The Secret to Success: Self-Advocacy and Self-Care
with Ericka Spradley
The Human Side of Innovation: Building Tech that Matters
Valerie Alcantara, Karl Frantz, Roshan Herbert
Innovation in technology is more than sophisticated code and systems—it’s about the people who bring ideas to life. In this session, Esri’s Valerie Alcantara, Group ArcGIS Release Manager; Roshan Herbert, Software Development Lead; and Karl Frantz, Accessibility Team Lead for Software Product Development will share how collaboration, creativity, and a human-centered approach fuel the development of impactful technology. With decades of combined experience across software development, accessibility, and product leadership, they’ll highlight how embracing challenges, fostering individual growth, and encouraging new ideas are essential to building tech that truly makes a difference. Attendees will leave with a people-first perspective on innovation that can transform both products and teams.
Join us on Wednesday, October 15th from 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM ET for this free interactive event.
What You’ll Learn:
- How to balance technical excellence with human-centered collaboration
- Strategies for turning challenges into opportunities during product development
- Ways to cultivate growth and creativity within teams
- Approaches for building technology that is accessible, inclusive, and meets real-world needs
- Inspiration for viewing product launches as celebrations of collective achievement
Meet The Speakers
Valerie Alcantara
Group ArcGIS Release Manager, Esri
Valerie is an accomplished product development professional with over 20 years of experience in software development, quality assurance, and release management. Her expertise and dedication to quality have guided countless ArcGIS releases. With a unique perspective on the often-chaotic nature of software projects, Valerie finds joy in witnessing specialized teams come together to create innovative solutions. For Valerie, releasing software is like throwing a party—each launch is a celebration of hard work, collaboration, and creativity. This passion extends beyond the technical aspects of Valerie's work; she is deeply committed to encouraging growth within individuals and fostering their ideas into tangible products. With a wealth of knowledge and enthusiasm for mentoring, Valerie inspires teams to embrace and transform challenges into opportunities for success.
Karl Frantz
Accessibility Team Lead, Software Product Development, Esri
Karl Frantz is the Accessibility Team Lead at Esri, where he has been advocating for disability awareness since 2016. He leads a pioneering team of accessibility engineers and specialists who focus on enhancing accessibility standards across ArcGIS software products for people of all ability ranges. Capture his complete attention with discussions about science fiction and fantasy literature, and vegetarian/vegan cooking.
Roshan Herbert
Software Development Lead, Esri
Roshan Herbert is a Software Development Lead at Esri, where he works on ArcGIS Pro, the premier desktop Geographic Information System (GIS) application. His primary focus is on mapping and feature symbology, helping users effectively visualize and interpret geospatial data.Roshan is passionate about leveraging GIS to solve complex, real-world problems. In his leadership role, he manages a team of developers, mentoring them in their professional growth and guiding their contributions to Esri’s mission.As an Agile Coach and coordinator of Scrum of Scrums, Roshan plays a key role in project and process management. He champions continuous improvement through agile methodologies, fostering collaboration, efficiency, and innovation across teams.
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