Engage features marketplace speakers sharing their authentic faith journey while working in Silicon Valley.
What is engage?
A quarterly gathering (now virtual) featuring marketplace speakers sharing in conversation their faith journey while working in the Silicon Valley marketplace.
why do we do these engage events?
With or without faith, Silicon Valley can be intimidating and all-consuming as we work to survive and successfully operate in a challenging business community and marketplace. But we are surrounded by real people with real lives and stories that can encourage and uplift us and help us realize that we are not alone or unique in our journeys. Sometimes we just need to hear these stories and understand that there is a common bond between us all in that intersection of faith and the marketplace.
what does engage provide?
- LEARNING – Every quarter we conduct conversations with Silicon Valley marketplace leaders. Learn how these people started both their workplace journey as well as their own personal faith journey. Learn how do they manage their business and life pressures, personal doubts, challenges, wins and losses in this competitive arena. Learn how other respected people in this Silicon Valley marketplace manage the spiritual dimensions of their lives.
- ENCOURAGEMENT – We can all use encouragement in our own lives. When we hear about the honest struggles and journeys of others we are uplifted and reminded that others go through the same issues and challenges we do as well. It’s encouraging to know how other people address the questions of faith and the integration of their faith in their everyday lives. Regardless of their titles or position in the world.
- NETWORKING – We offer a time for interaction and response to the speaker’s comments and conversation with our hosts. This may be in our Q&A time or in some cases we’ll have an opportunity to place ENGAGE attendees in small virtual groups to share personal responses to what the speaker has shared. Either way, we are leveraging a community that has already been built and now extending it in ways that will broaden your own contacts and network in this Silicon Valley business/marketplace community.
Join Us Online
Join us on January 22nd at 1:00 PM PT
Speaker: Vanessa Russell
Technology Life & Love
Vanessa Russell spent 23 years in the IT industry, including 13 years at Cisco Systems, where she most recently retired to focus on her passion full time. She is the Founder and Executive Director of the non-profit Love Never Fails, which places human trafficking victims in a safe house to make sure they have a stable and healthy home life, jobs, and everyday work clothes. How she got into this business is a dramatic story unto itself. How she has expanded her vision and experience to bridge those in need with those in the technology marketplace is an inspiration as well. She graduated from the University of San Francisco with a BS in Information System Management, is a sought out speaker, published author of The Fight for Love workbook, and recipient of numerous awards including the 2020 Modern Day Abolitionists of the Year.
Vanessa will share her personal journey and the active role and impact of her Christian faith.

Engage Virtual Host & Moderator:
Michael Griego
CEO & Founder, MXL Partners, Biblical Viewpoint Blog
Michael Griego is the President/Founder of MXL Partners, mxlpartners.com, a Silicon Valley based sales training and consulting firm working with high-growth companies of all sizes. MXL coaches and trains in sales process and messaging execution, sales playbook development and sales management. He is an author, speaker, world-class sales trainer and sales management coach and consultant.
Past Speakers
Ana Gonzalez
CEO, Alturas TechNOLOGIES SERVICES
Dr. Tom Bradicich
VP, Hewlett Packard, Global Head of Edge & IoT CoE & Labs
Pedro David Espinoza
Entrepreneur, Angel Investor, Ted Talk Speaker & Author
Tolu Odulesi
Google
Michael Halloran
NES Financial
Carol Novello
President, Silicon Valley Humane Society & Founder, Mutual Rescue
Nicholas Brathwaite
Founder & Partner, Riverwood Capital
Olatunde “Tunde” Sobomehin
Co-CEO & Lead Servant, StreetCode Academy
Charlie Strouss
Senior Vice President, CBRE
Sue Warnke
Director of Infrastructure Documentation, Salesforce
Becky Pomerleau
Senior Finance Manager, PayPal
Jonathan Liao
Portfolio Manager, 500 Startups, Inc.
Brian Martin
Medical Device Engineer & Entrepreneur
- November 9, 2016 — Andrew Laffoon, Co-Founder & CEO of Mixbook
- September 21, 2016 — Robert Valiton, Officer at Atmel Corporation
- May 18, 2016 — Ellen Luttrell, Global Marketing Executive
- February 17, 2016 — Larry Grotte, Co-Founder/President of Rident Park, Inc.
- September 30, 2015 — Ken Churchill, Senior Vice President, Morgan Stanley
- April 15, 2015 — Bobby Evans, VP Assistant GM, SF Giants
- January 21, 2015 — Ryon Paton, Trinitas Partners
- November 5, 2014 — Isaac Sundarajan, Strategy & M&A Executive
- September 17, 2014 — Michael Chang, Entrepreneur (former SVP, HP Autonomy)
- May 7, 2014 — Jerry Shen, Silicon Valley software developer and entrepreneur
- January 22, 2014 — Dave Evans, Co-Founder, Electronics Arts
- November 14, 2013 — Brent Dusing, Founder, Chairman, and CEO, Lightside
- September 18, 2013 — Dr. John Dearborn, Co-founder, Dearborn-Sah Institute for Joint Restoration
- May 1, 2013 — Kevin Compton, Venture Capitalist, Radar Partners and Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers
- January 30, 2013 — Sanjay Poonen, President and Corporate Officer, Technology Solutions and the Mobile Division at SAP
- September, 2012 — Kirk Hoiberg, Principal, Trinitas Partners
- May 24, 2012 — Michael Yang, Founder, Become, Inc., and Founder/CEO, mySimon.com
- January, 2012 — Milo Medin, Vice President of Access Services, Google; and Founder, @Home Network