About
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Dr. Cheryl Shavers is a 30-year veteran of the high-tech industry with companies such as Intel, Hewlett- Packard and Motorola, and is the former Undersecretary of Technology for the Department of Commerce in the Clinton Administration. Currently she is CEO of Global Smarts, Inc. a private advisory and strategy firm, a former Distinguished Dean’s Professor at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University, where she lectured for 10 years. She is also a practicing registered Patent Agent with the Patent & Trademark Office of the Department of Commerce. Dr. Shavers is an inductee in the International Women in Technology Hall of Fame and the Arizona State University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame. In 2021 and 2017, Savoy Magazine named Dr. Shavers one of the “Most Influential Black Corporate Directors” and in 2019 Dr. Shavers was recognized by WomenInc magazine as one of the “Most Influential Corporate Directors”. Additionally, in 2010 she was an honoree for promoting diversity in the Boardroom and featured in “Directors to Watch in 2009” by Directors & Boards Advisory Annual Report 2009. In 1999 and 2005, she received Congressional Recognition from the U.S. House of Representatives for her work in the community and for her business leadership. She was also honored with the Compass Award from the Women’s Leadership Exchange and formerly served on the boards of the Tech Museum of Innovation San Jose, CA and the Anita Borg Institute, an organization dedicated to expanding opportunities for women and girls in science and technology. As Under Secretary, Dr. Shavers served as senior advisor to the Secretary of Commerce in forming new policies and program initiatives in the areas of science and technology. Currently, she serves on the board of directors on the Knowles Corporation [NYSE:KN], an advanced micro-acoustic, audio processing provider, ITT [NYSE:ITT], a manufacturer of specialty components for the aerospace, transportation, energy and industrial markets and Voyager Space, a private company that designs and develops commercial space stations and innovative systems to revolutionize how humanity explores space. She also serves on the board of directors of the Air Force Academy Foundation, a major gifts organization for United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) and is a board trustee on the Falcon Foundation, a scholarship granting institution for USAFA admissions. She formerly served on the board of boards of Rockwell Collins [NYSE:COL], an avionics supplier recently acquired by United Technologies Corporation [NYSE:UTX], Mentor Graphics, an electronic design automation software company acquired by Siemens Corporation and ATMI, a semiconductor materials company acquired by Entegris in a $1.5 B merger deal. Dr. Shavers holds a B.S. (1976) in chemistry and a Ph.D. (1981) in solid-state chemistry from Arizona State University and an honorary master's degree (1997) in business management from California Polytechnic State University. She currently lives in Santa Clara, CA with her husband, Joseph Agu, and her twin sons are completing their university studies in California and Nevada. She also has a daughter who is a 2017 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO with a B.S. degree in Astronautical Engineering and a graduate of the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio with a M.S. degree in Astronautical Engineering. Her daughter is currently a Captain in the United States Space Force. Dr. Shavers is a member of the 1998 class of Henry Crown Fellows and the Aspen Global Leadership Network at the Aspen Institute.
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