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> About Us > 2009-2010 Board of Directors
2009-2010 Board of Directors
Beverly Holmes - Chair |  | | | Berverly Holmes |
Founder and President, B A Holmes & Associates
Beverly Holmes is a business leader, strategist, author and activist for women and their financial security. In December, she completed a 25-year career with MassMutual Financial Group. She was honored with her company's prestigious President's Leadership Award in 2000 after the successful creation, development and growth of a business designed to provide 401(k) retirement plans to small and medium size businesses. Under her leadership the new retirement business grew to $4 billion of assets under management. Today it continues as a profitable, growth business for the company. She has a passion for and interest in economic development opportunities for women and has traveled nationally and internationally speaking and advising on economic and retirement security solutions for women. She is a board member of WISER (Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement) and one of the first inductees into the Twenty First Century Women Business Leaders Hall of Fame by Bay Path College. She holds a Bachelors and a Masters degree from Southern New Hampshire University and Cambridge College respectively |
Patricia Greene, Ph.D. - Chair-Elect |  | | | Patricia Greene |
F.W.Olin Distinguished Chair in Entrepreneurship, Babson College (Babson Park, MA)
Dr. Patricia Green is the former provost and dean of the undergraduate school at Babson College. She previously held The Ewing Marion Kauffman/Missouri Chair in Entrepreneurial Leadership at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and served as Scholar in Residence at the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. Patti's research focuses on the identification, acquisition, and combination of entrepreneurial resources, particularly by women and minority entrepreneurs. She is a founding member of the Diana Project, a research group focusing on women and the venture capital industry. |
Margaret Smith - Immediate Past Chair |  | | | Margaret Smith |
President, Domus (Los Gatos, CA)
Margaret Smith is the CEO of Domus, one of the San Francisco Bay Area s largest independently owned kitchen and home accessories stores. In 2000, the Women s Hall of Fame recognized her work as a past president of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) and for her work in helping establish a billion-dollar loan fund for women entrepreneurs with Wells Fargo Bank. In 1997, Margaret was elected as one of five world wide vice presidents of Les Femme Chefs D Entreprises Mondiales, a 50 year old international organization representing women entrepreneurs from 38 countries. |
Sheila Brooks - Vice-Chair for Public Policy |  | | | Sheila Brooks |
Founder, President and CEO,
SBR Communications, LLC (Washington, DC)
Sheila Brooks is an Emmy-award winning journalist, entrepreneur, and dedicated advocate for minority and women's issues and small businesses. Ms. Brooks is founder, president and CEO of SRB Communications, LLC, a full-service media and communications agency and post-production facility in Washington, DC. Celebrating 19 years in business, SRB Communications is an award-winning agency that provides creative, branding, and post-production services for the client s print, broadcast and online needs. The agency specializes in social and community issues, especially diversity, education, health care, the environment and public policy. SRB Communications primarily produces and manages cross-platform advertising and integrated communications campaigns for a diverse group of clients, including some of the nation's leading corporations, the Federal government, municipalities, the military, nonprofit organizations and political candidates. Prior to starting her company in 1990, Ms. Brooks built a distinguished television career as a news director, reporter, anchor, and documentary producer at CBS, NBC, PBS and Fox owned-and operated and affiliate TV stations across the country. She has won many awards for journalism excellence and entrepreneurship, and she is a nationally recognized speaker on women and business issues. She serves as National Spokesperson for "Accelerating the Growth of Businesses Owned by Women of Color" Research Project, a multi-year research effort to help "women of color" entrepreneurs grow their businesses, sponsored by the Center for Women's Business Research and Babson College. Ms. Brooks has a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications with a major in broadcast journalism from the University of Washington in Seattle, and a Master of Arts degree in political science from Howard University in Washington, DC. She is an alumna of the Leadership Greater Washington program, the Minority Business Executive Programs at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Business and Dartmouth College's Amos Tuck School of Business. |
Candida Brush, Vice-Chair for Research |  | | | Candida Brush |
Professor of Entrepreneurship, Babson College (Babson Park, MA)
Chair of the Entrepreneurship Division, holds the Paul T. Babson Chair in Entrepreneurship, and visiting Adjunct to the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. Dr. Brush has authored four books, four edited volumes and more than 90 publications. A recent book, Clearing the Hurdles, provides strategies and approaches for growth oriented women entrepreneurs. Her research investigates women's growth businesses and resource acquisition strategies of in emerging ventures. She is a founding member of the Diana Project International, which is the 2007 recipient of the FSF-NUTEK International Research Award for Outstanding Contribution to Entrepreneurship Research. She was recently acknowledged as a 21st Century Scholar by the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers. Dr. Brush serves on several for profit and non-profit boards, and is a frequent mentor for doctoral students and entrepreneurs. |
Gail McDonald - Vice-Chair for Board Development |  | | | Gail McDonald |
Partner, St. Charles Consulting Group, LLC. (Dallas, TX)
Gail McDonald is a Partner of St. Charles Consulting Group, LLC., a management consulting firm that specializes in executive coaching, team coaching, outcome-driven meeting facilitation, and organizational assessment. Previously, she served as senior vice president of human resources and senior vice president of government affairs and communications at Ryder System, Inc. and held various human resources roles at Xerox Corporation, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and Bankers Trust Corporation. She is a past president of the Dallas/Fort Worth Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners. She holds a bachelor's degree from Duke University and a master's degree from Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations. |
Emily Stone - Vice-Chair for CommunicationsFounder and President, Stone Group (New York, NY)
