Weekly Seminar: Alumni Panel

January 15, 2025

Alumni Panel

Details

When: Thursday, January 16th, 2025\

Where: TMCB 1170

Speaker(s): Alyssa Stringham, Zando Ward, Russ Young, Sarah Wiley

Biographies

Alyssa Stringham

Alyssa is a Senior Engineering Manager at Lucid Software, where she has played a key role in leading Lucid's Developer Platform with robust integrations and APIs. She is passionate about developing strong engineers. A BYU Computer Science alumna, Alyssa joined Lucid as a full-stack engineering intern and has been there for 11 years. After stepping away from the workforce to focus on being home full-time, she returned just 1 year later. Alyssa has found fulfillment in blending deeply technical work alongside being a parent. Outside of work, Alyssa’s latest hobbies include rock climbing, speed puzzling & 3d modeling.

Sarah Wiley

I've been working as a software engineer for over twenty years, working extensively in both desktop, mobile, and web development environments. In 2015 I made the leap from a long tenure at a large software company into the alluring world of startups, and then became a blockchain convert in 2018. At Hightop I hung up my individual-contributor-coder hat and embraced managing a team of super talented engineers, product managers, and designers across the globe. Now at Crumbl I get to combine my passion for cookies with my passion for building great software. Life is sweet!

Zando Ward

I graduated with a degree in CS from BYU and decided to focus on building companies from the ground up — most recently with Leland, which I co-founded in 2021. We are democratizing access to expertise and helping people achieve their most ambitious professional and educational goals. I love watching & playing all kinds of sports, and am particularly hooked on golf. I love BYU and am grateful for the opportunity I had to gain an education here.

Russ Young

Russ is a technology leader with experience in healthcare, financial services, and publishing, and is currently the CTO at Saddle Rock Legal Group. He graduated from BYU with a Master’s degree in Computer Science and minors in Math and Spanish. As a software engineer at Folio Corporation, Russ developed publishing tools to digitize legal and accounting reference libraries. At Digital Harbor, he was the leader for the Utah office where he built tools to help banks tackle fraud and money laundering. Russ led the engineering teams at HealthEquity to build industry leading portals for HSA members and partners and helped guide the company through its IPO. He has helped with several local startups including SilverVue, Owlet and Galvan Health, and for 4 years was the CIO at Celtic Bank, leading the bank though the pandemic, working from home and helped design and deliver a Salesforce app that helped clients secure their PPP funds and survive the lockdowns. His leadership keys are to find and retain great talent, empower productive teams, continually improve processes, create order out of chaos, and delight customers with exceptional products and services. Russ was a Spanish speaking missionary in Los Angeles and is married with 7 children and 3 grandchildren.

Donuts will be served.