Powering Connections with AfroTech & Gridware
Gridware and AFROTECH™ invite you to a curated gathering centered on connection, culture, and opportunity. This intimate event will feature a panel discussion with Gridware’s CEO alongside Black leaders in product management and software engineering, exploring innovation, representation, and pathways into the future of the utility industry.
Gridware is a fast-growing technology company modernizing critical infrastructure through advanced grid monitoring and data-driven insights. As it scales, Gridware is committed to expanding access to diverse engineering talent and fostering innovation through inclusive hiring.
AFROTECH™ is the largest annual conference and digital platform dedicated to connecting Black professionals, entrepreneurs, and innovators in technology, creating space for networking, career development, and increased representation across the tech sector.
Together, this event brings thoughtful professionals into one room for meaningful dialogue, career exploration, and relationship-building designed to power the next generation of diverse talent in energy and technology.
PANELISTS:
Tim Barat
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Gridware
Tim Barat is the co-founder and CEO of Gridware, a company dedicated to building technology for utilities to enhance system reliability and safety. His background pairs his work in the field as a journeyman lineman with a B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences from UC Berkeley, enabling Tim to bring a unique blend of practical and theoretical experience to utility customers.
Tim’s achievements include being a co-developer of Gridscope, a patented grid monitoring device that was recognized as one of Time Magazine’s Best Inventions of 2022. He has also been honored as a Forbes 30 Under 30 recipient in 2022 and a member of the Grist 50 Fixers in the same year.
Brittany Edwards
Senior Manager of Product Management at Gridware
Brittany Edwards is a daughter, sister, friend, and first-generation American whose work spans engineering, product, and creative marketing at the intersection of technology, design, and culture. At Gridware, she leads the product team building the control center for the Grid, one of the most critical infrastructure systems of our time.
Throughout her career, which spans Boeing, PG&E, Capital One, Coinbase, Dock Health, and the agency she co-founded Incorp[HER]ated, she’s always brought the same instinct: make hard systems work better for the people who rely on them. Driven by curiosity, strategy, and innovation, Brittany is an analog-obsessed technologist at heart, who builds experiences grounded in accessibility, trust, and inclusion.
Kevin Cook
Software Engineer at Gridware
Kevin is a full stack software engineer with 15+ years experience. From small agencies, to FAANG, to biotech, he's built applications for every scale, and has always aligned his work with his core beliefs that technology should be a tool to not make the world easier, but more equitable and human-centered.
Working as a Forward Deployed Engineer at Gridware, Kevin’s emphasis on practical, high-impact solutions and close collaboration with stakeholders ensures that complex infrastructure challenges are translated into reliable, scalable systems that deliver real-world value.
MODERATOR:
Edith Lee
Senior Product Manager, Commercial at Gridware
Edith Lee is a product leader who brings new technology to the systems communities depend on. She works across strategy, product, engineering, and operations, bringing together the perspectives and disciplines that complex systems require. At Gridware, she leads the commercial products that translate data into the operational intelligence utilities use to restore power and respond to hazards, the latest in a career of zero-to-one builds across healthcare, logistics, climate, and utilities.
She was raised, educated, and built her career and life between Hong Kong and the United States, an experience that taught her to move between communities, translate across perspectives, and bridge across difference. She co-founded the American Mock World Health Organization to develop the next generation of global health leaders. Edith believes that perspective comes from knowing more about the world in every sense of that word.