Four of Wilmington’s most accomplished leaders will talk about how to create organizations that naturally develop new leaders and people who assume responsibilities beyond what their titles suggest. The discussion will focus on how successful organizations develop diverse leadership and how workplaces are changing in the age of the #MeToo movement.

Panelist includes:

David Simmons, Chairman and Chief Executive officer at PPD
Judy Girard, Founder and Vice Chair of GLOW, Girls Academy for Women
Wanda Coley, President of Well Care Home Health
Brett Martin, Chief Executive Officer of Castle Branch

Judy Girard is the co-founder and Vice Chair of GLOW, Girls Academy of Wilmington. The school is for at-risk girls 6th-12th grade. Affiliated with the very successful Girls Leadership Network of 16 sister schools, the mission is to get every girl into College with the financial aid they need. Judy’s career includes being a long-time television executive, having worked extensively overseeing programming, production, and operations at both TV stations and Cable networks. She developed shows such as Maury Povich, Jenny Jones, and Jerry Springer and worked on the Phil Donahue show. She is also the former president of both the Food Network and HGTV. Upon her retirement in 2008, the National Academy of Arts and Sciences bestowed a Lifetime Achievement Emmy to Girard in recognition of her impact on television programming.

Brett Martin serves as Chief Executive Officer of Castle Branch, Inc. Brett founded Castle Branch in 1997. In 2014, he founded TekMountain - a 20,000 square-foot incubator/accelerator dedicated to the advancement of Education and Allied Health technology. He is a frequent speaker on campus and in the business community and is extremely active in mentoring young entrepreneurs. In 2010, he founded HeartsApart.org, a non-profit organization created to keep families connected while military men and women are serving abroad. He served as a business and political consultant working with the senior executives of some of the country's leading corporations. The Resident Entrepreneur at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, he serves as the Board of Directors of the Cameron School of Business. He was named "Tech Executive of the Year" by the North Carolina Technology Association (NCTA). Brett earned his M.F.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada.

Wanda Coley, transitioned to President and Chief Operating Officer of Well Care Health in October 2017.  Her elevated position came just one month after the passing of former CEO, Wayne Long.  Wanda is the top-level officer of Well Care Health, with system-wide responsibilities that extend across home health, home care, and new service lines in the future.  She oversees Well Care's daily operations, growth, profitability, and the execution of the company's vision. Prior to becoming President and COO of Well Care Health, Wanda directed Well Care's daily operations for seven years as Chief Operating Officer. Before that, she held the position of Controller, overseeing the organization's financial performance. Wanda has been an integral part of Well Care's growth and implementation of cutting-edge technology to ensure the delivery of quality patient care.  She has more than 20 years of finance, accounting, and technology experience in healthcare. An active member in her community and profession, Wanda serves on boards and councils and participates in speaking engagements as an industry expert. She is a past member of the National Association for Home Care and Hospice Medicaid Council, Wilmington Rotary Club, and American Red Cross board. Current involvement includes membership on the McKesson Home Care Advisory Council and the North Carolina Association for Home and Hospice Care board. Wanda's knowledge and dedication are assets to Well Care and the entire home health industry. Wanda holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the University of North Carolina Wilmington and a Master's in Business Administration from Webster University.


David Simmons is the Chairman and Chief Executive officer at PPD. In this role, he leads the company’s global workforce of approximately 20,000 employees, across 47 countries, in the design and execution of drug development programs on behalf of biopharmaceutical clients. David came to PPD following 15 years with Pfizer Inc. He serves as a director of Owens & Minor, Inc., a Fortune 500 company that provides distribution and other supply chain management services to health care providers and suppliers of medical and surgical products. He also serves as a member of the board of advisors to Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business and as a director of First Tee of Greater Wilmington. In 2017, he was named the recipient of the Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. Excellence Award by the Carlyle Group for exemplifying outstanding leadership, business acumen and management excellence in leading a Carlyle portfolio company.

