Past Conferences:

     IBLC 2006

     2006 Forum

     2005 Forum

Tanya Hine

Ada Maduakoh

Madam Zhou Yinmei

Dotsie Bregel

Marilyn R. Pearson

Barbara E. Friesner

Paula Constantino

Sandrine Bélanger

Princess Bola Adelani

Elizabeth A. Vazquez

Mary Schnack

Gina Watkins

Sharon Hooper

Jennifer Kalitas

Sherri McConnell

Carol Orsborn

Patricia McHugh Lambert

Jennifer Campion

Bola Olabisi

Sheila Ochugboju

Kathryn Dolan

Yinka Olajide

Chief Temitope Ajayi

Adeola Akindana

Virgy Anohu

Chioma

Obiageli “Oby” Ezekwesili

Obiageli “Oby” Ezekwesili has been the Vice President for the Africa Region since May 01, 2007. Oby joined the Bank from her most recent position as Minister of Education in the Government of Nigeria and with a rich mix of experiences in the private sector and civil society. Ms. Ezekwesili began her career as an auditor and management consultant with focus on financial planning, SME financing, audit and regulatory compliance in Delloitte & Touche.   She served as one of the founding Directors of Transparency International as Director for Africa from 1994-1999. She worked with Professor Jeffery Sachs as the Director of the Harvard - Nigeria Economic Strategy program between 2000 and 2002 during which time she was also appointed as an aide to President Obasanjo. 

In 2003, she went on to serve as Senior Special Assistant to the President of Nigeria on Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence.  In this capacity, Ms. Ezekwesili spear-headed institutional reforms through the establishment of “Due Process” mechanisms and strategies resulting in markedly reduced procurement costs to Government projects and turnaround time for completion of Government projects while improving transparency. As Minister of Solid Minerals, Ms. Ezekwesili provided leadership in the drafting and subsequent passage of the Minerals and Mining Act, the establishment of the Nigerian Mining Cadastre Office and the opening of the mining sector to private participation.  Ms. Ezekwesili also served as the Chairperson of the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative from 2004 and pioneered the voluntary sign-on of Nigeria to the EITI ++ Principles as well as the first ever process, financial and physical audit of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.

As a member of President Obasanjo’s Economic Team, Ms. Ezekwesili was responsible for developing the government’s overall comprehensive anti-corruption, transparency and good governance strategy and it was in this capacity that she negotiated the partnership between Nigeria and the G8 known as the “Compact to Promote Transparency and Combat Corruption: A New Partnership between the G8 and Nigeria” signed by Presidents Bush and Obasanjo during the Sea Island meeting of the G8 in June 2004.

Back to List

Yinka is the founder and Chairman advisory board of Foreign Investment Network [FIN], an international consultancy and publishing firm based in London.  With over 25 years of experience, Yinka has garnered a wide range of experience working on challenging environments on various projects in Africa, Europe, and Asia. She is the publisher of the foremost investment quarterly journal, FIN Magazine, which is a strategic marketer for FDI and circulated globally. FIN magazine is also published in Chinese language as well. A motivational speaker, she has spoken in several events globally particularly on her passion: Women  and entrepreneurship(Creativity and Innovation), She is the founder of African Women Entrepreneurship Network, an NGO dedicated to building entrepreneurial spirit amongst African women. Mrs. Fayomi holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics, a Masters degree in Business Administration, Professional Accounting ACCA(Final one),and an HND in Business Computer with several Diplomas/Certificates on Promoting FDI by Worldbank, DFID, Multinational Institutions.

Yinka has received several international awards She is a board member of several companies, she is also a Governor in Brent Council, London, UK. Recently, she was appointed a judge at the World Challenge Program, a BBC project. She presently heads the Media and Publicity Department of the NIPC Yinka  is married to Ambassador Akin Fayomi a carrier diplomat, she has translated the challenges in living and moving in several countries to opportunities .She has lived with her husband diplomat in Brazil, from 1980 to China, London, Zimbabwe and South Korea and have visited over  46 countries on study tour. She is blessed with four Children.

Back to List

Debra Ruh

Debra has more than 25 years of professional experience implementing and creating technology, compliance, policy, quality assurance, training and e-Learning solutions for government agencies and organizations all over the world. 

Recently, Debra was appointed to the Olmstead Board by Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, and she serves proudly as a board member of the US Business Leadership Network (USBLNR). In addition, she is the 2007 winner of the Outstanding Achievement Award by the Virginia Board for People with Disabilities, Enterprising Women Magazine’s Advocacy Award, Northrop Grumman’s 2007 Community Support Award, and the prestigious Wells Fargo/NAWBO “Trailblazer” Award.

