Forums held in five cities will determine business growth for women of color
March 18, 2008
The final of a five-city national research study to identify obstacles to business growth faced by women business owners of color was held in Chicago on Jan. 23. The day-long research forum, was conducted by the Center for Women’s Business Research and Babson College.The objective was to identify the barriers and challenges that women of color face in the pursuit of business growth and to create individual, community, and ultimately, national action plans to overcome those barriers. Bank of America was the city sponsor for the Chicagoresearch forum and the Women’s Business Development Center Chicago was the city co-presenter.
The research will culminate at the CFWBR 2008 National Symposium in Washington D.C. on May 6-7 where public- and private-sector policy recommendationsgenerated by the research will be announced. Women entrepreneurs who are African American,Asian, Latina and other ethnicities, who wish to grow their businesses to a higher level and help create local and national agendas that support businesses owned by women of color,must apply in advance to participate. Selection criteria include owning a business that is at least 50 percent women owned with annual revenues between $250,000 and $5 million.Women of- color entrepreneurs who meet the research criteria and wish to participate should contact the Center for Women’s Business Research at www.womens businessresearch.org or at (202) 638-3060 ext. 725.
WPEO honors members, gains partnership
March 10, 2008
Three hundred members and sponsors of the Women Presidents’ Educational Organization celebrated their corporate and public entity partnerships on Jan. 24 at the Haworth showroom in Manhattan, N.Y. The WPEO honored more than 50 corporations, government agencies and nonprofit organizations committed to advancing workplace diversity and inclusion.
The WPEO also announced a new partnership with New York State,which allows WPEO-certified women’s business enterprises to fast track their state certification. Michael Jones-Bey, director of Empire State Development, attended to co-sign the Memorandum of Understanding with WPEO President and Founder Marsha Firestone, Ph.D. The WPEO currently maintains a similar relationship with the City of New York.
Among those honored were Altria Group;AT&T; Avaya;Avis Budget Group, Inc.;AXA Equitable; BAE Systems; Baker Botts LLP; Bank of America; Capital One;Citigroup;City of New York;Colgate-Palmolive; Con Edison; Contemporary Graphics; Cornell University; Deutsche Bank; Eckert, Seamans, Cherin & Mellott LLC; Enterprise Rent-A-Car; Ernst & Young; Exxon Mobil Corp.; Goldman Sachs; HIP; IBM; Johnson & Johnson; JP Morgan Chase & Co.; Lehman Brothers; Macy’s East/Bloomingdale’s; Major League Baseball; MasterCard; Merck; Merrill Lynch; MetLife; Microsoft; Morgan Stanley; NBC Universal; New York Life; Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp.; PepsiCo; Pfizer, Inc.; Pitney Bowes; Price Waterhouse Coopers; Prudential; Public Service Enterprise Group; Schering- Plough; The Hertz Corp.;Time Warner; University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey; UPS; Verizon; Wachovia; Weil, Gotshal & Manges; and Wyndham Worldwide.
For more information on the WPEO, visit www.wpeo.us.
IBM sponsors 5th Tuck-WBENC executive program
March 10, 2008
More than 50 successful women business owners from Washington State to New Jersey gathered recently for the 5th Tuck-WBENC Executive Program at the IBM conference facility in Palisades, NY, sponsored by IBM. Led by Dr, Len Greenhalgh, professor of management and director of executive programs for minority- and women-businesses at Tuck, the attendees received intensive executive level training in management, financials, growth strategies and personnel development.
The five-day program was taught by Tuck professors in a curriculum developed especially for women business enterprises certified by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council to help WBEs who are beyond the startup phase of their businesses to assess, improve and grow their businesses.
The coursework was designed to assist WBEs in developing a clear strategy,pursuing excellent customer value, making the most of business processes, developing the keys to adequate cash flow, managing relationship for the long term and motivating and empowering employees. This invaluable intensive learning experience focused primarily on increasing the competitive advantage of the participants’ businesses.
The attendees benefited not only for the outstanding instruction, but also from the synergy that developed almost immediately among the business owners.The exchange of ideas as well as open discussions of successes and challenges helped to build a coherent learning community that will be a continued source of support, expertise and strategic alliances for a long time after graduation.
The program is designed to make a big difference in how owners and top executives think about and operate their businesses when they return from the program. Each participant used her own business as the case study. Using learning groups, the WBEs applied the tools they have learned to assess and improve their businesses,using the same diagnostic and strategy-implementation approaches that external consultants would use.The design of this program draws on Tuck’s decades of experience in refining programs for minorityowned business enterprises. Tuck is the nation’s oldest graduate school of business, and is rated the number one business school by The Wall Street Journal.
In addition to the WBEs,Linda J.Denny, president and CEO of WBENC and Michael. K. Robinson, global director of supplier diversity for IBM were in attendance. Javette Jenkins-Hines,U.S.sourcing manager, technical services/ integrated supplier chain at IBM was the keynote speaker at the graduation ceremony. This joint-sponsored program is one of many example of IBM’s commitment to supplier diversity development. The idea for the program another “out of the box” IBM initiative. IBM has committed to being the host through 2010, according to the IBM Web site. The next program is scheduled for Oct. 5-9, 2008 at the IBM Palisades, NY conference center
The Home Depot adds woman to board
March 10, 2008
The world’s largest home improvement retailer, The Home Depot, has appointed three new members to its board of directors, including one female, Karen Katen. The other new members are F. Duane Ackerman and Ari Bousbib. These appointments are a part of the company’s planned succession process to replace four existing board members, John L. Clendenin, Claudio X. Gonzales, Milledge A. Hart III and Kenneth G. Langone, who are scheduled to retire from the board in May 2008.
Katen currently serves as chairman of the Pfizer Foundation, and recently retired as vice chairman of Pfizer Inc. and as president of Pfizer Human Health, the company’s principal operating group. Katen joined Pfizer in 1974 and has held numerous leadership roles within the organization until her retirement earlier this year. In 1993, she was named executive vice president of Pfizer U.S. Pharmaceuticals and she was promoted to president of that same business unit in 1995. During 2001, she was named president of Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Group, the global pharmaceutical unit of Pfizer, and was elected executive vice president of Pfizer. She was elected vice chairman of Pfizer in 2005. With this recent announcement, The Home Depot’s board currently consists of 14 members, with 13 of them being outside directors.
Forums held in five cities will determine business growth for women of color
March 10, 2008
The final of a five-city national research study to identify obstacles to business growth faced by women business owners of color was held in Chicago on Jan. 23. The day-long research forum, was conducted by the Center for Women’s Business Research and Babson College.The objective was to identify the barriers and challenges that women of color face in the pursuit of business growth and to create individual, community, and ultimately, national action plans to overcome those barriers. Bank of America was the city sponsor for the Chicago research forum and the Women’s Business Development Center Chicago was the city co-presenter.
The research will culminate at the CFWBR 2008 National Symposium in Washington D.C. on May 6-7 where public- and private-sector policy recommendations generated by the research will be announced. Women entrepreneurs who are African American,Asian, Latina and other ethnicities, who wish to grow their businesses to a higher level and help create local and national agendas that support businesses owned by women of color,must apply in advance to participate. Selection criteria include owning a business that is at least 50 percent women owned with annual revenues between $250,000 and $5 million.Womenof- color entrepreneurs who meet the research criteria and wish to participate should contact the Center for Women’s Business Research at www.womens businessresearch.org or at (202) 638-3060 ext. 725.
