Sandra Thompson Herman is the founder and CEO of the nonprofit New Orleans Entertainment Coalition (NOEC), a continuation of her long career in fostering and promoting Louisiana’s creative economy. A visionary leader, Sandra knew through positivity and inclusivity, NOEC could foster support for a creative pipeline and a voice for other organizations in the field. A year later, despite the pandemic that vision is invigorating the New Orleans arts, culture, and tourism communities.

“Experienced leader with a demonstrated history of working in government relations, business development and the non-profit sector. Motivational speaker. Dedicated community volunteer and arts patron. “

Sandra began her career in the Louisiana state government in Baton Rouge as one of the youngest department heads and the only woman department head in 1972. In 1974 she designed the Department of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism and served as the first Cabinet-level Secretary in 1976-78. During that time, Sandra began her speaking career, traveling the state, speaking to Kiwanis Clubs, Rotary Clubs, and other organizations who gave a platform to her message that included encouraging women to strive to be their best.

Moving into the private sector in 1981, Sandra began her own oilfield trucking company, in an industry where women in management were rare. During this time, she was a founder and president of the Women in Business Owners of Baton Rouge and later president of Women in Business Owners of Louisiana. At each step in her career, Sandra sought to enhance opportunities for women.

In 1996, Sandra returned to Louisiana state government and served as Director of the Atchafalaya Basin Program, a multi-million dollar federal-state initiative. She devised a plan that brought together the Army Corps of Engineers, landowners, environmentalists, sportsmen, and the oil and gas industry, a plan that passed unanimously in the Louisiana Legislature.

After retiring in 2007, and moving to New Orleans, Sandra has continued to motivate and train tomorrow’s young women leaders through nonprofit work. As the longest-running president of the Louisiana Center for Women in Government and Business, she believes in teaching hands-on leadership skills through programs such as Louisiana Girls Leadership Academy, an annual initiative for girls entering 10th through 12th grades. In this and many other youth nonprofit programs, Sandra stresses inclusivity as core to leadership. She inspires with positive mottos such as, “Teamwork makes the dream work!” and “No mean girls allowed”, stressing the importance of women supporting each other.

New Orleans Entertainment Coalition (NOEC) was created at a planning meeting with women leaders of several nonprofits. The group agreed that working together generated better results and was a lot of fun. This was the “aha!” moment that inspired the New Orleans Entertainment Coalition. Sandra assembled a team with complementary skills and a shared vision of collaboration and inclusion. Within a month, the nonprofit was born with the purpose of fostering support for cultural organizations and events. Both large and small nonprofits are constantly in need of support. That support may range from recognition to project management to a financial contribution. NOEC addresses organizations’ needs in ways that multiply its impact on the arts and culture from a grassroots level.

Since its inception two years ago, New Orleans Entertainment Coalition has extended its assistance to a number of local non-profits giving much needed support. In the days to come, NOEC will continue to foster support for cultural organizations and events in the expanding landscape. The vision from the beginning was global, with a strong local presence in Louisiana. When the pandemic shut down Broadway, the heart of theater in America, NOEC committed to supporting its survival. It was only natural to embrace Empire the Musical with its strong woman in a leading role, with its producer from New Orleans, and its first roadshow performance to be held at the historic Saenger Theater in New Orleans.

Arts nonprofits are a key segment of the U.S. economy. That couldn’t be more important than now. According to the latest data by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the National Endowment for the Arts, the arts remain a vital component of the U.S. economy. In Louisiana, the arts contribute $6.6 billion to Louisiana’s economy, representing 2.9% of the state’s GDP– a larger share than other industries in the state and generating 54,968 jobs. Following the pandemic, it will be critical to our economic and cultural health that our creative communities get back to work.

The New Orleans Entertainment Coalition is a passion project of unity that brings people together in a city where its people are known for resilience and a determination to work together for a bright future. IE

Judy Lewis, Chief Financial Officer, NORMS Restaurants, through her immense experience and plethora of skills, has streamlined several processes within payroll and accounting for NORMS. She had transformed work like data entry by eliminating manual entry, generating accrual worksheets by using GL downloads to book period-end entries efficiently, and creating financial reports when they converted to a new GL system to display results efficiently. “I have also developed the finance department into a more proactive department which provides financial insight and analysis for new initiatives, and I championed our upgrade to a new POS system which allows for more flexibility in the online order process, streamlined paperwork, and cost cutting in general.”

According to Judy, she has always ensured to be involved with any mentorship program to provide career advice that will help other women advance themselves in their roles. “I try my best to be a role model to younger women at the company and I hope that my lifelong C-suite aspirations can inspire other women to be the best that they can be as well.” For Judy, Sheryl Sandberg from Facebook is a role model as she created the organization ‘Lean In’. “I love how she has really broken through the glass ceiling and become a trailblazer for women in the workforce, constantly driving us forward in our careers.” Armed with these ideologies, Judy has been spearheading NORMS towards greater heights.

