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Dee Wilcox
Vice President of Engineering at Newsela
Dee Wilcox is an experienced engineering leader currently serving as the Vice President of Engineering at Newsela, a position she has held since September 2023.1 With a career spanning over two decades in the technology industry, Wilcox has demonstrated a passion for launching products, building engineering teams, and fostering a positive work culture.2
Career Progression at Newsela
Wilcox has had a rapid ascent within Newsela:
- Vice President of Engineering (September 2023 - Present)
- Senior Director of Engineering (May 2023 - September 2023)
- Senior Director of Engineering, Content Consumption (November 2022 - May 2023)
- Senior Director of Engineering, Platform, Insights & Access (July 2022 - November 2022)
- Director of Engineering, Platform, Insights & Access (January 2022 - June 2022)
- Director of Engineering (August 2021 - January 2022)
- Director of Engineering, Systems (May 2021 - August 2021)1
Previous Experience
Before joining Newsela, Wilcox held several notable positions:
- Director of Engineering at SmileDirectClub (June 2019 - May 2021)
- Engineering Manager at SmileDirectClub (May 2018 - June 2019)
- Co-Founder of Chris Paul Design (October 2003 - January 2019)
- Development Team Lead at NASBA (March 2013 - May 2018)1
Skills and Expertise
Wilcox is known for her expertise in:
- Launching products
- Building and leading engineering teams
- Creating a positive work culture
- Organizational development
- Management and coaching123
Location and Education
Dee Wilcox is based in the Nashville Metropolitan Area. She has completed executive education at MIT Sloan.1
Wilcox's career trajectory showcases her ability to take on increasingly complex roles in engineering leadership, culminating in her current position as Vice President of Engineering at Newsela. Her diverse experience across various companies and industries has likely contributed to her success in leading and innovating in the field of educational technology.
Highlights
I really enjoyed this post from the Pragmatic Engineer on OpenAI’s challenges with scale. The engineering challenges are deeply relatable, and definitely worth reading if you’ve gotten used to working with cloud compute and an “infinitely big cloud.”
Favorite quote, though, is, “but a lot of experimentation in prod was required to fine tune everything.” It’s hard to admit something like that. No one wants that to be true, but sometimes, it’s where reality meets the edge of a problem space with no as-yet defined or prescribed solutions.
https://lnkd.in/giYheV9G
Last week I had the privilege of sitting down with eight incredible women at a Women Get IT mentoring event. One thing we all have in common is a desire to make an impact. Over the course of 45 minutes, we talked through the ways we get stuck and what we can do instead. We broke down the book "How Women Rise" by Sally Helgesen and Marshall Goldsmith, with a bit of a rebuttal to the idea that women rise by behaving more like men. Instead, we looked at 5 key behaviors that help us lead authentically and also - rise.
The principles hold true, regardless of gender. We can't change status quo by perpetuating status quo, and we won't see more diversity in leadership if we continually ask people to follow the norm. Sharing the deck here because the message is important. Feel free to use more broadly in your own leadership and mentoring conversations.
#leadership #mentoring #womenintech #leadershipdevelopment
