CONTENTS
FEATURES
COLUMNS AND REPORTS
FEATURES
Q&A with Pam Godwin, Forum President-Elect
Pamela Godwin, an 11-year Forum member, assumes the role of Forum president this September. In this Question & Answer session, she discusses some of her personal goals for the organization, the role of the board and the membership and The Forum in general.
Q: What are your goals as Forum president?
A:My main goal is to have The Forum itself viewed as a preeminent source of power and influence in the tri-state area, so much so that any significant agenda or initiative needs and wants The Forum behind it. Many of our members have achieved that level of influence, and I think it’s time to leverage our collective power more specifically.
On a more personal level, The Forum has represented for me all that is good and strong about female leadership. The Forum has often given me the courage to hold my ground on important issues that support both women and the humanist view in organizations. By the humanist view, I mean the things that are important to the health and well being of all people who operate in the business community. So, above all, I want us to continue that heritage of courage and strong support of each other as executive women. I’m talking about the kind of support that’s too often still unavailable to us in our separate environments.
Q: When you talk about leveraging power, are you referring to lobbying?
A:I’m saying that it’s time to leverage our collective power more specifically, and that may mean lobbying, informally or formally.
Q: The Forum has become a much more visible organization in the past few years.
A:Yes, but it can be much more visible. And increasing our visibility is one of our goals outlined in our Long-Range Plan, created in 1995. In fact, when the board met for its planning session in July, we referenced the five goals outlined in the plan:
1. To promote the economic power of Forum members and other business women.
2. To heighten the visibility, impact and influence of The Forum.
3. To increase the vitality of The Forum as an organization of leading members of the business community in the Philadelphia region by increasing the diversity of its active membership.
4. To form strategic alliances with diverse and influential organizations, including political, cultural, educational and community groups for the creation of new solutions to issues that affect the Greater Philadelphia area.
5. To help members achieve greater health, wellness, and balance and to help legitimize the importance of these issues within the business community.
The plan still endures as a relevant and important guide to our future activities. And we expect to focus most strongly on goals one, two and four this year.
Q: What would you like each member to get from her Forum membership?
A:The same feeling I’ve gotten. That is, to have the same rich source of support. And they will. I think that can become more of a challenge with a larger group. Or, it can become exponentially more powerful with a larger group. I want the latter to happen.
Q: How do you plan to bring The Forum’s diverse membership together?
A: That’s one of the topics we discussed at the board planning session. The Forum is now 20 years old, and we have 3 generations of professional women representing 3 generations of careers in The Forum. We have 20 years separating some of our members, and 20 years provides for different experiences.
What I’m saying is that I would focus on the challenges we have as a group and as members. That is, we are challenged to identify and achieve measurable action on two or three key initiatives that represent progress against our common agenda. The word identify is as important initially as the words achieve measurable action because we need to continue to meet the needs of the diverse group. But the power will really be in making measurable progress against our common agenda so that all members will feel energized and supported by our collective progress.
When you speak about bringing members together, the first thing is to identify two or three issues that really speak to our common agenda. Suggested initiatives that came out of the March Women in Power meeting are, I believe, aligned to our long- range plan. Those three initiatives are
1. The executive suite project would be a project to organize meetings between local CEOs and members of our group who are in the higher ranks of corporate America. We want to initiate dialogue around how we can increase the representation of women in the higher ranks and on the boards of these organizations. This kind of effort would clearly be aligned with Long-Range Goal #1.
2. The media dialogue initiative. We would ask all Forum members to report to The Forum administrative office any instance of unfair or detrimental coverage of women in the media so that we can confer with one another on the most effective way to respond.
3. An executive director or some other resource to support the content work of our initiatives. Since we’ve become such a large and diverse organization, we need to look at how we can best supply resources to advance our agenda. This would be one aspect of an enhanced effort to increase our visibility.
Q: Do you think the structure of The Forum work well?
A: I think we’ve got legitimate structure in place. You create your organization to fit your agenda. There might be initiatives that require additional support, but I would not envision additional standing committee structures. I think we’ll probably achieve much of our agenda through ad-hoc committees and project leadership. I don’t think we need to extend the bureaucracy; rather, we need to spawn new projects.
Q: Let’s talk about the strength of the board.
