Hiwot is a Technical Advisor in Microsoft’s Office of Responsible AI where she provides deep expertise on responsible AI capabilities, collaborating closely with teams across the organization to support the development and adoption of responsible AI practices. Hiwot also serves as a co-chair on the Aether Fairness and Inclusiveness working group which helps develop perspectives and practices related to Microsoft’s goals and requirements around fairness and inclusiveness. Hiwot comes to Microsoft from SAS Institute where she most recently helped to create SAS’s first Data Ethics Practice and served as the lead data scientist.
During her time at SAS, Hiwot worked as a data scientist in various capacities. She developed and operationalized a customer churn predictive model for internal use and later worked as Sr. Data Scientist in the Health and Life Sciences team where she advised health care customers on how to best leverage SAS’s machine learning platform for their data-driven initiatives. While at SAS, Hiwot served on the leadership council of SAS’s first Black employee resource group – the Black Initiatives Group (BIG) – since its inception, where she led and participated in efforts to recruit, retain, and promote Black talent at SAS.
Hiwot holds a MSc. in Analytics from North Carolina State University’s Institute for Advanced Analytics and a BSc. in Economics and Nutritional Sciences from University of Toronto.