Bios/Speakers

2008 BPW/USA National Conference Keynote Speaker:
Anne Barab, Resilience Expert

Anne Barab will inspire you to be early adopters of change so you can stay on the leading edge of innovation and career advancement. She will also encourage you to look inward for inspiration, and manage your mindset and expectations, which often dictate your ability to maintain a positive attitude. Ms. Barab says, “What resilience brings to life, and particularly to leaders, is the ability to thrive under pressure and on pressure.”

Anne Barab served three terms as a board member of a large and diverse school district in Texas. During her nine year tenure as an elected official, she helped the district transition from a firestorm of community controversy to being named one of the Top 100 Districts in the U.S. by The Wall Street Journal. Ms. Barab earned the Master Trustee designation awarded by the Texas Association of School Boards and has completed over 450 hours of school board leadership training.

She has also served as Chief Operating Officer of a $1 billion mortgage bank, leading a team effort to save the company from bankruptcy. Ms. Barab has co-authored two books, Humor Us and The Leadership Path, and over 40 articles on education and family living.

Anne Barab has owned her own consulting firm for twenty years and believes that creating massive change requires leaders to possess a powerful vision, ruthlessly assess their reality, and focus. Dare to Change, Step Into Leadership.

Stephanie Dawkins, Senior Vice President, AB Volvo
Legacies of Women Panelist

Stephanie Dawkins, a BPW/USA Member and BPW Foundation Board of Trustees, is Senior Vice President for AB Volvo.  She is the first and only African American to hold an executive position at this level in the 80-year history of AB Volvo.  In her position, Ms. Dawkins has global responsibilities for various worldwide HR processed for the Volvo Group, including Labor and Employee Relations, Safety and the Working Environment, Health and Well-being, and Organizational Effectiveness, among others.  Together with a team of HR professionals, she travels worldwide and is charged with leading Volvo's Human Resources organization into a "Best in Class" operation.   

Featured Speaker & Welcome Address
Shirley Franklin, Mayor of Atlanta

In 2001 the people of Atlanta elected Shirley Franklin, a first time candidate for public office, to serve as the 58th Mayor of the City of Atlanta. She also became the first female mayor and the first African American woman to serve as mayor of a major southern city.

Since her inauguration in 2002, Mayor Franklin has worked to build a “Best in Class” managed city by strengthening existing frameworks, implementing progressive changes and making the tough decisions necessary to make Atlanta better. She returned accountability to city government, worked to increase effectiveness and efficiency in government operations and to strengthen private and non-profit partnerships in the city and metropolitan Atlanta region.

Mayor Franklin has held leadership roles in the US Conference of Mayors as the chair of the Women’s Caucus, co-chair of the Tourism Task Force and a member of the Environmental Committee. She was the first Atlanta mayor to serve as president of the Georgia Municipal Association and is a founding member of the Metro Atlanta Mayors Association. She also served as senior vice president for external relations for the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games and served as CEO of Shirley Clarke Franklin & Associates, a management and consulting firm for public and community affairs.

Mayor Franklin earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Howard University in Washington, DC and was awarded her Masters of Arts degree in Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania.

Mayor Shirley Franklin has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune magazine, Black Enterprise, Essence and many other local and national publications. Governing magazine named her 2004 Public Official of the Year. Time Magazine in 2005 named her one of the top five mayors in the country; and she has been named one of “America’s Best Leaders” by U.S. News and World Report. Esquire Magazine named her one of the best and brightest and American City and County Magazine named her Municipal Leader of the Year. Mayor Franklin received the prestigious 2005 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award. In 2006, she was honored with the Southern Institute for Business and Professional Ethics’ Ethics Advocate Award and is widely viewed as one of America’s best leaders.

Carolyn Frazier, ID Training
Carolyn Frazier has served on the BPW/USA Strategic Planning Committee as a visionary of changes needed for the future of the organization. This experience enhances her twenty-three years of numerous BPW activities.

Ms. Frazier is currently sitting on the National Board of Directors for BPW/USA as the standing committee chair for Individual Development. The committee looks forward to releasing its work in Atlanta on the enhancement of this signature program.