Emily Stone is the founder and president of Stone Group, a strategic business and licensing consultancy to fashion, design, and consumer products companies. She is an adviser to Aid to Artisans (From Maker to Market), and a member of The International Licensing Industry Merchandisers' Association (LIMA). |
Kathleen K. Diamond |  | | | Kathleen K. Diamond |
Founder & CEO, LLE (Washington, DC)
Kathleen Diamond is the founder of Language Learning Enterprises, Inc. (LLE), a full-service language company in Washington, D.C. with a mission to provide excellence in foreign languages. The company has grown from a sole proprietorship to a dynamic corporation serving a wide variety government, business and non-profit organizations around the world. She is a former officer of the National Association of Women Business owners and served as a representative at Femmes chefs d'entreprises mondiales (FCEM) World Congresses from 1990 to 1997. In May 1999, she received the FCEM Lifetime Achievement Award for Woman Entrepreneur of the World. Currently, she is on the Board of Directors of the Center for Women's Business Research as well as being active in Women Impacting Public Policy and the US Interagency Language Roundtable. In addition to English, she speaks both Spanish and French, and has earned a Bachelor's and Master's Degree from the University of Florida. |
Helen Hodges |  | | | Helen Hodges |
President, SSCI (Houston, TX)
Helen Hodges has over 28 years of public and private sector experience in environmental construction and consulting, training, and project management. As owner and operator of SSCI, she has served as manager for environmental remediation projects, including emergency response, groundwater remediation and control, demolition and decommissioning, LPST abatements and removal, subsurface investigations, RI/FSs and RD/RAs (State and Federal Superfunds), detention and storm water facility construction, and storm recovery and reconstruction projects. More recently, general construction and infrastructure repair have been added to SSCI's services. Ms. Hodges awards include Top 50 Women Business Owner, Top 25 Women Business Owner, Woman of the Year, and Woman of Excellence. |
Diahann Lassus, CFP, CPA/PFS |  | | | Diahann Lassus, CFP, CPA/PFS |
Co-founder and President, Lassus Wherley (New Providence, NJ)
Co-founder and President, Lassus Wherley (New Providence, NJ)
Diahann Lassus is co-founder and president of Lassus Wherley, a comprehensive fee-only financial services firm with offices in New Jersey and Florida. She has been named "Top Financial Advisor" seven times by Worth magazine including the most recent in 2008. Ms. Lassus serves as Chair for the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA), on the NJ State Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and the Rothman Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies Advisory Board. She was recently named as one of the Top 50 most influential women in wealth management by Wealth Management Magazine. She has served on the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) Board of Directors and was national president from 1996-1999.
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Francine Manilow |  | |
Founder and CEO, Manilow Suites (Chicago, IL)
Francine Manilow is Founder and CEO of Manilow Suites, the first company in the nation to offer upscale short-term corporate housing incorporating hotel-quality services and amenities. A 30-year old business, Manilow Suites has grown from seven residence units to more than 200 elegantly appointed apartments in Chicago's most prestigious and luxurious buildings, and it serves a varied marketplace ranging from CEOs and executives to entertainment and sports figures. Francine is credited with coining the term "corporate housing," and now, three decades later, Manilow Suites is still the leader and trendsetter in the industry it created.
Francine has long been regarded as a pioneering entrepreneur always seeking innovative ways to make things better. She became a "serial entrepreneur" long before that epithet crept into American business vernacular. Concurrent with a long career as a full-time flight attendant, she created and ran a number of innovative business ventures that came from her ability to see a need and a profitable way to fulfill it. In 1966 she formed her first corporation, employing stewardesses on their days off to work exhibit booths at trade shows in 16 cities. Two years later, she expanded her trade show offerings with another first-of-its-kind concept: providing business services to trade show and convention participants a concept that presaged the elaborate business centers now commonly seen in convention and exhibit halls. In the early 1970s, she employed housewives to conduct food tastings in supermarkets, a first in the Chicagoland area and also a business that provided a good source of supplementary income for wives and mothers. By the mid 1970s, Manilow formed Rapidfoto, the first company to offer next day film developing in Chicago and the first company to offer color photos on T-shirts. Later, following the establishment of the North American Free Trade Agreement, Francine opened a retail business in Cancun, Mexico, selling American made linens.
Among her many honors for business achievement and community service, Francine is a 2010 inductee into the Chicagoland Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame, winner of both the 2008 Tower of Excellence Provider and the Member of the Year awards given by the Corporate Housing Provider Association, and winner of 2007 Office Depot Businesswoman of the Year award. In addition, she is an Advisory Board member and Illinois Team Leader for Women Impacting Public Policy.
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Laura Henderson (Emeritus)Laura Henderson is the founder and president of Prospect Associates, a health communications and biomedical research firm that was rated by Inc. magazine as one of 36 "Best Small Companies to Work for in America" in 1993. In April 2000, Prospect was merged with the American Institutes of Research (AIR) and she serves as Senior Vice President and Member of the AIR Board. She is a past chair and one of the original founders of the Center and is currently designated as chair emeritus. Among her many awards was her selection as National Woman Business Owner of the Year in 1995 by the National Association of Women Business Owners. |
Susan Peterson (Emeritus) |  | | | Susan Peterson |
President, The Communication Center / Susan Peterson Productions Inc. (Washington, DC)
Susan Peterson is president of The Communication Center, a media and presentation training company that she founded in 1983 after a decade of experience as a network television correspondent for CBS and NBC News. She is a past chair of the Board of Directors at the Center and is a member of Leadership Washington, a prominent organization of leaders the Washington DC area. Peterson is a graduate of the Owner/President Management Program at Harvard University's Graduate School of Business Administration. She received the 1998 Leadership Award from the Capital Chapter of American Women in Radio and TV.
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