Speakers: General Sessions

Speakers are listed in alphabetical order by last name.

Gina Martin Adams, CFA

Director and Senior Institutional Equity Strategist, Wells Fargo Securities
Adams provides a top-down perspective on the equity market and sectors for Wells Fargo’s institutional equity clients, and frequently presents her views at industry conferences, professional associations and investment organizations. Prior to her current role, Adams spent five years as an Economist for Wachovia. Identification and projection of consumer trends was her primary research focus, and she contributed to Wachovia’s Weekly Economic and Financial commentary. Adams received an Honorable Mention among portfolio strategists in Institutional Investors’ 2009 survey.  

 

Ann Marie Almeida 

President and CEO of the Association of Women’s Business Centers (AWBC)
AWBC is a national not for profit organization representing women business owners through a network of women’s business centers. Almeida’s previous leadership roles include serving as the Director of Programs and Development for the Camden Public Library in Camden, Maine, consultant to the Camden Public Library Foundation; Director of Finance for Kodak’s Creative Imaging Programs, Director of Research for the Center for Venture Research, Adjunct Professor of Finance at the University of New Hampshire, Managing Director of the Kelmscott Rare Breeds Foundation, and both Vice President and Director of Finance for Maine Photographic and International Film and Television Workshops. 

 

Anousheh Ansari

Founder, Telecom Technologies and Ansari Foundation
Ansari was born in Mashhad, Iran, and immigrated to America to eventually become the fourth-ever commercial spaceflight participant and the first Muslim woman to traverse the far reaches of outer space. While in space, Ansari wrote a blog that garnered more than 50 million hits from readers around the world. She is also the founder of the multi-million dollar firm Telecom Technologies and of the Ansari Foundation and has authored the book My Dream of Stars: From Daughter of Iran to Space Pioneer.

 

Leesa Gilliam

Vice President and General Manager – Personal Trust Services, Ameriprise Bank
Gilliam is responsible for leading the development and implementation of programs designed to grow Ameriprise Bank Personal Trust Services (PTS). She has successfully implemented many new programs for PTS, most notably, the complete restructuring of the trust platform. Gilliam is also responsible for promoting the Bank’s core value proposition at events and for engaging field leaders and advisors to elevate its presence in the marketplace. Gilliam has worked in the personal trust and banking industry for more than 20 years and has previously held leadership and sales positions at Associated Trust Company, U.S. Bank and RBC Dain Rauscher. 

 

Patricia Greene, Ph.D.

Professor of Entrepreneurship, Babson College
Greene holds the President’s Chair in Entrepreneurship at Babson College. She previously served as Provost, and before that as Dean of the Undergraduate School at Babson where she held the President’s Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship. Prior to joining Babson, Greene served as the Ewing Marion Kauffman/Missouri Chair in Entrepreneurial Leadership at the University of Missouri and the New Jersey Chair of Small Business and Entrepreneurship at Rutgers University. Greene is a founding member of the Rutgers Center for Entrepreneurial Management and the coordinator of the Rutgers Entrepreneurship Curriculum. Her research focuses on the identification, acquisition and combination of entrepreneurial resources, particularly by women and minority entrepreneurs. 

 

Helen Han 

President and CEO of NAWBO
Han is 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, Han served as Chief Executive Officer of the Los Angeles Chapter of NAWBO. Han has also served as a leader of an interdisciplinary service, research and training team as the Sr. Program Manager at the Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, and as part of a project team that launched a pilot program that later became the Johnson & Johnson UCLA Health Care Institute. 

