Valencia Adams
BellSouth Corporation

Valencia I. Adams , an Atlanta native, is Vice President - Chief Diversity Officer for BellSouth Corp. She has responsibility for BellSouth's diversity and inclusion efforts and will be responsible for inclusion strategy development and implementation across BellSouth, including collaboration with the Chairman's Diversity Council.

Prior to her November 2002 appointment to her current post she was Chief Operating Officer - Consumer Services, responsible for planning, developing and implementing strategies to service the residential market in BellSouth's nine-state territory. She is a former advisory council member to the President of BellSouth Telecommunications Inc., providing feedback and counsel on managing employees, in particular women and minority issues and concerns.

The Governor of Georgia recognized her as an outstanding Junior Achievement volunteer for her many years of service. She is a recipient of the American Business Women's Association Business Associate of the Year Award. She is also a graduate of Georgia 100, a group formed to support outstanding women in business. She currently serves as a mentor in the BellSouth Mentor Exchange program designed to support emerging leaders. Adams is also featured in the 2001 and 2002 "Who's Who in Black Atlanta."

Community involvement has included raising funds for notable institutions. She is a lifetime member of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. BellSouth Telecommunications has also benefited from Adams's fundraising talents. She was the 1998 Chairperson for the Metropolitan Atlanta United Way Campaign. Under her leadership BellSouth raised more than $4 million dollars in employee contributions. Adams has also served as a departmental coordinator for the Woodruff Arts Center Campaign and a team leader for the Empty Stocking fund.

She currently serves as a trustee for the Georgia Council on Economic Education and is on the boards of the BellSouth Foundation, Prevent Child Abuse Georgia, and the Possible Woman Foundation. She was featured in the March 2001 Ebony and the May/June 2001 Competitive Edge magazines. She is also featured in the 2001 Who's Who in Black Atlanta Millennium Edition as a New Millennium Leader. She is recognized in the July 2002 edition of Business to Business magazine as a 2002 "Diva" in business and in the July 2002 edition of Atlanta Woman magazine.

Adams is a graduate of Georgia State University with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree. She has continued her education by completing management courses at Columbia University and Emory University

Kim Annunziata
Delta Airlines

Kim Annunziata is Director of Supply Chain Management at Delta Airlines. Prior to joining Delta Airlines, Annunziata was the Southern Group Procurement Director for Waste Management, Incorporated, a Vice President at Bear Stearns & Company in the Crude Oil and Natural Gas Trading unit, Corporate Director of Supply Management at M.A. Hanna Company, and Senior Trader at BP and The Williams Companies. She began her career in the U.S. Navy as a Supply Corps Officer, retiring as a Commander. Annunziata received her Bachelors degree in Business Administration from Miami University in Oxford, OH and her Master of Science in Management from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA. Residing in Atlanta, Annunziata regularly supports Westminster School student activities, and is a founding member of the Waste Management Women's Professional Network.  

Dr. Marjorie Barlow

Marjorie Barlow, Ph.D., born in 1929, has had several different careers, primarily as a teacher and counselor. She values most highly her family relationships, which include her five children and her husband, Dr. Paul Barlow In 2001, the Barlows and their colleagues created the Corpus Christi Therapeutic Sound School which is dedicated to bringing "good things to the community”. Marj continues to serve as mentor to young women and consultant to organizations. She is the founder of the Possible Woman concept and author of the book, "The Possible Woman."

Deanna Berg
Innovation Strategies, Inc.

Dr. Deanna Berg is an internationally known consultant, speaker and coach to business organizations. She is President of Innovation Strategies International, a Minneapolis firm known for producing significant improvements for its clients and for unique approaches to the critical areas of change, innovation, and team performance.

Innovation Strategies has won praise from major organizations throughout Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America. Dr. Berg is also co-founder of a Singapore-based innovation firm Dr. Berg earned a Doctorate in Counseling Psychology and Business from Indiana University. She is a published author and a member of the National Speakers Association, the International Federation of Professional Speakers and is past Faculty Chair of Innovation University. She is an Associate of The Learning Circle, a Boston-based network of leading thinkers and practitioners in the area of organizational learning Dr. Berg's sessions are best described as non-traditional and highly-interactive, with immediate take-home value.