NORMS was born out of post-war delight and prosperity as a place ‘where life happens.’ A place where guests could come together, eat a fresh, delicious, and reasonably priced meal with friends and family, and celebrate the joys of life. NORMS can thwart market competition by giving customers a real value proposition and keeping their atmosphere warm and inviting. “We have been able to do this by keeping costs low. From a G&A perspective we run very lean and mean, using technology to make jobs more efficient and sharing employees between departments,” she explains. “We keep restaurant costs down by ensuring that the menu is full of limited time offers and focusing on forward buys. We really shine in the LTO (limited time offer) space which helps keep costs down since we buy well in advance of a big promotion.”

Judy elucidates that the biggest problem they have all faced as of late is the pandemic, and it was certainly a group effort to come up with all of the solutions to the challenges that it caused. Whether it was transforming to outdoor dining, creating grocery items packages that included toilet paper, involvement in community feeding programs, catering vaccine clinic meals, etc., the team could react quickly and figure out what people in the community needed and then deliver it to them. “During the pandemic we were faced with finding ways to serve our guests while keeping them and our employees safe. I oversee an IT department that was able to deploy a new POS System during this past year which allowed us to implement services that grew rapidly because of the need for safety. These include online ordering, contactless pay via QR codes, and expansion of our delivery services.”

NORMS recently implemented a new guest referral bonus program to help combat the current hiring crisis and reward guests with NORMS Bucks in exchange for referrals. Once someone is referred and hired, works for 90 days with a minimum of 4 shifts, and remains in good standing, the guest who referred them will receive $200 in NORMS Bucks. “We think this is certainly an innovative approach from a business standpoint, but it’s also an incredible way to get the community involved, get people back to work, and directly benefit our customers,” says Judy. “I’d like to highlight the unbelievable job that the NORMS team has done throughout the past year. We really banded together to shift our focus from growth to survival, not only as a company, but also as a community, with several initiatives that were born out of the pandemic, such as the involvement with Meals on Wheels, carrying on to continually benefit locals in need.” On a personal note, Judy is an avid runner having completed 54 marathons in 43 states and is on track to complete a marathon in her 50th state by the end of 2023. IEWL

The qualities that set Vickie Allen apart are that she leads with love, love for her team, board members, partners, clients, and kids. If asked, her team will say that the organizational values are built on giving love and showing the same amount of grace. “I think work environments that deliver exceptional results like ours; lead with the belief that people are your most important asset—and when they are valued, celebrated and appreciated for their contributions they will express the same feelings to our stakeholders,” explains Vickie. “I am brutally honest with myself; a quality that allows me to celebrate my gifts while also being highly aware of my areas of growth. I am confident and humble; driven and values self-care and most importantly I lead with integrity.” Integrity is integral to everything she does.

It is Vickie’s life’s work to inspire and empower women by elevating their voices—women are a powerful force and bring a unique set of skills to the workplace—and if this is harnessed properly, they can drive innovation and productivity that can’t be matched. From her years as a professor at a women’s university to her work now supporting women who own community-based child development centers—Vickie’s message is the same, “Lead fearlessly and take as many people with you as you climb.” I love seeing others grow and evolve into the best version of themselves” Armed with this commitment, Vickie has been leading Educational First Steps (EFS) towards greater heights; a mission that began 30 years ago.

EFS was founded with the idea the children only get one chance at a great childhood; and it is Vickie’s passion to ensure they are equipped with the tools, knowledge, and support from birth to age five; which is the period in their lives when 90% brain development takes place. For children in under-resourced communities, the community must rally around them to ensure they have as many opportunities as others with greater resources. “In our society, there is unlimited talent but not the same access to opportunity—and EFS’s goal is to advance educational equity for children through our Four Steps to Excellence framework.”

Four Steps to Excellence is an evidence-based training, mentoring, and comprehensive resource support system that is provided at no cost to educators, families, and communities, needed to help childcare centers achieve national accreditation. In turn, childcare providers provide the high-quality, high-impact care required to create and support early learning environments. Our program is delivered by EFS coaches who are highly respected leaders with years of experience as teachers, child development directors, and industry experts. The people and framework combined are key drivers to address long standing challenges in the early childhood education system within the population we serve.

According to Vickie, poverty, systemic racism, and a lack of community resources prevent many children from receiving access to high-quality early childhood education. The impact can transform the trajectory of a child’s life socially, emotionally, economically, and intellectually. EFS knows that children that do not receive exposure to high-quality early childhood education can experience vocabulary deficits; in which they potentially recognize only 1/3 to 1/6 of the words necessary to succeed beginning with kindergarten. Such deficits can be insurmountable, and in the later years of the child’s education, these deficiencies require remediation that is only partially successful. Low-quality early learning environments leave children with underdeveloped social-emotional skills that further inhibit their ability to be equal and full participants inside the classroom. The subsequent achievement gaps become debilitating and reinforce the social, economic, and political inequalities that plague society over time. The organization is focused on creating long-term impact that will transform current and future generations.