Lisa Leath is the President of Leath Consulting Group. After graduating from the School of Labor and Employment Relations at Penn State, Lisa gained generalist and benefits experience in a boutique law firm in Manhattan. From there, she changed industries to both non-union and union large manufacturing facilities with a Fortune 300 specialty materials company at multiple plants across North Carolina in lead Labor Relations and HR Manager roles. After eight great years, she moved on to lead and transform an HR function at an international pharmaceutical contract development manufacturing organization with seven global locations. Most recently, Lisa has been spending time working as an outsourced HR leader with pharmaceutical companies, start-ups, technology companies, the healthcare industry and non-profits. No matter the business or industry, the approach to her career in Human Resources has remained consistent – use benchmarked best practices to tailor pragmatic HR solutions to specific industries or situations. She has a reputation for building great HR processes and strategic direction for businesses and demanding clients. Lisa is a Senior Certified Professional through the Society of Human Resource Management. 

Lauren Henderson is the Chief Financial Officer of CastleBranch, and President of its innovation division, tekMountain. CastleBranch has been a technology pioneer in the background screening industry for two decades. Lauren’s financial and technical leadership has resulted in the business critical platform innovation that drives CastleBranch today. In both roles, Lauren is focused on the key issues surrounding student and workforce readiness for the education, healthcare, and human resources markets. Lauren began her career with CastleBranch in 2006 and has steadily risen through the ranks to her current roles. As an active member of the community, Lauren has been involved in numerous efforts to help strengthen and support our region.  In 2013, she joined the Cameron Executive Network as a mentor and the Women's Impact Network of New Hanover County.  She was also a board member of WILMA's Women to Watch Leadership Initiative from 2015 through 2017.  In 2016, she became a member of the Accounting Advisory Board for Cape Fear Community College, and in 2017 joined the Boards of Directors for both the Good Shepherd Center and Wilmington Business Development. Lauren received her Bachelors of Science in Business Administration, with a concentration in Management and minor in Public Policy from Ramapo College of New Jersey in 2005, and earned a Masters of Business Administration in 2012 from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.  In March 2017, Lauren became an Aresty Scholar through Wharton School's Executive Education program.  

Tracey Jackson is the owner/Business Consultant of Certified Personal Resilience Practitioner, U-nex-o! Tracey's corporate career afforded her the opportunity to work in several different industries from not for profits, to big-box retail, to a museum, to healthcare, to city government, and pharmaceutical.  Tracey ended her corporate career after working with Verizon for twelve years. Tracey currently serves as the Chair of the Chambers newly created African American Business Council. She is the Vice President for the Wilmington Chapter of WIN (Women In Networking). She is a WARM (Wilmington Area Rebuilding Ministry Board Member. She attends New Beginning Christian Church where she oversees the Entrepreneurs Group and acts as the church's Business Consultant and Change Effectiveness Leader. Tracey grew up in Leland NC and graduated from North Brunswick High School.  Moving to Charlotte, she attended and graduated from UNC-Charlotte. Tracey has a unique ability to operationalize anything! She lives by a "You Touch it! Operationalize it!” motto. u-nex-o! unity excellence operationalized was birthed out of Tracey's desire to share the sustainable systems (frameworks) she deployed while in corporate America to repeatedly build High-Performance Teams and maintain continuous growth.  

Judy Budd is the Associate Publisher of WILMA magazine and Greater Wilmington Business Journal. Her career has included working for large corporations and small, privately-held firms as well as owning her own business. She started her career at United Airlines and held a range of positions including Personnel Representative, Supervisor of Customer Service, Reservations Sales Manager and District Sales Manager. She was Vice President of Operations for a medical products firm and owned a Minuteman Press printing company franchise.  She has sold numerous products including insurance, medical products, airline seats, retail products, promotional products, designer clothing, printed products and advertising. All of these positions and the skills needed to perform them led her to the Greater Wilmington Business Journal and Wilma Magazine where she started over 10 years ago as the Sales Manager. Judy is married to her husband, John, who retired from the business world and became a published author of 4 books, has 4 sons, 9 grandchildren and 1 great-grandson and her dog, Snoopy.