Mary Jane Bills
Vision-Makers and Sprayberry Travel

Mary Jane is Vice President of Vision-Makers and Sprayberry Travel. She has worked with Sprayberry Travel since 1988. Her primary responsibilities include oversight of Vision-Makers, the corporate incentive, meeting planning and special event division and the Leisure division. Sprayberry Travel has grown from revenue of 5 million in 1988 to being ranked as 13th in metropolitan Atlanta by the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

Mary Jane is a speaker whose focus is travel security and travel “deals”. She works with corporations on a variety of employee motivation programs, performance rewards and travel management consulting. Travel is the 3 largest expenditure of most corporations and controlling this cost is a focus for her consulting.

Mary Jane is active in the metropolitan Atlanta community. She is the immediate past president of the Atlanta Women’s Network. She serves on the Atlanta Women’s Alliance board and is a member of the Board of Directors Network. She is also a member of the Georgia chapter of Meeting Professionals International.

Angie Fife
Project Development Services, Inc.

Angie is Chief Financial Officer for Project Development Services, Inc (PDSI). Her company is a privately held hotel development and renovation company that specializes in hotel project management, offering unbeatable project management services throughout the world. Ms. Fife provides financial management expertise for PDSI and its clients. Her responsibilities as CFO include leading teams to establish financial controls, analyzing accounting and project cost reporting and controlling the funding and payment processes. As one of PDSI’s founding partners, Ms. Fife has been a key member of PDSI’s strategic planning committee and overseen PDSI’s double digit growth since its inception as well as the expansion of multiple offices throughout the United States. She has been integral in gaining PDSI’s clients’ confidence in financial controls. Prior to joining PDSI Ms. Fife worked in the banking and hospitality industries. Ms. Fife is a graduate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham with degrees in Finance and Economics. She has been actively involved with the Girls Scouts of America as well as several local community service organizations.

Dr. Mary Lou Frank
Gainesville State College

Mary Lou Bryant Frank, Ph.D. received degrees in Speech Communication, Counseling, and Psychology from Colorado State University, with a doctoral internship at the University of Delaware. A licensed psychologist, she has received the Distinguished Provider Award in Counseling. She has been the recipient of grants, national leadership awards, teaching and diversity leadership awards, and awards for community service. She has been named in lists of Who's Who and has been a consultant and speaker nationally and internationally on first year programs, learning communities, student success, women in higher education, ethics, leadership, and faculty development. Dr. Frank has published in journals and textbooks. At Arizona State University, she coordinated the Eating Disorders treatment program and team, co-coordinated the master's and doctoral practicum training programs, and taught in the graduate program in counseling. She was associate professor and assistant academic dean at the University of Virginia at Wise. Dr. Frank next served as professor and department head of Psychology & Sociology at North Georgia College & State University. Prior to coming to Gainesville State, she served as the Dean of Undergraduate Studies and the University College at Kennesaw State University. Dr. Frank most recently has been the president of the Georgia Association for Women in Higher Education and is the Vice President for the Georgia Women's Institute. She serves on many boards in addition to being active in numerous professional and community associations.

Nancy Frenkel
Gifford, Hillegass, Ingwersen, LLC

Connie Glaser
Author, Speaker

Connie Glaser, author of When Money Isn't Enough, has assisted thousands of women in breaking the glass ceiling with her best-selling books and dynamic seminars. Her bestseller, Swim with the Dolphins has provided a new navigational map for women in management. She was recently named to The World Who's Who of Women.

Emily Grigsby
Attorney & Mediator

Emily Bourne Grigsby, an accomplished artist, Emily Grigsby's paintings reflect her broad interests, travel and educational experiences and her zest for life. She balances her weekly schedule as an Attorney Arbitrator, Mediator and a painter. She has had 12 one person shows and group exhibits throughout the South, California and France. Emily graduated from Mills College, Georgia Institute of Technology and Woodrow Wilson College of Law.

Kathleen Hall
Sprayberry Travel

Kathleen Hall is a native of Atlanta and attended West Georgia College. She has worked in the travel industry in Los Angeles and Atlanta for the last 24 years, 17 of them with Sprayberry Travel. During her career she has worked in management, corporate and vacation travel and has planned and escorted groups, many of which have been to Mexico. More recently she has been traveling with women's group to spas.

