Donna Shirley, Manager of the Mars Exploration Program, and Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell Lead an All-Star Line-Up at Atlanta Women in Technology International Conference Thursday.

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 17, 1998--Nearly 500 technology leaders and business professionals from around the world will descend upon Atlanta as Women in Technology International (WITI) holds the next in its Business of Technology Conference series Sept. 17-18 at the Cobb Galleria Centre.

The Career and Product Expo, featuring some of Atlanta's top companies, is open free to the general public from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday and from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Friday. Companies such as Lucent Technologies, Coca-Cola, Microsoft and UPS will be showcasing their employment opportunities, products and services. Those who want to attend the Career and Product Expo can register on site.

http://www.witi.org gives comprehensive conference information.

Sponsors of the conference include: Airtouch Cellular, Atlanta Business Chronicle, Bernard Hodes Advertising, Business Wire, Cisco Systems, Clayton College & State University, Creative Loafing, Deloitte & Touche LLP and Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group, EDS, Fannie Mae, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, InfoWorld, Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue, Keane Inc., Lockheed Martin Information & Systems Sector, Lucent Technologies, Management Decisions Inc., MBNA America, Microsoft Corp., Pegasystems, PLATINUM Technology, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Prudential Securities Inc., RHI Consulting, SBC Technology Resources Inc., The Coca-Cola Co., The MITRE Co., The Monticello Corp., United Parcel Service, Women's Student Union of Georgia Tech (WSU) and WRQ.

Other prominent speakers at WITI's Atlanta conference include Debra Benton, president of Benton Management Services; and nationally recognized entrepreneur Ella Williams, president and CEO of Aegir Systems. The conference will also feature some of Atlanta's top business leaders, including Denise Sclafini, general manager, Lucent Technologies and Erika Jolly, vice president, product development, Mindspring.

"Donna Shirley's 35-year career as an aerospace engineer reached a jubilant pinnacle in July 1997 when Sojourner -- the solar powered, self guided, microwave oven-sized rover was seen exploring the Martian landscape in Pathfinder's spectacular images from the surface of the red planet. The event marked a milestone in space exploration -- no vehicle had ever before roamed the surface of another planet" ("Managing Martians," Broadway Books, 1998).

Shirley, who headed the mostly male team that designed and built Sojourner, will give an update on the Mars program and conduct a booksigning of her recently published chronicle of the Mars Program, titled "Managing Martians."

As Chair of the United States Conference of Mayors' Transportation and Communications Committee, Mayor Bill Campbell this year passed a resolution to establish a National Advisory Committee on Technology and Communications. To help realize his vision of the Smart City, he also appointed an Atlanta Technology Advisory Committee. He continues to work with key business leaders to market Atlanta as a technology capital.

Now in his second term, Mayor Campbell has set his sights on turning Atlanta into one of America's first Smart Cities through the use of technology. He has been a forceful advocate for bridging the digital divide between rich and poor, and ensuring that all of Atlanta's children have the skills to compete in the 21st century.

Each speaker at the regional conference will bring the insight of personal experience to the event's theme, "The Business of Technology." According to Carolyn Leighton, founder and executive director of WITI, the theme is a reminder that technology is truly everyone's business.

"As technology permeates every aspect of our lives, women are being more widely recognized as major contributors to industry's bottom line," Leighton said. "Today, women are increasingly sought after as decision makers in science and technology organizations and as influencers in the global technology marketplace." More About the WITI Conference

Similar to WITI's highly successful annual national conferences which draw thousands of technology leaders and visionaries to the Silicon Valley, WITI's regional conferences are designed to create a stimulating environment for idea exchange and provide business value to participating individuals and corporations.

The WITI Southeastern regional conference in Atlanta features informative, dynamic keynotes and sessions providing in-depth presentations and discussions on business, technology and professional subjects.

Other highlights of the WITI regional conference include a Product/Career Expo designed to help companies market products and services and recruit top professionals; a business networking area; and direct access by attendees to the top women and visionaries in technology.

According to Leighton, attendees of the annual WITI conferences in the Silicon Valley report that WITI events provide much greater business value than narrowly focused trade shows or career expos.

In response to this positive feedback, the Atlanta regional conference is designed as a multipurpose event, offering opportunities for attendees to do targeted job searches, gain in-depth information about new technologies, develop new business contacts and acquire new workplace strategies for professional success.

Registration forms, the complete list of speakers, panels, sessions and roundtables, and other highlights of the WITI Regional Conference in Atlanta, are available at WITI's award-winning Web site at http://www.witi.org or by calling WITI at 800/334-9484. About WITI

Dedicated to creating new possibilities for women to advance and succeed in technology, WITI works with industry, government and academia to develop core competencies in demand by all levels of technology organizations. WITI is a rapidly growing global association of more than 6,000 (and an active database of more than 25,000) professional women and men working in science and technology organizations.

Currently, there are 18 WITI regional chapters across the United States.

WITI was originally founded in 1989 as an e-mail network designed to give women in technology more efficient access to a wide-range network of information and contacts in order to help them succeed on their projects. WITI's mission is to advance women to management and executive level positions, help women become more technologically literate and financially independent, and motivate young women to choose careers in science and technology.

WITI's final 1998 regional conference is in Boston Oct. 19-20 at the John B. Hynes Memorial Convention Center.