2009 Women's Executive Summit


Educational Programming 

The WFF Executive Women's Summit has earned a reputation for offering outstanding executive-level education in an intimate environment.  The broad range of speakers and topics were compiled to bring female executives an educational experience especially relevant to today's business challenges.

 

Opening Keynote Speaker: 

Mary Dillon, Executive Vice President and Global Chief Marketing Officer, McDonald's

 

 

 

Financial Fundamentals for the Future

Marian Powers - Adjunct Associate Professor of Accounting at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and the Allen Center for Executive Education at Northwestern University. 

Back to basics with a twist for the new economy.  The world has changed and therefore, financial practices that worked before will not necessarily be applicable going forward.  In our current state, it is not a matter of if inflation will occur but rather, when.  How do we prepare for it now?  Marian will focus on cash flow, getting the most cash out of the system, dealing with banks and credit, calculated risk taking, investments and how they are affecting cash flow, strategy for expense reporting, best practices across various industries (foodservice and more.)

 

 

Tapping into Risk Taking to Innovate and Drive Success

Margaret Heffernan- Entrepreneur , Chief Executive and author

In today’s dynamic marketplace, whether you lead a corporate business unit or your own business, gaining insights from successful women leaders is critical for success.  A common de-railer to the C-suite for executive women is the conscious (or unconscious) avoidance of risk.  Conversely, strategic risk-taking is the foundation of successful entrepreneurs.  Regardless of your career path, risk-taking is a key skill for executives looking to impact their organization through creativity, innovation and an inspired sense of urgency.

If you are looking for the “how-tos” of risk taking, this is one session you will not want to miss.  We will share real-world applications via examples of women who successfully risked it all in their careers and succeeded through the orchestration of putting people in the right place and intervening only when necessary.


 

Keynote: 

Meg Crofton, President, Walt Disney World Resort 

 

 

 

High Performance Leadership in a World Turned Upside Down

Dr. Saj-nicole Joni - Founder and CEO of Cambridge International Group Ltd and Forbes Magazine Columnist

With the current economic turmoil, most organizations have taken actions to rethink markets, revenues and expenses -- freezing hiring, implementing layoffs, postponing new initiatives, cutting costs and putting strategic development on the back burner.  A new order of high performance leadership is required.

Paralysis in the face of this protracted crisis is extremely dangerous.  Winning organizations will figure out how to survive in the near term and take advantage of these uncertain times to accomplish change that is normally difficult or impossible.  This highly interactive session will provide a powerful framework that enables leaders to anticipate threats and opportunities and raise the bar on performance, partnering with their business colleagues and teams.

You will leave this session with a diagnostic tool to help you manage your career and your organization moving forward. 

 

 

 

Advancing your Career through Board Readiness

George Weathersby - Chief Executive Officer - Young Presidents' Organization

Increasingly, the advancement into the Executive Suite requires you to be considered “board-ready”.  In this session you will learn how companies evaluate their board of director candidates to identify the skills and competencies you need to be successful by supporting or serving on boards. Based on an actual case study, this interactive session will provide a rare glimpse behind the scenes from three points of view--the candidate, the nominating committee and the search firm. This session offers a perspective on the board’s thinking and the gaps in candidate experience and compatibility.

Led by CEO and Corporate Strategist, George Weathersby, you will learn what you need to do to not only prepare and properly interview for a board position but also to understand how board skills and the ability to relate to the board of your organization can further your career into the C-Suite. Plus, you’ll understand the board selection process from the company’s decision to add a board member through to the successful completion of their search.

 


Keynote:

Edna Morris, CEO/Partner, Range Restaurant Group



 

 


Social Media - How to Leverage Conversations to Build Long-Term Business Relationships:



Juliana Simon- Brand Anthropologist, OLSON Communications

Between Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and more, the opportunity to interact with customers and clients online is growing exponentially by the moment. While these new-age channels might be endless, the age-old key to business success remains the same: Relationships. Walk away from this session with concrete tactics to leverage social media to build brand affinity, customer loyalty and client satisfaction.