Gay Warren Gaddis, President and CEO, T3 (The Think Tank)
Legacies of Women Panelist

President and CEO of T3 (The Think Tank), Gay Warren Gaddis started her company in 1989 with a cashed-in IRA and two employees. Today, T3 is the largest independent advertising agency wholly-owned by a woman in the country, with over $175 million in capitalized billings, and a staff of 180.  Ms. Gaddis has been recognized as one of Fast Company’s “Top 25 Women Business Builders,” Inc. magazine’s “Top 10 Entrepreneurs of the Year” and 25 Advertising Working Mothers of the Year by Working Mother magazine. T3’s family-friendly workplace programs have been recognized by the White House, NBC’s Today Show, The New York Times and most recently in the May issue of Fortune Small Business

Tina Garner

Tina Garner is a Certified Public Accountant and has been in public accounting for 26 years. Her career has provided her the opportunity to strategize, analyze, formulate, interpret, and assist in financial matters as they relate to the financial needs of individuals and small businesses. She is a Tax Manager for Adami, Lindsey and Company, LLP, CPAs, and is currently on the Firm's partnership track.

Her public accounting experience has influenced and solidified her personal belief in giving back to the community as is evidenced by the more than 30 organizations and/or organizational activities of which she has been involved.

Lilly Ledbetter, plaintiff in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.

Lilly Ledbetter was one of the few female supervisors at the Goodyear plant in Gadsden, Alabama, and worked there for close to two decades. She faced sexual harassment at the plant and was told by her boss that he didn’t think a woman should be working there. Her co-workers bragged about their overtime pay, but Goodyear did not allow its employees to discuss their pay, and Ms. Ledbetter did not know she was the subject of discrimination until she received an anonymous note revealing the salaries of three of the male managers. After she filed a complaint with the EEOC, her case went to trial, and she won. Goodyear appealed the decision all the way to the Supreme Court. In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that employees cannot challenge ongoing pay discrimination if the employer’s original discriminatory pay decision occurred more than 180 days earlier, even when the employee continues to receive paychecks that have been discriminatorily reduced.

Ledbetter may never recover the pay she rightly earned. But federal legislation has been introduced in her name in an effort to restore the true intention of Title VII of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, and protect other women from wage discrimination.

Terri Lemire, State of New Hampshire Financial Analyst

Terri Lemire is a Financial Analyst for the State of New Hampshire, Department of Health and Human Services, serving the State since 1999. Previously Terri was employed by Cigna Healthcare and Anthem BC/BS. Terri has been a BPW Member since 1999 and served as VP, President-Elect for two terms, and President for two terms in her Local BPW group. Serving most recently as BPW/NH President for two terms (2006 - 2008), Terri is currently on the BPW/USA ID Committee (2007-2008). Terri helped implement Camp BPW at the Local level in NH and, in addition to assisting at the National Camp event in Reno in 2007, has aided her NH LO in hosting two Camp events in 2007-2008.

Rachel Lyons, BPW/USA Director of Public Policy
Rachel Lyons has a wealth of experience developing and implementing advocacy programs to engage women and supporting policies that make women's lives better. Ms. Lyons has over a decade of experience managing political activity for progressive organizations including Planned Parenthood, NARAL Pro-Choice America and the National Education Association. Most recently she served as Deputy Political Director for the Hillary Clinton for President campaign in Manchester, NH, and was responsible for organizing and getting out the women's vote. Ms Lyons has also served as Director of the American Arts Alliance, a coalition of national nonprofit performing arts organizations, where she was responsible for managing their direct and grassroots lobbying. She has a BA in Political Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder and an MA in Philosophy and Social Policy from George Washington University. Her graduate work focused on studying and analyzing the many twists and turns of the long political fight for pay equity.   

Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney

New York Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney is a national leader with extensive accomplishments on security, financial services, the economy, and women’s issues. As a renowned champion for domestic and international women’s issues, Maloney helped passed legislation to target the demand side of sex trafficking and provide annual mammograms for women on Medicare. Maloney also authored the Debbie Smith bill to process DNA kits, which has been called the most important anti-rape legislation in history.

Maloney has been an outspoken authority against the persistent problem of sexual assault in the military, co-authored The Dingell-Maloney Report: A New Look through the Glass Ceiling, an alarming report documenting a widening wage gap between men and women managers, commissioned the 2004 GAO on the gender wage gap and reintroduced legislation that would amend the Constitution and guarantee equal rights for women.

Maloney’s career has been a series of firsts. She is the first woman to represent New York’s 14th Congressional District, the first woman to represent New York City’s 7th Councilmanic district, and the first woman Vice-Chair of the Joint Economic Committee, a House and Senate panel that examines and addresses the nation’s most pressing economic issues. She was also the first woman to give birth while serving on the New York City Council. In addition to her work on the Joint Economic Committee, Maloney is Chair of the House Financial Services Committee’s Financial Institutions Subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over the nation’s banking system.

