Women in Business, Jobs, Women Entrepreneurs, Women in the News: News On Women

Film Producers Elizabeth Redleaf and Christine Kunewa Walker Ask the Right Questions!

Movie producers Elizabeth Redleaf and Christine Kunewa Walker have loved film all their lives. Now they have started Werc Werk Works, their own film production company, and couldn’t be happier. Their vision of supporting artists and rewarding profit partners in films reflects the changes needed in a movie business facing a new economy.

Today, resources are limited and everyone needs to think about things differently. Elizabeth and Christine believe women are particularly good at coming to the industry with a different perspective. They find themselves repeatedly asking “Why can’t we do it differently than before?” Elizabeth and Christine believe creative marketing strategies that identify new audiences and new revenue streams in film distribution are the hope of the future. They are also looking at emerging technologies for solutions to the age old problems of the movie business.

At Werc Werk Works, their goal is to keep control of the rights to the movies they produce and to have some control over how the films are marketed. Werc Werk Works concentrates on films costing in the $1 million to $5 million range and will in some cases put up 50 to 100% of the financing. This strategy allows Elizabeth and Christine to greenlight projects faster. They also concentrate on controlling costs, encouraging directors to stay on budget. They believe films can be done more efficiently without sacrificing creativity. What makes Werc Werk Works unique is their relationship with artists and directors, helping them to focus on the business side of the business and rewarding them appropriately. Werc Werk Works is currently producing and financing Todd Solondz’s upcoming feature “Life During Wartime”, now in post-production, Bella Tarr’s “The Turin Horse”, now in production, and “Howl” starring James Franco, now in post-production.

Elizabeth and Christine, each with three children, are extraordinary women who met through common interests. Read their bios on wercwerkworks.com.

Could that mother sitting near you at a film society event be your next partner? Stranger things have happened. Partners can be found in the most unusual – or should I say usual – places.

Esther Lee Made SVP Brand Marketing at AT&T Operations Inc.

AT&T appointed Esther Lee Senior Vice President-Brand Marketing and Advertising, AT&T Operations, Inc. Esther had been Chief Executive Officer of North America and President of Global Brands for Euro RSCG Worldwide, and before that the Global Chief Creative Officer for The Coca-Cola Company. Read more about it in the prnewswire press release.

New Jobs for Women in Government

President Obama intends to nominate Ellen Murray to be Assistant Secretary for Resources and Technology, Department of Health and Human Services. Ellen, who is a graduate of the George Mason University School of Law, has served as Staff Director for the United States Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies since 1999. See White House press release 5/28.

President Obama intends to nominate Polly Trottenberg (pictured left) to be Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy, Department of Transportation. Polly, who holds a Master's in Public Policy from Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government, serves as Executive Director of Building America's Future. See White House press release 5/28.

President Obama intends to nominate Vilma Martinez to be Ambassador to Argentina. Vilma, who holds an LL.B. from Columbia Law School, has been a Partner at Munger, Tolles & Olson. See White House press release 5/27.

President Obama intends to nominate Laurie Fulton (pictured left) to be Ambassador to Denmark. Laurie, who holds a J.D. from Georgetown University, is a Partner at Williams & Connolly LLP. See White House press release 5/27. 

President Obama intends to nominate Patricia Butenis to be Ambassador to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and the Republic of Maldives. Patricia, who holds an M.A. in International Relations from Columbia University, has served as the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in  Iraq since July 2007. See White House press release 5/27.

The U.S. Small Business Administration appointed Clara Pratte National Director for the agency’s Office of Native American Affairs. Clara, who holds a master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University, worked for the Navajo Nation as a policy analyst and legislative liaison focusing on economic and community development, housing, and education issues. Read more in the Business Wire press release.

Annmarie Hagan Made CFO at Cigna Corp. Jennifer Finch Made CFO at Artesian Consulting Engineers.

CIGNA Corporation (NYSE: CI) appointed Annmarie Hagan Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of CIGNA Corporation. Annmarie had been the Company’s Chief Accounting Officer and Controller. Read more in the Business Wire press release.