In 2006 Debra was awarded the Women in Technology Leadership Award, the Rising Star award by the National Association of Women Business Owners, and the Social Responsibility Award by the America-China Foundation to support international relations.  In 2005 Debra’s received the SBA Small Business Person of the Year, and was picked as one of the “Most Powerful Women in IT” by Virginia Magazine. Debra’s company, TecAccess, was awarded the prestigious US Depart of Labor Presidential Freedom Initiative Award, as well as the 2005 Lighthouse International Employer of the Year for hiring people with Vision Impairments. Debra's work experience includes Founder and President of TecAccess, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Strategic Performance Solutions, Vice President and Dean of Distance Learning with Market Street Mortgage, Vice President of Training & Development and Quality Control for SunTrust Mortgage. Debra is a recognized leader in the E&IT Accessibility and Section 508 Compliance arena.  She has been invited to speak on Section 508 Compliance and IT Accessibility Issues all over the world, including a recent request to present before the European Union and in emerging countries throughout Africa. In addition, she has spoken before the US Government Section 508 Coordinators and for many government agencies including the US Coast Guard, US Marines, US Navy, SSA, USDA, HHS, NIH, USPTO, DOT, DOC and GSA. 

Back to List

Amanda Ellis

Amanda Ellis heads the new Gender Entrepreneurship Markets (GEM) initiative at the International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group in Washington DC. GEM is a global program that aims to mainstream gender into all of IFC’s operations, leveraging both business opportunity and development impact. To date some $41m has been committed to create specific credit lines for women in Africa for the first time ever.

Amanda was previously appointed as the first Senior Private Sector Development Specialist on Gender for the World Bank Group in 2003, with a mandate is to lead the Bank’s work on gender issues in private sector development,

Prior to joining the World Bank, Amanda was Head of Women’s Markets and National Manager for Women in Business at Westpac Banking Corporation, Australia. An economist with specialization in international trade and development economics, Amanda previously worked for the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade for ten years before being recruited by Westpac. She worked at the OECD in Paris (1990 to 1992) was NZ Consul to the French territories (1992 to 1995) and managed New Zealand’s aid programs in Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia (1996 to 1997).

Back to List

Victor Politis

President & CEO  PRI Project Development
Pioneer Project Developer with hands-on experience across Industry Sectors. The PRI Teams have designed and implemented financing solutions for PRI’s own projects as well as for select clients and their complex projects in a dozen countries. It has several prototypical successes: The first unsecured Eurobond issue for a State owned company in the former Soviet Union; The first successful transformation of a Telegraph company into a Telecom operator in Russia; The first private retail banking network in Eastern Europe, using smart card technology in more than 250 banking kiosks; The first Structured Export Financing for a private company in Turkey, etc. PRI is headquartered in New York City and has offices and affiliates in several countries. Current projects include a 110-hectare mixed-use development in Port Harcourt, several affordable housing developments in Abuja and Lagos and the 1st privately owned Investment Bank in Angola.

Also Victor is a Real Estate Developer and Investor. He has completed projects ranging from low and middle income housing in Harlem and the South Bronx to the purchase and redevelopment of thousands of garden apartments and several shopping centers in Atlanta and in Florida. Considered a pioneer in attracting financing to “red-lined” neighborhoods. He helped design and implemented tax credit programs in New York State. In addition to Real Estate, has invested in industrial companies and in companies in the fields of Medical Equipment, Agro-technology, Information Technology and Financial Services. Victor speaks at Emerging Market Conferences on Project Development and Finance at World Economic Forum Summits, the European Banking and Finance Forum, Jerusalem Business Conference, Harvard University, Crans-Montana Forum, The Commonwealth Business Council, etc.

Back to List

Josephine Fairley

Josephine Fairley co-founded Green & Black’s, the world’s first organic chocolate brand, with her husband in 1991, helping to grow this pioneering company to the point where it was sold to Cadbury’s, in 2005.  She has since opened an award-winning organic bakery and food store in her home town, Hastings (England), and most recently opened the doors of her latest venture:  an 11-room boutique wellbeing centre.  Throughout, Jo has juggled these businesses with a journalistic and writing career (she was the UK’s youngest-ever magazine editor, at the age of 23), and is co-author of the bestselling Beauty Bible series, with Sarah Stacey, and The Ultimate Natural Beauty Book (Kyle Cathie). She has been Chairwoman of Cosmetic Executive Women UK and is Chair of the Soil Association’s Health Products Standards Committee, helping to set the standards for organic and natural cosmetics;  she is also a ‘Matron’ of the Women’s Environmental Network.

Back to List

Giselle Rufer

I am the women who preceded me and those who surround me.  

In 1996, Giselle Rufer, with a strong art and technical background coupled with her vast experience in watch making, decided to create DELANCE, Swiss watches for women. Her desire was to create a masterpiece, a work symbolizing her talents and personal commitment. She offers women a small sculpture with powerful symbolism, uses the latest technological advances in her creation, develops a unique timepiece that is customizable for each owner and she creates a watch symbolizing the values of feminine.                 

In 1996, the first DELANCE watch saw the light of day. Since then, various models have followed, always similar, yet each one different. Unrivaled and unmatched up to the present time, the concept of creating a custom watch calls on the creativity and collaboration of the designer and the person who desires the watch. The end product is a unique timepiece in an infinite variety of combinations.

