Elizabeth Leake

Elizabeth Leake has more than 20 years of experience with post-secondary education service, shared governance, communication, and information technology (IT) administration.  Leake is the founder of STEM-Trek Nonprofit, an organization that supports travel, mentoring, and professional development for high-tech scholars from under-represented communities and under-served regions. In exchange for support, beneficiaries are encouraged to serve as STEM ambassadors at home through volunteer work Program participants experience a deeper understanding of how all members of society interact with technology.

Leake was well known as an advocate for under-represented groups (in the use of advanced technologies), interdisciplinary team-building, and creative problem-solving while serving as IT Services Associate Director at Northern Illinois University. She was appointed to serve two terms as chair of NIU’s President’s Commission on Persons with Disabilities. Her contributions were recognized when she was awarded the 2007 NIU Supportive Professional Staff Council Award for Excellence.

As external relations coordinator for the U.S. National Science Foundation’s TeraGrid project, Leake led their  nationally-distributed team of communicators. She facilitated the 2010 and 2011 EU-US (DEISA/PRACE and TeraGrid/XSEDE) High Performance Computing Summer Schools in Catania, Italy and South Lake Tahoe, California. She serves as U.S. Correspondent for European Grid Infrastructure community forums and blogs about technology conferences and events.

As a consultant, Leake specializes in technology program management, event planning, outreach, communication, and social media development. She was engaged by the Southeast Wisconsin High Performance Cyberinfrastructure (SeWHiP) and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute of Southeast Wisconsin to serve as program chair for their 2012 Data Symposium.

Leake holds a B.F.A. in Graphic Design from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.