Board of Directors

Laura Balser
Balser Companies

Laura Balser  was named SVP & Principal Managing Director in 2008 of Balser Companies | An NFP-owned firm. In this role Laura assists employers in implementing solutions for highly compensated employees, including nonqualified deferred compensation plans and other company-sponsored arrangements that provide in-service tax-deferred savings, retirement income or customized insurance benefits. Laura joined Balser Companies in 2004, was named VP & Director in 2005, and became SVP & Chief Client Relationship Officer in 2007. She holds a B.B.A. in Finance and an M.B.A. in Organization and Management both from Emory University's Goizueta Business School. Laura serves as President of Executive Women of Goizueta, where she has served on the board since 2006. She also serves on the board of the Atlanta Women’s Alliance and the Wharton Executive Education Advisory board. Recently In 2008 Ms. Balser was selected as one of the forty top "Up and Comers" and one of Atlanta's most notable new business leaders under 40 years of age by the Atlanta Business Chronicle.  

Denise L. Billups
ibm.com Americas

After 28 years with IBM it was Ms. Billups career-long passion for the skill, personal, professional and career development of all employees that led to her current assignment. She is active with many IBM groups dedicated to enhancing diversity, mentoring and leadership development. She was the founding chair of the Atlanta Black Network of IBM Employees in 1997 and is active with the Black Executive Network at IBM. Ms. Billups serves on the boards of Possible Woman Foundation International (Scholarship Committee Chair), Cool Girls, Inc. (past Board Chair) and the Atlanta Women’s Alliance (past President). She serves as an advisory board member for the Atlanta chapter of Women in Technology International. Ms. Billups is also proud to serve as a mentor for other top performing professional women through Pathbuilders, Inc. where she has volunteered for the past eight years. Ms. Billups volunteers her time with many other charitable organizations which focus on literacy and initiatives that positively impact the lives of children, women and minorities. For her professional leadership and her many contributions to the community Ms. Billups was recognized with a United Way of Dekalb County Legacy Award in 2008 and a Turknett Leadership Character award in 2007. In 2005 she was spotlighted by Atlanta Woman Magazine as one of the 25 Power Women to Watch and as Women Looking Ahead’s 100s List of Georgia’s Most Powerful and Influential Women.

Kathy Leggett Eldridge
Certified Public Accountant

As a sole practitioner licensed in Georgia, Kathy provides various accounting and audit preparation services to nonprofit clients.  Her areas of expertise include providing accounting, auditing, compliance, and consulting services to organizations including churches, religious organizations, voluntary health and welfare organizations, and membership-based associations.  Kathy has drafted accounting policies and procedures manuals for several churches including the evaluation of these churches’ internal control systems.  She holds a Certificate of Educational Achievement in Governmental/Nonprofit Accounting and Auditing from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.  She has presented workshops and seminars for the Georgia Society of Certified Public Accountants (GSCPA), Automated Church Systems (ACS) Users’ Group in Atlanta, National Business Managers’ Conference for Alumni Associations, ACS National Convention, as well as the Atlanta and Peach State chapters of the National Association of Church Business Administrators. Kathy has been practicing in public accounting since 1991 when she first joined Brooks, McGinnis & Company, LLC (a local firm of Certified Public Accountants) in Atlanta.  She began as a staff accountant and attained ownership in that Firm.  Kathy left in 2006 to establish her own practice.    

Sandra Gardiner
Morris Manning & Martin, LLP

Sandra Sheets Gardiner is a partner in the firm’s Technology Transactions Group. Ms. Gardiner counsels technology companies and large end users in complex technology transactions. She advises these clients in a variety of mission-critical transactions, including outsourcing matters, joint ventures, strategic alliances, technology procurement and acquisition, management of intellectual property assets and privacy and security issues.