Back to List

Barbara Treadwell

Prior to her twenty-five year career in the financial arena, Barbara Treadwell worked for fifteen years in psychological services, counseling terminally ill patients and their families in Mobile, Alabama. Barbara saw first hand what can happen to families who have not had sound financial advice, and it led her to
a second career as a financial services professional. She is convinced that
the only viable path to wealth, happiness and success is sound
financial engineering.

Since 1980, Barbara has lived and worked in New York City helping people create, distribute and conserve wealth. She is a leading marketer of financial products, a frequent industry speaker and is published on topics ranging from estate analysis to business succession strategies. In the new millennium, Barbara is broadening her horizons. She has purchased a home in the historic district of Savannah, and has opened a satellite office there. She is an active member of Savannah Rotary East and Leadership Savannah.  Her New York-Savannah staff is on the leading edge of technology and can service clients easily from both the North and South offices.

Barbara is the mother of three children and grandmother of five. She is actively involved with charitable work for retarded persons, as well as mentoring an inner city high school student. She is a bicyclist and time permitting loves to read, travel and be with her friends and family.

Back to List

Syble Solomon

Syble Solomon has combined her background in education, business and coaching as the Founder and President of LifeWise, a coaching and training company dedicated to helping women have a more satisfying and secure life.  She is the creator of Money Habitudes, a deck of cards used as a tool by financial professionals and counselors to determine how people’s habits and attitudes about money influence their career, life, relationships and financial decisions.  Her workshops and presentations have helped thousands of people understand their relationship with money.

Syble has been an executive coach since 1995 and her clients include Fortune 500 companies, small businesses and non-profit organizations. She has private clients and is affiliated with the Center for Creative Leadership, Greensboro, NC and the National Leadership Institute at the University of Maryland. Her executive coaching clients range from high potential employees to seasoned CEO’s and executives teams and many work with global corporations.

Back to List

Nicola Horlick

Nicola Horlick is Chief Executive Officer of Bramdean Asset Management. In this role, Nicola is responsible for implementing and supervising the Group strategy and for directing the individual business units. These include Bramdean’s Multi-Manager asset management business; Wealth Management; Bramdean Equity Managers, which manages our in-house UK Equity Fund; Bramdean Property Investment, a shared venture with Michael Elliott & Partners; Bramdean’s Alternative Investment Fund* as well, of course, as Bramdean’s Client Administration team.

Nicola has worked in the fund management industry for over twenty years and has participated in the growth of some of the UK’s premier asset management businesses, including Mercury Asset Management (now Merrill Lynch Investment Management), Morgan Grenfell Asset Management  (now Deutsche) and SG Asset Management (UK).

Back to List

Janet Wood and Kathy McFadden

Janet Wood, CEO and Kathy McFadden, President of the Fashion Fit Formula have decades of experience as corporate executives prior to starting their own company Fashion Fit Formula a Pivotal Edge, Inc. company in July of 2003. Janet a world wide corporate turn around specialist and Kathy the former CEO of a major construction trade association in Washington, DC, have watch women succeed and fail while climbing the corporate ladder. Their goal is to help women SUCCEED in all areas of their life with the Fashion Fit Formula.

Back to List

Tanya Hine

After completing her education Tanya Hine joined the Royal Air Force including service overseas in Cyprus. In addition to her normal Supply and Accounting Branch duties she acted as interpreter for United Nations Forces, being fluent in English, German and Russian. She resigned on marriage and later returned to work in accountancy. Working at Goodwood House, in Sussex, she looked after the accounts for three companies on behalf of the Duke of Richmond. During the 'Alternative Olympics' she acted as a scorer for the three-day
riding event. There followed a few years of working as an accountant, in London before moving to Buckinghamshire as a Company Secretary and Accountant. She successfully turned the company from loss to profit and introduced a European element to their business. In 1987 she moved to Glasgow as Financial Director, Accountant and major shareholder of a
Graphic design company.

In 1994 she set up her own Corporate Graphic Design business, TBDA (Scotland) Ltd. This business has clients in Scotland, London and Europe. Her business philosophy is to encourage staff development. This has enabled TBDA to gain 'Scotland the Brand' and 'Investor in People' status. Her experience in business management and accountancy makes her the ideal link between customers and clients. Since moving to Scotland she has made many business and trade mission visits throughout Europe. Many of these were in her capacity as President of Central Scotland Chamber of Commerce. She is an active member of Institute of Directors and an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Her social interests are Ballet, Opera, Literature and gardening.

She became a member of The British Association of Women Entrepreneurs (BAWE) in 1995 and was made a Fellow and Vice President in 1997 and elected British National President in 2004. Currently she serves on the Parent Association Les Femmes Chefs D’Entreprises Mondial  (FCEM) European Task Force. In October 2006 she was elected World Vice President.  As an invited speaker she regularly speaks at events across Great Britain and across the World, more recently Turkey, Malta and Norway. She believes strongly in the quality and integrity of women in business and the need for a collective strategy both Nationally and Internationally for BAWE.

