Inclusive Product Management Accelerator

IPMA Fellows have a mentor who is personally invested in their success, have access to a knowledge base and network of drop-in volunteers, and engage in weekly activities with a cohort over a 12-week program. Discussions and workshops take place online on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:30pm – 7pm PT.

The application for the Fall 2023 cohort opens in late-June. Sign-up to receive notifications

Participants in the IPMA are assigned to a mentor who is personally invested in their success, have access to a knowledge base and network of drop-in volunteers, and engage in weekly activities with a cohort over a 12-week program.

Discussions and workshops take place online on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:30pm – 7pm PT on the following dates:

Week	Tuesday	Thursday
1	February 7th	February 9th
2	February 14th	February 16th
3	February 21st	February 23rd
4	February 28th	March 2nd
5	March 7th	March 9th
6	March 14th	March 16th
7	March 21st	March 23rd
8	March 28th	March 30th
9	April 4th	April 6th
10	April 11th	April 13th
11	April 18th	April 8th
12	April 25th	April 27th

Participants are expected to attend all sessions.

Recommended reading: Decode and Conquer 4th edition by Lewis C. Lin

The steering committee has collectively helped create over $10 million in salaries mentoring over 100 people into product roles. The program is designed to provide the knowledge and connections that have proven effective.

Markell Baldwin

Partner, Drive Capital

Martie Burris

Dir. of Product Management, Salesforce

Dontae Delgado

Product Leader, Compass

Diego Granados

Senior Product Manager, LinkedIn

Rovina Valashiya

Principal Product Manager, Amazon

Felix Watson Jr.

Product Manager, Google Play Growth

Each member of the cohort will be paired with a mentor who is personally invested in their success. Meet a few of the program’s distinguished mentors. Check back for updates as additional distinguished mentors are announced.

Chelsea Alexander-Taylor (Redfin)

Chelsea Alexander-Taylor is a product manager at Redfin, building technology for the company’s Associate Agent program. Prior to Redfin, she was at Axon, a public safety company, where she co-founded their affinity group for black employees. She is dedicated to fostering equitable and inclusive environments for under-represented groups in all organizations
she is a part of. Outside of work, you can almost always find her with her head in a book, experimenting with candle making and/or forcing her cat into bow ties.

 

Ross Belmont (Salesforce)

Ross Belmont is a Director of Product Management at Salesforce focused on enhancing their platform. He brings 20+ years of technology experience to the IPM, including roles in consulting and IT. He has also been part of women’s resource groups as part of previous DEI initiatives.

Outside work, he spends time with his wife and daughter, probably cleaning up after their two dogs.

Vishal Ghotge

Vishal Ghotge has spent over 20 years building and shipping technology products in companies such as Microsoft, Groupon and PayScale. Most recently Vishal was the EVP of Product at Remitly where he is currently serving as an executive advisor. Vishal’s work has spanned various domains – operating systems, mobile apps, e-Commerce, B2B SaaS software and fintech. But a common thread across all his jobs has been his passion for building delightful customer-facing experiences, solving business problems through product innovation and building high-performing organizations. Vishal holds a Master’s degree in computer science from University of Illinois and a bachelor’s in computer engineering from University of Mumbai.

Shaili Guru (Nike)

Shaili Guru is a product leader with experience spanning multiple industries, including Telecommunication, Entertainment, and Retail. Currently, she’s a Lead Product Manager at Nike, building the next generation of machine learning and computer vision products. Prior to Nike, Shaili was a Product Manager at Disney within their technology management leadership program, where she led products from internal onboarding platform, content tagging, and Identity and Access Management.

Coming from a non-traditional technical background, she saw fit to start a non-profit chapter of thrive-wise (formerly CodeChix) in Seattle to aid fellow Women In Tech. Outside of work, Shaili enjoys hiking and spending time with her family. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Baldwin-Wallace University and a Technology Management MBA from the University of Washington. Shaili is also a passionate advocate for Women in Tech and
STEM initiatives.

 

Angelina Howard (Amazon)

Angelina Howard is currently a senior product manager at Amazon Web Services (AWS), the world’s largest cloud provider. Angelina works on early market development efforts for new AWS offerings. In addition to her PM role, she is a past President of the Black Employee Network (BEN), an Employee Resource Group (ERG) at Amazon. She focuses on being an advocate for inclusion and diversity, driving different initiatives and programs internally/externally, advising Amazon’s senior leaders, and growing a community inside and outside of Amazon. She co-founded several initiatives at Amazon including BEN Startup Week, a week to highlight and support Black entrepreneurs, and the Black Excellence Gala, a scholarship event for organizations supporting underrepresented youth in STEM.

 

Paul Howard (Intuit)

Paul Howard is Managing Director- Product Management for Charles Schwab where he leads the team responsible for modernizing client and prospect communication platforms used to deliver marketing and service communications across all distribution channels.

Prior to Schwab, Mr. Howard held various product management leadership roles across AT&T consumer, small business, and digital services organizations. He is active in several employee resource groups, professional and community organizations. Paul is passionate about coaching and helping people grow as product managers and leaders. In his free time, Paul enjoys cooking and spending time with his family.

