Lucy Sanders is the co-founder and Executive in Residence of the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT), a national organization that works to broaden participation in computing. She personally focuses on building inclusive cultures in academic computing departments and corporations.

Sanders has an extensive industry background, having worked in R&D and executive positions at AT&T Bell Labs, Lucent Bell Labs, and Avaya Labs for over 20 years, where she specialized in systems-level software and solutions. In 1996, Sanders was awarded the Bell Labs Fellow Award, the highest technical accomplishment bestowed at the company, and she has six patents in communications technology.

Sanders serves as a Trustee on several organizational boards, including the Center for American Entrepreneurship in Washington D.C., the CSforAll foundation in New York City and the International Computer Science Institute at the University of California, Berkeley. She was a volunteer member of Governor Polis’ COVID response team in 2020, and is volunteering in the State submission to the U.S. Department of Commerce to designate Colorado a Quantum Technology Innovation Hub.

Sanders, a 2024 Forbes 50 Over 50 honoree, was inducted into the Boulder County Hall of Fame in 2023; she also received the 2016 Bob Newman Lifetime Achievement Award from the Colorado Technology Association for her ongoing commitment to further innovative technology. In 2004, she was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Department of Engineering at Colorado University, and in 2011, she was recognized with the university’s George Norlin Distinguished Service Award. She has been inducted into the Women in Technology International (WITI) Hall of Fame and is a recipient of the 2013 U.S. News STEM Leadership Hall of Fame Award.

Sanders received her BS and MS in computer science from Louisiana State University and the University of Colorado Boulder, respectively.

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