Back to List

Ada Maduakoh

Ada Maduakoh is a Barrister and management consultant. With over 20 years experience in advocacy and training on human rights and minority issues, gathered from her work with the United Nations in the promotion of refugee law and human rights world-wide, she has also held a number of senior positions in the private and public sectors. Fully bi-lingual (French and English). She is highly skilled in human rights advocacy.

Ms. Maduakoh is the CEO of ProDiverse (UK) Ltd, a cutting edge consultancy firm company with offices throughout London. The company currently runs various projects tackling social exclusion issues as well as offering management consultancy, recruitment and training services to various bodies in the private, public and voluntary sector. Current programmes include the highly successful ethnic minority outreach service an employment programme which assists unemployed members of ethnic minority groups to gain sustainable employment, this programme operates throughout London, over 6000 people from diverse backgrounds have been assisted into work through this programme.

Back to List

Zhou Yinmei is the owner of Changzhou Evergreen Group a multimillion dollar Company. Evergreen Group now has realized industry diversification with three domestic subsidiaries and five foreign branches, specializing in the developing, designing, manufacturing and sales of the products in the fields of jewelry, building materials, new materials, rail transportation interior decoration, energy and finance, etc. Since its foundation, the company has been devoted to philanthropy. It has been bearing in mind its social responsibilities while developing economy, and has been contributing to the social cause of charity by generous endowments.

She has been awarded the national woman pace-setter, the national excellent woman entrepreneur and “The National Ten Best woman Peasants” prize, and has been elected as the 10^th National People’s Congress representative.

Back to List

Dotsie Bregel

Dotsie Bregel is the Founder of the National Association of Baby Boomer Women, Dotsie established the association, the only one dedicated to serving the healthiest, wealthiest, and best educated group of women to reach midlife, to support and encourage women to live their dreams. She is a writer, speaker, and expert on issues concerning her generation of women. Dotsie is passionate about educating and empowering midlife women through her wildly successful Web sites, including more than 60 forums that act as a virtual village for boomers. Dotsie has been mentioned in Time magazine and AARP Bulletin among dozens of newspapers across the nation. She is on the Editorial Board of me* magazine and writes articles and book reviews for boomer magazine and has a column about boomer women in WomanScope newspaper. She frequently does radio interviews and appeared on The Early Show (CBS) with Dave Price.

Back to List

Marilyn Pearson has rejoined Merrill Lynch Private Client Group as Vice President, Retirement Plan Consultant. With over 27 years of experience in the financial services industry, she has achieved a national reputation for developing and delivering innovative marketing and training strategies. Marilyn is a highly sought-after speaker on Retirement Planning and Planned Giving Programs.

Marilyn joined Merrill Lynch as a Financial Consultant in Saginaw, Michigan. She received membership in the Merrill Lynch esteemed Executive’s Club in 1981 and 1982 and the President's Club in 1983. Marilyn was Assistant Vice President Senior Training Consultant from 1984–1987 where she developed and facilitated courses on product knowledge, prospecting, selling and communication skills. She lectured to over 1,600 Financial Consultants annually and spent the next few years working on the firm’s efforts with minority Recruitment, Retention and Development. In 1990, she was named Senior Marketing Manager for Business Financial Services.

Marilyn joined Salomon Smith Barney in 1997 as First Vice President. She held the position of National Director of Training Corporate Client Group from 1997–2001. In this capacity she authored the SSB National Retirement Plan Training and Designation program, managed the Associate Regional Sales Directors and the Corporate Client Group sales desk.

She joined the Philanthropic Services group in New York, where she led the development and delivery of Philanthropic Services Training for Financial Consultants and the national roll out of the Donor-Advised Fund. 1978, Marilyn earned a B.A. in English from Saginaw Valley State University in University Center, Michigan.

Back to List

Barbara E. Friesner

Barbara E. Friesner is a Generational Coach and expert on issues affecting the elderly and their families. In addition to her own highly regarded newsletter, she writes a monthly column for the National Association of Baby Boomer Women, her articles have been published in national magazines, she has been quoted in newspapers and magazines across the country and has been featured on television and radio.

For more than 25 years she has been the care manager, first for her grandmother and now her mother (with advanced dementia) and learned first-hand how emotional and overwhelming eldercare can be. As a result, Friesner started AgeWiseLiving and provides one-on-one Generational Coaching to help family members resolve their eldercare issues by choice, not crisis. Friesner has been a featured speaker for organizations including the Assisted Living Federation of America, the NY Bar Association Elder Law Committee, The National Council on the Aging, the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, and the Utica College Gerontology Institute.  In addition, she collaborates with professionals with senior clients to create and implement successful strategies.

