Trailblazing as Women Leaders in 2023

Three years ago when I was voted on to Women of Natera (WON) Leadership team, I didn't know what to expect, and certainly could not have anticipated the organizational impact and personal and professional growth that would result from serving on the team.

We are women from all backgrounds, work verticals and departments, entry level to Director to SVP, united around a common goal, though we each take away something individually from the experience as well. I'll never forget that team exercise in Half Moon Bay where we brainstormed, and envisioned what imprint we wanted to leave during our time on the leadership team the next year in 2023; a session guided by a powerful coach in Michael C. Wenderoth - Executive Coach . (Pun intended, Michael!)

If you have ever experienced rapid, tangible cohesion of a new team, that realizes they can achieve anything together, then you know when that happens, the feeling is tangible, and it doesn't happen by accident.

If you've wondered if you should raise your hand to lead as a leader on an employee resource group, I'm here to tell you DO IT! You'll impact employees at scale, network and learn from people you may have never met otherwise, develop higher level leadership and communication skills, and gain a broader insight to how organization's function.

I want to express my gratitude for the opportunity to represent Women of Natera members and lead our Leadership team as Chair for 2023.

It has been incredibly rewarding serving as a member of the Leadership team in various capacities over the last three years, opening doors for personal and professional growth, as well as that of Women of Natera, that I will always treasure.

I am filled with pride at the progress we have made towards our goals; we have successfully impacted organizational change for Natera employees, established sustainable processes to continue to scale our ERG, and embedded additional benefits for our employees.

Before I sign off as Chair.... I want to take a moment to share a few of the phenomenal accomplishments of the 2023 WON leadership team:

1. Senior Executive Engagement and Presence

We achieved an impressive level of senior executive engagement and presence at WON events in 2023. Natera executives introduced speakers, moderated panels, and attended to listen, as we provided over 8 hours of professional development speaking engagements. We owe this success to the efforts of our Events Pillar leaders, Reavelyn Pray and Val Kantor , and our Communications Pillar, Samantha Navarro and Michelle Bloom, PhD, ISMPP CMPP . We also thank Brian Symmons for his candor, coaching, and support as our Executive Sponsor over the last year, and Michael Brophy for always making time for us when we are in town to hear what's working, and where we want to go.

2. WON Leadership restructuring and expansion

We restructured our leadership team and created a Senior Advisor Team of former WON Chairs and WON Founders including Sheetal Parmar J. Dianne Keen-Kim, Ph.D., FACMG, HCLD(ABB) , and Meenakshi Malhotra, PhD . In doing so we retain institutional knowledge and leverage the expertise and guidance of senior women leaders. Our restructuring meant we expanded from 8 to 14 team members and with further growth planned 2024 as we launch a new Member Engagement pillar. Molly Levinson and I would like to thank our leadership team for having faith in our vision, which aligned our team to envision what could be, with no limits.

3. Initiation of talent partnership with HR

We are partnering with HR more closely to enhance best practices around hiring, promotion, employee development, and attrition, to continue to foster a diverse and inclusive workforce at Natera, including partnering with the new ERG Voices of Natera. We thank David Gonzalez Sharon K Ma and Casey Stock for their partnership!

4. Expansion of PDMP program

We expanded Women of Natera's Professional Development and Mentorship Program (PDMP). In 2023, 125 mentees graduated under the guidance of 15 mentors, while we simultaneously launched an international cohort. This was a massive undertaking led by Program Pillar leaders, Vanessa Michelini and Valari Armstrong , that included an in person international session lead by Vanessa Michelini at the opening of Natera’s Serbia office.

5. Secured additional benefits for Natera employees

We succeeded in acquiring new Maven Clinic benefits to include Menopause offerings and Maven wallet, which can be used for health travel purposes. This expands on Maven benefits previously secured through WON’s collaboration with HR that included free breastmilk shipping and other maternal health support.

6. Scaled WON's ability develop a rich female talent pipeline through new partnership with Lean In

Thanks to the creativity of our Partnerships Pillar Leaders Nicole Balazs and Laura Mayerle , we brought Lean In Circles to Natera, more than doubling the number of female employees enrolled in a WON professional development program offering, a whopping 300 women. Our new partnership with Sheryl Sandberg 's organization, Lean In , is the second leadership development offering specifically designed for women by women, brought to Natera by WON Leadership within the last 2 years.

Each of our WON leadership team members has a full career at Natera and invests significant time and energy into providing value add programming and initiatives for our employees, while operating at the highest level in their day to day roles.

My term as Chair has come to a close and I am delighted to announce WON executive leadership team transitions including appointment of Molly Levinson from Co-Chair to Chair, and Valari Armstrong to Co-Chair for 2024!

Please join me in recognizing and thanking this team of incredible women for their investment of time and energy toward advancing women’s careers.