EFS’s long-term goal is to continue serving as many communities as they are invited to do so and finding the right opportunities to grow the number of centers they serve, grow the number of collaborations with other like-minded organizations, and grow their relationships with donors as well as volunteers. IEWL

Educational First Steps

Management

Vickie L. Allen MPA
President & CEO of Educational First Steps

Description

The mission of Educational First Steps (EFS) is to create and support high-quality early learning environments that ignite the minds of children from birth to age five. EFS was established in 1990 to help transform low-performing childcare centers in communities with the greatest need across North Texas into nationally accredited, high-quality early learning environments.

More than creativity, Eveline Boucarut, CFO of Huttopia North America, brought expertise and a new vision to the company. She was able to structure and get solutions adapted to the challenges of growth and the necessary rigor. Eveline knows, through her experience, to impose herself in a sometimes-complex environment. She keeps the distance required to control and manage projects and diverse teams.

Her self-motivation and inspiration come from working for passionate and creative entrepreneurs. Throughout her career, she has evolved in different entrepreneurial environments. She started as a CPA in France, assisting start-ups to middle-sized companies, then joined EY in Montreal, Canada’s entrepreneurial group. After a few years as a corporate controller of a fast-growing private equity own company, she joined Huttopia to sustain North American growth.

Huttopia, a French company, is one of the world’s references for sustainable tourism, nature camping, which is now commonly called glamping (glamorous camping). Philippe and Celine Bossanne founded Huttopia in France in 1999. Lovers of the Great Outdoors discovered the North American way of camping in Canada during their exile and decided to start a new adventure in Europe. Mixing comfort, quality of services, and natural light installations, Huttopia quickly became one of the leaders in Outdoor Hospitality. In 2008, the company started expanding in North America in partnership with Sepaq. In 2015, the brand opened its first North American site in Sutton (Cantons de l’Est – Quebec). After the success of the first Canadian site, Huttopia opened its first glamping resort in the United States.

Huttopia aims to host urban dwellers, families, couples, and friends in exceptional natural sites to live a once-in-a-lifetime experience. This concept blending nature and culture, simplicity and freedom, comfort and disconnection, is essential and needed by the growing urban society. Some numbers confirm this: over 70 sites worldwide, 20% growth each year, expanding on three continents (Europe, America, Asia). “And we’re only starting! At Huttopia North America, we know our success is due to the men and women working with us every day, united by strong company values based on solidarity and trust. For us, quality work comes from employees who enjoy their work and their company,” says Eveline.

Huttopia continuously looks for remarkable places, meets extraordinary people, and builds the sustainable tourism of tomorrow that people expect. “We are a full integrated company. We research the land ourselves, we “design,” we also manufacture chalets and tents, we built the site, and we then manage it,” explains Eveline. “In addition to all of this more than 95% of reservations are made directly on our web site and through our booking center. We have the ability to adapt our accommodations and infrastructures to the natural environment, climate, local cultures and traditions and regulations.” They integrate into nature and optimize their resources (energy and water). If necessary, we can leave and return the occupied space outdoors. This is the very origin of the campsite. Finally, Huttopia welcomes families searching for nature and simplicity but who also want a certain comfort.

Today more than 95% of reservations are made directly on Huttopia’s website and through their booking center. Digital is more than 80% of Huttopia’s bookings, and their communication is focused on digital. “There is no doubt that our strategy is built around our strong brand and making the best use of digital media and social networks.”

According to Eveline, “being able to establish ourselves in natural places that are difficult to access and bring in tourists is always a challenge. Our great pride is to succeed in settling down while respecting the environment and the populations, while creating value and jobs in isolated and sometimes impoverished territories.” Their collaboration with one of the oldest First Nations in North America is the best illustration: the Cree Outfitting and Tourism Association commissioned Huttopia to design a tent model for their community, inspired by traditions and lifestyles. Next year, the company will open two new sites in the USA (Florida and California) and work on new projects in Canada. “We hope to be able to provide access to nature to the greatest number and with the greatest diversity.” says Eveline. IEWL

Huttopia North America

Management

Eveline Boucarut
Chief Financial Officer of Huttopia North America

Description

Philippe and Celine Bossanne founded Huttopia in France in 1999. Lovers of the Great Outdoors, they discovered the North American way of camping in Canada during their expatriation and decided to start a new adventure in Europe. Mixing comfort, quality of services and light natural installations, Huttopia quickly became one of the leaders in the Outdoor Hospitality. In 2008, the company started expanding in North America, in partnership with Sepaq. In 2015, the brand opened its first North American site in Sutton (Cantons de l’Est – Quebec). After the success of the first Canadian site, Huttopia opened its first glamping resort in the United States.