Friesner is an adjunct professor at Cornell University, where she created and taught “Seniors Housing Management” at Cornell's School of Hotel Administration. She received her Master of Business Administration from Boston University. Prior to starting AgeWiseLiving, Friesner was the Director of Education & Development for Loews Corporation and Dean of Loews University

Back to List

Paula Constantino

Paula Constantino, Founder of Women's Support TEAM is passionate about providing online resources, e-commerce tools and support for women. Her mission is for us to share our expertise while we help women enhance their personal and business development by harnessing the power of the Internet through a virtual TEAM of online mentors and affiliates because… Together Everyone Achieves More success globally.  Paula has also developed the tools needed to Package Yourself 4 Success Online by creating digital products and providing coaching and consulting services through e-commerce.  She is in the process of launching new websites  for marketing coaches and consultants online.
Paula, who started law school at 40, views life as a continuous learning process, with all of us constantly evolving and reinventing ourselves.  WS TEAM provides women with rich resources to enhance their lives and to build their business… all while having fun and enjoying life to its fullest.   

Back to List

Sandrine Bélanger

Sandrine Bélanger has over 15 years experience in Training, Sales, and Management. As President and co-founder of Jasabel Consulting Services, she provides one-on-one coaching and training in Priority and Time management, Software Productivity and Competitive Intelligence. She’s also a partner of the DCA Consulting Group which provides tailored training in Communications, Sales, and Customer service.

Over the past ten years, she gained experience in Marketing, Event Planning, Training and Coaching with Competia, Vector Marketing Canada, the L'Oreal Group, Eutelsat, the International Civil Aviation Organization and Lockheed Martin Canada. She also worked as an instructor in computer science and languages at the international level.

Mrs. Bélanger is fluent in English, French and Spanish and holds a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration from HEC Montreal including a double Major in Information Technology and Management, and a minor in Business Law from the University of Montreal.

Back to List

Princess Bola Adelani

Princess Bola is an honors graduate with a law degree from England’s University of Buckingham. She began her legal career in Camden, England where she served as Rents Officer in the city’s housing unit. Princess Bola returned to her native country, Nigeria, earned admission to the Nigerian Bar, began a corporate legal practice and would serve as secretary, legal adviser, and head of corporate affairs for Savannah Securities, a financial securities firm, in Lagos.

When Princess Bola immigrated to the United States, she put aside her legal career, founded Royal Proclamations−a Training, Coaching and Speaking Practice to fulfill her passion: motivating people to gain the knowledge, skill, and power to pursue their passions and live their dreams. She has developed a variety of programs under Royal Proclamations that teach people time-tested, ancient business and life principles that have led to success in institutions and corporations around the world.

In 2004, Princess Bola founded her non-profit organization, Watered Garden Ministries, Inc., which empowers women through a variety of community based mentoring, educational and benevolence programs. Within two years this program reached more than 1,500 women.

A dynamic, compelling, and truly inspirational speaker, Princess Bola is a much sought-after speaker in a variety of settings and speaks globally to wide and diverse audiences.

Back to List

Elizabeth A. Vazquez

Elizabeth A. Vazquez is the Executive Director of Quantum Leaps, Inc., www.quantumleapsinc.org, a non-profit created to promote women in business globally, and the President and Co-Founder of TradeBuilders, Inc., a company that helps clients use information and communication technologies to facilitate international trade and professional networking, improve organizational development, build global alliances, and share best practices in areas such as eCommerce and eGovernment.

As the Executive Director of Quantum Leaps, Inc., Ms. Vazquez works with a powerful global network of leaders who are working to advance women in business through international conferences, best practices exchanges, study tours, expert roundtables, and eLearning forums. Quantum Leaps works on critical issues for businesses at all stages of development including research, data and statistics; entrepreneurial education and training; access to credit, debt and equity finance; access to networks and to corporate, government and international markets; technology as an entrepreneurial enabler; and advocacy and constituency building.

As the Executive Director of Quantum Leaps, Ms. Vazquez is working with the Global Business Committee of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) on launching independent national organizations to certify women-owned businesses that want to become suppliers to multinational corporations. As part of this initiative, Ms. Vazquez provides seminars to small business suppliers on how to enter the global supply chain. Ms. Vazquez has worked with government leaders and senior corporate executives on organizing business and trade events in countries such as Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Cyprus, India, Israel, Germany, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Turkey, the UK and the US. She has served as a speaker at numerous international conferences, and has published articles and reports on trade, technology, business associations and women entrepreneurs. She is on the Board of the Association of Women’s Business Centers and is a graduate of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Back to List

Mary Schnack

A specialist in communications for almost 30 years, Mary Schnack is an award winning writer, business owner and public relations practitioner. Owner of Communication Bridges, Inc., Schnack is a public relations consultant and crisis communications expert. She has helped small businesses, associations and corporations with a variety of public relations needs and speaks on communications and business topics throughout the United States, Africa, South America and Europe. Her keynote presentations have garnered rave reviews internationally and her warm easy style, command of her subject and keen awareness guarantee that her audiences come away entertained, enlightened and most importantly, informed. She received the prestigious “Women Business Advocate of the Year” award from the United States Small Business Administration for the state of Arizona and Region Nine. She is Chair of the National Association of Women Business Owners’ (NAWBO) International Forum and National Founding Partner for Women Impacting Public Policy.

