On March 5, 2019 Infrastructure Masons members gathered at Fleming’s Steakhouse in Palo Alto, California for the inaugural Food For Thought dinner.

Food For Thought dinners are members-only events that raise money for our scholarship fund supporting $1M Education Challenge that we launched in London in November of 2018. Just by showing up, each member personally helps raise $500 for scholarships, of which 50% are awarded to women. No money is expected out of their pocket. We just want their experience and expertise. We leave our companies at the door and connect as individuals.

Our first dinner gathered a great group of members who care a great deal about education, diversity and giving back.

Christina Abraham, Curt Belusar, Larry Bosquez, Maricel Cerruti, Serena Devito, Ankush Dham, Gloria Lau, Dean Nelson, Sheldon Provost, Mercy Ringelmann-Manning, Jeremy Rodriguez, Adam Tarnowski, Joe Ward, Chris Winslow

Some members met for the first time at this dinner. Others reconnected having working together at many of the same companies and as partners on past projects.

We had representation from our board, including Maricel Cerruti and myself, our chair of the IM women’s group and, Mercy Manning, a member of our Advisory Council, Curt Belusar and other members who have been supporting iMasons from day 1. There were so many other connections as this group represented all levels of experience at past and current companies like Aligned Energy, Apple, Ebay, Flex, HPE, Nutanix, Nvidia, Salesforce, SAP, Sun Micro, Teledata, Uber and many more.

One of the most memorable parts of the evening was having Serena Devito join us and share her story. She persisted through a tough year of chemotherapy and surgery and is now cancer free. Many of us have had the privilege of working with Serena for more than fifteen years and have been there to support her on this tough journey. She is a dear friend and it was amazing to share her evening of celebration with the group! During the conversation, we found that Chris Winslow and Larry Bosquez had also battled and beat cancer. We’re all tied together is so many unique ways.

Our first dinner in Palo Alto raised $5,000 for our scholarship fund. On behalf of the board and wider membership we want to thank Flex for enabling this dinner to happen. 100% of their generous donation will go directly to scholarships on behalf of our attending members. We honored them with our very first Education Champion medal.

And yes Chris, it was real! Nice of you to verify just like our olympic gold medal winners! 🙂

When iMasons was formed in April of 2016, we knew we wanted to provide a platform for our community to connect, grow and give back. These intimate dinners represent all that is good in our industry as we continue to Unite the Builders of the Digital Age.

If you are interested in attending or supporting one of these dinners to connect with members and give back please contact iMasons Administration for more information. Members are encouraged to form their own dinners in their local areas or when they travel for business. You can keep informed about upcoming dinners in your areas through our Food For Thought webpage.