Katherine Frost, CEO & Founder, ORO, has always been an out-of-the-box, creative thinker. An art major at Southern Methodist University and social chair for my sorority there, she specialized in planning elaborate parties and creating beautiful paintings. Deconstructing pieces and putting together events in new ways is something she has carried throughout her career thus far. “I have been in events my whole life and constantly found ways to improve the inefficiencies I was noticing in planning, execution, and design flaws,” she says. “I got to the point where I was planning over 30 events in a year for my own luxury planning firm and felt taking on more events would be a detriment to my clients and the level of service I strived to provide.” She hired a full-time employee, but she wanted an app to manage vendors and clients in a better way. Katherine started sketching what this dream app would look like, the features that would be critical to the planning process, and how it would work; thus, ORO was born. “It wasn’t enough to have the software, I wanted to bring hospitality back to those in hospitality. With an added touch of a concierge service, live demos, and handwritten thank you notes, I have made software an experience for planners not just a platform. We strive to make ORO the favorite tool in the planner kit.”

“We are event professionals, designers, and engineers building a forward-thinking, delightfully elegant software product called ORO. We challenge convention, learn willingly and treat each other like family.”

Katherine asked her partner, Bowden, about creating an innovative app, streamlining the whole event management process. “I said—there is an app for everything except for me. There are DIY planning sites for the DIY brides and there many different sales and CRM platforms but there is not a platform that streamlines the operations process.” So, Bowden and Katherine met up and discussed how this product would be designed, who would need to be involved and how to get it started. This product took three years to make and is still the only product on the market for those planning events.

According to Katherine, with the current employee shortage affecting hospitality, owners turn to tech to bridge the gap. With ORO, planners can manage clients via a personal tagging system linked to their app. Clients can then track invoices, inventory quantities, guest count, etc. Planners can share specific information with their vendors by sending a specific timeline, vendor inventory list, floor plan, design board, or sketches at the touch of a button instead of digging through binders or multiple digital folders. Planners can plan from anywhere and access all the organizations on their phones or tablets.

“We listened to our planners and launched our design board over the summer to help planners with their events. The design board is completely customizable and orders pictures within how the planner sees fit. The pictures are true to size if clicked on or moved but working on small screens, you want to see everything at your fingertips first,” says Katherine. “Boards can be copied between events and sent to vendors looking for the client’s event inspiration. Every event and planner is unique, we want to continue to listen and adapt with them.”

Starting her planning firm at the age of 26 was a bold move for Katherine. She left her corporate planning job and dove right into the luxury event planning firm. She has been guiding and inspiring women from all industries with her aggressive and go-getter attitude. “I chatted with potential clients and would either find a way to make smaller or low budget events work for all parties involved or give them friendly advice on planning the event themselves. By supporting other businesses, it made my own business stronger, after all, sharing is caring.” She advices others by saying, “There is an expression among Texans, go big or go home. These words could not be truer for what I have been able accomplished so far. I want to inspire this in young women striving to not only change the workplace but also how we use products and technology in our everyday lives.” IE

ORO

Management

Katherine Frost
CEO & Founder at ORO

Description

ORO is an event planning platform optimized for speed and productivity. If you are a professional planner, this is the tool to help you achieve more.

Nancy Tengler, Chief Investment Officer at Laffer Tengler Investments, began her investing career in the 1980s and since then has led investment teams through bear markets, bull markets, bubbles and the aftermath. Over her entire career, her disciplined yet adaptable approach has benefited her clients. Because of Nancy’s expertise and experience, she has built an impressive investment team at Laffer Tengler that manages investments directly for clients, rather than simply picking outside managers. This allows Laffer Tengler to deliver an exceptional customer experience while keeping client expenses down.

Nancy began her career in San Francisco and after only 10 years, was picked as the head of value equities for UBS Asset Management, where she worked with some of their wealthiest clients from around the globe. She became the CIO of Fremont Investment Advisors, managing the Bechtel Corporation’s retirement assets and the family wealth. In her role at Fremont, Nancy continued to employ her time-proven equity disciplines, oversee fixed income and honed a manager search and evaluation process to hire the very best global, small-cap, and hedge fund strategists for the Bechtel family wealth.

Now, as CIO and chief spokesperson of Laffer Tengler Investments, Nancy oversees all the investment strategies while also pursuing her passion for providing a forum for educating women on investing. Her book, “The Women’s Guide to Successful Investing,” and her regular column in USA Today serve as a touchpoint for women, or any investor for that matter, who want to become better investors. Her experience as a CIO, client-facing portfolio manager, speaker and author on women and investing is at the core of Laffer Tengler’s investment performance and strong growth.