A: The strength of the board is that there are leaders from just about every arena. The membership is well represented by leadership from every sector of The Forum. We have the corporate sector, the not-for-profit sector and the entrepreneurial sector. Although we curently don’t have political or government leaders on the board, we have women who are involved in political issues and initiatives in the region.
The skills portfolio that is represented by the board members is phenomenal: we have significant financial, advertising and PR, legal and technological expertise, as well as representatives from manufacturing, start-up enterprises and mid-size entrepreneurial organizations. We must have a strong, committed board, and we do.
Q: Would you like to see The Forum work more closely with other organizations, for example, sponsor joint programming?
A: Absolutely. We’ll examine joint programming as it makes sense to support our strategy. But we will do that in a focused way to expand our influence and advance our agenda.
Every idea has been under tremendous discussion. I want this first newsletter message to be about the fact that we are going to identify very specific agenda items. The entire board is working hard to involve and listen to the membership and also to make the hard decisions which will result in programs that will benefit us all and, in fact, benefit the community at large by more effective leveraging of the positive power and influence represented by this remarkable group of executive women.
Back to Top
Following are excerpts from Pam Godwin’s speech at The Forum’s annual meeting in June
Over the past few years, The Forum has been undergoing a remarkable transformation—growing and changing as any vital organization does to meet the new needs of new times. This transformation has been indicative of the growth in the sheer number of powerful and influential women, women who are holding powerful and influential positions in every arena of our lives and women who have developed enormous personal power and influence regardless of what arena they are operating in at any given moment. So this transformation is indicative of the breadth and variety of ways women are contributing and are continuing to take the reins in public and private corporations, in the entrepreneurial sector, in the not-for-profit arena, in academia and in government.
In addition, now that The Forum is more than 20 years old, we have members who are at many stages in their careers and who have experienced their careers very differently. Consequently, we have a great deal of diversity within our membership. We’ll need to work hard at meeting the varied needs of our individual members and sub segments. And we’ll need to work hard at developing and understanding our common agenda and attacking that common agenda aggressively on behalf of us all. The most exciting aspect of this challenge is that we have an enormous power base of intellect, knowledge and influence skills among our membership to address these issues. Our board members, committee members and project leaders will be working hard this summer to develop action plans against the three initiatives that were generated from our very successful March meeting on women and power.
Before I close, I want to note some things that have struck me recently. As I have reread a few books recently and have heard a few folks speak, the same theme continues to emerge and be reinforced for me in my own life. It has to do with how we can all be heroes every day. In communicating this, I’m going to borrow from Mother Theresa, Gloria Steinem, Tara Stephenson and Linda Resnick.
I was feeling slightly overwhelmed the other day when I picked up the book Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff. In paging through the book, I came across a quote by Mother Theresa who said, "We cannot do great things on this earth. We can only do small things with great love." And that reinforced a story that I’ll tell about Tara Stephenson. Tara related this story to a group of us at the Delaware County Forum informal gathering. She told of driving through the city and suddenly noticing a group of teenage girls and boys of the street corner. The boys were slapping the girls on their rear ends and it looked to be getting a little rough. Hesitating only for a moment, Tara drove to the corner, stopped the car, leaned out and said, "Are you girls alright?" One of the boys shouted back, "Yeah, they’re alright, we’re just horsing around. And Tara said, "I didn’t ask you. I’m addressing the young women. Are you alright?" And there was a hushed and grateful silence emanating from the entire group. One of the girls said, "Yes, we’re fine, but thanks for stopping."
In our group, there was silence and then Linda Resnick said, "That was an outrageous act, that was an everyday rebellion." Linda’s comment brought back to me how much of an impact that particular book had been on me in the early 1980s, how I had sent it to so many of my friends and how I had tried to practice that principle for some time.
So I’d truly like to close this time by reading just a small piece of Gloria Steinem’s book of essays entitled Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions.
"If each person in the room promises that in the next 24 hours beginning the very next day, she or he will do at least one outrageous thing in the cause of simple justice, then I promise I will, too. It doesn’t matter whether the act is as small as saying, ‘Pick it up yourself.’ The point is that, if each of us does as promised, we can be pretty sure of two results. First, the world one day later won’t be quite the same. Second, we will have such a good time that we will never again get up in the morning saying, ‘Will I do anything outrageous?’ but only ‘What outrageous act will I do today?’"
