President
Nishigandha Kelkar
Nishi Kelkar is an Aviation Program Manager at Garmin. She has over 5 years of industry experience in building flight deck avionics on a wide spectrum of aircraft from large jets to electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles. Nishi is passionate about ushering in a sustainable and purposeful future for the aviation industry. She has been involved with SWE since her freshman year at college spanning a volunteer tenure of a decade and counting. She was the lead organizer for IGED during her undergraduate involvement. With the East-Central Iowa section, she served as the Marketing Chair for advertising initiatives through social media platforms and promoting the mission of SWE through corporate partnerships. With the Kansas City section, Nishi served as Membership Chair for FY23 when she supported the growth of new members by forming a university-to-industry pipeline for collegiate members in the Midwest area. She shared ways to engage, appreciate and gain feedback from current members so that they gain valuable experience being a part of the SWE-KC section. Nishi fancies being a polyglot, knowing 5 languages already, and picking up her 6th one currently.
Vice President
Sereena Balid
Sereena Balid is an Engineer in Training dedicated to developing a career in engineering management and leadership. Sereena has a degree in Mechanical Engineering with 9 months of experience in Supplier Quality Surveillance in the construction field at Kiewit Corporation. She is enthusiastic about serving in the SWE community and assisting with organization events. Sereena has had successful experiences serving as President and Treasurer of a student club and assisting with SWE educational events during university.
Treasurer
Ragan Gum
Ragan (she/they) is a Senior Software Engineer with Microsoft Corporation. Her work accelerates Microsoft’s partners to drive big impact with cloud technologies. Prior to joining Microsoft, Ragan was a software leader at Oracle Cerner where she led teams and built software to help ensure safe blood transfusions, automate the flow of blood products around the world, and track body parts from scalpel to microscope.
Ragan is a lifetime member of the Society of Women Engineers. She joined while attending Purdue University in the early 2000s. Ragan served as SWE-KC Treasurer in FY17 and FY18, and as SWE-KC President in FY19. Ragan has led and had many roles within SWE-KC’s Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day (IGED) programs. She has also made large contributions to the SWE Finance Committee with her participation from 2018 through to the present.
Ragan loves a good spreadsheet and financial traceability. In her free time, she enjoys reading, playing board games, and chasing her two dogs around the Waldo neighborhood of Kansas City.
Secretary
Teresa Vohsen
Teresa currently works as a Nondestructive Evaluation Engineer for Boeing. Her job includes project engineering, testing setup and process management. Past roles for Teresa include, process engineering, supplier quality, and materials. Teresa studied Ceramic Engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology. She is pursuing a masters degree in Engineering Management.
In her free time, Teresa enjoys playing with her dogs, video games, and Dungeons and Dragons. She lives with her husband, Sam, in Lee’s Summit. She is also a member of Zeta Tau Alpha.
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