Having managed money for clients in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, Nancy has learned to identify investment themes applied to the firm’s portfolios. “Our overriding focus at Laffer Tengler is to remember- it is the client’s money, not ours. We believe that generational wealth should be respected and grown for future generations,” says Nancy.

Laffer Tengler Investments customizes each client’s portfolio based on their specific needs. No two portfolios look alike, which is a time-intensive process and much different than the cookie-cutter approach many firms employ. “We involve all of the owners of wealth: both spouses and children to ensure the family objectives are met. We then insist on quarterly review meetings to ensure the previous goals established together remain intact,” explains Nancy. “We utilize a state-of-the-art technology platform including robust protections for client data and communications. We work with the global leader in custodial services and are constantly striving to improve our processes. By working closely with clients, we can get closer to what’s most important to them. This approach helps us understand their investment goals and objectives to help create investment strategies to achieve them.”

“We also communicate with our clients in their preferred mode—adapting to them instead of the other way around,” says Nancy. Laffer Tengler clients can access their account data on their secure app via mobile phone, laptop or tablet. “For instance, Black Diamond is our client performance reporting system. Although many advisors use the same or similar systems, we consistently get compliments from our existing clients on how we have customized the reports to fit their requirements,” says Nancy.

Laffer Tengler also delivers investment research and opinion to clients electronically to provide total transparency regarding how money is managed. Laffer Tengler Investments knows that if they can keep costs down and protect their assets when markets suffer major reversals, clients get to keep more of their money. “We focus on managing costs by directly managing core equity strategies and using ETFs and low-cost funds for non-core holdings,” says Nancy.

Laffer Tengler recently launched their new Women, Wealth, and Your Legacy initiative, including streaming educational events for anyone interested in learning more about investing.

They are also launching an ESG strategy called the Laffer Tengler Global Revolution focused on green energy and are enhancing their options programs to ensure they are protecting their clients’ long-only portfolios. “When you invest a client’s money as though it were your own (and invest your own money alongside your clients), you build trust and loyalty,” says Nancy. “We want to invest our clients’ wealth through multiple generations. Treating their wealth with respect and transparency is our DNA. We don’t lose clients, and we don’t lose our talent.” Advisory services offered through Laffer Tengler Investments, Inc. All investments include risk, including the possibility of loss of principal.IE

Judith is a woman on a mission. Anchored by her beliefs, she seeks to enrich and improve the lives of those less fortunate in the UK – both in her professional and personal life. But there’s nothing fluffy about this. She uses leading edge commercial and entrepreneurial approaches to make sure people whose circumstances make them vulnerable get the best possible chances in life.

Judith is the CEO of The Advocacy Project, an award-winning enterprise with a social purpose. So what makes The Advocacy Project so special? Personal experience of the challenges faced by those they work with – mental health problems, learning disabilities, dementia and so forth – is “baked in” at every level of the organisation – including at Board level and on all staff recruitment panels. It’s not an optional extra. This gives them authenticity and helps them build trust with their clients, which means they get better results. It’s a key differentiator and means The Advocacy Project creates products and services that hit the spot, and helps them maintain their reputation as an innovator. An example of this is the fast-track Covid-19 product they launched so people who were digitally excluded – the relatively new phenomenon of digital poverty – could access the internet, to keep themselves safe and well during the pandemic. We all know social isolation and loneliness can contribute to mental health problems.

Judith says “We try hard not to ‘do things to people’ or ‘do things for people’. We help people find their own voices and develop their capacity to do things for themselves – to increase their own agency”. (See ‘Jane’s outcomes’: how she feels about her agency in her life after receiving advocacy support).

Judith says “These principles underpin our approach to evaluating our impact. We know people feel stronger, safer and more confident after working with us. You’ll get a sense of the amazing work our advocates do and the difference this makes in people’s lives through this three minute quick videotape: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EyL3lZBRyo.”

When Judith took on the role of CEO at The Advocacy Project, morale and motivation among the workforce was at rock-bottom. Staff turnover was over 50%. Around 80% of the organisation’s income came from one single contract – which was potentially up for re-tender. A lack of confident leadership and direction had led to a climate of fear and risk aversion, which paralysed decision-making, with signs of a demoralising blame culture. In fact, the Board were wondering whether to close down the organisation!

The Board appointed Judith to transform the organisation from being insular to more externally focused – primarily by increasing brand recognition, visibility and organisational sustainability. Judith brought in big-vision thinking which was absolutely critical in enabling business development to flourish. Judith made sure resources went in the right places – she quickly dealt with internal concerns that were stifling team work ethic (like consolidating employee terms and conditions). She prioritised investments that would enable the organisation to compete on an equal footing with others (including a new case management system, cloud-based working, NAQ qualifications, website development and social media presence). Four years later, income has more than doubled, The organisation has achieved £multi-million new contracts, expansion across London, new national and international projects, service across the whole range of low, medium and high secure forensic settings, a Personal Health Budgets service, the Healthwatch service in Brent – and the organisation has doubled its staff.