Back to List

Gina Watkins

Gina Watkins brings more than two decades of sales, business development and marketing experience in helping businesses to create powerful lines of communication with their customers, members, constituents and partners.

As a small business owner, consultant and an advocate of technology tools, Gina aims to serve as a resource to help small and medium-sized businesses and associations throughout the Washington, DC to region maximize the power of relationship marketing.

Back to List

Sharon Hooper

Sharon Hooper is a specialist in strategizing businesses and individuals for success and optimal growth through coaching and consulting. As a federal government employee, Sharon’s expertise in management and training received many government awards on assignments from the Pentagon and Frankfurt, Germany, to Monterey, California. One of Sharon’s achievements, reorganizing and directing the Child Development Center at Ft. Ord California (350+ children daily), was recognized internationally as a model child care center. After resigning from her government career in 1984, Sharon and her partner pioneered the concept of playing and selling music in the gift industry with their start-up company, World Disc Productions. Sharon became President of the international record label. After receiving major awards from the SBA (Small Business Administration), Inc. Magazine, Parent’s Magazine (and other companies), and growing the business to five million dollars in sales, the business was sold in 1996. Since 1997, Sharon has been passionately immersed as a certified life and business coach, consultant, speaker, and retreat facilitator where she works with others to attain their highest goals through vision, courage and focus. A process created by Sharon, Vision Mapping Strategies, has received rave reviews from companies and individuals. She is immediate past president of NAWBO (National Association of Women Business Owners) Sedona/Verde Valley, Arizona, and was honored in 2006 as an outstanding entrepreneur in the greater Sedona area. Sharon is an author and a national columnist with United Press International.

Back to List

Jennifer Kalitas

Having educated thousands of entrepreneurs in all facets of business launch, development and promotion, and backed by more than a decade of experience in international communications and business consulting, Jennifer Kalita has emerged as one of the nation’s foremost 50+ market experts. This author, speaker, and consultant serves as the Entrepreneurial Columnist to Boomer Magazine as well as to the National Association of Baby Boomer Women. She is also a contributing writer and Creating Boomer Buzz columnist at Second50Years.com. Frequently interviewed by major media, Jennifer is the President of The Kalita Group, an entrepreneurial consulting company, and its StrategicBoomers.com & 50PlusFusion.com divisions. She can be reached at jennifer@thekalitagroup.com.

Back to List

Sherri McConnell

Sheri McConnell is the President and Founder of the National Association of Women Writers www.naww.org and the Association of Web Entrepreneurs www.aweconnect.com. She teaches women writers and entrepreneurs how to discover, create, and profit from their intellectual knowledge. She is an entrepreneur, publisher, author, writer, and coach. She has a Masters of Arts in Organizational Management and a Bachelors in Social Work. www.sherimcconnell.com.

Back to List

Carol Orsborn

Dr. Carol Orsborn is a senior vice president of Fleishman-Hillard and co-chair of FH Boom, the first initiative by a global PR firm exclusively dedicated to helping companies market to baby boomers.  An authority on issues related to motivational marketing, adult development and quality of life, she is the author of 15 books for and about boomers.  Her books include “BOOM:  Marketing to the Ultimate Power Consumer—the Baby-Boomer Woman” by Mary Brown and Carol Orsborn, Ph.D. (Amacom, 2006) and “The Great Generational Power Play: Meeting the Challenge of the Gray Ceiling Workplace” by Eileen Marcus and Carol Orsborn, Ph.D. (Amacom, 2008).  Dr. Orsborn is a research associate with UCLA and teaches ethics at Georgetown University. She also blogs regularly for FH Boom at: www.TheBoomerBlog.com.

Back to List

Patricia McHugh Lambert

Patricia McHugh Lambert is a principal with the law firm of Hodes, Pessin & Katz where she represents Fortune 500 companies, mid-size businesses and entrepreneurs in a wide variety of areas.  She was recently selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America for Insurance and by the Daily Record as one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women.  She has also been named as one of Maryland’s Legal Elite by Smart CEO Magazine and as a Leading Lady by Smart Woman magazine. She is also the mother of two teenagers and a breast cancer survivor.

Back to List

Jennifer Campion

Jennifer Campion is a Financial Planning Specialist and Advisor for Smith Barney in Baltimore, MD. With thirteen years of financial experience, Jennifer’s mission is to be a resource for women who are committed to learn about finance and investing, enabling them to become more confident in their financial decision making and empowering them towards financial freedom. Jennifer works with women through a Comprehensive Wealth Management system which aligns their values to their goals. The plan is customized, which in addition to investments, may include insurance, estate planning and lending strategies depending on the need of the client.

She is well versed in the needs and concerns of business owners and has a dedicated client base where she runs the corporate retirement plans as well as employee education and is also able to assist in cash management strategies, lending, and business succession planning. She focuses on small to mid sized businesses.

