PwC US appointed Ceci Connolly Managing Director of the PwC Health Research Institute. Cici is nationally known advisor, author, and speaker on the health industries, and worked for the Washington Post for 13 years. See prnewswire press release.
PwC US appointed Ceci Connolly Managing Director of the PwC Health Research Institute. Cici is nationally known advisor, author, and speaker on the health industries, and worked for the Washington Post for 13 years. See prnewswire press release.
E*TRADE Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: ETFC) appointed Rebecca Saeger to the Company’s Board of Directors. Rebecca is the former Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Charles Schwab. See Business Wire press release.
Invacare Corporation (NYSE: IVC) appointed The Honorable Ellen O’Kane Tauscher to its Board of Directors.
Enterprise Financial appointed Judith Heeter to its Board of Directors.
Abbot Downing, which combines two existing Wells Fargo businesses - Wells Fargo Family Wealth and Lowry Hill - being rebranded in April, appointed Lisa Featherngill Managing Director of Planning. Lisa had been the Director of Wealth Planning for the Wells Fargo Carolinas and Mid-Atlantic offices. See Business Wire press release.
Comcast Corporation appointed Beth Arnholt Vice President of Integrated Talent Management where she will work across Comcast Corporate, Comcast Cable and NBCUniversal on the design and implementation of a Talent Integration Program. Beth had been a Principal of BDC Consulting. More in Business Wire press release.
StyleHaul Inc., the global online video network for fashion and beauty co-founded by Stephanie Horbaczewski who is also the company's President and CEO, raised $4.4 million series A financing led by RezVen Partners. Read more in the prnewswire press release.
Less than 40 women were given big corporate jobs in January, 2012, a dissappointing start to the year and a continuation of the downward trend we have seen since last November. Companies who did appoint women to big jobs included IBM who appointed Bridget Van Kralingen (pictured) Senior Vice President of IBM Global Business Services, their consulting group. Also appointing women to big jobs were Walgreens, KPMG, Vanguard, Netflix, JCPenney, ALlianz Life Insurance, Wells Fargo, Dell, QVC, Rite Aid, PWC, Virgin America, and Xerox.
Women entrepreneurs fared better, with 9 companies raising $46.8 million in new funding during January. I was also impressed with the variety of companies where innovative thinking led to these new business opportunities. With Fashion Week in New York, we are reminded of the tradition of women being innovative. Innovation is the new black!
We need to apply some of that innovative thinking to the corporate world. Innovation leads to new jobs, new kinds of companies, and more productivity. It also leads to new approaches in education, and healthcare. Innovation is the solution to all our economic woes and to the issues facing women today. Year after year we see the same old studies that give us disappointing stats on executive advancement, we read the same old power lists, and the same old best company to work for lists. These tools were important in the past, but are they having an impact now? Do we have proof that anyone read them and took action? We need action! We need to innovate in our approach to these issues to get more progress. The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, in a recent speech pointed out that fewer women in top jobs is undermining Britain’s economic recovery and he thinks Britain can learn from Europe's use of quotas. I believe innovation is a better answer than quotas, although I am not opposed to quotas if they get the job done. After the financial crisis, noone can argue that men do the jobs better!
Time Warner Inc. appointed Lisa Garcia Quiroz the company’s first Chief Diversity Officer. Ms. Quiroz will retain her previous responsibilities as Senior Vice President of Corporate Responsibility. Lisa is the original founding publisher of People en Español. Read more in the Business Wire press release.
AOL appointed Rachel Fishman Feddersen Chief Content Officer of their Patch platform of hyperlocal news and information sites. Rachel had been Editorial Director, Digital Content, Strategy and Design at The Parenting Group. Read more in the Business Wire press release.
Aristotle Circle, the network of experts for school admission founded by Suzanne Rheault who is also the company's CEO, acquired Peer2Peer Tutors, Inc, the largest peer tutoring company in the country. "Aristotle Circle now has the widest possible breadth and depth of educational consulting services," said Suzanne. "The school admissions process is more competitive than ever, and families require a wide range of services to give their children the best possible advantage". Read more about it in the prnewswire press release.