Judith re-energised the charity through transparent, values-based leadership and the results speak for themselves. There’s external validation of these results through some of the national awards The Advocacy Project has won recently, including for equality and diversity, and for focus on staff wellbeing during the Covid-19 pandemic. Hear Judith being interviewed about her approach to values-based leadership, with Emma Wrafter of Peridot Partners as part of the ‘Conversations with Leaders’ podcast series.

Case study

The Advocacy Project believes everyone can communicate, even those who face physical and cognitive challenges and those without mental capacity (like people with dementia). Using a range of techniques, it’s possible to understand people’s wishes about what happens in their lives. Korto has dementia and lived in a care home. She had lost the ability to speak. She needed to be moved to a facility that better suited her rapidly increasing needs. Lots of people felt she wasn’t able to participate in decision-making around this, but not The Advocacy Project. Our advocate worked with her – doing things like tapping on her table and building a Talking Mat to express her preferences. A talking mat is a surface on which you can place photos and other objects to aide communication. One side of the mat showed photos and images of what Korto likes (and those things get a big green tick). The other side shows things that she doesn’t like and those things get a big red cross. By building a picture of her life, observing her closely in her current stage of life, and using creative communications techniques, it’s entirely possible to involve Korto in decisions about her life. She’s now in a new facility that’s better suited to her complex needs, and she’s happy.

Values-based leadership is not just about the “fluffy stuff”. It creates real tangible business results. Working in the not-for-profit sector with a highly diverse team, and in a business environment where pressures are increasing rapidly, Judith is relentless in pursuing excellence in all aspects of the operation. She uses tools, techniques and approaches from her time in senior roles in the commercial sector and applies them to great effect in the charity and social enterprise sectors. Through her sharp focus on business and organisational development, The Advocacy Project has more than doubled its income, they have diversified into other areas and no longer have a reliance on any single funding stream. They now have prestigious contracts in many London boroughs and in settings like the high-secure Broadmoor Hospital. They also train staff at Royal Botanic- Gardens, Kew in the UK and overseas on how to keep children and vulnerable adults safe.

Strategic use of technology is a key plank in their strong market position and their reputation for innovative solutions. Unusual for charities and social enterprises, The Advocacy Project deployed flexible secure market-leading technologies rather than the more common in-house developed databases. They have been pioneering a blend of digital delivery and traditional face-to-face approaches for some time now. Unlike many other players in their sector, The Advocacy Project was well placed to move all their operations online during the government mandated lockdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic.

So where does Judith take her inspiration from? Naturally her faith inspires and guides her. A strong networker and a people person, she makes it a priority to learn from colleagues and other business leaders nationally and internationally. But her biggest inspiration and the thing that really drives her is the courage in the face of adversity demonstrated by the people The Advocacy Project works with – their clients. Like the young man with learning disabilities, autism and mental health problems who was harming himself (cutting) because his family did not understand the nature of his health conditions, and the home environment was too noisy and confusing for him. His brother’s friend took advantage of him and stole his pay cheque every month. He was too scared to tell anyone what was happening. Despite the awful situation, he faced every day with a smile. The Advocacy Project helped him raise concerns about his home situation and helped him resolve the situation.

Committed to nurturing people to be their “best selves”, Judith encourages others. For example, the person who got involved in The Advocacy Project’s poetry event (which celebrated the role of creative writing in mental wellbeing) and who went on to publish several books of poems. Passionate about equality for women, Judith works hard to shine a spotlight on the issues that women and girls face.

She has campaigned for gender equality in the UK and overseas (including in a former role that included being the women’s rights champion for an international development agency). Richard Miller the CEO of Sentebale – Prince Harry’s international development charity says “Judith is a strategic and thoughtful leader who role models a strong commitment to women’s leadership and women’s rights. When confronted by a tough challenge, she rolls up her sleeves and works alongside her staff to find creative and practical solutions”.

So what makes Judith special as a CEO during these turbulent times? Colleagues, commissioners and clients all say it’s her ability to integrate humanity and humility into her leadership. For her, it’s all about how to improve the lives of the people The Advocacy Project works with, and how to address the systemic issues that mean these people end up marginalised and excluded. And that’s something quite special. IEWL

Mamela Luthuli, Founder, CEO, serial entrepreneur and award winner, Take Note IT group of companies

Mamela Luthuli CEO of Take Note IT has learnt, that how she has lived her life, her history has shaped who she is today. “I am defined by my values. I always refer to them as the roots that keep me grounded and determine who I am today and who I will be tomorrow. My mom and dad played a huge role in shaping that. I see myself as calm and humble like dad and while also calm, my mum has gifted me with ambition, the strength of character, and drive.”