I’ll end with those thoughts, that as Tara says "We can all really be heroes."
I look forward to a terrific year of working with you.
Pamela Godwin
Back to Top
COLUMNS AND REPORTS
New Members
Amy Branch, VP, Marketing/Partner Iroquois Group
520 E. Gravers Lane
Wyndmoor, PA 19038
(215) 233-1402
Marcia Burns, Site Leader/Vice President Delaware Operations
Fleet Credit Card Services
300 N. Wakefield Dr.
M/S DENWCOF2
Newark, DE 19702
(302) 266-5445
Shirley Dennis, Dir., Comm. Rel.
PECO Energy Co.
2301 Market St.
S7-1, P.O. Box 8699
Phila., PA 19109
(215) 841-4105
Julia Dutton, COO
The Philadelphia Foundation
1234 Market St., Ste. 1900
Phila., PA 19107
(215) 563-6417
Terry Graboyes, President
Graboyes Commercial Window Co.
421 N. 7th St.
Phila., PA 19123
(215) 625-8810
Michele Gregson, Practice Leader-Communications & Education
Watson Wyatt Worldwide
1600 Market St., Ste. 1800
Phila., PA 19103
(215) 569-6707
Marlene Henkin, AVP
General Accident Insurance Co.
436 Walnut St.
Phila., PA 19106
(215) 625-5901
Lori Reiner, Senior Manager
Margolis & Co.
401 E. City Ave., Ste. 600
Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004
(610) 667-6250
Linda Rosanio, Chairman/President
The Star Group
Cherry Tree Corporate Center, Rt. 38
Cherry Hill, NJ 08002
(609) 488-5500
Terrie Rouse, President/CEO
African American Museum in Phila.
701 Arch St.
Phila., PA 19106
(215) 574-0380
Veronica Saltz, Attorney
Fry Petrakis Deeb & Blum
1601 Market St., 6th fl.
Phila., PA 19103<
(215) 563-0500
Beverly Wernette, President
Ted Thomas Associates, Advertising
210 W. Washington Sq.
Phila., PA 19106
(215) 592-7500
Gretta Wilson, SVP/COO
Life & Health Insurance Co. of America
2200 Walnut St.
Phila., PA 19103
(215) 567-1246
Back to Top
Treasurer’s Report
The Forum completed its fiscal year ended June 30, 1998, with cash reserves of approximately $61,000, representing an increase of approximately $15,000 over the previous fiscal year-end reserves. Of that money, $7,000 will go to the new membership directory, which will be distributed in early September. In addition, the proceeds from the 20th anniversary celebration (approximately $26,000) are earning interest in a money market account, while The Forum Fund Committee completes its recommendation to the board on how to use the funds to support women in business.
The operating budget for fiscal year 1999 is not yet adopted but is expected to provide for a break-even to a slightly profitable 1999 year-end result. The Forum has historically adopted budgets wherein revenues meet the expenses. These expenses include the administrative fees of servicing the organization, such as postage, printing and the professional services of Tina Shaffer and Carol Testa; committee meetings; the directory update and newsletter; program speakers; gifts; and publicity.
During the coming year, the board will be examining the financial implications of positioning our organization for the year 2000 and beyond. Helen Bosley will serve as The Forum’s next treasurer. The organization will benefit from her expert financial guidance and advice during this period of transition.
—Pamela Godwin
Back to Top
Program Report
More than 100 Forum members and guests attended the first program of the 1997-98 year at the Union League, where they heard Mayor Edward Rendell address "The State of the City." Other business programs followed, including "How Does Our Region Grow?" featuring Bill Rouse, Chairman and CEO, Liberty Property Trust, and Leslie Price, Senior Vice President, Liberty.
Two programs focused on electric deregulation in Pennsylvania and what it means to businesses and consumers. Corbin McNeill, Jr., Chairman, President and CEO of PECO Energy, covered this topic at a November luncheon meeting, and Forum member Nora Mead Brownell, Commissioner of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, talked about electric competition in Philadelphia at the February meeting.