 

Sam Horn

Consultant, Speaker, Author, The Intrigue Institute
Horn is a business and career strategist who helps organizations and entrepreneurs develop one-of-a-kind approaches and positioning so they break out vs. blend in. As founder of the Intrigue Institute, Horn helps entrepreneurs and organizations   brainstorm/strategize and scale their message and mission to increase visibility and revenue and to positively impact more people. She and her team do this through customized consulting, public seminars and webinars and books and CDs. Horn is also the author of five books, including POP! (Ken Blanchard says it is a “lively guide to getting heard and getting remembered.”) Her work has also been featured on MSNBC, NPR, every major TV network, BusinessWeek.com, in the New York Times, Readers Digest, Chicago Tribune and Washington Post.

 

Valerie Jarrett

Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement
Prior to her current position, she served as Co-Chair of the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team, and Senior Advisor to Obama's presidential campaign. Jarrett became the President and Chief Executive Officer of The Habitat Company on January 31, 2007. She had served as Executive Vice President of Habitat for 12 years. Prior to that, Jarrett served for eight years in Chicago government as Deputy Corporation Counsel for Finance and Development, Deputy Chief of Staff for Mayor Richard M. Daley, and Commissioner of the Department of Planning and Development. Before her city government service, Jarrett practiced law with two private law firms. Among other things, she has also served as a Director of corporate and not for profit boards, as well as Chairman of the Chicago Transit Board.

 

Katty Kay

Washington Correspondent, BBC World News America
Kay is the Washington Correspondent for BBC World News America, and regularly anchors The Evening News programs seen on BBC World. Kay brings a truly global perspective to her coverage of American politics as her broadcast journalism career spans more than 15 years and four continents. Reporting on American news and politics, Kay spearheaded coverage of the 2008 Presidential Campaign. The co-presenter of BBC World news bulletins, a post she has held since June 2004, Kay is also a contributor on Meet the Press, Larry King Live and The Chris Matthews Show, and a regular guest host for Diane Rehm on NPR. She is the co-author of Womenomics: Write Your Own Rules for Success. A fluent French and Italian speaker with what she describes as “rusty Japanese,” Kay juggles her journalism career with raising four children with her husband and fellow BBC correspondent Tom Carver. Follow her on Twitter.

Virginia Littlejohn 

President and CEO of Quantum Leaps, Inc.
Littlejohn co-founded Quantum Leaps, Inc., a non-profit global accelerator for women’s entrepreneurship based in Washington DC, which uses technology to develop and disseminate knowledge and facilitate the sharing of best practices. Littlejohn has been the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Senior Advisor for Women’s Entrepreneurship since 1995. She and Quantum Leaps are now working with the OECD on fostering women’s entrepreneurship in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Littlejohn is also co-founder and Chairman of TradeBuilders, Inc., a for-profit company based in Washington, DC, which has been helping companies and organizations go global since 1999. 

 

Caroline Lyders

11 p.m. Weeknight Anchor and Reporter, ABC 7/WJLA-TV
Lyders joined the WJLA staff in March 2008 from WISN-TV in Milwaukee, where she spent three years as an anchor and reporter. Prior to that, she was a reporter at WBNS-TV in Columbus, Ohio, and WBTW-TV in Florence/Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Lyders studied philosophy and music at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, and has a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York. She first became passionate about journalism as a visiting student at Oxford University, assigned to interview former Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. 

 

Wendy Lopez

NAWBO Chair, 2009-2010
Lopez is Vice President, URS Corporation, and is tasked with  increasing URS’ infrastructure business in the high-growth Texas  market. She was most recently co-founder and CEO of LopezGarcia Group.  Under her leadership, the firm expanded its practice into multiple areas of engineering, environmental services and planning, expanding  from a one-person office to over 200 employees upon its purchase by URS  in August 2008.  Lopez is a past  president of the NAWBO Dallas-Fort Worth chapter. She also chaired  the Dallas Regional Chamber’s Women’s Business Issues  Advisory Council for two years. Her 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.