Michele Lloyd Jones
Retired Airline Pilot

Michele attended Embry Riddle College, emerging with degrees in Aeronautics and Aviation. Michele soloed in a Cessna in October 1977 and spent the next 29 years in the aviation business, including leasing aircraft, flight instruction and commercial travel. She has worked on the flight deck of four different airlines as a flight engineer and first officer on Eastern Airlines Boeing 727, a First Officer with Kiwi, a Captain on a Jetstream, and recently retired from Airtran Airways flying the DC9 and the Captain of the highly computerized Boeing 717. During this time Michele logged in many hours and has flown into domestic and international airports. Many stories, one close call, lots of adventure, laughs, delays and even a few on-time arrivals!   Having achieved her dream, she now likes to spend time helping others achieve theirs through serving for organizations such as Possible Women Foundation International.

Karen Downey Lightfoot
Brenau University

After a 25 year career in public accounting and in the real estate industry, Ms. Lightfoot has found her passion to be education.   She is teaching young women at Brenau University in Gainesville, Georgia to become successful accountants themselves.   Karen is a native Virginian with a BBA from James Madison University and an MBA from the International University of Monaco.  Karen is actively involved in serving communities abroad; in August 2005, Karen volunteered for a month and taught English at a high school in Kanchanaburi, Thailand and in April 2007 participated in a mission trip in Goradze, Bosnia, working with the Hope Community Center, a CrossWorld mission site to help individuals and families rebuild their lives after the Bosnian war. Karen is an active member of the American Institute of Public Accountants, Georgia Society of CPA’s and Institute of management Accountants. Karen strongly believes that education opens many doors, especially for women, and is happy to be a part of PWFI where the mission is to help provide access to that education. 

Helene Lollis
PATHBUILDERS, Inc.

Helene Lollis is the President of PATHBUILDERS, Inc., an organization focused on helping companies shape the future with high-performing women.  PATHBUILDERS works with clients to increase the gender-diversity of their senior leadership teams and focuses on the development of high-potential women at four key stages in their careers.   Prior to being with PATHBUILDERS, Helene spent 12 years with Amoco and then BP Corporations in a wide range of responsibilities in the commodity plastics arena.  An engineer by education, her work spanned the areas of process and product development, marketing, strategic planning, and mergers/acquisitions. Helene is frequently invited to speak the topics of mentoring and career planning, both inside client companies and for other organizations as well. Helene is extremely active in the Atlanta community.  She serves on the Board of Directors of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, and she chairs the Teacher Recruitment subcommittee of the Chamber’s Regional Education initiative.  She also chairs the Chamber’s Small to Mid-Sized Business Council.  She is a member of the Board of Advisors for Women’s Leadership Exchange and was named to the Boards of Directors for the Possible Woman Foundation International and Junior Achievement of Georgia.  Helene has a long history as a Junior Achievement volunteer, and in 2006 she became a lead advisor in the inaugural JA Fellows Program.  She is also a volunteer wedding coordinator at her church and she was selected as a finalist for the Metro Atlanta Chamber’s Small Business Person of the Year Award in 2005. 

Myra McElhaney
MCElhaney & Associates

Myra McElhaney is a speaker, workshop leader and writer who helps companies and associations to improve workplace relationships and inspires people to push beyond their boundaries. Her programs are based on the belief that when people get along better they perform superior work. Investor's Business Daily, The Employment Review, Woman's World, and other renowned publications quote her frequently. Her articles have also appeared in various publications including Customer Relationship Management, Competitive Edge, USIndustry Today, and Atlanta Woman. Myra's writing is featured in two anthology books published by James & Brookfield in Atlanta, Georgia. Among her professional affiliations: The International Alliance of Women, The National Association of Female Executives and the National Speakers Association. Myra is the author of a book based on interviews with 100 women who were "the first woman to…" in a variety of accomplishments. “First Women: A Celebration of Women Who Pushed Beyond the Boundaries.”