Kathleen has served on the Boards of the Atlanta Women's Network, the Atlanta Women's Alliance and on the membership committee of the International Alliance of Women and is a 20 year member of the Chattahoochee Plantation Women's Club. She is active in fund raising in her community for worthy purposes that benefit the residents and has supported causes that impact women and enrich their lives through a group at her church.

Robin Hensley
Raising the Bar

Robin Hensley is a business development coach for attorneys and CPA's assisting them in achieving their professional goals and objectives, primarily in regard to business development.

Robin serves on the board of directors of Northside Hospital and is one of the few women to serve on the board of directors of a public company and chair the audit committee of a company on the American Stock Exchange.

In 2000, Robin founded the Atlanta Women's Alliance which serves as an umbrella group for over 40 non-profit women's organizations in the city for joint networking and "best practices". She also serves on many other boards including the Possible Woman Foundation. She was founding President of the Georgia Executive Women's Network and was on the founding board of The International Alliance (TIA).

Her honors include honorary lifetime board member of the American Cancer Society, Atlanta Business Chronicle's Top 20 Self-made Women of Atlanta, NAWBO Rising Star Award, United Cerebral Palsy's Woman of the Year and Leadership Atlanta class of 2003.

Joan Herbig
XcelleNet, Inc.

Joan Herbig was named CEO of XcelleNet in February 2000 when the company was purchased by Francisco Partners from Sterling Commerce. For the five years prior to that appointment, she held various positions with Xcellenet including President of the Managed Systems Division and Vice President of Marketing. She was named 2001 Woman of the Year in Technology by Technology Association of Georgia. She is recognized as the driving force behind the re-emergence of XcelleNet and its aggressive move into the mobile and wireless technology market. Herbig earned a B.A. in French from the University of Louisville and an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Kentucky.

Susan Hitchcock
Turknett Leadership Group

Susan Hitchcock is currently vice president of client services for the Turknett Leadership Group, an Atlanta-based management consulting firm. Turknett works with both corporate and entrepreneurial organizations to develop strong leadership teams and highly adaptive cultures - cultures designed to survive the bad times and thrive in the good times through ever-changing business conditions. Susan is also an independent researcher, writer, and speaker on women and leadership. Before joining Turknett in September 1992, Susan had over 20 years business experience in telecommunications with BellSouth. During her career, she held various positions of increasing responsibility primarily in Network Operations and Executive Support which supported a four state area and over 30,000 employees. At the senior executive level, Susan specialized in internal and external communications, preparing over one hundred major speeches and officer presentations. She also served as a liaison for visiting dignitaries and for BellSouth International. In addition, Susan published several articles and delivered Network Architecture presentations in both local and national forums.

Patricia Koehn
Koehn Financial Group, Inc.

Pat Koehn, President, Koehn Financial Group, Inc., an independent, fee-based financial planning firm, is an expert at assisting a wide range of clients - from small business owners and corporate executives to retirees and women in life transition. As a certified financial planner with more than 25 years of experience, she helps them to develop their financial goals while helping them to conquer procrastination and to increase their confidence in making financial decisions. A financial consultant for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Atlanta Business Chronicle, Ms. Koehn is also featured guest on the local radio talk show "Women Want To Know" and a frequent speaker at meetings of women's organizations in the Southeast.

Candace Mathis
Pharos Associates LLC

Candace O'Keefe-Mathis has more than 25 years experience in continuing education and leadership development programming. The former newspaper and magazine journalist previously spent many years leading the Foundation for Women's Resources (FWR), a position to which she gladly returned in 2007. She leads a team of dedicated colleagues overseeing Leadership Texas, the Power Pipeline, Foundation alumnae efforts and the creation of the next generation of projects and programs aimed at continuing the advancement of women leaders in the 21st century. She has counseled Leadership America and oversaw the 1996 launch of the national emerging women's leadership retreat, the Power Pipeline. She was also the founding Executive Director of The Women's Museum: An Institute for the Future, which opened in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution as the nation's first comprehensive women’s history museum in Dallas, Texas, in September 2000.