Mary McDaniel, Vice President, Material and Corporate Sourcing, Fedex
As Vice President of Material and Corporate Sourcing at FedEx Express Mary McDaniel oversees all contracts and procurement, and manages aircraft parts inventory and logistics support for the FedEx global fleet.  With a multi-million dollar annual operating budget and more that 500 employees and contractors, Ms. McDaniel supports about 900 stations and 10 air express hubs worldwide. She also manages a $1 billion supply chain of aircraft parts along with inventory management, supplier relations, and technical documentation and systems. Additionally, she is responsible for more that $5 billion in corporate spending for vehicles, information technology, printed materials, office supplies, telecommunications, fuel and other purchases.

Irene Natividad, President, Global Summit of Women
Legacies of Women Moderator

Irene Natividad is President of the Global Summit of Women, an 18-year old annual gathering of women leaders in business and government who come together to share strategies for increasing women’s economic empowerment globally.  Ms. Natividad’s commitment to promoting women, nationally and internationally, stems from her decade-long involvement with the National Women's Political Caucus, a 35-year-old bipartisan organization dedicated to electing and appointing more women to public office.  In 2004, she was selected by Women’s eNews as one of the “21 Leaders for the 21st Century.” She was named in 1997 as one of “25 Most Influential Working Mothers” by Working Mother Magazine, and was also named in 1988 as one of the “100 Most Powerful Women in America” by Ladies Home Journal.

Margaretta Noonan, Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer, Hudson Group
Legacies of Women Panelist

Margaretta Noonan is Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer for Hudson Group, one of the world’s leading professional staffing, retained executive search and human capital solution providers. Beginning her career with Hudson Highland as a receptionist, much of Ms. Noonan’s experience is within the retail sector, where she has served as a specialist in a variety of different HR disciplines. Ms. Noonan regularly speaks and publishes on such topics as the challenges of recruiting and hiring in today's market.

Afsaneh Noori, Founder and President of Socio-Tech Systems

Afsaneh Noori is the Founder and President of Socio-Tech Systems Inc. (STS), a consulting firm that supports organizations in 1) Creating balanced strategies for transformational change; 2) Enhancing leadership skills to manage change and resistance with compassion; and 3) Providing tools for employees to deal with change effectively. STS offers an integrated change model that focuses both on technical and human aspects of sustainable organizational change.

Afsaneh’s dynamic presentation style, diverse experiences and real-world application tools made her an asset to many organizations, including Progressive Insurance, Whirlpool, and the United States Air Force.  She is the author of Change Thrivers—Your Resource Guide for Making Change Work. This book draws upon her organizational consulting experience and personal journey towards self-discovery.  The book empowers her audiences to successfully navigate the uncertainty of change by trusting the process of life.

Amber O’Neal, Founder and Head Personal Trainer of Café Physique

Committed to changing her figure and her fate, Amber began taking aerobics classes at age 14. As the pounds whittled away, she felt empowered to test new physical limits - even joining the girls’ basketball team in high school, and she has continued to remain active ever since.  “I’ve never met a workout that I wouldn’t try at least once,” says Amber. 

With over 7 years of professional fitness experience, Amber is well-respected by her peers in the fitness community.  In addition to presenting seminars and conducting workshops for audiences across the nation, she is a freelance fitness and nutrition writer who has been featured in newspapers, websites, national magazines such as Heart & Soul, and the NBC Nightly News.

Penny Powers, Associate Certified Coach, Distinguished Toastmaster

As a coach, speaker, and trainer, Penny helps businesses, entrepreneurs and individuals accomplish their goals and realize their visions. She uses interactive sessions to partner with participants, helping them develop personal plans that are concrete and transportable.

She has over 30 years experience in a variety of corporate and nonprofit settings and has published two books and developed her own business.

As President Elect of the local chapter of the International Coach Federation, and a member of the Business and Professional Women, Penny is committed to helping the next generation of business owners be successful.

Jennifer J.M. Salisbury, Owner and Operator of Learning In Color, Inc.

Jennifer Salisbury’s efficient learning strategies using color have helped countless students of all ages.  Salisbury was named one of Hawaii’s “Forty Under 40” for 2008 by Pacific Business News for her ownership of Platinum Business Development LLC, a company that assists businesses of all sizes to grow and succeed. A female veteran, she was also honored as “Hawaii State Young Careerist (YC)” by the Business and Professional Women of the U.S.A. and will represent Hawaii at the National Conference/YC Competition in Atlanta.  Salisbury recently authored a book called The Cure 4 Common Learning, describing the principles of “Learning in Color.”

Sarah L. Sladek, President & CEO, Limelight

Sarah Sladek has traveled nationwide giving presentations on the topic of recruiting and retaining Generations X and Y.  A Gen Xer herself, Sarah has authored two books, The New Recruit and Rock Star, Inc. and numerous articles on the topic of generational marketing.