An Inside Look at a Networking Event with Nike: Confluence of Tech & Sports

Nike and PowerToFly teamed up for their first-ever virtual networking event on December 10th, 2020. While Nike is best-known for its athletic footwear, apparel, equipment, and accessories, technology is at the crux of its work. During a 90-minute session, we learned about the confluence of technology and sports from a few of the women tech leaders who keep the ball rolling.

To kick us off, Nike's Vice President of Enterprise Data & Analytics, Emily White, introduced us to Nike's technology organization during a welcome address. She highlighted the pivotal role data plays in Nike's Global Technology ecosystem, the organization's commitment to hiring diverse teams and creating a culture of inclusion, and the opportunities for career growth in technology.

We got an even deeper look at Nike's technology initiatives during a tech talk from the Director of Engineering & Advanced Analytics, Lavanya Vemula. Lavanya revealed how Nike uses data analytics and machine learning to transform the sports industry, including enabling end-to-end AA/ML where data science doesn't exist (...yet).

"If you have a love for data and want to improve the world, this is a great time to be a part of Nike," Lavanya shared.

Moving into our panel discussion, we heard from Nike's Lead Product Manager, Hany Sapir, and the Talent Acquisition Director of Global Technology/Demand & Supply Management, Kylie Penn, alongside Lavanya Vemula. The women spoke candidly about why they love their roles, how Nike supports its employees' growth, career advice for their younger selves, and how work/life balance is maintained (especially during COVID times).

When asked why she loves working in recruitment, Kylie shared, "We are building a new technology pillar at Nike.... Everybody we are bringing in now is only going to accelerate the growth of Nike. And then really specifically in this space, inside of our Enterprise & Data Analytics team, they are the true core foundation, the spine that will then spawn off into absolutely anything that we do."

After a live audience Q&A, we broke into small breakout sessions with additional Talent Acquisition team members to learn about Nike's hiring process and answer more audience questions.

Nike is hiring! You can view all of their open roles and learn more about the company on their PowerToFly page. As Nike would say, "Just do it".