruiting initiatives. Jeannine Haggerty holds a BA from Manhattan College and a MS from NY Institute of Technology.

Merin Joseph, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer of WESTMED Practice Partners and WESTMED Medical Group, has been in leadership positions in information technology for WESTMED Medical Group since 2002. Her leadership of the IT team was instrumental in WESTMED Medical Group's receiving national recognition as a leader in health care IT technology. She has also made it possible for WESTMED to pioneer countless new applications by working closely with the vendors, and has arranged for the Group to be a beta site for many of these applications.

Ms. Joseph earned her bachelor's degree in health information management from Kean University and an MA in information systems from Pace University. In addition, she holds an MBA from the University of Connecticut. Julie Roche is CEO, co-founder, and head of product technology for Burbio.com, a digital calendar platform that streams school, library, and non-profit information. Launched in 2013, the service has grown to 250 towns and cities and serves information from all of Westchester County. Burbio became the first company in the US to publish local community event information using Voice technology with its launch on Amazon Alexa in the Spring of 2017, and is a pioneer in the use of Voice platforms for civic communication.