4th Annual

Shaniqua (Shawn) Davis is a digital marketing and tech enthusiast with over seven years of experience developing tech solutions. A Detroit native, Shaniqua learned early on to use innovative techniques to gain both experience and significant opportunities for advancement. In 2016 Davis launched Noirefy, a platform that connects minority candidates and companies together to drive diversity and inclusion globally. She is currently based in Chicago, IL and has been featured in several national media outlets, including Forbes and Marie Claire magazine for her work with Noirefy. Davis was also awarded and recognized as the 2017 Midwest Women in Technology, Talent Development award recipient and selected as one of WeWorks Young Innovators 2017.

Julia Kanouse is the CEO of the Illinois Technology Association (ITA).  With innovative resources that connect members to the local tech ecosystem, build their talent networks and create visibility for their brands, ITA’s mission is to drive investment, talent and innovation in Chicago’s tech ecosystem.

Prior to joining the ITA, Julia spent ten years at the National Restaurant Association where she led marketing for the Association’s revenue-generating products and programs.  In addition to membership and sponsorship, Julia oversaw product and marketing programs for the ServSafe training brand. She introduced several brand extensions and helped position the program for international expansion.

Julia began her career in the technology industry, doing ecommerce implementation and process design at Accenture and Inforte.  Over time, she transitioned into a strategic marketing role, developing segmentation models to assist clients in understanding their customers and defining new go-to-market strategies.

Katy Lynch is the Co-founder and CMO at Codeverse, the world’s first fully interactive coding school for kids, that was founded on the mission to teach one billion children to code. Prior to Codeverse, Katy was the CEO of Techweek, the nation’s largest traveling technology festival, as well as the President and Co-founder of SocialKaty, a full service social media marketing agency.

In 2014, SocialKaty was acquired by award-winning digital agency, Manifest, creating one of the largest digital agencies in the Midwest.

Katy has appeared on Forbes, NBC, Inc, Huffington Post, FOX and Today.com, amongst others. Most recently, Katy was the recipient of the “Crain’s Chicago Tech 50” award, the Chicago Inno “50 on Fire” award, and the Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago “Smart Cookies” award.

Christine is SVP of Talent & Development at Vibes, a mobile marketing leader that uniquely combines best-in- class technology with unrivaled mobile expertise to drive seven figure business outcomes for some of the world’s most well known marketers and brands.

In her role, Christine leads the strategy and execution of Vibes’ HR and Talent programs. The Vibes’ Talent team is focused on building and maintaining an invaluable culture of smart, passionate professionals who are serious about what they do, and don’t take themselves too seriously. Ultimately, Christine is responsible for discovering the industry’s top talent and making Vibes an employer of choice.

Christine has led Talent functions in multiple industries including Marketing SaaS, Consumer E-Commerce, Professional Services, Advertising & Brand Consulting, and Financial Services. She has partnered with high performance teams in the US, Canada, and Latin America to achieve results during periods of aggressive growth and transformation. Christine loves the technology industry because it is constantly changing. It’s impossible to get bored when you are building a company to win in mobile marketing technology.

Christine is active in the broader Chicago technology community and serves on the Illinois Technology Association’s Talent Advisory Board as well as their Women Influence Chicago Board, channeling her passion to support and develop young future innovators and leaders. Outside of work, Christine enjoys cooking, hiking, yoga and spending time with her husband and two busy teenagers.

Christine is a published author on various talent management topics and holds a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Administration from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as well as a Certificate in Organizational Development from DePaul University.