Back to List

Bola Olabisi

Bola Olabisi, LLB (Hons), LLM, FRSA, is the CEO of the Global Women Inventors & Innovators Network (GWIIN) under the Professional Family Woman;s Network Ltd which she founded in 1998.  Bola is also the Vice President of the British Association of Women Entrepreneurs and President, African Women of Essence International – an Alliance of African Women in the Diaspora Linking with Africa. Bola is a trainer, an International Motivational Speaker and Writer who continues to share her ideas, experiences and insights nationally and internationally.  Bola has extended her work into several countries including Britain, Canada, South Africa, USA, Spain, Hong Kong, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, India, Iceland, France, Nigeria, Morocco, Singapore and most recently Mexico.  Bola has worked in partnership with IFC – the private arm of the World Bank Group to reduce poverty via her event across Pan Africa by staging the first event specifically for women inventors and innovators in Africa.

Bola has gained national and international recognition for her work across the UK and Globally.  Bola is now looking forward to the rewarding experience of extending her expertise, skills and knowledge wherever possible.

Back to List

Dr. Sheila Ochugboju

Operational Director, Science & Innovation, Global Women Investors & Innovators Network (GWIIN)

Dr Sheila Ochugboju is uniquely competent at balancing the social, economic and political imperatives, which drive profits through the innovation in science, engineering and technology in new African enterprises. She is a member of PANel UK (Pan African Network of Emerging Leaders) - the alumni association of participants on the British Council InterAction programme whose aim is " To learn from Africa to transform the UK". She has worked with schools and science communicators in South Africa since 1999 and recently launched the African Science Cafes for the British Council at the Grahamstown Sasol SciFest in March 2007. This growing network provides a creative new model for public engagement with science and technology in South Africa, Kenya and Lesotho. She is leading the African Women of Essence International (AWEI) initiative for GWIIN. This involves the launch of an innovation centre for African women, called the Centre of Innovation, Enterprise and Technology (CIET) at Doregos Univerisity in Lagos, Nigeria, which opens in December 2007.

She is a biological scientist who moved into the Science and Innovation Directorate at AWEI, through the management of International Health and Development projects with African Communities in Europe and Africa.

Back to List

Kathryn Dolan

Kate Dolan is a native Virginian with over 20 years experience in economic development in Virginia and strong interests in global business, the changing dynamics of the world economy (including opportunities) and the impact that has on Virginia.  She has a degree in Business Administration Management with graduate work in Public Administration and International Business. 

Currently she assists small businesses, through Virginia’s Department of Business Assistance, with navigating Virginia’s electronic procurement system (eVA) and with technical assistance in securing Virginia’s certification as a small, woman-owned or minority-owned business.  Ms. Dolan has done extensive event planning and conducted several seminars within the Commonwealth to help small businesses identify a targeted market within Virginia government.

Prior work history includes more than 20 years within Virginia’s economic development arena, working specifically with Virginia employers on workforce and economic issues.  She has extensive experience in conference and event planning; marketing; and group/meeting facilitation.

She is a dynamic motivational speaker.

Back to List

Yinka Olajide

Yinka Olajide, ESQ is a Public Relations Consultant, who founded Kimann Incorporated, a premiere public relations consulting firm headquartered in capital of the United States; she has spent the last ten years merging the fields of Information Technology, Law and Public Relations. Ms Olajide holds a law degree from OAU, Ile – Ife with special interest in International and Commercial Law. Currently, she is the President and CEO of Kimann Incorporated which is a Public Relations and media consultancy company, of which KimannTV is a subsidiary.

In the year 2006, Ms Olajide with Kimann Incorporated organized the planning and implementation of Nigerian Television Authority’s scheduling and broadcast in the Washington DC Metropolitan area which has been a huge success.

Back to List

Chief Temitope Ajayi

Chief Temitope Ajayi is a business consultant and an accountant by profession. She is the Founder and President of Nigerian Community & Friends Investment Inc. (NCF Investment inc.), a company that is committed to promote and encourage economic growth among the Nigerian communities. We have designed and established superior services that would continue to increase overall business proficiencies with an inundated competitive edge - in the areas of business and economic management, structural organization and technological training.

Our services will ensure that small businesses are well funded, profitable, and can leverage all our global partnerships for better business placement amongst other businesses within the global marketplace.

NCF Investment Inc. is postioned to foster partnership between African governments and other private sectors to create sustainable wealth, that assist in identifying the best business practice and facilitate reputable business ethics among US Department of Commerce, US Export-Import Bank, and Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and the World Bank. The company also values the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

Chief Temitope Ajayi encourages new investment opportunities to Sub-Sahara Africa, reviews US-based investments and financing portfolios. The facility is meant to expedite the processing of shorthand, medium and micro-finance to women and minority most especially in the agricultural sector of the economy.

Chief Temitope Ajayi is also the founder of a Non-Profit Organization - African Community and Friends a 501(c)(3) organization.

Back to List

Adeola Akindana

Adeola Akindana has been a registered nurse for almost 20 years. She holds a dual Masters degree in nursing with focus on Health Policy and Clinical Information System. Her particular area of interest is in diabetes prevention and disease management using today’s information technology. She is a Diabetes Nurse Educator and Coordinator for clinical research studies related to diabetes, hypertension and dyslipidemia with the MedStar Research Institute (MRI) in Washington D.C. She is a member of MRI’s local Institutional Review Board (IRB) and ethics committee under scientific affairs, and also leads the Technology Taskforce Group.

