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Emerging Technologies
Drawing on her more than 25 years in the high-tech industry, Cheryl Shavers reveals the key opportunities and innovations in our future.
Smart – Not Stuck: How Talented Women Thrive
Women in business and other professions face the challenges of an anemic business climate with the same level of intelligence, education, and commitment as men. Yet comparatively few navigate their careers as successfully as they lead in a downturn. Because companies have an increasingly urgent need for more leaders, all men and women with the brains, the desire, and the perseverance to lead should be able to fulfill their potential and leave their mark despite a changing environment. What’s particularly exciting is the ways women can actively build the skills to become more self-confident and effective leaders through strategic, intellectual, and emotional strength that will drive personal achievement and, in turn, inspires others to follow. Dr. Shavers shares the philosophy that helped her meet life's obstacles and leap over them, demonstrating that maintaining discipline and embracing risk-taking are at the core of true success on every level.
Cheryl L. Shavers, Ph.D. is a highly regarded technical and business expert and sought after national and international speaker on issues of technology, business and policy for both the private sector and foreign governments. The first female African-American Undersecretary of Commerce for Technology of the United States government, her insights and skills have bridged the divides between public and private enterprises, national and global competition, and emerging and conventional technologies. Dr. Shavers has over 25 years of experience in the high-tech industry in various engineering and managerial positions at Fortune 500 companies such as Motorola, Hewlett-Packard, Varian Associates and Intel Corporation. Dr. Shavers is the CEO of Global Smarts, Inc., a business advisory services and strategy firm.
Dr. Shavers serves on the board of directors of Rockwell Collins [COL], a leading communications and avionics company and ATMI [ATMI], a semiconductor materials and packaging company. She is also a Director on the Advisory Board of E.W. Scripps Company, a print and electronic media company. Additionally, she is a Distinguished Dean’s Professor at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University, a private Jesuit institution.
Previously, Dr. Shavers was confirmed by the 106th Congress to become the Under Secretary of Commerce for Technology at the Department of Commerce. In this role, Dr. Shavers oversaw the Commerce Department’s Technology Administration and the Office of Technology Policy, as well as the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Technical Information Service and the Office of Space Commercialization.
As Under Secretary for Technology, Dr. Shavers served as senior advisor to the Secretary of Commerce in forming new policies and program initiatives in the areas of science and technology. The Technology Administration is the federal government’s focal point for working in partnership with U.S. industry to improve America’s commercial and industrial innovation, productivity, and economic growth.
Additionally, she served as the Department of Commerce’s representative to the National Science and Technology Council’s Committee on National Security, the Committee on International Science, Engineering & Technology and the Committee on Technology, as well as coordinated the Clinton Administration’s Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles program.
Internationally, Dr. Shavers served as a member of the U.S.-Israel Science and Technology Commission (USISTC), is a former member of the USISRC Executive Committee, served as Co-Chair of the USISTC Joint High Level Advisory Panel, is a former member of the Board of Directors of the U.S.-Israel Science & Technology Foundation, the former Co-Chair of the Technology Subcommittee under the U.S.-Egypt Partnership for Economic Development, and was a frequently invited participant on the U.S.-South Africa Science & Technology Committee, the U.S.-Russia Science & Technology Committee, the U.S.-China Joint Management Committee and the U.S.-Japan Joint High Level Committee.
Dr. Shavers holds a B.S. degree in Chemistry, a Ph.D. in Solid State Chemistry, both from Arizona State University, and an Honorary Master’s degree in Engineering Management from California Polytechnic State University. She is also a practicing registered Patent Agent with the Patent & Trademark Office of the Department of Commerce.
Before she was nominated by former President Bill Clinton to be Under Secretary for Technology, Dr. Shavers headed investment strategies for the Microprocessor Sector Group within Intel Capital where she led technology assessments of emerging technologies, structured strategic business alliances and oversaw domestic and international equity investments and/or acquisitions of high-tech companies.
Raised in Phoenix, Arizona, Dr. Shavers is a highly regarded technical and business expert and sought after national and international speaker on issues of technology, business and policy for both the private sector and foreign governments. She is also the former producer and host of Technology’s Edge, a radio talk program broadcast on Business Radio AM570 WWRC in Washington D.C., a former weekly columnist for the San Jose Mercury News and a former member of the board of directors for the San Jose Tech Museum of Innovation.
Among her numerous awards, Dr. Shavers is also a 1998 Aspen Institute Henry Crown Fellow and an inductee in the International Women in Technology Hall of Fame, Arizona State University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame. In 1999 and 2005 she received Congressional Recognition from the U.S. House of Representatives for her work in the community and for her business leadership. Dr. Shavers was recently honored with the 2005 Compass Award from the Women’s Leadership Exchange and currently serves as a board member of the Anita Borg Institute, which is dedicated to expanding opportunities for women and girls in science and technology.
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