Artesian Resources Corporation (NASDAQ:ARTNA) appointed Jennifer Finch (pictured left) Chief Financial Officer of Artesian Consulting Engineers, Inc., one of their wholly owned subsidiaries. Jennifer will concurrently serve as Chief Accounting Director for Artesian Resources, a position she has held since joining Artesian in 2008. Read more in the Business Wire press release.

Renee Tannenbaum Made EVP at Elan Corporation

Elan Corporation, plc (NYSE: ELN) appointed Renee Tannenbaum, Pharm.D., Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer. Renee had been Head of Global Commercial Operations for Novartis Pharma AG ,and before that held several executive positions at Brystol-Myers Squibb. Read more about Renee's career in the Business Wire press release.

Women in Business Move to Citysearch and Bunchball

IAC (Nasdaq: IACI) appointed Kara Nortman (pictured) Senior Vice President of Publishing at "Citysearch". Kara, who hols an MBA from Stanford University, had previously served as Vice President of Mergers & Acquisitions for IAC. Kara had also held positions at Microsoft and Morgan Stanley. Read more in the prnewswire press release.

Bunchball, a marketing technology company, appointed Amy Richards Senior Vice President of Product Marketing. Amy is an expert in publisher monetization through her work at Google, Yahoo!, MatchLogic and Excite. Read more in the prnewswire press release.

Women Put on Corporate Boards This Week

GMAC Financial Services, headquartered in Michigan, appointed Mayree Clark (pictured left) to the GMAC's Board of Directors. Mayree, who holds an MBA from Stanford University, is a Member of the Investment Committee for Aetos Capital Asia, and had previously been an Executive at Morgan Stanley. Read more about Mayree's career in the prnewswire press release.

HealthFitness (NYSE: FIT), headquartered in Minnesota, appointed Wendy Lynch to its Board of Directors. Wendy, who holds a doctorate in Research and Evaluation Methodology from the University of Colorado, is Human Capital Management Services (HCMS) Vice President of Strategic Development. Read more in the prnewswire press release.

DaVita Inc. (NYSE: DVA), headquartered in Colorado, appointed Pamela Arway to the Company's Board of Directors. Pamela is the former President of American Express International, Japan, Asia-Pacific, Australia region. Read more in the prnewswire press release.

Meteor Solutions, headquartered in Washington, appointed Linda Bernardi (pictured left) to its Board of Directors. Linda, who holds a Master's degree in Applied Statistics from UCLA,  is Founder and CEO of StraTerra Partners LLC. Read more in the prweb press release.

Heidrick & Struggles International Inc., headquartered in Illinois, appointed Jane Hartley to its Board of Directors. Jane is Chief Executive Officer and a Founding Principal of Observatory Group. See statement on yahoo.com.

Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), headquartered in California, appointed Joan Amble (pictured left) to its Board of Directors. Joan is Executive Vice President and Corporate Comptroller of American Express Company. Read more in the prnewswire press release.

Dr. Marsha Firestone Tells Us to Look for Opportunities Around Every Corner

Dr. Marsha Firestone, Author of "The Busy Woman’s Guide to Successful Self-Employment", is the Founder and President of the Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO), a peer advisory organization for women who own multi-million dollar businesses. Marsha, who holds a Ph.D from Columbia University, has spent her career working on behalf of women executives and is the recipient of numerous awards for her efforts. She has served on the National Women's Business Council which reports to the President and Congress on issues important to women in business, and is involved in organizations to promote opportunities for women including the Women's Leadership Initiative at Harvard's Kennedy School, and the American Express Open Network Advisory Council. Marsha has this advice for us in response to my questions:

What inspired you to start your organization?

"I was working at AWED and realized that there were many programs for start ups and young businesses but very few for women who had achieved a certain level of success. It was a missing piece of the market. These women entrepreneurs needed a support system and needed substantive business materials that were already available to other organizations."

What steps do you think are necessary for an entrepreneur who wants to move her business to the next level?

