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

Deborah Owens to Speak at "Make Mine a Million $ Business" Event June 15, 2010

Make Mine a Million $ Business, the program of Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence and American Express OPEN that helps women entrepreneurs grow and build sustainable enterprises and create jobs, is holding their next event June 15 at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, New Jersey. Deborah Owens (pictured) of Owens Media Group, is a featured speaker at the event. Applications should be in by May15. Read more about it on makemineamillion.org.

Elizabeth Brady and Emily Winn-Deen Join Illumina

Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) appointed Elizabeth Brady as Vice President, Global Supply Chain. Elizabeth had been Vice President, Global Supply Chain, Cardiac Rhythm Management Division of Boston Scientific Corporation. Illumina also appointed Emily S. Winn-Deen, Ph.D. (pictured), Vice President, Diagnostics Development. Emily, who holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from Boston University, had been  President of Rx Dx Advisors. Read more in the Business Wire press release.

Stacy Mackler Made Executive Vice President at Euro RSCG Worlwide PR, North America

Euro RSCG Worldwide PR, North America, appointed Stacy Mackler Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of the agency. Stacy had been a Vice President of Global Communications for Clinique. Read more about Stacy's career in the prnewswire press release. 

Jennifer Van Aken Made Director of Investor Relations at GATX

GATX Corporation appointed Jennifer Van Aken Director, Investor Relations. Jennifer, who holds an MBA from from Carnegie Mellon University, had been Director, Corporate Finance in GATX’s treasury department. Read more in the Bsuiness Wire press release.

Corporate Executive Mary Stutts Writes "The Missing Mentor"

Mary Stutts and her new book, "The Missing Mentor - Women Advising Women on Power, Progress and Priorities", give us a terrific how-to-manage your career and your life playbook. Mary believes we can all be women of power if we take the intiative, and her generous spirit can be felt throughout the book as she describes her way of approaching work and life in today's economy. The book focuses on the positive things we can do, no matter what stage we are in our lives, to make this a better world for our families and our co-workers. Mary gives a lot of very specific advice about the choices we face, how to clarify our goals, and how to be strategic about our careers. Change, adaptability, flexibility - it's all there. The book will be in stores in May. I am on my second career and I still learned a lot reading it!

One point that particularly rang true with me was when Mary said we are operating in a culture that doesn't recognize women as leaders and that women don't even see women as leaders! Hopefully, NewsonWomen.com will help people see how very many women there are in leadership positions and recognize them for the contributions they make to the economy. Mary's new book "The Missing Mentor" demonstrates her outstanding leadership skills and helps us develop ours.

Kelly Gay Made President and CEO of Omnilink Systems

Omnilink Systems, a provider of end-to-end LBS (location-based services) solutions for the enterprise, consumer and government markets, appointed Kelly Gay President and Chief Executive Officer. Kelly is a former Chairman and CEO of KnowledgeStorm, and a former Vice President of IBM's North American Media and Entertainment Division. Read more in the prnewswire press release.

Janet Yellen Nominated as Vice Chair at Federal Reserve

President Barack Obama intends to nominate Janet L. Yellen (pictured) to be Governor and Vice-Chair, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Janet, who holds a Ph.D. from Yale University, currently serves as President of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, a position she has held since 2004.

President Obama also intends to nominate Sarah Bloom Raskin to be a Governor, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Sarah currently serves as Commissioner of Financial Regulation for the State of Maryland.

Read more about the nominations in the White House press release 4/29.

Career Builder Surveys Laid-Off Workers

51% of workers who were laid off in the last three months have found new full-time or part-time positions according to a new Career Builder Survey of Laid-Off Workers. 61% of these workers took a pay cut, and many relocated to a new city. Over 60% found work in fields other than the one in which they had been employed. Read more results from this survey in the prnewswire press release.  

