The UC Womxn in Technology (WIT) Committee proudly continues its annual tradition of recognizing the extraordinary talent, leadership, and impact of women in IT across the UC system through the “UC Womxn Rock IT” campaign. Each year, local WIT chapters nominate individual womxn and teams whose work is advancing innovation, strengthening our technology ecosystem, and modeling inclusive excellence. This year’s nominees represent a dynamic cross-section of the UC IT community — from cybersecurity and infrastructure to data, research computing, enterprise systems, digital experience, and emerging technologies.
Recognized for contributions made between March 2025 and February 2026, these leaders have not only delivered critical projects and services that power our campuses and health systems, but have also demonstrated collaboration, mentorship, and a deep commitment to equity and community-building within technology. Their work reflects the mission of UC WIT: to create supportive pathways, amplify diverse voices, and cultivate leadership opportunities for womxn in technology across the UC system. Whether leading complex implementations, driving operational excellence, fostering cross-campus partnerships, or mentoring the next generation of technologists, this year’s honorees embody resilience, innovation, and impact.
We celebrate their achievements and thank them for the expertise, vision, and heart they bring to UC every day. Congratulations to all the nominees and finalists. Your contributions strengthen our community and help shape the future of technology at UC.
Meet the UC womxn who rock IT!
UCSC has experienced a massive increase in phishing attacks over the past year, and our users have taken the bait. Elizabeth Wright (Liz) is often the one that responds first, bringing in other security resources as needed. These issues can happen at any time – day or night, over weekends and on holidays. Liz consistently works, often in the background, ensuring our security. She responded to over 100 breached accounts during curtailment alone. Liz performs vendor risk assessments and helps coordinate our UISL program. She’s amazing at keeping up with InfoSec’s insane workload and always helps everyone to the best of her ability.
Emily Hernandez led a massive hardware overhaul across multiple instructional computer labs to replace aging desktop towers and monitors that were over a decade old. She managed the project’s full lifecycle. This included identifying classroom hardware needs, budgeting, and configuring the new equipment, while also overseeing the complex logistics of recycling obsolete units. This upgrade was essential for security compliance, enabling the migration to Windows 11 as Windows 10 reached end-of-life. The project was executed seamlessly without disrupting instruction. The installation of these complete workstation setups resulted in significant performance gains, reducing technical barriers for students. Her efforts ensured the labs are now fully capable of supporting the rigorous software requirements of modern pedagogy.
Judy Thai has been a dedicated champion for accessibility, partnering with her team to create clear, practical guidelines for accessible web content. In OP leadership, she facilitated activities within the systemwide Electronic Accessibility Committee and led development of an accessibility procurement process that kept equity central to decision-making. She guided creation of a new systemwide IT accessibility policy, aligning strategy with action. Most importantly, she ensured sustainability by mentoring colleagues, sharing her expertise generously, and embedding accessibility across strategic, policy, operational, and technical areas—positioning the work to thrive well beyond her leadership.
At UC San Diego Health, Liz Kern supports the OnBase document management system that is integrated with Epic. Her primary focus is building interfaces with third party applications that supply documentation for patient care and revenue management. She champions wellness across the health system by volunteering her time and energy through Canine Companions. She organizes and coordinates the events with our Patient Experience team and brings her years of experience into display by bringing dogs she has trained to the events. These sessions provide staff with essential moments of respite and joy, serving as an important part of our organizational culture of care. Additionally, Liz developed and facilitated a comprehensive High-Performance Coaching program—a rigorous, 4-module journey spanning 48 weeks. She has mentored more than 30 individuals across the IS and Quality departments, with 10 employees completing the full year-long curriculum. Remarkably, Liz delivers this high-level coaching entirely during her personal lunch hours. Liz has invested her time, energy and spirit into making UCSD Health a better workplace for her colleagues. Her ability to mentor dozens of colleagues while simultaneously driving critical wellness initiatives makes her an ideal candidate for this honor.
Amanda Miura’s impact has been exceptional from day one. During her transition from the UC Davis Data Center to LS IT, she carried two roles for months—keeping critical campus services like CrashPlan and enterprise backups running while fully ramping up in her new position supporting Earth and Planetary Sciences. Amid staffing turnover, she also stepped in to support Physics and Astronomy, maintaining high-quality service and clear client communication. What truly sets Amanda apart is how she scales excellence through documentation: she has created or substantially updated 500+ knowledge articles, enabling the LS IT service desk to resolve issues for her departments without escalation by relying on her clear, reusable guidance—improving responsiveness, continuity, and team resilience.
Jaime Leon drives measurable improvements across the Epic Inpatient team by streamlining operations, standardizing workflows, and implementing scalable procedures that enhance efficiency and reliability. She leads complex initiatives from strategy through execution, while aligning stakeholders and ensuring sustainable results. Leveraging her nursing background, she translates complex clinical workflows into practical technical solutions, bridging the gap between frontline care and system design. She anticipates operational needs, mitigates risks, and delivers solutions that directly improve user experience and patient care processes. Through clear communication, mentorship, and strong partnerships, she fosters accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement that delivers lasting, high-value outcomes.
