I admit 'sexy' was a little out of place, but I ended up getting the download to work and the full introduction starts out: "Rebecca took over as effective director of northwest entrepreneurial group and just blew us all away with her expertise, knowledge, connections, and her charm." The tone of the final remark really just sounded like he was trying to compliment and congratulate her. The sexist implication of using 'sexy' was pretty marginal and is being blown a little out of proportion I think.
I'm just not sure when physical attributes have any relevance to a professional introduction.
When we selected Bob and he said yes, he was a fat single man.
When we selected Dave and he said yes, he was a acne-ridden single man.
When we selected Joe and he said yes, he was a weightlifting single man.
I think in all other cases, you'd just say single. maybe "talented" rather than drawing attention to physique.
It's just stereotypical nerd bullshit that everyone will try to paper over as not a big deal. Frankly, there doesn't seem to be a market for non-stereotypical engineering environments, or the market would capitalize on that. So perhaps it's not a big deal in any startup sense, but it's a real effect.
I've actually seen the weightlifting case with men, though it's far less common. Former EA and now-Blizzard AI programmer Brian Schwab gets a lot of comments about his physique, because he has a bodybuilder-type physique, which is sort of unusual in videogame programming. It doesn't seem to bug him, though.
It's kinda like having an awesome idea, starting a company, and watching it sink because you screwed up on execution. He was trying to compliment and congratulate her. He gets points for effort. That's worth something, but it's not much when stacked against everything else.