“ I believe that my passion for using technology to protect businesses serves a greater purpose. It helps me deliver on my commitment to help businesses survive and thrive for a greater South Africa. If we do this, we can invest in youth education, training and development, addressing the bigger issues of unemployment and job creation”

Her entrepreneurial spirit took shape at the age of fourteen (14), helping her mother in their grocery shop after school and on weekends. Mamela learned what people needed, how to buy products they needed, sell them with passion, and make money to earn a living. Most importantly, she learned how to please the customer, care, and give back.Her experience has taught her how to adapt and do the work that needs to be done. Instrumental to her success is the view that “we are all here to serve and make a difference. Empathy and compassion are part of my DNA – as I witnessed and learnt from my parents the importance of “giving back”. It is this paradigm that has inspired her creation of the Take Note Cyber academy driving youth development and job creation in South Africa.

These qualities have not only made Mamela the leader she is today but have helped her transform Take Note IT into success. “I work hard, I am relentless, and I have learned what customers need and to give them what they want. To everyone reading or listening to me today I say don’t bury your history, don’t bury your tough times and the difficulties that you may have lived through. Reflection helps you learn and defines your spirit, and it determines who you are and who you will become.”

The name, Take Note IT was born from Mamela’s philosophical view – Even though she is a passionate optimist that never gives up, she is also authentic about who she is and her life’s successes. “I am a marginalized black woman in South Africa, and I must work ten times harder to be “noticed” and be given an opportunity,” explains Mamela. “As part of the SMME forums, I use my leadership voice to mentor, coach, and share learnings and successes. In every project or initiative that I am blessed to work on, I use my network of female entrepreneurs to partner with me so that they do not only benefit financially but it allows them to learn and grow through my networks of partnership, giving them prospects and a platform to help them build their business.”

In the future, together with two of her colleagues, Mamela is working on an initiative to launch a leadership platform for SMMES. They hope that this will serve as a vehicle to help build leaders and build their businesses. Mamela inspires everyone by sharing her story to remind them that one must never think that they are working too hard, feel victims of circumstances, or that any work is beneath them. “Look at every experience as an opportunity. I share with them the details of my first working experience when I was an intern and worked for the Premier of Cape town, Ebrahim Rasool, I would get up at 4 to be on the road by 5 so I was early for work,” she says. “I would run errands and do all the things that the other interns would never do. I would go and buy cigarettes for my supervisor, sweep the floors, make tea, wash the dishes, and still do my work as an intern. Very soon I was appointed as Deputy Director, leading big projects. The defining moment for me was when I was given the most important project of my career. To lead and manage the city of Cape Town visit by the South African President Mr. Nelson Mandela. A proud and historic moment for me.” This moment inspired Mamela’s dreams and defined her ambitions and armed with these qualities, and she has been leading her company towards greater heights. WL

Kristin Malek, Director of Business Diversity, CDW, believes barriers exist for women in the workplace in general. However, she has been fortunate enough to work for two global companies where women in leadership roles were the norm. At CDW, 50% of their executive leadership is female, and 71% of the senior executive leadership team is female. “When we freely bring our authentic selves and unique perspectives to work, we all become better collaborators, bolder innovators, and stronger drivers of business results,” she says. “When I am in the market visiting procurements around the country, I am often the only woman at the table as it relates to IT. There is a real time need to accelerate young women encouraging them the join STEM activities, sign up for TECH and Coding classes so that they can be represented in the future of the technology industry.”

CDW’s mission is to provide exceptional technology solutions that help customers thrive in a changing world. “Yet we know we have a vital role to play in building a more equal society too. Now more than ever, we want to use our scale and reach to drive inclusive growth and create economic opportunities for all,” she adds. “This means not just saying the right thing about diversity, but actually taking action.

CDW is committed to supplier diversity for its customers, making it easier and more cost-effective to meet their diverse procurement goals, access the latest cutting-edge technologies, and boost their resilience in an unpredictable world. “More importantly, our supplier diversity program enables our partners to invest in their own growth and spend more with other companies in their supply chain,” explains Kristin. “This, in turn, creates a powerful multiplier effect, generating jobs, increasing wages and boosting expenditure in local economies. As businesses, communities and our nation continue to recover from the disruption of 2020, our support for small and women-owned firms will therefore be more important than ever.”

Three people have influenced Kristin, first her mother, Janet, instilled early on in both Kristin and her sister to be civic-minded, have high standards for themselves, be givers, volunteers, and mission-led. Second is her daughter Katelynn. While she wears her Down Syndrome diagnosis on her face for all to not presume competence, she approaches life in such a positive and confident way! Third, her 10-year-old daughter, Kendall, “I believe that the siblings within the disability community are the world’s game changers, the next leaders, and the ones who make an unspoken promise to protect against marginalization and Kendall does this all with grace.” Armed with the support of these brilliant people, Kristin has embraced her role at CDW and taken the company to new heights.