Stephanie Lanier is the leader of The Lanier Property Group, an award-winning boutique real estate firm in Wilmington, NC. She was named one of Wilmington’s 5 Most Intriguing People and voted Best Real Estate Agent by the Star News. She is an Accredited Luxury Home Specialist and is the winner of the NC Association of Realtors Rising Star Award. In 2017 she was named to an exclusive international list of Real Estate Influencers by Inman News. When speaking, Stephanie has been recognized for her ability to bring inspiration and tangible takeaways to her audiences.  She helps keep Realtors sane by sharing her passion for work-life integration and self-care. She speaks to business owners and entrepreneurs about creating and fostering intentional company culture. Stephanie has received national industry coverage for her out-of-the-box content marketing and personal branding ideas. She is the founder of a much celebrated local women’s initiative, “The Inspiration Lab”, which has been covered by the media as a community committed to creating leaders and empowering women. Before real estate, Stephanie worked as a clinical social worker caring for at-risk teenagers, the homeless and mediating child abuse cases for the State of North Carolina. Stephanie received both her undergraduate and graduate degrees from The University of North Carolina at Wilmington. When she isn't working she enjoys writing on her family blog about her journey as a special needs parent, preparing for her business book club or volunteering with charities that are close to her heart.

Sabrina Davis is president and owner of Port City Signs & Graphics. She began her career in broadcast journalism as a radio news anchor in Raleigh and Chapel Hill, while in school at UNC-Chapel Hill. After college, she was a TV news reporter in Albuquerque, NM and Raleigh/Durham, and later worked as a field producer for ABC News. She moved on to become Assistant Dean of Executive Education in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at UNC-Chapel Hill. After master’s studies in graphic design, she launched her own commercial writing and design business, producing publications for UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, UNCW’s Watson School of Education, the North Carolina Press Association, QSR Magazine and others. Experiencing the client side of printing, led to an interest in print production. With a vision to provide high-quality large format printing, Sabrina purchased Port City Signs in 2008 and introduced digital printing to the business. She is the third owner of Port City Signs & Graphics, which began in 1948. The company offers a wide variety of cutting-edge, large-format print products, from large interior prints to outdoor signs to vehicle wraps.


Natasha Davis is the Director of UNC Wilmington’s Quality Enhancement for Nonprofit Organizations (QENO) housed in the Office of Community Engagement. Natasha draws on her 16 years of finance and management experience to help strengthen our region's nonprofit sector. Natasha earned her BS in Accounting from the University of North Carolina Greensboro with an Information Systems concentration and her Masters in Public Administration from UNC Wilmington with a Nonprofit Management concentration. Natasha has experience in both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors in the roles of staff member, board member, funder, and consultant. Davis was also a 2015 Women to Watch winner in the nonprofit category.


Craig Heim is President & CEO of United Way of the Cape Fear Area, and is a graduate of Syracuse University and began his United Way career in Syracuse, NY.  He has held positions with United Way’s across the country that included Columbus, Ohio; Charlotte, North Carolina; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Silicon Valley, California; Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Craig came to United Way of the Cape Fear Area in August 2017. He brings expertise in community engagement, leadership and business development, through board experience with many nonprofit organizations including Boys & Girls Club, Leadership Greater Syracuse, Community Health Information and Planning Services; Forging Our Community’s United Strength (FOCUS), and Partners for Education and Business. 
 