Auxogyn, co-founded by Lissa Goldenstein, closed the remainder of a $20 million series A financing. Lissa is also President and Chief Executive Officer of the company. See prnewswire press release..
What should we tell young women about innovation? Tell them Innovation is everything! And for everybody! Not just scientists or engineers. Yes we need science and engineering, but we need people to take their innovations and make them mainstream. What would Facebook be without the “friends” who use it? The Dare2BDigital Conference is taking on the challenge of getting more girls to understand the excitement and everyday use of math and science on Feb 11, 2012 in San Jose at the eBay Campus. This is so important because only a small % of high school girls (versus a high % of boys) expressed an interest in starting their own venture,
a disturbing fact as our economy shifts in a small business revolution. Richelle Parham (pictured), Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of eBay North America, is one of the keynote speakers.
But why stop with just one conference? Let’s get many more girls involved. And why should we? Because we are still being held back by statistics and stereotypes. If I read one more time how few women are CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies, or what % of women are major executives of media or other companies, or that women can’t do math, I think I’ll scream. That is so last century!! In today's world, media giants and old stereotypes are ready to fall just like the beanstalk in the fairytale. But not if we stay mired in statistics that don’t tell the whole story. I have met so many great women who are doing amazing and innovative things. Let’s follow their lead. We need to get students excited about innovation, open their minds to ways anyone can innovate, and show them how to analyze an industry in search of opportunities where they can create something new.
Everyone who reads this post should take it on themselves to go to their school, their friends, their families and get girls excited about innovation. Here’s a readymade speech that will help you. I call it my “better, cheaper, faster, easier” speech. Add your own flavor and examples. And report back on how many girls you speak to, even if it’s only a few at a time. We will keep count. Can we turn one conference into 1 million girls? Let’s try. So post this on your blog, rt on twitter, start it on facebook, speak at school assemblies, parent meetings, etc. Wherever girls will be, be there for them. Tell them how innovation will make a difference in their lives.
INNOVATION - Better, Cheaper, Faster, Easier!
What it Means to be an Innovator - What is Innovation and who are innovators? You may not be inventing technology, but how you use technology or how you brand a product can also make you an Innovator. You have the power, using your own brain and a pencil, to build a better mousetrap. Technology has created a new world of opportunity. Let’s talk about some of today’s really successful companies - the companies that capitalized on the opportunities to innovate with the new technologies available. When you examine who the innovators are, you will see that the companies which really stand out are the companies that helped people look at their world in a new way. They focused on helping people do things better, cheaper, faster, easier, or do something completely new. Some examples: 1. Cheaper - Amazon - started by Jeff Bezos because he wanted a cheaper and easier way to find out-of-print or rare books; One Kings Lane - started by Susan Feldman and Alison Pincus (pictured left) - flash sales in the home décor and housewares market - a new way to buy things for your home. 2. Easier - Zocdoc - makes it easy for people to make doctor’s appointments online. 3. Faster - Google - finding information; Twitter - get news updates. 4. Better - Linkedin helps people network and find jobs; Learnvest – started by Alexa von Tobel so women can learn more about personal finance because she and her friends wanted to learn more about managing their money. 5. Do Something New - Apple – itunes, ipad, iphone; ebay - online auctions; Facebook redefined the meaning of the word community! (Ask students for examples in their lives of “faster” “easier” “cheaper“, - companies they see helping them live their lives in a new way. Get them thinking about how to be innovative - ask for suggestions of areas that they feel can be improved today.)
