Moderator

• Maggie Berndt

  Community Engagement Manager for NET, Nebraska's PBS & NPR Stations

Participants

• 
  Amanda Martinez

  Panelist

  Amanda Martinez is dedicated to making the technology industry a more diverse and inclusive place through education and community action. Currently, Amanda is an Engineering Manager at Chromatic, a visual testing company There she manages and supports the team engineers, actively participates in Chromatic’s community initiatives, and is the Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion officer. Amanda specializes in building strong teams, creating connections, and educating the underserved communities about careers in the tech industry. She volunteers with Mystery Code Society, OPS IT Advisory Board, NTC PK-12 committee, SheCode, Code Black, You Go Girl, and is on the board of the Omaha Chamber of Commerce. When she isn't doing all the things related to diversity and inclusion, she loves cooking and spending time with her family and Great Dane, Layla, in Omaha.

• 
  Shalini Kantayya

  Panelist

  Filmmaker Shalini Kantayya’s, Coded Bias, premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim. Coded Bias was broadcast nationally on Emmy-award winning series Independent Lens and will stream on Netflix globally in Spring 2021. The film won a SIMA Award for Best Director, and has been nominated for a Critics’ Choice Award, and a NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Documentary, among others. Shalini’s debut feature, Catching the Sun, premiered at the LA Film Festival and was named a NY Times Critics’ Pick. Catching the Sun released globally on Netflix on Earth Day 2016 with Executive Producer Leonardo DiCaprio, and was nominated for the Environmental Media Association Award for Best Documentary. She directed the season finale of the National Geographic television series Breakthrough, Executive Produced by Ron Howard, broadcast globally in June 2017. She has also directed for NOVA and YouTube Originals. Shalini is a TED Fellow, a William J. Fulbright Scholar, and an Associate of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.

• 
  Judge Stefanie A. Martinez

  Panelist

  Stefanie A. Martinez is a judge on the Second District Court in Nebraska. She was appointed by Gov. Pete Ricketts in 2017, to fill the vacancy created by the elevation of Judge David Arterburn to the Nebraska Court of Appeals. At the time of her appointment to the district court, Martinez was a county judge for the 2nd County Court Judicial District. Gov. Dave Heineman appointed her to that position in 2013. Martinez earned two undergraduate degrees from Boston College, in sociology and Spanish. She later earned her J.D. from New York Law School. Before becoming a county judge, Martinez served in the Sarpy County Attorney's Office from 2008 to 2013 in multiple positions. She previously had a private practice, was an administrative hearing officer for the Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles, and was an assistant public defender for Douglas County.

• 
  Thomas Freeman

  Panelist

  Thomas Freeman is currently general counsel for Midwest Laboratories, founding member and senior policy advisor for the Institute for Digital Humanity, and an adjunct professor at Creighton University. His courses focus on emerging technology, including the legal and ethical aspects of Big Data, artificial intelligence, business analytics, fintech, and other technological developments. He is also an educational consultant for the Anti-Defamation League, working with Dr. Aaron McKain and the students at the Institute for Digital Humanity to design a nationwide high school curriculum on algorithmic bias.