Event Highlights: 2008 Women in Leadership Symposiums

San Francisco

Panelists at the Women in Leadership Symposium in San Francisco listen intently to moderator Mori Taheripour. From left to right: Donna Burke, AT&T; Michele Floyd-Reed, Smith Law Firm; Lia Shigemeura, ABM Industries; and Beth Stelluto, Charles Schwab.
 
Female professionals pose for a photo at the VIP reception at the Women in Leadership Symposium in San Francisco.
Dennis Kennedy (left), founder and CEO of the California Diversity Council, and Amanda Elliott, advisory board member for the Bay Area Diversity Council, pose for a photo.
A representative from Sherwin-Williams poses for a photo with David Miles, director of the California Diversity Council, and Lonnie McGowan, also of Sherwin-Williams and an advisory board member for the Bay Area Diversity Council, following the Women in Leadership Symposium in San Francisco.

In February, more than 400 professionals convened for Women in Leadership Symposiums in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The first annual WIL Symposium in Los Angeles was moderated by Antoinette Salvadori, director of diversity at Walt Disney Studios. The panel included Kelly Edwards, vice president of talent development, NBC Universal; Renee White Fraser, president and CEO, Fraser Communications; Barbara Pollack, vice president-Legal, Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems; Patti Rockenwagner, vice president-Regional Communications, Time Warner Cable; and Mary Shelton Rose, partner-Investment Practice, PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

Topics discussed by the panel and audience included balancing life and career, the keys to personal success, gender stereotypes, and the perceptions and realities of women leaders. The Los Angeles event was sponsored by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, CareerBuilder.com, Raytheon, CPGjobs, and Time Warner Cable.

The WIL Symposium in San Francisco was moderated by Mori Taheripour of The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. The panel included Michelle Ballard Miller, managing partner, Miller Law Group; Zain McKinney, audit enterprises risk services partner, Deloitte & Touche LLP; Michele Floyd, partner, Reed Smith Law Firm; Lia Shigemura, assistant vice president and director-Diversity, Inclusion and Training, ABM Industries, Inc.; Donna Burke, vice president-External Affairs, AT&T; and Elizabeth Stelluto, senior vice president,
Schwab Marketing.

Topics discussed by the panel and audience included the impact of power and influence on leadership, the mentoring model for success, managing gender bias, managing cross-gender communications, pursuing leadership excellence, and how women "take care" and men "take charge."

DiversityFirstJobs.com was the title sponsor for the San Francisco event. Other sponsors included Wells Fargo, Oracle, Charles Schwab, Miller Law Group, CNet Networks, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and Alexza Pharmaceuticals.

Los Angeles

Dennis Kennedy, founder and CEO of the California Diversity Council, kicks off the Greater Los Angeles Women in Leadership Symposium.
Patti Rockenwagner (left), vice president of regional communications for Time Warner Cable, and Barbara Pollack, vice president-Legal at Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems, listen as Renee White Fraser, president and CEO of Fraser Communications, addresses the Women in Leadership Symposium in Los Angeles.
From left to right: Michael Carrillo, president, CPGJobs; James Wright, Health Net, Inc.; and Penny Sallberg-Carrillo, executive vice president of CPGJobs and president of the Greater Los Angeles Diversity Council.
Companies receive awards for their sponsorship and support of the California Diversity Council and the Women in Leadership Symposium. From left to right: Kimberly Bohr of CareerBuilder.com, Delicia Delgardo of PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Meisha Sherman of Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems, and Anna Parra of Time Warner Cable. Awards were presented by Dennis Kennedy (far right), founder and CEO of the California Diversity Council.
Female professionals at the Women in Leadership Symposium in Los Angeles pose for a photo.