Mr. Howard received his B.S. from Texas A&M University and his M.B.A. from the Walter Haas School of Business at the University of California-Berkeley.

 

Tom Juarez (Pitchbook)

Tom Juarez is a Product Manager at PitchBook Data, the leading financial data provider covering the global venture capital, private equity, & public markets. Tom’s past work experience includes running product at Guidant Financial, as a Product Management Trainer for Mind The Product, & at the digital banking pioneer ING.

Outside of his professional work, Tom mentors early-stage Product Managers & early-stage companies through TechStars Seattle, the University of Washington CoMotion Accelerator, First Round Capital, & the U.S. Census Open Innovation Labs. Tom chairs the ‘Entrepreneurship & Innovation’ Committee at his local Economic Development organization and is most likely camping with his wife & 2 kids in his free time.

Victoria Kennedy (Seed to Harvest)

Victoria Kennedy has been working in tech in product for over 8 years. She started her career in gaming and then moved into consulting for a number of years. She was a product leader at Hustle, the first peer-to-peer texting platform for community organizing. She has a deep passion for building new products and working with early-stage startups. She most recently worked in commercial real estate and was a product EIR at TechStars. She is currently advising early-stage startups and working on building her own venture studio, Seed to Harvest.

 

Landon Medlock (Remind)

Landon Medlock is the Head of Product at Remind, an edtech SaaS company focused on improving school communication and engagement. Prior to Remind, Landon was a senior product manager at Amazon Music. His path to product included stops as a software developer and as a math teacher. Education and thus equitable opportunities for historically underrepresented groups are his strongest passions. Landon serves as a mentor for the Black Venture Capital Consortium where he helps HBCU students pursue entrepreneurship and develop careers in technology. When not doing tech things you will find him spending time with family, starting DIY projects, or cooking something new.

 

Mona Mohanty (Google)

Mona is a seasoned product leader at Google building products for Chrome, the world’s leading internet browser! She comes with a storied product career spanning 12+ years shipping popular products at marquee big tech companies like Instagram (Meta), Twitter, Microsoft, Amazon and eBay where she has worked extensively on both Consumer and Enterprise products. She is a passionate product thought leader, operator, learner and coach, always striving to leave whatever she touches better than she found them, including the hiring ecosystem for product management professionals. As a first generation POC American and a parent, she strives to democratize the field of Product Management by making it more accessible through compassion networks, generously passing on her expertise to passionate product folks through high commitment mentoring, networking and meaningful speaking opportunities.

Highly experienced in hiring as a calibrated interviewer over a decade, she takes pride in leading meaningful product areas while building highly diverse and emotionally intelligent teams. Mona has served as a Steering Committee member for Women in Tech leading “Lean in Circles” at eBay, was part of the Hiring Squad at Twitter that established rubrics for world class product hiring and continues to be an active volunteer and mentor within the Women in Product Community. Her industry associates often commend her personal brand as someone with a strong backbone to question status quo respectfully to keep the tech industry sustainable, accessible, ethical and kinder beyond her high impact product portfolio!

 

Charles Stewart (Autodesk)

Charles Stewart is a Sr. Manager of Employee Experience Platform and Products at Autodesk where he and his team are driven to build a digital employee experience for all employees that is personalized, inclusive, and intuitive. Prior to Autodesk, he was a Conversational AI Product Manager at Workday where he also served as the Global Lead of the Veterans Employee Resource Group. Before becoming a product manager, Charles served as a soldier in the U.S. Army and also served in public education, teaching early childhood and then 5th-grade math. His core values are community and exploration and, as a product leader, he is inspired to build products that include and empower all.

Outside of Autodesk, Charles serves as a Reserve Major in the U.S. Army’s 75th Innovation Command where he is a product adviser on the Digital Soldier Experience. And, outside of his work, he most loves to travel the world with his wife Whitney and go for hikes with their Shiba Inu Max.

 

Joseph Sunga (Aurora)

Joseph Sunga is a product leader with over a decade of experience leading product teams and initiatives, from early-stage startups to Fortune 500 companies, focused on building exceptional products within AI/ML and robotics. He was a key employee of two startup acquisitions, TeachStreet (acquired by Amazon) and Mighty Ai (acquired by Uber), and was a part of Aurora going public. As a child of Filipino immigrants, his family has prepared him to stay ready for whatever comes his way and to continue building for the next generation.

Now, Joseph spends his time angel investing, teaching, and coaching. He also volunteers by mentoring early-stage startups at Techstars Seattle, advising minority-owned businesses within under-served communities through the University of Washington Foster School of Business, and serving on the Board of Trustees at Artist Trust.

Jian Zheng (Airbnb)

Jian Zheng is a Product Manager at Airbnb. She loves to bring new ideas to life, improve on them, and ship products that matter. As an immigrant, she believes in creating human-centered experiences that not only connect product teams to users but also build empathy between diverse communities. She’s always been drawn to mission-driven organizations, and has worked in fintech, nonprofits, and startups.

Before becoming a PM, Jian worked as a UX researcher and completed a Masters from UW focused on UX research and design. Outside of work, Jian is busy raising her son and is an avid reader and hiker.