Martha Soehren Women Veterans Fellowship

About the Fellowship

The Martha Soehren Women Veterans Fellowship is an annual fellowship that enables a high potential woman veteran employed at a programmer, operator or by a technology company to experience the strength of The WICT Network’s educational programs and robust professional network. The fellowship recipient embarks on a one-year journey designed to build crucial leadership development skills through The WICT Network’s resources and programs.

The WICT Network provides the recipient with a one-year membership and will underwrite registration costs and travel stipends for the following programs:

  • Executive Development Series (One of the following EDS sessions):
    • Leading Through Transition: April 2-4, San Diego, CA
    • Executive Leadership Presence: September 11-12, Nashville, TN
    • Leading with Power and Authenticity: September 11-13, Nashville, TN
  • Leadership Conference: October 21-22, New York, NY
  • Tech It Out: TBA

The recipient of the fellowship is selected based in part on the applicant’s ability to describe how receiving the fellowship will positively impact their leadership skills to the benefit of their organization and the industry as a whole.

Eligibility:

  • Applicant must be a veteran – someone who served in the active military, naval, or air service and was discharged or released under conditions other than dishonorable.
  • Applicant must be currently employed in the industry.

The application deadline has passed.

Michelle Williams
Senior Manager of Operations
Comcast Business

Michelle Williams is an ambitious, driven Senior Manager of Operations at Comcast Business. With a master’s degree in psychology and pursuing a doctorate in organizational leadership, her goal is to help businesses reach their ambitions while empowering employees to live their best lives. Before joining Comcast, Michelle worked in the non-profit sector, real estate and owned her own realty management company. She has served eight years as a Communications/Navigation Systems Specialist in the Air Force Reserves, fixing radios and navigation systems on C-5 planes. Michelle is proud to be a mother of two adult children, one of which recently blessed her with a grandchild. Fun-loving and active, her favorite sports are football and basketball – she still actively plays basketball. Beyond sports, she loves music, movies and travel – all things that fuel her passion for life!

Heidi Flores
Director of Learning Solutions
Comcast

Heidi Flores is a life-long learner with a passion for operations excellence and one of our most recent recipients of the 2022 Martha Soehren Women Veterans Fellowship.

Heidi’s cable career started in managing a call center that conducted cable satisfaction surveys in Boulder, Colorado, moved to Cox Communications in San Diego where she worked across multiple areas in sales, quality, communications and technical support. For the past 15 years, she has been supporting Comcast in training, quality and leadership roles. She left Comcast for two years to lead the national quality program for a Comcast vendor in India, and then she returned to support national learning initiatives for Comcast Business, Comcast Advertising, and Xfinity’s Care teams. Additionally, she volunteers internally via ‘gigs’ to support L&D operations excellence throughout ULearn Solutions within Comcast. Most recently, she led the development of a Smartsheet solution to automate the ULearn operating model strategy.

Heidi served four years in the US Army as a 98G Korean Linguist from 1990 to 1994 and helped as a translator during joint military exercises (Team Spirit) with South Korea. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and master’s degree in Organization Leadership from National University in La Jolla, California. She is a Certified Scrum Product Owner and Smartsheet Product Certified User.

Originally from Maine, Heidi now resides in Savannah, Georgia with her husband and three dogs – a Boxer, a Husky, and her new Lab puppy. She enjoys traveling and volunteers as her community HOA Board of Directors President. Heidi is always looking for ways to grow and is especially excited to learn more from the diverse and interesting women leaders in the cable industry.

Martha Soehren, center, with the 2018 Veterans Fellowship recipients, Judy Alsip and Rose Roth, at the 2018 WICT Leadership Conference.

 

Martha Soehren served from 2009-2018 on The WICT Network Global Board of Directors. Martha is the Chief Talent Development Officer and Senior Vice President at Comcast University and Comcast Cable. Her career encompasses 17 years in the telecommunications industry; 25 years in the defense industry; and 13 years as an adjunct professor and research/academic advisor.

Martha holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in business, as well as a PhD in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies. A lifetime supporter of the military community, she is an honor graduate of the Army’s Management Engineering College and serves as an Executive Champion for the Comcast Veteran’s Affinity Group.

Dr. Soehren’s affiliations and honors include:

  • Doctorate of Learning Advisor for the GSE/Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
  • Learning Leader with the Elliott Masie Learning Consortium
  • Selection Committee Member for the Association of Talent Development’s (ATD) Board of Directors
  • Board of Directors Member of the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE)
  • Past Chair of the ATD Board of Directors (2014)
  • Past Chapter Advisor of the WICT Greater Philadelphia Chapter
  • WICT Greater Philadelphia Liberty Award Winner and Catalyst Award Winner
  • Multichannel News Woman to Watch Award Winner
  • Cablefax Most Powerful Woman in Cable Award Winner (multiple years)
  • Learning 2012 Spotlight Award by The Masie Center

 

The WICT Network’s Fellowships are supported by the following chapters:
Florida
Great Lakes
Greater Ohio
Greater Philadelphia
Greater Pittsburgh
Midwest
Southeast
Southwest