Andrea Wong Named to Liberty Media Board. Marion Foote Named to Cascade Financial Board

Liberty Media Corporation, headquartered in Colorado, appointed Andrea L. Wong (pictured) to its Board of Directors. Andrea is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of Lifetime Entertainment Services. Read more in the prnewswire press release.

Cascade Financial Corporation, parent company of Cascade Bank headquartered in Washington, appointed Marion R. Foote to its Board of Directors. Marion is a Managing Director and Partner at New York based Novantas, LLC. Read more in the Globe Newswire press release on marketwatch.com.

Maia Benson Made Senior Director, Strategic Partnerships at Clickable

Clickable, the online advertising platform, appointed Maia Benson Senior Director, Strategic Partnerships. Maia has extensive management experience in the technology industry, joining Clickable from LexisNexis, where she was a Product Manager for their search marketing business. Read more in the Business Wire press release.

Frances Moreno Says The Opportunities are Out There!

Frances Moreno is the Anchor Partner of the VACO Los Angeles LLC, an executive search firm, and has grown her consulting and executive search practice swiftly through her extensive network and with the tenured team at VACO. Under Frances's leadership, VACO was recognized as "#1 Best Place to Work" in Los Angeles and one of the "Fastest 100 Growing Companies" in Los Angeles in 2009. Prior to founding VACO Los Angeles, Frances was with Deloitte & Touche, served as a top ranked Director at an S&P 500 publicly traded resource-based company, and consulted in the ERP software industry. Frances had this to say about starting her own business:

What inspired you to start your business?

"I left a big corporate environment because I wanted to achieve work/life balance. I know that sounds crazy when talking about starting a business which is a pretty consuming activity, but it’s like the old saying “love what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life.” I wanted to love what I do and perhaps most importantly who I do that work with. When you own your business you can choose your clients and choose your co-workers so I get to spend all my time around people who inspire me. And I get to treat those people as I want to be treated – with respect and consideration, not as numbers. Business is about partnership to me both with colleagues and clients. That’s my inspiration."

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

"You can tell I’m in the hiring business because I’m going to say the most important thing an entrepreneur can do is hire smart. Find the best talent around, train them well and take steps to retain them because in a service business, those people are the business. It’s also important that you respect your business and your people enough to maintain your margins. Know what your value is and set your prices to be both fair and effective. Create your business and constantly recreate it to show appreciation to your clients and your employees."

What challenges and opportunities do you see in the present economic environment?

"The challenges are similar for everyone – trying to work with limited resources and cash flow. But this very challenge also forces us to streamline our business, see clearly where we’re wasteful and become more efficient. It also gives us a chance to hire some real A-players that might not have been available to smaller firms before. The big box shops often treat their people poorly in times of hardship and create opportunities for entrepreneurial firms with the right corporate culture. The best possible talent attracts the best clients and can help propel your company out of the economic downturn."

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

"You’ll see I have a theme here, but I would say make sure you only hire the most compatible and hardest working people. Hiring the wrong people can be a real challenge to a new company and can even derail it, so hire smart. I’d also say follow your passion. If you love the work chances are great that you’ll be good at it and that will help you succeed. Don’t start a company for money or because someone else loves it. If your heart’s not in it you won’t flourish."

Will you be doing any hiring in 2010 or can you continue to grow your company without additional hires?

"Yes, we’re planning to increase our workforce. This is directly in line with what I said about hiring A-players in this type of economy. The opportunities are out there."

 

Cynthia McCague Named to Monster Wordwide Board. Other Women Appointed to Boards.

Monster Worldwide, Inc., (NYSE: MWW), headquartered iin New York, appointed Cynthia McCague to its Board of Directors. Cynthia has had extensive human resources and corporate and executive compensation experience, including leading the Global Human Resources function for The Coca-Cola Company. Read more in the Business Wire press release.

Pall Corporation (NYSE:PLL), headquartered in Nerw York, appointed Amy E. Alving, Ph.D to its Board of Directors. Amy is the Chief Technology Officer and a Senior Vice President at Science Applications International Corporation. Read more in the Business Wire press release.

