Board Members
Carrie Fischer
President
Board Sponsor Global Community
CARRIE FISCHER one of the charter members of Women in Localization when it first started in Silicon Valley, is the Globalization Services Manager at Subway, headquartered in Milford, CT. She is responsible for all globalization-related strategies for the company. She has over 25 years of localization experience and has held previous localization positions at companies such as Bodybuilding.com, Hyperion/Oracle and Transparent Language. She has presented and moderated many sessions for various industry-related events such as LocWorld, SlatorCon, LocLife and others. Carrie lives in Boise, Idaho with her son, Christopher. In her personal time she enjoys playing tennis, bodybuilding and spending time with her animals.
Olga Beregovaya
Vice-President
Board Sponsor Technology
OLGA BEREGOVAYA has over 25 years’ leadership experience in localization and language technology, with a particular focus on machine translation/other NLP development and deployment. She is currently driving the AI and MT strategy for Smartling. Olga is very active in the translation/localization industry; she is a frequent presenter at Localization World, AMTA, TAUS and GALA conferences, and an active contributor to industry publications. Olga is a former President of AMTA, and an Advisor to Localization Institute MT/AI Roundtable.
Winnie Heh
Secretary
Board Sponsor Non-Profit
WINNIE HEH has worn many different hats in the language industry – language instructor, translator, interpreter, professor of interpretation, senior executive and consultant for language services companies. She is currently the Career Advisor for the Translation, Interpretation and Localization Management programs at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. In her business career, she led teams in Operations, Sales, Marketing, international expansion, language technology, merger and acquisition. She has established and managed businesses in the U.S., Latin America, Canada, U.K. and China. She holds an AA degree in Accounting and Statistics, BA degree in English and MA degree in Conference Interpretation.
Silvia Avary-Silveira
Co-founder
Treasurer
SILVIA AVARY-SILVEIRA has over 16 years of localization experience working for high-tech companies including Juniper Networks, Symantec, VeriSign and NetApp. She is a native of Brazil and has been living in the U.S. for the past 20 years. Silvia is fluent in Portuguese, English and Spanish and she has a diverse background, which includes an MBA from San Francisco State University and a Doctor degree in Veterinary Medicine. Silvia is based in the Bay Area in CA and is a co-founder of Women in Localization.
Cecilia Maldonado
Board Sponsor
Operations & Metrics
CECILIA MALDONADO has 20+ years of experience in the localization industry that includes co-founding, managing and merging language service companies and co-founding the first language industry association in Argentina. She also volunteers with different international organizations and has organized more than 30 training events such as the Language & Technology Conference, Think Latin America, and the Vendor Management Seminar in Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Brazil, Ireland, Peru and the United States.
Anna N. Schlegel
Co-founder
Board Sponsor Chapters & Global Growth
ANNA N. SCHLEGEL is VP, International Product, Global Infrastructure, Platform Flexibility, Customer Education, Training, Technical Documentation, Markets, and Globalization at Procore Technologies. Anna has been an executive at companies like VMware, Cisco, and NetApp. She was also CEO & GM of two globalization agencies. Her work can be seen at www.trulyglobalbusiness.com. Anna is based in the Bay Area in California and is a co-founder of Women in Localization.
Jill Goldsberry
Board Sponsor
Global Strategic Partnerships & Events
JILL GOLDSBERRY is the Enterprise Sales Director for Lionbridge. Her diverse client base serves Software, IT, Manufacturing, Financial, Hospitality and Retail. She is passionate about understanding her clients’ organizational goals and objectives, Jill enjoys creating optimal multilingual communication solutions; while building a custom implementation and service delivery schedule model that aligns with existing technology and processes. Recently, she completed the Global Digital Marketing and Localization Certification (GDMLC) Program and is a distinguished graduate of Purdue University. Based in San Mateo, CA and has 20 years of localization, media and marketing experience across multiple verticals.
Olga Blasco
Board Sponsor
Marketing
OLGA BLASCO brings over 25 years of experience in rapid growth + M&A habitat in the language services industry. She started as a linguist but quickly pursued a journey to create client solutions, get things done and build teams around the world. After 20 years in leadership positions in Lionbridge and Welocalize, since 2016 she is a growth strategist, mentor and social entrepreneur. Her mission is to help business owners to increase the value of their companies and fulfil their end game through the right investments in talent, technology and M&A. Born in Barcelona and a nomad at heart, Olga is M&A Principal Partner at Lionpeople Global (Dublin), leads Strategy / International Business at Aglatech14 (Milan), is CIO of their tech spinoff Orbital14, and co-founder of JANA (Istanbul). Olga is also Board member of Translators without Borders Ireland, now rebranded as Clear Tech.
Maria Kania
Board Sponsor
Global Sponsorship
MARIA KANIA has been working in the localization industry for 20 years in various global localization companies in sales and operations roles. She’s Polish-Canadian and currently lives in Barcelona, Spain. Maria has had the privilege to present at localization events worldwide about varied topics, including Cultural Intelligence. She is a Women in Localization activist ever since she opened the chapter in Barcelona and held the role of chapter manager, became an EMEA Global Expansion Program Director and later held the role of Global Sponsorship Program Director. Maria currently holds the role of a Global Sponsorship Board member.