MVP for Iowa STEM: Wendy Batchelder

Wendy Batchelder, Chief Data Officer for VMware, co-chaired the STEM Council’s Career Exploration & Guidance working group.
Wendy Batchelder, Chief Data Officer for VMware, recently took a leadership role with the STEM Council’s Career Exploration and Guidance working group as co-chair alongside Des Moines Area Community College President Rob Denson.

With a passion for data science and equity, Wendy Batchelder applies her professional background and personal experiences to her role on the Governor’s STEM Advisory Council.

Batchelder currently serves as the Chief Data Officer of VMware, a technology company based in the Silicon Valley. In this role, she is responsible for the company’s business insights, analytics solutions and data management.

Early in her professional career, she quickly noticed that she was one of few, and often the only, females in the room. While she recognizes this has greatly improved, these experiences fueled a passion to mentor young women in their careers and promote equitable career opportunities for all.

Whether in her position at VMware, as a member of the STEM Council or in any other role, she enjoys getting involved and making a difference.

“Serving on the STEM Council ties in neatly with my personal passion. It is important to me to continue to qualify the workforce,” said Batchelder. “The more equitable opportunities and experiences offered to students of all backgrounds, the more innovative we will be as a state.”

Batchelder served as co-chair of the STEM Council’s Career Exploration and Guidance working group along with Des Moines Area Community College President Rob Denson. She is also a member of Iowa’s new Computer Science Work Group for Education, created to make recommendations to strengthen computer science instruction and promote computer science to K-12 students and families.

The STEM Council would like to thank Wendy Batchelder, along with the other 58 members of the STEM Advisory Council who help inspire young Iowans in STEM. For more information about the STEM Advisory Council, please visit iowastem.org/council.

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