I am excited to announce the WBN Leadership Team and Goals for 2014 (complete summary included in attached presentation).
Highlights:
- Goals were derived from the rich conversations and actions that came out of the Annual WBN Networking Event that was held in September, 2013 in Norwood, MA
- New, enthusiastic Steering Committee, chartered with driving execution of goals through 5 subcommittees
- Large supporting team already identified and ready to help kick off subcommittees ASAP
- New co-chair!! Patty Hartzell, one of our founding members, has decided to take a step away from co-chairing the WBN in 2014 to focus on her new role managing the EM Business. We are forever grateful for the leadership and mentorship that Patty has provided (and we know we will rely on her as a sounding board in the future)! However, we are also very excited to welcome our new co-chair, Anna Wynn, Business Development Manager for Tissue Growth Technologies (TGT), one of Instron’s most recent acquisitions (learn more here – very exciting technology!) and the new ideas and fresh perspectives she will provide to the group over the coming years.
Anna Wynn, WBN Co-chair
Anna has a B.S. in Biology from the University of Minnesota, an M.S in Molecular Marine Biology from the University of North Carolina, Wilmington (hoped to scuba dive the rest of her life), and is currently completing an MBA at the Carlson School of Business at the University of Minnesota. During and after graduate school Anna worked as a conservation biologist at the Bermuda Biological Research Station, the Jane Goodall’s Institute’s Center for Primate Studies, as well as Nebraska and Minnesota’s Department of Natural Resources. Looking for a career (with less field work in January in MN) she joined the biotech collaborative that was MDT (Medical Device Testing) and TGT. Here she quickly identified that biologists, engineers, and business people speak different languages and that a translator was needed for research to become successful in commercial world. Anna worked at MDT and TGT for 8 years as the translator and later the General Manager.
Anna relocated to the Boston area from Minneapolis, MN with her husband (Wade), 4 yr old son (Sully), 2 yr old daughter (Lola), 2 cats (Finn, Jack), and 1 dog (Zoe); so far they are enjoying the warm weather! (Her words – I guess this is all relative!)
I would like to personally thank Anna, as well as the many other women who have volunteered this year to continue to move the WBN organization & our goals forward. This is an important initiative but also a fun group to work with! I am excited about the year to come! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
2. High Level Summary & Actions
From 2013 Networking Event
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Meredith & Patty have been
Improve Communication:
leading discussion with Instron
Leadership Team
• Discuss the importance of diversity and why the WBN
• Get to know people in the organization & make yourselves more available
Encourage Personal Development:
• Encourage & support mentoring (e.g. become mentors)
• Suggest mentoring as a useful opportunity to work on a
• Expand the scope of “development” to strengthen the business at all levels
Understand & Minimize Biases:
• Include profiling data in next employee survey so we can better understand
responses across various populations (gender, age, ect.)
Survey data
• Consider removing name / profiling info from resumes during first round analysis in
progress.
interviews to minimize impact of biases
• Review our company profiles and job descriptions – do we come across as
“family friendly”?
Consider Diversity of Sponsorship:
• Do we know the difference between mentorship and sponsorship?
• What is the diversity profile of those you sponsor?
Will include as part of yearly talent review
process. HR / Sr. Leadership Action.
2
3. 2014 WBN Leadership Vision
* Duncan Warner, Director of HR,
will continue to be our male sponsor
Communication
WIT / SWE
SharePoint
maintenance
Internal / external
communications
Minimize
resentment,
maximize
understanding of
WBN
Promote activities
& encourage
involvement
WIT Boston
Chapter
SWE Involvement
Outreach
programs to
increase women
in technology
roles at Instron &
to encourage
young women to
pursue technology
fields
3
2 x Co-Chairs
2 year commitment, rotating
(1 new, 1 experienced)
Personal
Development
Continue to
advance
“Mentoring”
committee work
Encourage, train,
increase use of
PDPs
Provide companywide development
opportunities &
training
Interpret
employee survey
feedback
Improve hiring
tools (job
descriptions,
Instron.com)
Understand
biases and how to
minimize at
Instron
Annual
Networking
Event
Minimizing
Biases
Party planning
Agenda
Content
Speakers
Special guests
4. 2014 WBN Co-chairs
Anna Wynn
Meredith Platt
Business Development Manager,
Tissue Growth Technologies
Director of Product Marketing,
Electromechanical Business
2014 Responsibilities:
- Support subcommittees in establishing & executing on 2014 goals
- Revitalize WBN mission & goals for our organization
- Raise awareness of WBN within our organization
- Encourage involvement from both men & women
4
5. Subcommittee Chairs & Teams
Annual
Networking
Event
Minimizing
Biases
Communication
Personal
Development
WIT / SWE
Denise Czerpak
Mary Pope
Theresa Smith
Software Engineering
Manager
Sr. Marketing
Communications Specialist
Business Unit Manager,
CEAST
Morgan Galaznik
Elena Mangano
Mechanical Engineer
Applications Engineer
Jeanine Gibson
Accounting Manager
Communication
Team also includes:
- Stephanie Williams
- Sarah Wiggins
- Chrissy Conlin
- Preethy Thomas
5
WIT / SWE Team also
includes:
- Elayne Schneebacher
- Pam Wilson
- Katie Levis
- Andi Dean
Courtney Coyle
Personal Development
Nancy Moloney
Team also includes:
Quality Manager
Marketing Communication
- Kim Gagne
Specialist
- Veronica Rich
Event Team also
Minimizing Biases Team - Marie Ghelfi
includes:
also includes:
- Moira Herlihy
- Alyssa MacDow
- Stephanie Mattson
- Ronna Krell
- Diane Robillard
- Melissa Conti-Turnquist
- Carmen Corriveau
- Claudine Holdgate
6. Next Steps
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•
•
•
•
6
2014 Kick-off with 1st Steering Committee Meeting (Anna to coordinate)
• Meet with Subcommittee Chairs to discuss goals
Subcommittee Chairs initiate 1st Team Meetings (Subcommittee Chairs to
coordinate)
Schedule Q1 WBN Meeting in Norwood
• Update from Subcommittee regarding 2014 objectives & goals
• Discussion topic?
Other activities / dates:
• March 2014 – ITW Women’s Leadership Conference
• Q2 WBN Meeting in Norwood – to be scheduled
• Q3 WBN will be the annual networking event
• Q4 WBN meeting will be a year in review & 2015 planning meeting
• Anna & Meredith will be working to schedule several other smaller
activities throughout the year to encourage involvement & continue to
raise awareness
If you would like to get involved or have an idea – please do not hesitate to
contact us!!
Editor's Notes
Good morning everyone! My name is Meredith Platt and I am the director of product marketing for the Electromechanical Business at Instron, based here in Norwood. I would like to first start by thanking all of you for taking a full day (and in some cases, almost two days with travel and dinners) out of your very busy schedules to be here with us to discuss, understand, encourage & inspire women in the workplace. My friend, Patty Hartzell, and I started the Women’s Business Network two years ago – primarily because we as female leaders – we needed more support – especially as we both navigated the challenges of motherhood and career. Further, we also thought that we and other women at Instron had a lot to offer each other.
Subcommittee (one or two only) - recruit from the larger organizationWITCommunication - Biases - understand what we've got /outreach Networking EventPersonal Development