Hersha Hospitality Trust (NYSE: HT), headquartered in Pennsylvania, appointed Dianna F. Morgan to its Board of Trustees. Dianna retired in 2001 from the Walt Disney Company where she served as Senior Vice President of Public Affairs and Human Resources. Read more in the Business Wirepress release.

Bank of the West, headquartered in California, appointed Geraldine Knatz, Ph.D. and Maura Markus to its Board of Directors. Geraldine was Managing Director of the Port of Long Beach before joining the neighboring Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro as Executive Director in 2006. Maura recently joined Bank of the West as President and Chief Operating Officer. Read more in the Business Wire press release.

MTS Systems Corporation (Nasdaq: MTSC), headquartered in Minnesota, appointed Emily Maddox Liggett to its Board of Directors. Emily is President and Chief Executive Officer of Novatorque, Inc. Read more in the prnewswire press release.

Nancy Dubuc Made President of Lifetime and History Networks

A&E Networks appointed Nancy Dubuc President and General Manager of both Lifetime and History Networks. Nancy had been heading History already. Read about Nancy's appointment on deadline.com. 

Christine Loredo Made Vice President of Marketing at Fuze Box

Fuze Box appointed Christine Loredo Vice President of Product Marketing. Christine has extenisve experieince in the mobile industry and had been responsible for mobile marketing at Yahoo!, and before that, spent five years at AOL Mobile. Read more about it in the prnewswire press release. 

Jayne Conway Made CFO at Planet Fitness

Planet Fitness appointed Jayne Conway Chief Financial Officer. Jayne, a longtime Dunkin’ Brands executive, had most recently been Chief Financial Officer at Gulf Oil LP. Jayne holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. Read more in the prnewswire press release.

Marilyn Benson Made Senior Vice President at Mocapay

Mocapay, a mobile experience platform, appointed Marilyn Benson as SVP National Sales. Marilyn had previously been an Executive Vice President at Citicorp Diners Club. Read more in the Business Wire press release.

Lisa Scopa Made Vice President and Treasurer at Staples

Staples, Inc. (Nasdaq: SPLS) promoted Lisa Scopa to Vice President, Treasurer. Lisa, who holds an MBA from NYU, had been their Director of Corporate Financial Planning and Analysis. Read more in the Business Wire press release.

Department of Labor Offering Grants to Develop Jobs Programs For Homeless Female Veterans

The Department of Labor announced a $5 million dollar grants competition to design programs that will reintegrate homeless female veterans and veterans with families into the labor force by providing job placement services, job training, counseling, supportive services and other assistance. Read more about it in the DOL press release.

Sonia Sroka Made Senior Vice President at Porter Novelli

Global public relations company Porter Novelli promoted Sonia Sroka to Senior Vice President, U.S. Hispanic Practice Leader, strengthening its Hispanic efforts and expanding its depth in the diversity marketplace. Sonia joined Porter Novelli in 2006. Before that, Sonia had been with Weber Shandwick. Read more about Sonia's career in the prnewswire press release.

Entrepreneurs Gretchen Heber and Michelle Breyer Are "Naturally Curly"

I love stories about entrepreneurs. Take Gretchen Heber and Michelle Breyer (pictured) for example. They founded NaturallyCurly.com — an online source of information and inspiration for people with curly hair — in 1998. The pair launched the website as a hobby while working other jobs full time.   Over many years, they gradually transformed a simple website into a thriving business. While this is not a typical startup model, Gretchen and Michelle found this strategy worked best for them, as their “day job” salaries were indispensible, and along the way they had babies who needed tending.  They gradually shifted to part time at their regular jobs, and continued to work on NaturallyCurly nights and weekends until the time came to devote full-time efforts to the website, kicking it into high gear.  Now the company is a flourishing 15-person effort, providing incomes for other women and mothers, as well as help and community for millions of curly heads all over the world. Read more about them on naturallycurly.com.