Katherine Klymko studies current and future quantum computing hardware and their potential to power new algorithms. Her work aims to accelerate complex computations and new discoveries in fields like biology, chemistry, and materials science. Since 2021, Katie has been working at NERSC to integrate quantum into future HPC workloads. As NERSC’s Quantum Computing Advisor her role is to understand the landscape of quantum hardware that exists now, where it is going, and the types of algorithms that will be accelerated.
Francesca Albrezzi combines technical expertise with grace, clarity, and a steady presence that brings people together. She recently co-authored The Digital Humanities Coursebook: Applied Concepts and Critical Approaches (second edition), and regularly teaches workshops that help faculty, students, and staff apply digital tools to advance their research goals. For seven years, she has co-chaired UCLA’s XR Initiative, guiding cross-campus collaboration and cultivating an inclusive community around emerging technologies. This past year, she secured an award to expand OARC’s XR Lab, increasing support for the application of immersive methods for research and learning. Beloved by students and deeply respected by colleagues, Francesca champions UC womxn in technology by modeling compassionate leadership and elevating those around her.
Emily Gladstone Cole has demonstrated exceptional leadership and versatility by tackling challenges across cybersecurity and organizational culture. She has skillfully run our annual cybersecurity tabletop exercise and spoke about tabletop exercises at UC Tech 2024 and EDUCAUSE CPPC 2025. She has also led the annual review of our campus incident response plan, significantly enhancing our incident response capabilities. Emily is now leading the Cyber Asset Attack Surface Management (CAASM) initiative to strengthen our future security posture. As a dedicated member of the Berkeley IT Action Team, Emily worked to create a more inclusive and equitable environment. Her ability to lead on both technical and cultural fronts makes her contributions uniquely impactful.
Meghan McLitus, Senior Clinical Informatics Specialist, and Sabdy Moreno, Senior Product Manager, are outstanding leaders within UCLA Health IT’s Office of Health Informatics and Analytics; whose collaboration has been vital to the success of the New Century Health Plan. Meghan provides exceptional operational leadership, driving data separation strategy, accreditation efforts, and scalable compliance reporting. Sabdy is a key contributor to the management of the Medicare Advantage data ingestion and reporting infrastructure; translating complex requirements into sustainable, high-impact analytics while guiding cross-functional teams. Together, they exemplify collaborative leadership, innovation, and excellence—truly embodying what it means to be UC Women That Rock.
Teri Eckman was one of the co-founders of the UCR local Womxn in Technology (WIT) chapter and is being nominated for her work to create community, empowerment, and support for women in technology at UCR and across the UC. Teri embodies the core values of UC WIT. She actively collaborates across the UC system, advances initiatives and events that promote inclusive environments, and works to ensure fair and equitable access to opportunities for women. She also helps raise awareness of disparities and inappropriate behaviors that impact women, while sharing ideas, strategies, and resources among location-based WIT communities. Teri is a fierce leader who consistently made time for the group and herded the troops despite her increasing job responsibilities at UCR. A member of the ITS Executive Leadership and Executive Director for Student Information Systems, Teri has countless successes under her belt. However, just as important, she deserves to be acknowledged and celebrated for her authentic leadership and fierce advocacy for WIT. As a leader, she is humble yet commanding, encouraging and elevating others. She truly deserves to be acknowledged and celebrated. Through her leadership, Teri has helped build a stronger, more connected, and more inclusive technology community for UC Womxn in Technology (locally at UCR and across the UC).
Toni Braden, DNP, RN, VP of Clinical Services, drives transformational change at UCSF through the innovative and strategic use of technology, uniting complex teams, systems, and stakeholders around shared goals. Over the past year, she has led major implementations that significantly improved processes, enabling continued expansion and operational optimization. Her exceptional communication skills, strategic foresight, deep technical expertise, and clinical background uniquely position her to bridge gaps between clinical and technical teams. Toni has been instrumental in navigating and overcoming challenges related to hospital capacity, workforce constraints, financial pressures, time limitations, and technical complexity. Through her leadership, she has helped shift the culture toward a more centralized, proactive, and data-driven approach—strengthening decision-making, improving efficiency, and positioning UCSF for sustained success.
A trusted IT cornerstone at The Club & Guest House, Ally Litwiler is the go-to resource for colleagues who rely on her deep expertise in specialized systems including Jonas Chorum, Shift4, Encore, and Lighthouse. Known for her responsiveness and proactive approach, she consistently goes above and beyond — dedicating hours, weeks, and months to keep critical operations running smoothly. Her leadership on complex initiatives like the AWS Lift & Shift integration reflects both her technical depth and her commitment to excellence. Through it all, she remains calm, professional, and genuinely invested in the people she serves — a true model of impactful, people-centered IT leadership.
Learn more
Interested in learning more about UC Womxn In Tech or getting involved? Check out our website: https://wit.ucop.edu/ or connect with us on LinkedIn.
Download the Womxn Rock IT 2026 flyer.
Contact
If you have questions, want to collaborate, or have ideas for an event, please reach out to the current chair, Mai Vang.
