Houston, Texas, United States
So glad to connect! I'm Nikki. I've spent the last 20 years working across industrial automation, AI, and technology commercialization. My experience spans sales engineering, commercial leadership, early-stage startups, advisory and board work, community building, and industry media. I've also taken a few meaningful detours as a business owner and a mom, which have added both perspective and range. What consistently pulls me in is building things that matter. Products, teams, narratives, and ecosystems. I enjoy connecting dots early, translating complexity into something practical, and helping organizations move from potential to momentum. I've done that inside fast-growing companies, on industry stages, through long-form conversations, and alongside founders and operators navigating the hard and exciting moments. Earlier in my career I spent three years inside Algo, an AI startup focused on supply chain intelligence for manufacturers, distributors, and retailers. That was before AI became a boardroom buzzword. Working inside it gave me an honest picture of what the technology can actually do, and where it falls short, in real industrial and operational contexts. That perspective shapes how I think about data, connectivity, and automation today. Today, that work shows up through my role at Weintek USA, through Automation Ladies, through the grassroots OT SCADA CON community, and through ongoing involvement in industry associations, events, and advisory roles. My lane tends to sit where engineering, commercialization, and storytelling overlap. At Weintek, I work with OEMs building packaging machinery, robotic cells, and process equipment. Most engineers who take a close look at Weintek become advocates pretty quickly. My job is to make sure the right people get that chance. I'm naturally curious and pattern-oriented. Years ago that earned me the nickname "Nikkipedia." These days, friends joke that I'm the Director of Silver Linings. I've learned to find opportunity in hard problems and energy in complex transitions, which turns out to be a useful skill in both technology and life. I'm always open to thoughtful conversations and collaboration with people who care about building durable value and treating people well while doing it. I tend to gravitate toward kind, resilient, and curious humans who are excited about where this industry is headed.
I joined Weintek in 2025 after years of hearing controls engineers casually rave about the brand at trade shows, on Reddit, in DMs, and during podcasts. That kind of unsolicited word of mouth in a skeptical industry means something. Now I get why. Weintek has spent 30 years building HMIs that engineers actually trust. Not because of marketing, but because the hardware is reliable, the software is free and capable, and the pricing is transparent. With 425+ built-in communication drivers, Weintek HMIs do a lot more than display screens. They connect machines, bridge protocols, and give OEMs the flexibility to design once and deploy across whatever environment their customers are running. My role is to grow Weintek's presence with OEM machine builders and the executives who support them, particularly in packaging, robotics, and process equipment. If you're speccing HMIs for machines you build repeatedly, or rethinking your panel architecture, I'd genuinely enjoy that conversation.
Automation Ladies is an industrial automation podcast I co-founded in 2022 with Alicia Gilpin. What started as a conversation between two women in the industry has grown into 100+ episodes across seven seasons, a weekly newsletter, live LinkedIn events, and a community that reaches engineers, integrators, executives, and operators across the industry. We cover the full range of industrial automation — PLCs, HMIs, SCADA, IIoT, robotics, machine vision, controls engineering, career paths, and the business of automation. Our guests come from all corners of the industry and all levels of experience. The goal has always been to make the industry feel more accessible and connected, for everyone. Automation Ladies also became the foundation for OT SCADA CON, a grassroots in-person conference we launched in 2024. For sponsorship or partnership opportunities: [email protected]
OT SCADA CON is a grassroots community conference I co-founded in 2024 with Alicia Gilpin, born directly out of the Automation Ladies community. It was built on a simple premise: the industry needed a low-pressure, vendor-neutral, practitioner-first event where the people actually doing the work could learn from each other, not just from sponsors. Now in its third year, it has grown into a multi-day event in Houston featuring hands-on sessions led by working engineers and technicians, covering operational technology, SCADA, PLCs, HMIs, cybersecurity, IIoT, and more. CEOs sit next to technicians. First-time speakers share the stage with veterans. The usual hierarchy doesn't apply. We take hospitality seriously. Attendees get three hot meals a day featuring local Houston food, endless coffee, energy drinks, and snacks throughout the day. No stale hotel sandwich boxes here. Social events are open to everyone — a full bar happy hour with custom cocktails and local mixologists serving everything from top shelf whiskey to our signature OT SCADA-Rade, a food truck dinner, and a karaoke night that has taken on a life of its own. OT SCADA CON 2026 takes place July 22-24 in Houston, Texas. Sponsors feed attendees and raffle their technology to a room full of engaged automation professionals — it's one of the more memorable ways to get your products in front of the right people. For sponsorship or speaking opportunities visit www.otscada.com
Process & Controls Energy is a CSIA member, woman-owned control systems integration firm founded by Alicia Gilpin, my co-founder at Automation Ladies and OT SCADA CON. PCE specializes in custom automation solutions, panel design, and controls engineering across a range of industrial applications. I serve on the Board of Directors in an advisory capacity, contributing perspective on business development, industry trends, partnerships, and go-to-market strategy. It's one of several ways I stay connected to the practitioner side of the industry while working at the commercial and community level.
I've been speaking at industry events since 2017, covering topics across industrial automation, AI, IIoT, OT/IT convergence, supply chain technology, and community building. Engagements have spanned technical practitioner conferences, major trade shows, media stages, and executive forums. CONFERENCE ENGAGEMENTS ISA Automation Summit & Expo — Speaker & Panel Moderator (2026) EPC Show — Track Chair & Host, Power Generation (2026) Hexagon LIVE — Track Host (2025) Motion Controls Robotics 30th Anniversary Industry Panel — Moderator (2025) Automate — Podcaster & Media Interviewer (2022 - 2025) Google Developer Group, Robotics and Automation — Panelist (2025) Industrial Marketing Summit — Panelist (2024 - 2025) Rockwell Automation Fair — Media Interviewer (2023 - 2024) SICK Virtual Women's Leadership Conference — Speaker (2024) IMTS Creators Lounge — Media Interviewer (2022 - 2024) The ASSEMBLY Show South — Podcaster (2023 - 2024) Nvidia GTC — Interview & Media (2024) IIoT World Manufacturing Days — Panel Moderator (2024) CaPow Energy Webinar — Fireside Chat Moderator (2024) HOU.SEC.CON — Speaker (2022 - 2023) Ignition Community Conference — Speaker (2023) Transform Industry Digital Manufacturing Summit — Panelist (2023) Litmus Do More With Data Summit — Panel Moderator (2023) Marketing to Engineers® — Keynote Speaker (2023) Manufacturing in America — Podcaster (2023) Digital Manufacturing Summit — Panelist (2023) Rapid Robotics It's Time to Get Real About Automation — Panelist (2023) Early career (2017 - 2019): Speaking circuit focused on AI, big data, predictive analytics, and IoT — including the Global Artificial Intelligence Conference, Global Big Data Conference, Einstein AI Summit, IoT Data & AI Summit, Women In Technology International Summit, Hip Hop Leaders Cybersecurity and AI Summit, and Global Predictive Analytics Conference.