Fireside Chat with WICT: Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion

 

Please join the WICT Network Rocky Mountain Chapter for a Fireside Chat & Lunch featuring Shannon Brown, Tom Chiang, Karen Rice, Moutaz Elkaissi on February 21, 2024, from 12:00 to 1:00 PM MST at Spectrum Plaza above Starbucks.

Featuring: Shannon Brown, Tom Chiang, Karen Rice, and Moutaz Elkaissi

Facilitators: Jhann Burke, Leeanne Mitchell, Sophia Siva, and Zach Dimond

Sponsors: WICT Rocky Mountain Chapter

Tom Chiang
Group Vice President, Internet Product

Tom Chiang serves as Charter Communication’s Vice President of Cross Platform Initiatives, leading a team of talented product managers, developers, architects, testers and analysts with a focus on bringing high value, shared features to Charter’s digital platforms. In this role, Tom oversees product development for key features that impact both Video and Self help websites and applications, such as Buyflow, Identity, Application Security, Voice Control and Notifications.

With a Charter tenure of almost 10 years, Tom has previously led Video product teams inclusive of: Commercial video, customer premise equipment such as set top boxes and remote controls, cloud DVR and video delivery.

Tom has earned his MBA at the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business, and his B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Colorado Boulder’s Leeds School of Business.

Tom enjoys watching sports, reading books, golfing and spending time with his wife and dog.

 

 

Karen Rice
Senior Director, Program Management

Karen Rice is a seasoned Program & Product Management professional with extensive experience and expertise delivering complex, strategic programs and products from concept to customer within the Cable & Telecommunications industry. Karen is a dedicated board member, volunteer and mentor with a passion for empowering women and building
ally relationships.

Karen has been working in the industry for ~ 25 years, starting her career as a Business Administrator at Cable & Wireless before joining Road Runner as a Mid Atlantic Regional Project Manager. After a 3 year hiatus in consulting for Booz Allen Hamilton and MITRE, Karen returned to Time Warner Cable as a Sr. Project Manager. In the next 11 years she progressed to Program Manager, Sr. Manager and finally Director at Time Warner Cable. Following the acquisition of Time Warner Cable by Charter in 2016, Karen relocated to Denver as a Sr. Director for Internet Product. In 2022 Karen moved into her current role as Sr. Director, Technical Delivery where she manages a team of 17 Project & Program Managers.

Karen holds a B.S. degree from Penn State University and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP). Karen currently serves as the Director for General Programming for The WICT Network: Rocky Mountain Board of Directors and previously was an Events Chair for the Spectrum Women BRG.

Karen is a proud mother to (2) children, Annabelle (19) who is a Freshman at Syracuse University and member of the marching band and Tommy (17) who is a Junior at Castle View High School and member of the Varsity Dance team. She currently lives in Castle Rock, CO with her son and her husband Chad, who she recently married at the Graceland Chapel in Las Vegas. In her free time Karen enjoys traveling, attending concerts and spending time at her cabin in Park County.

 

Moutaz Elkaissi
Senior Director, Product Management

Moutaz Elkaissi is a Senior Director of Internet Product at Spectrum where he leads a group data professionals and product managers focused on Connectivity Reliability, Speed test platforms, Marketing leadership and claims, Network Intelligence, Broadband label and Sustainability. During his time at Spectrum, Moutaz spearheaded many large programs most notably the Network Intelligence program which established many firsts and curated many data sources widely used at Spectrum today.
Currently the Connectivity Reliability program is focused on Reliability by enabling visibility into customer impacting issues and ways to mitigate.

Moutaz has been working in the industry for 20 years. Before joining Charter, Moutaz was with Echostar for 13 years, where he was an Engineering Manager II. Moutaz led the first data analytics team providing an emphasis on data driven decisions and assisting the software development team with insights into customer impacting issues. He created the inventory RMA system tracking insights from Dish’s returns and launched the Field Install testing program identifying many production level software issues before their release into the field.

A graduate of the University of Colorado, Moutaz earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and holds a Minor in Mathematics. He completed his Masters in Organizational change and Project management and Leadership at Regis University.

Moutaz was recognized as a Forever Forward award recipient in 2022 and holds a Patent for signal degradation detection in the US, Mexico and People’s Republic of China.

On a personal note, Moutaz is of Lebanese decent who found his home in Colorado where he met his wife, Krista. He is a world traveler and foodie who enjoys exploring what the world has to offer averaging 20,000 steps a day when he travels.

 

Shannon Brown
Manager, Talent Acquisition

Shannon Brown is a Manager of Talent Acquisition at Spectrum where she leads a team of Technical Recruiters that supports Mobile, Connectivity, Business Development, Wireless, and Business Planning. With over 10 years of experience in Talent Acquisition and HR, Shannon has played a key role in establishing and building high performing teams.

Shannon has been in the industry over 10 years. Prior to joining Spectrum, Shannon worked several years in HR/Recruiting at Starz. Shannon has a passion for mentoring, diversifying work environments, and developing strong professional relationships which have all put her on the path of success in Talent Acquisition. During the last 3 years Shannon can be credited for creating and implementing the D&I Talent Acquisition strategy which enhanced the Talent Attraction & Talent Engagement approach for  Spectrum’s Product & Technology teams.

A graduate of Western Michigan University, Shannon earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems. Shannon serves as the Director of DE&I for the WICT Network Rocky Mountain Board of Directors.

Shannon is also a certified Yoga Instructor in which she teaches 3 different styles/formats of yoga. Aside from yoga, Shannon also enjoys reading, traveling, and shopping (lots of shopping).

 

Event date: February 21, 2024, from 12 – 1 pm MST
Location: 6350 South Fiddlers Green Cir. 2^nd Floor Greenwood Village, CO 80111 (Above Starbucks)

Event Type: In-person