Meet The CMD-IT Team

Valerie Taylor is the Director of the Mathematics and Computer Science Division and a Distinguished Fellow at Argonne National Laboratory. Her research is in the area of high-performance computing, with a focus on performance analysis, modeling and tuning of parallel, scientific applications.

Prior to joining Argonne, she was the Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs in the College of Engineering and a Regents Professor and the Royce E. Wisenbaker Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University. In 2003, she joined Texas A&M University as the Department Head of CSE, where she remained in that position until 2011.

Prior to joining Texas A&M, Valerie Taylor was a member of the faculty in the EECS Department at Northwestern University for eleven years. She is also the CEO & President of the Center for Minorities and People with Disabilities in IT (CMD-IT). Valerie Taylor is an IEEE Fellow, ACM Fellow, AAAS Fellow and has received numerous awards for distinguished research and leadership, including the 2001 IEEE Harriet B. Rigas Award for a woman with significant contributions in engineering education; the 2002 Outstanding Young Engineering Alumni from the University of California at Berkeley; the 2002 CRA Nico Habermann Award for increasing the diversity in computing; the 2005 Tapia Achievement Award for Scientific Scholarship, Civic Science, and Diversifying Computing; the 2018 Outstanding Electrical and Computer Engineering Award from Purdue University; and the 2020 Distinguished Alumni Award in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

Valerie E. Taylor earned her B.S. in ECE and M.S. in Computer Engineering from Purdue University in 1985 and 1986, respectively, and a Ph.D. in EECS from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1991.

Chad serves as the Operations Director at the Center for Minorities and People with Disabilities in IT (CMD-IT) and is responsible for the overall operations of the organization. Chad has served his entire career in the non-profit space leading in the departments of operations, accounting, information technology, and human resources. Chad is driven by the business goals of operational efficiency and balanced budgeting. Prior to joining CMD-IT, he was the COO of an international non-profit for six years and the CEO of a private K-12 school for ten years.

Chad holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Informatics with minors in Business Management and Information Technology from Indiana University. He also holds an Associate of Science in Computer Science.

In his spare time, Chad volunteers for other non-profits and plays an occasional round of golf.

Mikeva serves as the Tapia Conference Director at the Center for Minorities and People with Disabilities in IT (CMD-IT) and is responsible for the strategy, planning and execution of the Tapia Conference. Mikeva has over 25 years of experience within the financial services industry leading Application Development organizations, driving innovation and delivery of high-quality technical solutions while managing senior executive relationships and multi-million dollar business portfolios.

Mikeva holds a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems from the Illinois Institute of Technology. Her strong faith in God is the driving force in all that she does. Mikeva and family have a passion for helping others and often perform random acts of kindness, provide food and supplies to the homeless, and regularly support other charitable initiatives, including those within their community and church.

Sheila joined CMD-IT in 2021 and currently serves as the organization’s Director of Strategic Partnerships. As a seasoned nonprofit leader, Sheila brings a unique blend of business acumen and social impact passion to drive sustainable growth and advance the CMD-IT mission.

Thriving on building meaningful relationships with stakeholders, from corporate partners to other non-profit leaders, Sheila understands that their support drives our success.

With a Bachelor of Arts from Saint Louis University in Education, together with a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion certification from Cornell University, Sheila is crucial in helping craft innovative development strategies aligned with our organization’s goals.

Timika Oridota is the Senior Program Manager for the CMD-IT LEAP Alliance and Academic Programs.  She is also a Baker University Instructional Design and Performance Technology (IDPT) Doctoral candidate with a research emphasis in virtual reality training tools impacting the self-awareness of empathy in nursing students. Timika is a Board Certified Master Mental health Coach and focuses on the use of technology to inform healthcare training and provide essential impact to survivors of traumatic experiences.

Prior to joining CMD-IT, she was an EPIC Software Consultant with The University of Kansas Health System and a Learning Design Strategist with the American Academy of Family Physicians.