One of CDW’s biggest accomplishments is being inducted into the Billion Dollar Roundtable (BDR) in 2019, which is a global procurement organization compromised of 28 global companies that spend a minimum of $1B directly with minority women-owned companies. Only 28 global companies have achieved BDR status and CDW is one of them. Being active members of the BDR, gives our customers trust that we have a diverse, equitable supply chain,” says Kristin. “As businesses and communities seek to recover from the disruption of COVID-19 and address pressing issues around inequality, we are committed to driving inclusive growth and creating economic opportunities for all.” IEWL

CDW

Management

Kristin Malek
Director of Business Diversity at CDW

Description

CDW Corporation (Nasdaq: CDW) is a leading multi-brand provider of information technology solutions to business, government, education and healthcare customers in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. A Fortune 500 company and member of the S&P 500 Index, CDW was founded in 1984 and employs over 10,000 coworkers. For the trailing twelve months ended March 31, 2021, CDW generated Net sales of approximately $19 billion.

Kathy Gregory, Founding President & CEO of Paradigm Quest, was the first female CEO in the Canadian Mortgage Industry. To the Paradigm family and its customers, Kathy’s philosophy and message are that Paradigm identifies itself as an organization that enjoys great success and is equally focused on giving back where possible. Paradigm is proud to help Canadians purchase their homes, and every employee must recognize that this is a noble responsibility that should be viewed as an honorable vocation. Consequently, this sets the foundation for the organization and employees to continuously take stock of their success and give back to many communities and organizations across the country.

“Paradigm was founded in 2004 and was the first pure BPO dedicated to mortgages in Canada. Paradigm has consistently endeavored throughout the years to provide its clients with customizable cost-effective end to end business solutions that focus on enhancing the overall mortgage experience for our broker partners, institutional partners and homeowners.”

Kathy’s vision and leadership are shown in the way she manages her team – as a family. Her leadership style can be described as charismatic, inclusive, and infectious, which successfully attracts and retains top talent. She views her role as the CEO of the organization and the Chief Cultural Officer. Kathy and her leadership team have created an exceptionally successful and professional unit that recognizes that the Paradigm family is the organization’s number one asset.

Kathy remains a strong and outspoken advocate for the advancement and representation of women in leadership positions in the Canadian workforce. She has personally mentored dozens of young professionals, especially women, and helped cultivate their career paths towards success. In her organization, Kathy is forthright about striving to ensure that at least 50% of her leadership team reflects this gender equity, and strong women leadership remains visible. Specifically, through their Paradigm Mentorship Program, Kathy has inspired and motivated young talented women in the organization to maximize every opportunity to learn and advance and generously give back by sharing their time and knowledge. Her advice is to diversify one’s skills and knowledge base and continue learning about a plethora of topics.

Being a successful business leader in a predominantly male industry, Kathy is no stranger to breaking new ground and traditional barriers. Before founding Paradigm, Kathy was a senior executive at a Schedule A bank responsible for a 100 billion dollar mortgage portfolio. It became increasingly evident there were participants in the industry who wanted to fund mortgages but did not have the capacity or interest in the administrative overhead. Her vision was to launch a fully Canadian outsourcing company to provide alternative onshore solutions to major Canadian financial institutions.

Paradigm’s growth year after year has become the fastest-growing mortgage organization in Canada’s history. Kathy’s consistent message across the organization of a constant focus on prudent expense management, innovation, and aggressive growth, while staying the course on their key core strategy translated to the organization breaking even in its very first year of operations.

Among Kathy’s many philanthropic endeavors, she founded the Canadian Mortgage Industry Women’s Networking Golf Tournament in 2007 which has increased in participants every year since. She also founded the BC Women in Mortgages Leadership Summit in 2011 which enjoyed a successful resurgence in 2019. To date, these two events have raised over $300,000 to support The Canadian Women’s Foundation, Canada’s only national public foundation dedicated to improving the lives of women and children. Kathy was also appointed as an Honorary Chair for the 2018 and 2019 Princess Margaret Cancer Centre OneWalk campaign in recognition of Paradigm’s impressive and outstanding fundraising efforts contributing to the advancement of cancer research in Ontario.

In addition to her many accolades, Kathy is most proud to be a mother of three amazing children, who are carving out their own success and philanthropic contributions. IEWL

Paradigm Quest

Management

Kathy Gregory
Founding President & CEO of Paradigm Quest

Description

Paradigm Quest Inc. is a leading, innovative Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) company in the Canadian mortgage industry with offices in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. Paradigm underwrites over $10 Billion of mortgages annually and is fully operational in English and French.