SPECIAL TRIBUTE SPEAKER |
Opening Reception and Hall of Fame Awards Ceremony
|
Azure Antoinette
Poet/Spoken Word Artist, Freelance Photographer and Youth Literacy Advocate
As a poet/writer Azure Antoinette has been commissioned to write for the First Lady of California Maria Shriver, Tuskegee Airmen Col. Lee Archer and the American Cancer Society, just to name a few. In 2010, she opened the Grand Finale for the Minerva Awards at the Women’s Conference. Oprah Winfrey, who was among the evening’s honorees, stated, “Wow, you (Antoinette) are amazing, thank you…” Antoinette has shared the stage with artists/performers such as Kenny Lattimore, Rudy Francisco, Tamara Blue, James Avery, Danny Glover, Vanessa A. Williams, Ben Guillory, CCH Pounder, Elliott Gould and Delroy Lindo. Her sophomore collection of poetry, For the Sake of Brevity, is due in stores in 2011.
|
|
|
MORNING GENERAL SESSION SPEAKER |
Morning General Session Sponsor
|
Kim Young
Regional President, Southern California Community Banking
Wells Fargo & Company
Kim Young is responsible for 173 banking stores in San Diego, San Bernardino, Riverside and Imperial counties with more than $16.4 billion in deposits. Young, a 35-year veteran of the company, was appointed to her current position in 2009. As a regional president, she oversees a staff of more than 3,000 team members. Prior to her current role, Young served as community banking regional president for the Orange County region. She has also held the position of division manager for Orange Coast Division and has run several management positions within community banking.
|
|
|
LUNCHEON GENERAL SESSION SPEAKER |
Luncheon General Session Sponsor
|
Debby Ballard
Director, Community Affairs
Sprint
Debby has responsibility for leading Sprint’s community outreach, employee volunteerism, employee annual campaigns and charitable funding.
Previously, she served as director, Sales Operations, responsible for managing and mobilizing resources for sales and leading the development/implementation of processes, methods/procedures and reporting metrics. In her 26-year career with Sprint, Debby has held numerous other management positions in sales, training and development.
Debby is active in the community and serves on several boards/committees, including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Friends of the Zoo, Partnership for Children, Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey, Women’s Foundation of Kansas City and Johnson County Community Foundation.
|
|
|
GUARDIAN GIRLS GOING PLACES® AWARD CEREMONY |
Presenter
|
Katherine H. Readinger
Second Vice President of Agency Marketing,
Individual Products Distribution
The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America
Katherine’s current responsibilities include the research, development and implementation of marketing programs and technology tools that ultimately lead to increased life sales and greater brand awareness for Guardian and its local offices. One of her primary responsibilities is Guardian proprietary sales and servicing system, The Living Balance Sheet®, introduced in September 2005. With more than 25 years of experience in the life insurance industry—14 years at Guardian—Katherine has held a number of positions relating to the development, marketing and promotion of individual life and disability income products. She graduated summa cum laude from New York Institute of Technology with a degree in Business and Marketing and earned an MBA with distinction from Adelphi University.
|
|
|
Awardee
|
Meredith Charlson
National First Place Winner
2011 Girls Going Places® Entrepreneurship Award
Owner, City Servers
Meredith was selected from over 5,000 girls for her outstanding entrepreneurial accomplishments. Meredith owns City Servers, a company that provides setup, service and clean-up for events ranging from small dinner parties to wedding receptions.Meredith was inspired to start her business after she saw hersister, a caterer, having to decline work because therequest was for service only at events. At the age of 14, Meredith acquired a food safety manager license from the state of California. She has worked at hundreds of events and personally trained 20 teenagers to work for her company as servers.
|
|
|
NAWBO LEADERSHIP SPEAKERS |
|
Helen Han
President & CEO
NAWBO®
As the President/CEO of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO®), Helen Han functions as the Chief Executive Officer responsible for the development, oversight, implementation, communication and evaluation of all strategies and activities related to the day-to-day administration of the organization. Prior to joining the national organization, Helen served as the chief executive officer of the Los Angeles Chapter of NAWBO®. In 2007, she was appointed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa as a commissioner on the Los Angeles Commission on the Status of Women, which serves as a policy body advising the mayor and City Council on issues that impact women and girls living in the City of Los Angeles.
|
|
|
|
NAWBO®’s Chair, Evelyn Strange is President of Advanced Electrical Systems, Inc., a full-service industrial and commercial electrical contracting and engineering firm. She currently serves on the Metro Chamber’s Greater Louisville Inc. Executive Committee recently serving as co-chair of the city’s 2010 Leadership Expedition of nearly 350 business and community leaders from Kentucky’s largest cities. She is involved with NECA the National Electrical Contractors Association. In 2004, she received the President's and Bridge Builder award from the NAWBO® Louisville chapter. Evelyn was named the NAWBO® Louisville 2008 Woman Business Owner of the Year. She is recognized by Leadership Louisville as 100 Wise Women.
|
|
|
|
Wendy A. Lopez, P.E.
NAWBO® Institute Board Chair
URS Corporation
Wendy Lopez is Vice President, URS Corporation, and is tasked with increasing URS’ infrastructure business in the high-growth Texas market. Ms. Lopez was recently cofounder and CEO of LopezGarcia Group. She is immediate past chair of NAWBO® and a past president of the NAWBO® Dallas-Fort Worth chapter. Ms. Lopez's recent recognitions include an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, Southwest Area, Real Estate/Construction, 2007; a Girl’s Inc. of Metropolitan Dallas “She Knows Where She’s Going” Award, 2007; and the Dallas Regional Chamber ATHENA® Award, 2006.
|
|
Return to WBC2011 homepage
For sponsorship opportunities and additional information:
NAWBO® Conference Management
800-55-NAWBO
WBC2011@nawbo.org
|