 

Cynthia McClain-Hill

NAWBO Immediate Past Chair, 2008-2009
McClain-Hill is co-founder of Strategic Counsel, a firm specializing in strategic public policy development with an emphasis in  corporate, administrative and environmental law. In her professional capacity, McClain-Hill leads the firm's environmental law and public policy development practice. She represents clients engaged in public-private partnerships and in advancing public policy initiatives, helping them navigate the complex legal issues that arise. McClain-Hill's legal and public policy expertise has been sought  by a number of public sector boards and commissions. She has served on  the California Coastal Commission, the California Fair Political Practices Commission, CalEPA Environmental Justice Advisory Working Group and the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles, as well as the city's Small and Local Business Advisory Commission. Former California Gov. Gray Davis selected McClain-Hill as one of five co-chairs on his transitions team after his election to office.

 

Martha Mertz

Founder, ATHENA International
Mertz founded the non-profit organization that seeks to support, develop and honor women leaders, inspire women to reach their full potential and create balance in leadership worldwide. Mertz was President of ATHENA International from its inception in 1982 to May 1999. She serves ATHENA now as a board member and an ambassador, traveling the globe to share its message: That women bring a distinctive, transforming approach to leadership—an approach that goes beyond gender to speak to all who would lead in the 21st century. Since 2000, Mertz’s work on behalf of ATHENA has taken her to to China, to participate in an international conference on issues of importance to women; to England and to India, to join new ATHENA Award programs in presenting their first awards in those countries; and to the United Arab Emirates, to teach Zayed University students the principles of ATHENA leadership and establish a cross-cultural mentoring program for young women. She is also a speaker, author and successful real estate entrepreneur as president and owner of the Michigan-based firm Mayhood/Mertz Investment, Inc.

 

Karen Mills

23rd Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration
Appointed by President Barack Obama and confirmed unanimously by the Senate, Mills directs a federal agency with more than 2,000 full-time employees, and plays a leading role in helping small business owners and entrepreneurs secure financing, technical assistance, training and federal contracts.  Since 1983, Mills has been an active hands-on investor in and successful manager of small businesses. Mills also has distinguished herself as a passionate advocate for small business policy that encourages innovation, economic development and job creation. Most recently, as the president of MMP Group, Mills invested in and took a leading role in companies involved in the consumer products, food, distribution, textile and industrial components sectors. Prior to that, in the late 1990s, she was a co-founder and a managing director of Solera Capital. 

 

Joy Ott

Regional President, Montana Region, Wells Fargo Bank 
Ott serves more than 90,000 customers, providing diversified financial services through 50 banking stores in nearly 30 communities throughout Montana. She began her banking career with Norwest Bank in Billings in 1979, holding various leadership roles over the years. In 2003, she was named national spokesperson for Wells Fargo’s Women’s Business Services Program. She has received the 2002 Governor’s “Montana Excellence in Leadership” award and in 2004 the SBA named Ott its “Montana Women in Business Advocate of the Year.” In 2005, she was also honored to receive the YWCA “Salute To Women” award.

 

Kelly Scanlon

NAWBO Chair-Elect, 2010-2011
Scanlon is the owner of a variety of media products dedicated  to advocating small business and helping business owners take their companies to the next level of growth. She is the owner and publisher of the Kansas City Small Business Monthly, a magazine that  profiles successful small business owners and advocates their  accomplishments. It also features strategy articles that serve the  needs and interests of small business owners. Although the monthly  magazine is the company’s flagship for providing practical, “how-to”  information that helps businesses grow, the company also has three Websites, a weekly electronic newsletter, an annual Entrepreneur’s Guide, an annual 25 Under 25® awards event and a weekday radio show called “The Business Hour.” Scanlon hosts the show every Friday. The 25 Under  25® awards, now in its eighth year, has become one of the pre-eminent  business awards program in the Kansas City area.