"You must make a commitment to growth. Those who grow their business are motivated by a drive to achieve. They have a dream and are not waiting for things to happen to them, they are out there making it happen. A successful entrepreneur is always looking for the next step for their business. Once you have made that commitment, you must have a plan. A plan will not only outline your dreams in a business model but also include how to finance those dreams."

What can entrepreneurs do in the current economic climate?

"The real entrepreneur looks at this environment and doesn’t ask how they’re going to make it through; they ask how they will make it through with flying colors. An entrepreneur will see opportunities around every corner and many different opportunities. Not all of them will be possible and not all will be effective but you must keep dreaming even when the going gets tough. Look for the places to implement new ideas. Judi Sheppard Missett, CEO and founder of Jazzercise, Inc. said in this year’s WPO conference to “never edit your dreams.”

What advice do you have for women who are just starting out?

"Be very clear on what you’re selling, who you are selling to and why they should buy it. You cannot create a new business without a market for your product or service. Most importantly, there will be good days and bad days, if you want to succeed have stability in your reactions and always keep the fire in your heart burning."

Judge Sonia Sotomayor Nominated to the Supreme Court

President Obama nominated Federal Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court. Judge Sotomayor, who attended Yale Law School, would be the first Hispanic to be on the Supreme Court. Read more about Judge Sotomayor in the White House press release 5/26.

Women in Government - Lori Garver to be Deputy Administrator of NASA

President Obama intends to nominate Lori Garver to be Deputy Administrator of NASA. Lori, who holds an M.S. in Science, Technology, and Public Policy from the George Washington University,  is the President of Capital Space, LLC. Read more about Lori's career in the White House press release 5/23.

Dr. Graciela Blanchet Made CTO at Nano Terra Inc.

Nano Terra, Inc. appointed Dr. Graciela Blanchet its Chief Technology Officer. Dr. Blanchet, who holds a a PhD in Physics from Brown University, joins Nano Terra from DuPont where she was a Fellow in the Central Research Department. During her 25-year tenure at DuPont, Dr. Blanchet made scientific and development contributions and led multiple early-stage discovery programs. Read more about it in the press release on nanowerk.com.

Women in Government Nominated by President Obama

President Obama intends to nominate Sherry Glied (pictured left) to be Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Department of Health and Human Services.  Sherry, a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University, is Professor and Chair in the Department of Health Policy and Management of Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. (White House press release 5/21).

President Obama plans to nominate Ambassador Nancy Powell to be Director General of the Foreign Service, Department of State. Nancy is currently Ambassador to Nepal. (White House press release 5/21).

President Obama intends to nominate Deborah Matz to be Chair, National Credit Union Administration. Deborah, who holds a Master’s degree from George Washington University, was the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the $800 million Andrews Federal Credit Union. (White House press release 5/21).

President Obama plans to nominate Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana (pictured left) to be Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education, Department of Education. Thelma, who holds a Doctorate in Philosophy from the University of Southern California, is currently serving as the Superintendent of Schools in the Pomona Unified School District in Pomona, CA. (White House press release 5/19). 

Women in Business get New Jobs

Campbell Soup Company (NYSE: CPB) appointed Jennifer Driscoll (pictured) as Vice President Investor Relations. Jennifer, who holds an MBA from the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, had been Vice President of Investor Relations at Best Buy Co. Read more in the Business Wire press release.

Perella Weinberg Partners appointed Agnes Tang a Director in the firm's Restructuring Group. Agnes, who holds an MBA from Harvard, had been a Senior Vice President in Houlihan Lokey’s Financial Restructuring Group. Read more in the Business Wire press release. 

Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) appointed new leadership of its Women’s Leadership Forum (WOLF @Best Buy). Liz Haesler, Vice President, Home Life and Trend, and Mary Stoddart, Vice President, Territory General Manager, will together lead the next stage of the WOLF@Best Buy network to increase market share. Read more about it in the Business Wire press release.

Women CFOs - Deb Thomas Made CFO at Hasbro

Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS) appointed Deb Thomas its Chief Financial Officer. Deb, who joined Hasbro in 1998, is the Company’s Senior Vice President and Head of Corporate Finance. Read more in the Business Wire press release.

