The Second Annual Women’s Leadership Program’s Fall Kick-Off Event
In 2012, the original Women’s Leadership Team consisting of Alison Kruse, Sheena Shah, Dhara Patel, and Noel Girgenti, set high goals for the newly established Women’s Leadership Program (WLP) under the guidance of the Leadership Development Honors Program (LDHP). Based on a central focus to empower and educate future women leaders, the team successfully conducted its beta year from Fall 2013 to Spring 2014. Filled with networking events, a panel discussion, and one-on-one mentoring sessions, the program gave the sophomore and senior LDHP female students opportunities of a lifetime as the 18 pairs of students and executive mentors embarked on a journey to grow professionally and to conquer the unique experiences women face throughout their lives.
Now in the Fall of 2014, the Women’s Leadership Program doubled in size! With female students from the freshmen, sophomore, junior, and senior classes, there are 38 pairs of powerful women working together toward the program’s main goals. Not only has the program grown in size, but also the Women’s Leadership Team. The team consists of 8 members including: Noel Girgenti, Alison Kruse, Sumera Munhaf, Prachi Makkar, Melissa Vega, Carla Santos, and Micaela Tremblay.
In celebration of such a wonderful endeavor, the program’s participants all gathered for the second annual Women’s Leadership Program’s Fall Kick-Off Event on Wednesday, September 24th.
The Fall Kick-Off Event signifies the official beginning of the program’s year, allowing student mentees and executive mentors to meet for the first time and mingle with the other participants in the program. Proceeding the dinner, executive mentors arrived at 6 PM for an exclusive cocktail hour dedicated to networking with other women executives holding high positions in a large array of well-established companies. At 6:45 PM the student mentees joined the event in time to acquaint themselves with their mentors and find a spot next to them. Shortly after, leader of the Women’s Leadership Program, Noel Girgenti welcomed the participants along with a few supportive remarks by Dean of the Stillman School of Business, Joyce Strawser.
Amongst the night filled with great joy and insightful conversation, Alison Kruse gave an overview of the Women’s Leadership Program after dinner so that all participants understand the clear expectations of what it means to be a member of WLP as well as a brief history, a recap of last year’s activities, and a look ahead at upcoming events.
Immediately after, Prachi Makkar introduced our guest speaker of the night, Kathie De Chirico, Chief Operations Officer and Vice President at The Bromley Group. Ms. De Chirico’s speech was filled with thoughtful insight in what it means to be a powerful woman figure in the work force and how we need to exude passion and give advice to future women leaders. In her “Four Drivers of Women’s Leadership,” the key note speaker gave personal anecdotes along with emphasizing the ideas of utilizing people (mentors, sponsors, and infleuncers), creating a strategy-vision and mission, effectively executing one’s goals (staying connected and on course with powerful distinctions for leadership), and measuring successes and learning from failures. These elements summarized how leaders should approach their own success along with passing on those secrets to those behind them. Ms. De Chirico stated that a call for women leaders is essential in changing our work environments, but that also includes educating men and giving them mentorship along the way.
For the closing remarks, Director of the The Gerald P. Buccino ’63 Center for Leadership Development, Michael Reuter, spoke to the audience. In his conclusion, Mike inspired each woman sitting in that room to go above and beyond in their quest to empower and educate. The future is held in the hands of our remarkable female students and our selfless, accomplished executive mentors. In anticipation of a year filled with learning and success stories, the Women’s Leadership Program will continue to develop great leaders who will embellish on every moment of their women mentoring women experience.
Congratulations to the Women’s Leadership Team and the participants of the Women’s Leadership Program as they start a brand new year! We wish you much success now and long into the future.
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