RUTHE FARMER
Ruthe has focused her efforts on diversity and inclusion in tech and engineering since 2001. She served as Senior Policy Advisor for Tech Inclusion at the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy focusing on President Obama’s call to action for Computer Science for All. Prior to joining the Obama Administration, she advocated nationally for gender diversity in tech as Chief Strategy & Growth Officer and K-12 Alliance Director at the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT). Over the course of her career, Ms. Farmer has launched and scaled up multiple national programs for women and girls in tech including Aspirations in Computing, the TECHNOLOchicas campaign for Latinas, AspireIT outreach program, Intel Design & Discovery, Lego Robotics for Girl Scouts and many more. She served as the 2012 Chair of Computer Science Education Week, was named a White House Champion of Change for Technology Inclusion in 2013, received the Anita Borg Institute Award for Social Impact in 2014, and the Education UK Alumni Award for Social Impact in 2015. She is a guest contributor for Techcrunch and the Shriver Report, and has been featured in Forbes and TechRepublic and the Forty Over 40 Women to Watch list for her work. Ruthe holds a BA from Lewis & Clark College and an MBA in Social Entrepreneurship from the University of Oxford. Today Ms. Farmer is consultant and speaker working on building a diverse and inclusive tech education and workforce pipeline for all Americans.