Ursula Burns to be CEO of Xerox Corporation

Xerox Corporation (NYSE: XRX) appointed Ursula Burns Chief Executive Officer to succeed Anne Mulcahy who is retiring. Ursula, who holds a a bachelor of science degree from Polytechnic Institute of NYU and a master of science degree in mechanical engineering from Columbia University, is the current President of Xerox. Read more in the Business Wire press release.

Shibani Joshi asks Women in Business to Plan for the Future

As a Reporter for the Fox Business Network, Shibani Joshi has seen first hand the ups and downs of today's economic turmoil. Shibani, who started her career in investment banking at Morgan Stanley and who holds an MBA from Harvard, is well aware of the challeneges we all face. Her advice? - Review your finances and plan for the future!

Here's what Shibani has to say:

"With hardships come opportunities. We are seeing the financial markets start to turn from a turbulent place to a place where people are starting to dip their toes into it with some money because they see opportunities over the long term. Everything that has happened in the last year has brought money and economic issues to the forefront of Americans’ minds.  The markets performance, while turbulent, empowered me, personally, to retake control of my finances.  Even with my MBA and having worked in finance for many years, I wasn’t actively managing my money in a manner as disciplined as I would have liked. Basically my investment plan was on cruise control. Cruise control doesn’t work on a rollercoaster ride. Many of us, especially women, were forced to finally look under our hood and confront our finances, some for the first time."
 
"The fantastic opportunity we have as women right now is the chance to take control of our finances. This is not something that should be saved for the fellas. This is the time to ask the questions you may have been embarrassed to ask. Today is a great day to look at your mortgage rates, credit card balances, 401k contributions and figure out where you want to be, financially, in 5 years. There is no better time to walk into a financial planner’s office and say: “where do I go from here?” Look at what you spend. Do some soul and sole searching (if you’re a shoe lover, like me) – after examining your expenses, figure out what you can live without like, perhaps, an extra pair of Jimmy Choos this month. Save vigorously and spend conservatively. There is no excuse for not knowing what is going on in your financial house. It may feel daunting or, worse yet, scary to face your financial obligations, but everyone is cleaning house right now and you should be too. If you do the hard work now, you’ll be able to reap the rewards in the years to come. That’s when you will see your investment accounts sprout healthy returns because of your careful seed-planting today."

Women on Corporate Boards this Week

Gulf Resources, Inc. (OTCBB: GFRE), a  manufacturer of bromine, crude salt and specialty chemical products in China headquartered in New York and Shanghai, appointed Guoqiong Yu to its Board of Directors. Ms. Yu is Chairman of Shenzhen Xizhong Company, an import and export company. Read more in the Business Wire press release.

American International Group, Inc. (AIG) announced today that six new independent Director nominees will stand for election at the AIG 2009 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. Among the six is Laurette T. Koellner (pictured). Laurette, who holds an MBA from Stetson University, is a former Senior Vice President of The Boeing Company and the retired President of Boeing International. Read more in the Business Wire press release.

Women in Business - Barbara Carlini Made CIO at Dean Foods

Dean Foods Company, (NYSE: DF) the milk and dairy product company, appointed Barbara Carlini Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer (CIO). Barbara had been Corporate Vice President of the Mobile Devices Division at Motorola. Read more in the prnewswire press release.

Nancy Broadbent Made CFO at Orthovita Inc.

Orthovita, Inc. (NASDAQ: VITA), an orthobiologics and biosurgery company, appointed Nancy Broadbent Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Nancy had been Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of CollaGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Read more in the Business Wire press release.

Michelle Obama Gives Address at UC-Merced Commencement

First Lady Michelle Obama gave her first commencement address at the University of California-Merced graduation ceremonies. Michelle congratulated the students and expressed her admiration for their hard work and achievements. She also encouraged them to continue giving back to their community.  "Solutions to our nation's most challenging social problems are not going to come from Washington alone.  Real innovation often starts with individuals who apply themselves to solve a problem right in their own community.  That's where the best ideas come from." Read more of the First Lady's remarks.