Melissa Minihan
The Home Depot

Melissa Minihan is a Director of Marketing and Business Operations at The Home Depot. Her areas of expertise include brand and product marketing, strategic business development, business intelligence, business operations, general management and ecommerce/digital marketing experience. Melissa has a background in management consulting at Ernst & Young and BearingPoint focusing on Strategy and Business Process Improvement. Melissa graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor’s of Science in Business majoring in Computer Science. Melissa is currently getting her Executive MBA from Emory’s Goizueta business school. Melissa is from Pensacola, FL and has been in Atlanta 4 years.

Sarah O'Brien
Dental System Group

Sarah O’Brien is Chief Financial Officer and Director of Operations for the Dental System Group. O’Brien currently leads the global financial operations where she is responsible for all corporate financial matters including financial reporting, financial planning and analysis, accounting, supply chain & logistics, lean and information technology. O’Brien began her career in 1995 with the General Electric Company where she was promoted to positions in Six Sigma Quality, Merger and Acquisitions and Corporate Finance. She is a graduate of GE’s premier training program in Financial Management. O’Brien holds a Bachelor’s of Science and Business Administration Degree in Finance from the University of Florida. She earned her MBA from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School in 2003. A leader in her community, O’Brien is the founder and President of The Executive Women of Goizueta (EWG), currently serves on the Goizueta Alumni Board, the Possible Women Foundation Board and is Vice Chair on the Board of National Families in Action and on the board of The International Alliance of Women. Most recently she was selected as a member of the Leadership Atlanta Class of 2009. Most notably, she is the recipient of Goizueta Business School’s 2006 Alumni of the Year Award and was profiled by the Atlanta Business Chronicle as an Up and Comer, one of Atlanta’s most promising younger leaders under 40.

Denise Poole
AMI Inflight and AMI Wines

Denise Poole has been CEO of AMI Inflight and AMI Wines for the past 9 years. AMI is a business that sources food and beverage products in the US and Europe as well as wines from around the globe. The products are then marketed and sold to airlines in the US, Europe and Asia.  Prior to becoming a partner in AMI, Denise was Director of Food and Beverage at Delta Airlines where she and her staff planned menus for all of Delta’s International locations as well as for all cities in the US. Denise has held several positions on the Board of Directors of the Inflight Food Service Association. She has also been a judge for the association’s Mercury award and President’s awards and has been on the associations Government Affairs committee.  She has been active with Big Brothers/Big Sisters for the past 11 years as she mentored a youth from the age of 8 to 19. Boys and Girls Clubs of America is an organization that Denise has financially supported for the past 4 years.

Laura Snyder
Porter Keadle Moore, LLP

Laura Snyder is the director of marketing for Porter Keadle Moore, LLP, a nationally recognized Atlanta based accounting and consulting firm. Laura graduated from the State University of New York at Geneseo in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Interpersonal and Organizational Communication. Experienced in both corporate and agency settings, Laura has assisted companies with marketing communications activities for 15 years. She is a member of the PKF North American Network SuperMarketer Task Force, which is responsible for developing marketing programs for the association's 90+ member firms. She is also the Chairman of the Marketing Committee for ProfitCrew, an association of public accounting firms designed to help construction industry members maximize their operational and financial performance. She is the Secretary of the Financial Institutions Forum, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the education of bank executives. She is active in the Association for Accounting Marketing, serving as a board member of both the national association and the Atlanta Chapter. For Possible Woman Foundation International, she serves on the branding committee and helps the organization with this marketing and branding initiatives.

Sally Williamson
Sally Williamson & Associates

With more than 20 years of experience, Sally Williamson is both a business development coach and a speech coach. She has led major sales forces, CEOs and hundreds of individuals in developing effective sales communication strategies and business presentations. She’s led professionals who hail from multiple professional services and vertical industries, including: accounting, consumer brands and products, financial and investment services, legal services, marketing, public relations, real estate, technology and telecommunications. Sally’s executive coaching and customized workshops blend personal development with bottom-line business results. Her combined experience in sales and communication provides a unique perspective in helping professionals understand their clients’ needs — and to present their services in a way that effectively solves those needs.

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.