Astrid Pregel

Astrid Pregel is Canada's Consul General resident in Atlanta. She heads a team of 40 Canadians and Americans working in the Canadian Consulate General in Atlanta and the Canadian Consulate in Miami. She is responsible for the entire scope of Canada's relations with the seven southeastern states, a region whose GDP is larger than all but 5 industrial nations. Astrid has been with Canada's foreign service for 22 years. In the early eighties she spent three years at the Canadian High Commission in Naiobi, Kenya where she was responsible for 10 east African countries. From Africa, she returned to Ottawa to focus on accelerating Canada's commercial ties with the Republic of Korea. From East Asia she turned her attention to India, Sri Lanka and Nepal in her position as Counsellor Commercial at the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi, India. She returned to Ottawa in 1993 as the Director of Trade Information Systems at the Department of External Affairs and International Trade where she lead the development of the specialized software essential to the success of Canada's diplomatic commercial teams around the world. Astrid was born in the Netherlands and immigrated to Canada as a child. She holds an honors Bachelors degree and an MBA from York University.     

Jill Pryor
Bondurant Mixson & Elmore LLP

Jill attended the College of William & Mary for undergraduate school and graduated from Yale Law School in 1988. She is a partner with Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore and has practiced business litigation for nearly 20 years. A former Georgia Association for Women Lawyers (GAWL) president, she received GAWL’s prestigious Kathleen Kessler Award. This award is given annually to a female attorney who exhibits the highest degree of professionalism and dedication to service in the legal community. Jill obtained a $281,000,000 jury verdict in a plaintiffs’ business case, the second largest verdict nationally in 2008, according to Lawyers USA. She has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America and “The Most Effective Lawyers in Georgia” (Georgia Trend), among other publications. Past Chair of the State Bar’s Appellate Practice Section, In addition to serving on the PWFI board, Jill is currently Vice Chair of its Long Range Planning Committee and chairs the Atlanta Bar’s Judicial Selection Committee.

Barbara Rose
New Generation Partnerships, Inc.

President of New Generation Partnerships, Inc. and partner of RoseField Productions, Barbara has more than twenty-five years experience in management, development, recruiting and fundraising. Before coming to Atlanta in 1980, she had been Director of College Relations for seven years at Keystone College, LaPlume, Pennsylvania. Barbara has also been a Senior Consulting Associate with Grenzebach Glier & Associates, Inc., one of the leading consulting firms specializing in philanthropic management. Rose has been heavily involved in major gifts development and was the lead administrator for capital campaigns at Keystone College and Scottish Rite Children's Hospital. She has worked with CARE recruiting development officers for their international organization. Her experience covers strategic planning, foundation/corporate relations, board development, recruiting, public relations, program development, annual giving, training of volunteers and staff, and other related services. In 1981, Ms. Rose was among twenty women in the United States chosen for the American Council on Education's National Identification Program. The Association of Fund Raising Officers, Inc gave her their 1983 Distinguished Service Award. She was in the 1995 class of Leadership America and as a member of that organization participated in the United Nations Forum on Women in Beijing, China. She was active for more than 15 years in the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and the National Association for Hospital Development. Barbara is the co-author of Dollars for Dreams: Student Affairs Staff as Fundraisers, a book on focused fundraising on campuses. In 2007, Ms. Rose was a keynote speaker at the 9th Global Businesswomen's and Leaders Forum in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Deborah Sessions
Porter Keadle Moore, LLP

Debbie Sessions is a partner at Porter Keadle Moore, LLP, a nationally recognized Atlanta based accounting and consulting firm. Debbie is an honor graduate of Mercer University. She joined the firm in 1983 and as the firm's Chief Operating Officer she is responsible for coordinating the financial, personnel and administrative aspects of the its operations. Debbie is a member of the AICPA and the Georgia Society of CPAs and has held numerous executive positions with a variety of civic and professional organizations including the Partnership Against Domestic Violence, the Atlanta Women's Network, the Henry W. Grady Foundation, and the Association for Accounting Administration. She has been on the board of the Possible Woman Foundation International since 2003, serving on a variety of committees including branding and scholarship.

