Our Minds, Our Voices Woman of Distinction 2019 Honoree: Sandra K. Johnson, Ph.D.
DURHAM, NC – The Aura Galleria will recognize Sandra K. Johnson, Ph.D. for her work in the field of technology at its third annual “Our Minds, Our Voices” event. This powerful awards luncheon honoring “Women of Distinction” takes place on March 2nd in observance of National Women’s History Month. Sandra is one of ten influential women that will be honored in the categories education, medicine, social justice, civil service, public service, technology, mental health, business, humanities and fashion and beauty.
Sandra K. Johnson is the Founder, CEO & CTO, Global Mobile Finance, Inc., a fintech startup company based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. It is developing geeRemit, a global remittance mobile app based on blockchain technology and leveraging mobile money. She is also the CEO, SKJ Visioneering, LLC a technology consulting company. Dr. Johnson has over 35 years of experience in computing.
Her previous roles include CTO, IBM Central, East and West Africa, Business Development Executive and Senior Technical Staff Member, IBM Middle East and Africa, CTO, IBM Global Small and Medium Business, the Linux Performance Architect, and managing the Linux Performance, WebSphere Database Development, and Java Server Performance teams within IBM R&D.
She was also a Research Staff Member at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center. She has a high-performance computing background and has conducted research in several computer performance related areas. Dr. Johnson was a member of the IBM Academy of Technology, which consists of the top 1% of IBM’s over 250K technical professionals. She was part of the IBM research design team that created the prototype for Deep Blue, IBM’s world-famous chess machine. Dr. Johnson has received numerous technical and professional awards and is a Master Inventor with 40 issued and pending patents.
She has authored and co-authored over 80 publications and is Editor-in-Chief of the book Performance Tuning for Linux Servers. In addition, she has authored Inspirational Nuggets, Inspirational Nuggets Too, and GREGORY: The Life of a Lupus Warrior. She has an expert certification in Security+ from CompTIA.
Dr. Johnson earned B.S. (summa cum laude), M.S. and Ph.D. degrees, all in electrical engineering, from Southern University, Stanford University, and Rice University, respectively, becoming one of the first African-American women to earn a Ph.D. in this field. She is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). She is also an IEEE Fellow and an ACM Distinguished Engineer.
This year’s luncheon will feature media pioneer Cathy Hughes, an African-American entrepreneur, radio and television personality and business executive. Hughes founded the media company Radio One (now known as Urban One), and when the company went public in 1999, she became the first African-American woman to head a publicly traded corporation. In the 1970s, Hughes created the urban radio format called “The Quiet Storm” on Howard University’s radio station WHUR with disc jockey and fellow Howard student Melvin Lindsay.
This electrifying event is expected to draw 300 women and men, including local area high school students, college students and vendors. Attendees of all ages and ethnicities are encouraged to attend.
Vendor and exhibitor showcase: 11:00 am
Our Minds, Our Voices
Saturday, March 2, 2019
11:00 am – 2:00 pm
JB Duke Hotel
230 Science Drive
Durham, NC 27708