 

Claire Shipman

Emmy Award-Winning Journalist, Senior National Correspondent, ABC News
Shipman is ABC News’ Good Morning America senior national correspondent and also serves as a substitute anchor on World News. Previously, Shipman was the White House correspondent for NBC News since 1997 and regularly reported on presidential policy and politics for NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw and the Today Show. Prior to NBC, Shipman worked at CNN for a decade where she earned a National Headliners Award, among many other honors. She is the co-author of Womenomics: Write Your Own Rules for Success. Shipman, a Columbus, Ohio, native, resides in Washington, D.C. with her husband, Time magazine White House correspondent Jay Carney. Follow her on Twitter.

 

Deborah Collins Stephens

Speaker, Author, Executive Consultant
Stephens is an expert on the human side of business. A best selling author of five books that have been translated into 8 different languages, she co-founded The Center For Innovative Leadership, a firm that has worked with many Fortune 100 companies and venture backed early stage firms, for over 20 years. She created one of the first e-learning and web cast programs, Leadership Lessons From The Fastlane in conjunction with Broadcast.com/Yahoo. She has been a guest lecturer in the Stanford University Entrepreneurial Thought Leader’s Forum, the University of California San Francisco, California State University and University of California Haas School of Business.

  

Alison Starling

Co-anchor, Good Morning Washington and ABC7 News at Noon
During Starling's time at ABC7 News, she has covered major local and national news stories, including Hurricane Isabel in 2003, the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007 and the Papal Mass in Washington live from the Nationals Ballpark in April 2008. Starling came to ABC7 News from KIRO-TV in Seattle, where she spent three years as a reporter and anchor. Prior to Seattle, she began her career as a reporter and morning anchor at WDEF in Chattanooga, Tennessee. In 2009, Starling was named the National Capital Region's Big Sister of the Year. Washingtonian Magazine also named Starling one of the D.C. area's rising stars in local television news in June of 2005.

 

Annette Taddeo-Goldstein

Founder & CEO, LanguageSpeak
Taddeo founded this comprehensive language services company that offers translations, conference interpretation and private tutoring in over 100 languages to a blue chip roster of clients. LanguageSpeak was named as a 2008 Top 100 small business in Florida and Top 500 small businesses in the U.S. by DiversityBusiness.com. Taddeo is a member of the exclusive Committee of 200, the Belizean Grove’s TARA’s (Today’s Already Rising Achievers) and Women Corporate Directors (WCD). She is the Past-Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer of the Coalition of Dade-County Chambers of Commerce (a coalition of 22 separate Chambers of Commerce), as well as Past Chairman of the Women’s Chamber of Commerce of Miami-Dade County.   

 

Julie Weeks

President and CEO of Womenable
Womenable is a research, program and policy development consultancy enabling women’s entrepreneurship worldwide. Weeks is one of the world’s leading experts in the field of women’s entrepreneurship, with experience in private and public sectors in the areas of research, public policy and program management. Weeks has more than two decades of experience in research, public policy and communications with proven ability to translate data and complex information into clear, concise and actionable knowledge. For three years, she served as Executive Director of the National Women’s Business Council, a federally-funded bipartisan policy advisory body created by the U.S. Congress to serve as an independent voice of women’s entrepreneurship and an advisor to the President, U.S. Congress and U.S. Small Business Administration on women’s entrepreneurship issues.

 

Jane Wurwand

Founder and CEO, Dermalogica
Wurwand oversees the development of Dermalogica products and training for skin therapists in 48 countries around the world, and in 40 corporate training centers. Dermalogica skin care products are the most widely used in the professional industry and the company’s success has been chronicled in the Harvard Business Review. Wurwand is recognized internationally as a pioneer of postgraduate training, and has produced nine training DVDs and a series of business CDs. As a monthly columnist for industry magazines on three continents, Jane reaches more than 50,000 skin therapists each month through her articles, webinars, online blog and podcasts and is a sought after guest lecturer and keynote speaker around the world. Jane was also voted ‘The Most Influential Industry Leader’ by the readers of American Spa magazine. Read more about Jane on The Logic of Dermalogica  – WomenEntrepreneur.com.

    

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