Dr. Betty Siegel
Kennesaw State University

Dr. Betty Siegel, inducted into the 1999 Atlanta Business Hall of Fame and named for the third time to Georgia Trend Magazine's list of "100 most powerful and influential Georgians," has been president of Kennesaw State University since 1981, when she became the first woman to hold this distinguished position in the University System of Georgia. Since then, the university has evolved from a four-year college to its current university status and has been lauded by U. S. News and World Report as a "rising star" among colleges and universities in the South. A nationally known speaker, civic leader, and administrator, Dr. Siegel uses the "invitational model" to espouse methods for strengthening the education and leadership process. She has lectured or consulted with educational, professional, government, and civic groups in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and nine foreign countries.

Sandra Stone
Board of Regents, University System of Georgia

Dr. Stone earned a B.A. degree with highest honors from the University of West Georgia with a double major in Sociology and Psychology in 1976 and an M.A. from the University of West Georgia in Psychology in 1978.  She earned her Ph.D. in Sociology from Emory University in 1993.  She has over 30 years of experience in the fields of social services, criminal justice and education as a direct service provider, administrator, researcher, teacher and consultant. Prior to assuming the Interim Director position for the Applied Research Center at Southern Polytechnic State University in July 2008, Dr. Stone served as the Vice Chancellor for Academic Planning and Programs and later the Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives at the Board of Regents for the University System of Georgia.  Stone has served on numerous local, state and national task forces and advisory boards related to family and children’s services and criminal justice, and as a consultant to a variety of agencies in the social services and criminal justice fields; she also has a number of publications in these areas. Dr. Stone currently serves on the National Implementation Committee for the American Democracy Project, sponsored by the American Association for State Colleges and Universities, the Regional Advisory Council for Educational Testing Service, the Board of Directors for the Georgia Council for Economic Education, and the Board of Directors for the Possible Woman Foundation International, where she serves as Chair of the Board Development Committee.  In addition, she is President of the Georgia Association for Women in Higher Education.  Dr. Stone is the recipient of a number of honors and awards, the most recent being the 2008 Mary Lou Frank Award in Health and Education, from the Georgia Women’s Institute, and being named the 2008 Sociologist of the Year by the Georgia Sociological Association.         

Susan Updegraff
Georgian Bank

Susan Updegraff is Vice President in Private Banking with Georgian Bank. Georgian Bank is a Regional Bank with offices in Metro-Atlanta offering banking and cash management services to small and mid-size companies and wealthy and affluent individuals. Susan graduated from Georgia State University in Atlanta with a degree in Business. Experienced in mortgage banking and private banking, Susan has over 30 years of experience working with individuals and companies in developing custom-designed products and services. She served on the Board of Directors for The Art-Reach Foundation whose focus is assisting children recover from post-traumatic stress disorder using expressive arts and she served as a volunteer with Families First, a non-profit organization benefiting families and women in crisis since 1900. For Possible Woman Foundation International she serve on the finance committee.

Melissa Vernon
InterfaceFLOR

Melissa Vernon is the Director of Sustainable Strategy for InterfaceFLOR. She supports sales efforts as a Sustainability Expert and researches trends and opportunities in the green product market. She oversees the company’s image, messaging and presence at key environmental conferences. As a member of the Construction Specifications Institute’s GreenFormat Team, Melissa is developing a common reporting format and database for collecting and evaluating sustainable product information in. Melissa is a LEED Accredited Professional. She has an MBA and an MS in Environmental Policy from the University of Michigan.

Patricia Willis
Bellsouth Foundation (retired)
Executive Director, VOICES for Georgia's Children

Pat Willis is the executive director of VOICES for Georgia’s Children, a statewide organization that supports research, communication, and advocacy for public policy related to children and families. She became the first director of VOICES in August 2003 after achieving over 30 years of accomplishments in the corporate sector, the public sector and in volunteer service.

During 20 years at BellSouth Corporation, she was the founding director and subsequent president of the BellSouth Foundation, an endowed trust devoted to improving education in the Southeast and Latin America. Through almost $50 million of grants and programs, the foundation achieved national recognition and respect in the issues of teacher preparation, school leadership and education technology, and international recognition for Pronino, an education initiative in 10 countries of Latin America.