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Seminars

Seminar
Thursday, Jul 19, 2018 2:00 PM to 3:15 PM
Get on Board - Nonprofit Board Training Joining a board is an important step in developing leadership skills. Women to Watch has partnered with United Way of the Cape Fear Area and UNCW's QENO to train potential board members and match them with board and volunteer opportunities based on their experience and interests. Learn the responsibilities and find out how you can give back to our community in this one-hour training. Presented by: Natasha Davis, Director | UNCW's QENO and Craig Heim, President and CEO | United Way of the Cape Fear Area
Building your Sphere of Influence No one can do it alone. Whether entry-level or executive, you need a support system to help you thrive. As life and work changes, your support system must shift with it. Sometimes, you need a sponsor to advocate for you at work: another time, you need guidance from an outside mentor: and on other occasions, what you need most is a hand from your family. Learn what these relationships look like, how to foster them and why they are vital to your success and that of others. Presented by: Lauren Henderson, CFO CastleBranch | President, tekMountain, Tracey Jackson, Owner/Business Consultant | Certified Personal Resilience Practitioner, U-nex-o! and Judy Budd, Associate Publisher | WILMA magazine/Greater Wilmington Business
WORK/LIFE RHYTHM: Pacing Yourself for Success For many of us, the balance between work and life has become nearly impossible. We are continually trying to balance everything at once. But why balance work and life when you can learn to live your best self with some rhythm. In this workshop, you will learn valuable steps on how to find flexibility in both work and personal activities to achieve the ultimate Work/Life Balance. Presented by: Stephanie Lanier, Realtor & Broker in Charge | Lanier Property Group and Sabrina Davis, Owner | Port City Signs and Graphics
Key Elements to Motivate and Engage In this workshop, you will walk away with four useful tools to take back to your business or organization that will inspire you to be a better leader. Learn techniques to increase your leadership self-awareness. Understand how to create a work environment that enables individuals and teams to be at their best. Expand your ability to energize and motivate others. Learn how to build ambassadors for the business. Presented by: Lisa Leath, President | Leath HR Group
Thursday, Jul 19, 2018 3:30 PM to 4:45 PM
Get on Board - Nonprofit Board Training Joining a board is an important step in developing leadership skills. Women to Watch has partnered with United Way of the Cape Fear Area and UNCW's QENO to train potential board members and match them with board and volunteer opportunities based on their experience and interests. Learn the responsibilities and find out how you can give back to our community in this one-hour training. Presented by: Natasha Davis, Director | UNCW's QENO and Craig Heim, President and CEO | United Way of the Cape Fear Area
Building your Sphere of Influence No one can do it alone. Whether entry-level or executive, you need a support system to help you thrive. As life and work changes, your support system must shift with it. Sometimes, you need a sponsor to advocate for you at work: another time, you need guidance from an outside mentor: and on other occasions, what you need most is a hand from your family. Learn what these relationships look like, how to foster them and why they are vital to your success and that of others. Presented by: Lauren Henderson, CFO CastleBranch | President, tekMountain, Tracey Jackson, Owner/Business Consultant | Certified Personal Resilience Practitioner, U-nex-o! and Judy Budd, Associate Publisher | WILMA magazine/Greater Wilmington Business
Work/Life Rhythm: Pacing Yourself for Success For many of us, the balance between work and life has become nearly impossible. We are continually trying to balance everything at once. But why balance work and life when you can learn to live your best self with some rhythm. In this workshop, you will learn valuable steps on how to find flexibility in both work and personal activities to achieve the ultimate Work/Life Balance. Presented by: Stephanie Lanier, Realtor & Broker in Charge | Lanier Property Group and Sabrina Davis, Owner | Port City Signs and Graphics
Key Elements to Motivate and Engage In this workshop, you will walk away with four useful tools to take back to your business or organization that will inspire you to be a better leader. Learn techniques to increase your leadership self-awareness. Understand how to create a work environment that enables individuals and teams to be at their best. Expand your ability to energize and motivate others. Learn how to build ambassadors for the business. Presented by: Lisa Leath, President | Leath HR Group