Member Spotlight

NAWBO Board Member Represents Small Business Owners at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit

For the last 11 years, hundreds of leading businesswomen have gathered for the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit. While there, they network, share best practices and discuss innovations to come in business. This year, for the first time, the invitations were extended to a select few small business owners and NAWBO Board Member Billie Dragoo, owner of RepuCare was among them. RepuCare offers quality medical and customer service staffing and comprehensive on-site health care solutions, including health, primary care and wellness.

“Angela Braly is the CEO of WellPoint, which is based here in Indianapolis,” says Dragoo. “She was recently ranked 4th in Fortunes Top 50 Women in Business, and so she was asked to nominate a small business owner to attend the event. She nominated me.”

The Summit was held at the Four Seasons Hotel Aviara in North San Diego, California, and features a unique format. Here, women business owners participated in breakout sessions, panel discussions, on-stage interviews and more. There were no speeches; instead the event featured a completely interactive format.

Some of the panel sessions included Driving Change in a Big Company, Finding the Next Big Thing and Boardroom Effectiveness. Condaleeza Rice was the event’s keynote speaker along with other speakers including Meg Whitman, formerly with eBay; Susan Sobbott, American Express and Lisa Loscalzo, The Little Clinic.

“It was really an honor to be included,” Dragoo continues. “At NAWBO, we know how important women business owners are to the economy. This inclusion and representation at the Fortune event will definitely continue.”

During the event, Dragoo was able to meet women like Ursula Bruns, Anne Mulcay, Anne Moore, Condoleezza Rice and Andrea Jung. She also met women from many prestigious media outlets.

Only 10 small business owners were selected to participate from a pool of nearly 300 applicants. During the three-day-long event, these owners participated in a special reception to meet Fortune editor Patty Sellers along with Warren Buffet.

“This was really a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me,” Dragoo says. “This is an invitation-only event every year and I will always be invited back—I’m very grateful for this. I met some very inspiring, successful women and hope to keep in touch with them.”