As vice president of technology for Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media (DCPI), Nikki Katz is a driving force behind Disney’s efforts to bring its stories to consumers in inventive ways. Her responsibilities range from designing, developing and operating technology platforms that power games and websites; to new, expanded responsibilities in e-commerce. She leads and shapes DCPI’s platform services organization, while delivering large-scale technology solutions that are leveraged across The Walt Disney Company.

She launched her career at Yahoo! as a software engineer and progressed through technology roles across engineering, operations, product and management.

Katz’s focus on improving diversity within technology through education and career enhancing opportunities is groundbreaking, and her innovation and leadership inspire her peers. She believes in creating and investing in programs that will spawn the next generation of women engineers, and is a leader and an example in the technology world.

A champion for women in STEM, Katz helped found DCPI’s Women & Technology, an organization designed to support and grow female talent in technology roles. She launched a pilot program in 2016 called Code: Rosie (a nod to World War II icon Rosie the Riveter), which offers a rigorous three-month training program and yearlong apprenticeship to female employees, regardless of background, who want to join Disney’s technical ranks.

She is also the primary driving force behind a program that enables employees in non-engineering roles to pursue a new career in engineering.

Katz graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. in Symbolic Systems.

Science & Technology, Internet & Technology Industries, Technology, Information Technology (IT), Science and Technology Professionals, Technology Policy, Disney, Consumer Goods, Product Development, Product Design, E-Commerce, Diversity & Race, Social Media & Networking, Diversity Topics, Workplace Diversity Inspirational, Women & Gender Issues, Empowerment, Women in Business, Influential Women, Women in Society, Women in Leadership, STEM Education,