How Can You be an Innovator? Look at the industries you enjoy and break them down into pieces. Here's an industry example - Healthcare. You no longer have to think about just being a doctor or a nurse. You can work in the healthcare ecosystem in many ways, helping people learn how to be fit, helping people learn how to eat right and exercise more often etc. An example in healthcare of innovation where someone wanted to improve the process of healthcare is Rebecca Woodcock who co-founded Cakehealth.com which helps you understand and manage your health care. Also innovative is Anne Wojcicki, who co-founded the personal genetics company “23andMe”, a source of genetic information for health pursuits named after the fact that we have 23 pairs of chromosomes. Halle Tecco is the Founder and Managing Director of Rock Health, a group dedicated to innovation in the interactive health space, helping startup companies in this field gain access to experts and investors. Each of these women are innovators in their own way. Another industry example that might interest girls is Retailing, a big industry with many aspects to it. Here is a sample of who is doing new things in this industry: 1. Design - Young designers and new approaches like CarrieHammer.com, Carrie wanted better fitting dresses so she started online company for made to measure clothing. 2. Sales - find innovative ways to sell like Go Try It On, a personal style network that allows members to comment on and get feedback about their outfits and the outfits of their friends/community founded by its CEO Marissa Evans. Birchbox co-founded by Hayley Barna and Katia Beauchamp who met at Harvard Business School and started the subscription sampling company to help women find beauty products that they like. 3. Trends - foodspotting - co-founded by Alexa Andrzejewski, helps you find food by looking at photos of dishes of food on website rather than just looking for restaurants. See other innovative women entrepreneurs.
Innovation is Part of Your World so Learn how to Use it. You should examine where you feel comfortable working. How excited are you about innovation? Where do you find an interest? Where do you see an opportunity? You can ask your friends what they need, and create a product or service that helps them. Or you can just create your own products and see if they like them. As you live your life, ask yourself where can you innovate? Innovators do not have to be engineers. But engineers give us the tools to be Innovators. Inventing the technology is only the beginning. It’s the users that make the technology better, the friends at Facebook, the users at Google. So even if you are not an engineer or computer science major, you can still innovate by thinking about how you do the things you do – and how you can do them “better, cheaper, faster, easier”!
Gilt Groupe, Inc., the online shopping destination, appointed Elizabeth Francis Chief Marketing Officer. Elizabeth had been Chief Marketing Officer at Intelligent Beauty. Read more in the prnewswire press release.
Aeropostale, Inc. (NYSE: ARO), a mall-based specialty retailer, appointed Janet E. Grove (pictured) to its Board of Directors. Janet has more than 35 years of retail experience, most recently serving as Vice Chairman of Macys, Inc. Aeropostale also appointed Karin Hirtler-Garvey to be Chairman of Aeropostale's Board of Directors. Karin has been a member of Aeropostale's Board of Directors since August 2005. Karin most recently was the Chief Risk Executive for Ally Financial Inc. Read more in the prnewswire press release.
Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (NYSE: GWR) appointed Ann N. Reese to its Board of Directors.
TECO Energy (NYSE: TE) has named Evelyn Follit to its Board of Directors.
EOS Climate appointed Kathleen McGinty to its Board of Directors.
Columbia Banking System, (Nasdaq: COLB) the parent company of Columbia Bank, appointed Michelle Lantow and S. Mae Fujita Numata to its Board of Directors.
UrbanSitter, co-founded by Lynn Perkins, raised $1.75 million in seed funding led by First Round Capital. Read more in the Business Wire press release.
Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M) appointed Martine Reardon Chief Marketing Officer and also appointed her a member of the company’s executive committee. Martine had been their executive vice president for marketing. Read more in the Business Wire press release.
NewsonWomen posted on the appointment of 28 women to Corporate Boards of Directors in January 2012. This is the highest number of appointments I have posted in the first month of the year over the past six years, beating out last year's record of 22 January appointments. Major companies appointing women to their Boards in January, 2012 included Google who appointed Diane Greene, the Co-Founder of VMware, to its Board of Directors. Also appointing women to their boards were Corning, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Netflix, Grace, and Marsh & McLennan.
Hollywood.com appointed Michelle Lee Senior Vice President of Content and Editorial Director. Michelle had been Editor-in-Chief of InTouch Weekly. More in prnewswire press release.
Crane & Co. appointed Rachel V. Ivey Vice President, Creative and Product Development. Rachel had been the Creative Director of Color and Trend for Wal-Mart. More in the prnewswire press release.
Wisconsin Energy Corporation (NYSE: WEC) appointed Susan Martin Executive Vice President, General Counsel. Susan had been their Associate General Counsel. More in the prnewswire press release.