Chair’s Message – Highlights from the ACM-W Global Executive Committee Meeting in New York
I’m happy to share the highlights and outcomes from the ACM-W Global Executive Committee Physical Meeting, held at ACM HQ in New York on June 19–20. This annual in-person gathering brought together incredible energy, collaboration, and shared vision. Over two inspiring days, we celebrated our achievements and made strategic plans to strengthen ACM-W’s global outreach, structure, and sustainability.
Timothy M. Pinkston, ACM DEI Chair, joined us to speak about how ACM supports efforts to create inclusive and welcoming spaces for all. His continued support of ACM-W means a lot to us. We’re excited about growing collaborations between ACM-W and ACM DEI moving forward.
One of our major discussions focused on our new structure, designed to enhance collaboration between regions. The plan includes appointing representatives from each committee to participate in global working groups, which will help strengthen communication and empower local leadership while aligning with ACM-W’s vision and mission.
It was heartwarming to see how much we’ve grown. Thirteen new chapters joined us this year, and many are already hosting local events to reach and inspire more women in computing. We explored improved guidelines for chapter reporting, new ideas for facilitating mentoring between professional and student chapters, and the possibility of a global chapter summit next year. Thanks a lot to our global and local Chapter Committees. It’s all your success!
Regional updates were a true highlight. Each ACM-W region, Asia Pacific, Europe, India, and North America, shared their plans for upcoming events, and it’s clear that exciting things are on the horizon! Our Communication Committee also shared fantastic progress: our newsletter now reaches 46,000+ members. Our social media presence continues to grow rapidly; for example, on LinkedIn, our followers nearly doubled yearly, rising from 124 in 2022 to 406 in 2023, 896 in 2024, and 1,757 in 2025! Compared to last year, we’ve also seen noticeable growth in engagement around Education and Research content. Huge thanks to our amazing communications team for being the voice and face of ACM-W. We are truly grateful for your creativity, dedication, and heart.
We also highlight four key areas of focus next year:
- Building organizational leadership,
- Fostering stronger collaboration across regions,
- Expanding the Buddy Chapters Program, and
- Increasing ACM-W’s global visibility.
The committee shared some exciting ideas, and the above is just a little teaser; we have some exciting things coming soon, so stay tuned!
Finally, I want to give a heartfelt thank you to everyone on this committee, especially to our volunteers. None of this would be possible without you. This is truly a team effort, and I’m so proud of what we’re building together.
Rukiye Altin
ACM-W Global Chair