2019-2020 Executive Council

President: Melinda Brown

Job Title: Principal Architect, Microsoft
Current town: Raleigh, NC
Fun Fact: Love reading, kayaking, and traveling and have two adult sons and two cats. Looking forward to becoming a grandmother this year.
​Bio: Melinda has over 20 years experience in designing high performance, low power microprocessors for Intel, Qualcomm, and now Microsoft. She has lived in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Arizona, but has spent most of her life in NC. She has volunteered in several roles with ENC-SWE over the years. She also volunteers with The Forge Initiative and mentored a high school robotics team for 7 years.

Vice President: Sarita Kuppili

Job: Engineering Project Manager, Caterpillar Inc. Sanford, NC
Current Location: Apex, NC
Fun Fact: Love travelling, reading articles, spending time with my daughter and hosting friends.
Bio: Sarita Kuppili is a Project manager in the Building & Construction Products (BCP) Division, Caterpillar Inc. located in Sanford, where she serves as Engineering Specialist and manages New Product Introduction (NPI) & Continuous Product Improvement (CPI) Undercarriage projects for skid steer loaders. She exhibits strong technical & leadership skills while delivering on her commitments and utilizes her collaborative leadership skills to partner with global & cross functional teams. 
Sarita has been an active member in SWE-CI (Society of Women Engineers- Central Illinois Section), WE Local and Caterpillar WIN (Women in Network) and served in at least one leadership roles every year over the past 8 yrs. Sarita’s passion for STEM education and to support her fellow women engineers always kept her integrated with the community around her. Where ever she has moved, her interests and contributions are always encouraging and create a lasting impact on everyone she encounters and has been recognized at all levels.

Secretary: Ashley Vassell

​Job: Technical Program Manager at Fastly
Location: Raleigh, NC
Fun Fact: I lived in Frankfurt, Germany for 3 years while my mom was in the Army
Bio:  Ashley received her Bachelors in Information Technology & Web Science with a concentration in Network Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as well as a Masters in Information Technology & Web Science with a concentration in Management Information Systems. She has held various roles in IT and Engineering focused on Cloud, Program and Product management. 
Ashley has been a member of SWE since joining her collegiate section during her freshman year in 2010. She held various leadership roles during her time as a collegiate including serving on the Senate and being chosen as  SWE Future Leader (SWEFL). In her professional career she has served on the Membership Committee and on the Sponsorship sub-committee for WE Local Raleigh.

Treasurer: Allison Dubrouillet

Job Title: Electrical Engineer at Burns & McDonnell
Current town: Raleigh, NC
Fun Fact: I am a music nerd. I have long detailed playlists for every occasion. Also I play the flute and oboe and sing covers in Garageband for fun.

2019-2020 Volunteers

Outreach Coordinator: Ashley Suarez

Job Title: Packaging Commercialization Engineer, Merck
Current Town: Wake Forest, NC
Fun Fact: Took a selfie with a storm trooper while running a half marathon through Disney World
Bio: A Chicago native, Ashley “transplanted” to the triangle 9 years ago for work and hasn’t left since. After graduating from Purdue in 2011 with a degree in Chemical Engineering she signed on with Merck in their rotational program and has been with the pharmaceutical company since. She’s spent most of her career with Merck within their packaging operations (and even spent time as in the packaging supply chain group) supporting the bottle packaging lines at Merck’s Wilson, NC plant. This year she transitioned to a “remote” role in commercialization and can’t wait to meet members who are working in the same environment! She has a passion for inspiring young women and men to pursue STEM education in hopes that they’ll apply the important concepts they learn no matter what they do. Ashley lives in Wake Forest with her husband, newborn(ish) son and senior dog Boogey. She hopes to hear from more members who are interested in outreach!

Website Coordinator: Stephanie Raeman

Job(s): Stay at Home Parent, Volunteer Babywearing Educator, Sunday School Teacher, Substitute Middle & Secondary School Teacher, student at Appalachian State University, previously Program Manager for Accessibility Services at Development Infostructure in Arlington, VA.
Current Town: Cary, NC
Fun fact: I completed my first triathlon last year!

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Social Media Coordinator: Ashley Vassell

​Job: Technical Program Manager at Fastly
Location: Raleigh, NC
Fun Fact: I lived in Frankfurt, Germany for 3 years while my mom was in the Army
Bio:  Ashley received her Bachelors in Information Technology & Web Science with a concentration in Network Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as well as a Masters in Information Technology & Web Science with a concentration in Management Information Systems. She has held various roles in IT and Engineering focused on Cloud, Program and Product management. 
Ashley has been a member of SWE since joining her collegiate section during her freshman year in 2010. She held various leadership roles during her time as a collegiate including serving on the Senate and being chosen as  SWE Future Leader (SWEFL). In her professional career she has served on the Membership Committee and on the Sponsorship sub-committee for WE Local Raleigh.

Nominating Committee Chair:

Advisory Council:

Section Representative:

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