In Atlanta Ms. Willis currently serves on the boards of the Atlanta Women’s Foundation and Imagine It! The Children’s Museum of Atlanta. Nationally she is a board member of the Foundation Center in New York and the Center for Leadership in School Reform in Kentucky. She also serves on the Ethics and Accountability Committee of the Independent Sector and the Task Force on Cross Sectoral Relations at the Aspen Institute. Ms. Willis is vice chair of the board of trustees of Marietta (OH) College, her alma mater.

Linda Wind
President, Possible Woman Enterprises

Linda Wind is president and CEO of Wind Enterprises® Inc., a corporation committed to the personal and professional development of corporate women leaders and women business owners. The company offers Leadership Development Conferences, customized training programs for Fortune ranked companies and small business (Pathways to Performance: the Leadership Mastery Series), and weekend cruises and retreats, offering professional women the skills to succeed in their careers and to effectively balance work/life issues essential to their health and well-being. Wind Enterprises has presented the Possible Woman® Leadership Conferences and events since 1996. She is also the Founder of the Possible Woman Foundation International, a 501 (c) 3 that gives academic scholarships to older women in need returning to school.

Wind is among a select group of women around the world to be recognized on the inaugural list of The International Alliance for Women “TIAW World of Difference 100.” As one of 50 exceptional women from 15 countries, Wind was honored for her contributions to the economic empowerment of women. TIAW is an umbrella organization of women’s networks representing 50,000 women world-wide.

Wind is a recipient of the Y Women in Careers Award, has been a mentor for the Georgia 100 Mentor Exchange Program, and was selected to Who’s Who in the Media and Communications. She was selected for three consecutive years by Women Looking Ahead News Magazine as one of the 100 most powerful and influential women business owners in Georgia. Her career has included positions with IBM, Savin, Sharp Electronics Corporation, Pitney Bowes, Panasonic and AirTouch. She was the highest-ranking woman at Sharp Electronics in her position as Director of National Accounts for the Systems Products Group, and National Sales Training Director for Panasonic.

Wind is past-president of the Atlanta Women’s Network and is actively involved with the Georgia Commission on Women. She served on the Northside Hospital Foundation board, was on the Advisory Committee for the Georgia 100 Mentor Exchange Program, and is currently on the advisory board for ProWIN in Atlanta, Georgia. She has also served on the boards of directors for the YWCA, the American Heart Association, Sales and Marketing Executives International, National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) and Norcross Rotary. Wind is a member of the Women’s Chamber of Commerce, Atlanta Women in Business, Board of Directors Network, and is the founding director of the Atlanta Women’s Alliance. She is a graduate of Leadership Corpus Christi, Leadership Atlanta and Leadership America.

She was honored by NAWBO as the 2005 Inspiration of the Year, awarded to a woman business owner or nonprofit executive who has made exceptional contributions in time, energy and resources, advocating women’s issues and/or aiding women. She is also a member of International Women’s Forum.

Wind Enterprises and Possible Woman® seminars and leadership conferences have been featured in local and national publications including The Wall Street Journal. Wind has been successfully promoting women’s issues via seminars, Possible Woman® leadership conferences, customized training sessions and individual and corporate staff development programs since 1985. Wind Enterprises recently launched a WE Membership Program that provides members discounted pricing on select offerings, offers monthly speaker video casts for members only, and connects them with products, services and offerings from Wind Enterprises sponsors and strategic partners.

Linda Wind holds an MBA from the University of Dallas in Irving, TX, and BBA from Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi, TX. With offices in Atlanta, GA and Dallas, TX, Wind Enterprises has strategic partnerships and alliances with women’s groups throughout the world. Her son Martin lives in Frisco, Texas with his wife Victoria and son Trip, and she is a proud and devoted mother and grandmother.

Contact Linda Wind at Linda@windenterprises.com, www.windenterprises.com or 972.724.3646.

PWFI is a 501(c) 3 non-profit foundation that gives scholarships to women and is funded solely through contributions. Although both organizations were founded by Linda Wind, The Possible Woman Foundation International and Wind Enterprises, which conducts the Possible Woman Leadership Conferences, are separate entities with no financial or legal affiliation.