Adeola specializes in training of healthcare providers and diabetes educators, development of diabetes education programs and surveillance tools for tracking the impact of prevention programs including early screening and diagnosis. Her passion to promote diabetes awareness and improve management of the disease in order to decrease the devastating effects of diabetes complications led to the formation of Health Beam Consulting Services of which she is the Founder and Executive Director. She is also involved in outreach programs and our goals includes implementing the ERADICATE Project, working with other entities such as schools, community centers and government to promote awareness, increase early screening and diagnosis campaign, and educate the public on this new proverbial pandemic. 

In 2006, Mrs. Akindana was part of the delegates in South Africa representing the African-American Diabetes Educators Specialty Group at the 19th World Diabetes Congress. She is a dynamic motivational speaker and educator.  She has spoken and participated at various engagements including at the recent Divabetic D.C. “Makeover Your Diabetes”; a diabetes outreach event for women, business and government seminars, health fairs, churches, and workshops. She co-authored a book, Diabetes for the Layperson that will be published later this year.
Please remember to join your local community on or around November 14th to recognize ‘World Diabetes Day’ according to the resolution passed by the United Nation.

Back to List

Dr. Mrs. Virgy Anohu

Dr. Mrs. Virgy Anohu, a PhD holder in English and a Harvard Alumnus, has glided from the lecture halls of the university to the banking halls of our financial terrain with an ease that left many. Dr. Anohu is well known for her exception ability to pull funds and people together within a very short period of time. She has distinguished herself as an astute Investment banker with an uncanny ability for relationship building and management.

She is highly skilled in marketing and public relations management. While she has cleverly redefined banking in Nigeria by giving it a human face, Dr. Anorhu has carved a nitch for herself in the mortgage sector as she is currently engaged in providing houses for the emerging middle class and the Nigerian masses in general.

Dr. Mrs. Virgy Anohu, a banker, a literary critic, a poet and a linguist has held several management and executive management positions.

Former senior Manager-Diamond Bank Plc, Former Assistant General Manager-United Bank for Africa, former Vice President- first City Monument Bank and former Executive Director-Guardian Express Bank plc.

Dr. Anohu is currently the Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of Mortgage Guaranty savings and Loans Ltd (Mgsl) Nigeria. She is Married and blessed with children and grandchildren. She plays golf, and loves literature and music.

Back to List

Chioma

Chioma immigrated to Canada as a young refugee with her family from Nigeria and settled in Halifax, Nova Scotia where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in political science from St. Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She moved to Toronto in 1986 and pursued a career in retail. She achieved success and distinctions, winning many awards in retail salespersonship. Bigger horizons were calling however, and in 1990, with the help of a small loan from Canada Trust, Chioma attended Real Estate School. She graduated with her license in 1991, an economically challenging time in the real estate market. At the end of 1991, working as a sales representative for Canada Trust Real Estate Chioma beat the odds, the market conditions, and her colleagues in the industry. She went on to win many awards the real estate market offered.

In 1994, Chioma saw an opportunity to develop a new market niche in high-end home sales and moved to Prudential Sadie Moranis Real Estate. Chioma continued to be in the (1) percentile of the Prudential agents in Canada. In 1998 Chioma received “The Continental African Canadian Award for Entrepreneur”. In 1999 she sought new challenges; she opened her own production company (Chioma Productions Inc.) and decided to pursue a career direction in communication. Within 2 years Chioma’s corporate clients include Bayer Inc. Bank of Montreal, TD Canada Trust, Royal Bank of Canada, just to name a few. Chioma has also worked with many government agencies such as HRDC, the Canadian Nature of Museum and Correctional Canada.
 
In 2000 Chioma initiated various school programs for Parents, Teachers, Administrators and Students. She has been a Motivational Speaker in many different venues. Her unique blend of high-energy personality, and leadership skills enable her to effectively respond to changing trends and times.

In 2002, Chioma founded “The Chioma Talks Scholarship Fund” in partnership with Office Depot Inc. This scholarship is created to help empower the youth by making sure that they are able to continue their education.  In March 2003 Chioma Productions Inc. held several events in partnership with The Royal Bank and Office Depot Inc.  These unique events and luncheon were facilitated so that students can have an opportunity to network with top business executives.

In 2003, Chioma gave away 11 Chioma Talks Scholarship in partnership with Office Depot Inc. Each scholarship came with a computer, monitor and printer. For this initiative the Prime Minister of Canada awarded Chioma the prestigious Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal for her work with the youth.

In 2006 Chioma established a quarterly free publication with a major publishing company (Torstar Media). In 2007, Chioma became Publisher and Founder of a new international magazine, AMÖI. AMÖI Magazine is a lifestyle magazine that caters to the rich cultures and demographics across Canada and the U.S.

Back to List