Dede Haskins, a fixture in the DC Tech community passed on August 8th at the Capital Caring Adler Center in Aldie, VA. Dede succumbed to a four-year battle with brain cancer.
For over a decade Dede Haskins worked tirelessly to help build the technology ecosystem and concentrated her efforts on promoting women in technology. Dede was a member of the Mindshare Class of 2008. Mindshare is a DC Area organization of over 1,000 local tech CEOs. Dede was the 2004 President of Women in Technology. Haskins served five years as the president of STEM for Her. She was a Director of the local chapter of The Founder Institute.
Dede was a kind, thoughtful woman who was generous with her time. I will miss her counsel and she will be missed by the DC Tech community. She is survived by twin daughters, Morgan, and Shannon. Ladies, please know that many of us loved your mother and mourn your loss.
Jeff Payne who worked with Dede Haskins at Cigital, a company he founded posted,
Words cannot describe the sadness I feel. Dede worked with me at Cigital for many years and we’ve been friends ever since. She had the unique ability to be a no-nonsense business executive while showing care and compassion for those around her. She was an incredible mentor to more junior staff and able to motivate teams like few I’ve ever seen. I valued her opinions immensely and leaned on her many times when things got tough. She never let me down as a COO or a friend.
When she was originally diagnosed with brain cancer, she was given 6 months to live. She looked me straight in the eye and told me that wasn’t happening. Through force of will, Dede was with us for an additional 4+ years. While there were many struggles during that time, she was always upbeat, determined, and basically the Dede we all knew and loved.
Those who knew Dede are better for it and may she Rest In Peace.
jeff
Services will take place at 2:00 pm, Saturday, August 10th at Oakbrook Church, Reston. A reception will follow. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Dede’s name to STEM for Her, 200 Little Falls St., Ste. 205, Falls Church, VA 22046.
Dede Haskin’s Mindshare Biography reads:
Dede has been a successful C-Level coach to help startups build their businesses and launch successfully.
She was the former CEO and President of NewVision Health. She joined NewVision Health after a successful 25-year career in technology focusing on software development, marketing, and professional services. She has led virtually every organization or function within software and professional services technology companies from business units to marketing, software engineering, maintenance, distribution, creative services, information development, merger integration, quality assurance, configuration management, contracts administration, and accounting.
As a vice president with Cigital, a software security and quality professional services consulting company for Global 1000 clients, Ms. Haskins served as the acting chief operating officer, managing principal responsible for supporting government and commercial clients, vice president of engineering, and vice president of marketing and training.
Prior to joining Cigital, Ms. Haskins was an independent consultant providing strategic and operational services to small software, systems integration, and professional services companies to help them grow. Formerly, she was the vice president for post-production services of Proxicom, where she established a new business unit providing managed services to clients and grew revenue from $800K to $7.75M in under five months. Ms. Haskins also held leadership positions at MAXM Systems Corporation and Legent Corporation.
Ms. Haskins was the 2004-2005 president of Women in Technology, a local organization of nearly 1,000 members. Later, she served five years as the president of STEM for Her (formerly Women in Technology Education Foundation). She is a recipient of a number of awards for her leadership in the area’s technology community, including the inaugural year award of the Washington Business Journal’s Women Who Mean Business award, honoring the DC regionâs most influential businesswomen. Ms. Haskins has a B.A. in Speech Communication and a certificate in Human Resources Management from the University of Virginia and has attended the Program on Negotiation for Senior Executives at Harvard University.