The program year drew to a close with the March meeting "Improving our Access to Power," featuring Rosemarie Greco, Past President and CEO of CoreStates Bank, Serving on the panel with Greco were Forum members Charisse Lillie, Molly Shepard and Judith von Seldeneck. In April, nearly 90 Forum members and guests heard Alice Rivlin, Vice Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, discuss "Perspectives from the Federal Reserve."
On the fun side, members enjoyed a day at the beach last August and a Philadelphia Rage basketball game in January.
The year ended with the Annual Meeting and Reception at the Four Seasons Hotel, attended by nearly 120 members.
Back to Top
Of Interest
The Small Business Association of Delaware Valley (SBADV) will present its 15th annual Success of the Female Entrepreneur conference on October 7 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia.
Keynote speakers at this year’s conference are Tracey Matisak of Fox’s Good Day Philadelphia and Forum member Claudia Post, president of Diamond Courier Service. The conference features seminars, a health fair and a business-to-business expo.
For more information, contact the SBADV at (800) 533-3732 or visit the association’s web site at www.bestofpa.com/sbadv.
The 4th Annual Salute to Montgomery County Women of Achievement event, presented by First Union Bank and the March of Dimes, will be held on October 20 at the Conshohocken Marriott West. The event honors outstanding women who live and/or work in Montgomery County. Proceeds benefit the March of Dimes. For more information, call (610) 341-6050.
Back to Top
Member News
Business News/Moves
MARIANNE CROZE is now President of Croze & Company, a direct marketing consultancy located at 216 S. Dupont Rd., Wilmington, DE 19805, (302) 654-8045.
SUZANNE GREENBERG became Senior Vice President of Cumberland Advisors upon completion of a merger with Ryan Beck and Co. in February. She had been a partner in Cumberland before the merger. Also, she participated in the One Leadership for the 21st Century Program of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia.
GLORIA GUARD, Executive Director, People’s Emergency Center, was joined by friends and supporters as she re-dedicated PEC’s West Philadelphia emergency and transitional housing facility in May. Since 1990, the building has provided 300,000 nights of housing and 1 million meals to 3,000 homeless women and children. The facility underwent a $275,000 renovation that also expanded child-care, classroom and office spaces.
ANN BIDDLE HEPBURN was appointed Managing Director of the new Macula Vision Research Foundation. The first four three-year grants for research will be awarded on Dec. 1, 1998. Macula degeneration is an eye disease that destroys central vision; it is the leading cause of blindness in America.
ELAYNE HOWARD, President, Elayne Howard & Associates, is pleased to announce the 10th anniversary of her firm, which provides strategic marketing consulting services to the health care and high-tech fields.
STEPHANIE NAIDOFF is President of the Regional Performing Arts Center, which, when built, will house the Philadelphia Orchestra and a recital theater for chamber music, dance and drama.
CATHERINE STRAUSS was promoted to Senior Vice President, Harleysville Insurance Company. Also, she was a speaker at the NAII 37th Annual Human Resource Conference.
Appointments/Elections
CONNIE BERESIN, Associate Executive Director and COO, Jewish Employment & Vocational Services, was appointed to the Leadership Council of WOMENS WAY, to the Local Steering Committee for Pennsylvania’s Career Development Marketplace System and to the Special Needs Task Force of the Jewish Federation. She is a member of the Advisory Group for the 21st Century League Report, "Implementing TANF & Act 35: A Snapshot of the Transition to a New Welfare System in Greater Philadelphia."
JOAN BIDDLE, Assistant Vice President, Marketing, Cooper Health System, was elected to the board, the Cadbury Continuing Care Retirement Community, Cherry Hill, N.J.
TERRI GELBERG, Founding Partner, Gelberg & Associates, was appointed to the board of Royal Bank of Pennsylvania and Royal Bancshares of Pennsylvania.
TERRY GRABOYES, President, Graboyes Commercial Window Co., was elected to the board, the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp.
MADELINE JANOWSKI, CPA, Asher & Co., was elected president of the Philadelphia Estate Planning Council.
LINDA MCALEER, President, The Melior Group, was elected chair of the board, WOMENS WAY.
SUZANNE ROWLAND, Business Manager, Rohm and Haas, was elected to the board of the Please Touch Museum.
DIANNE SEMINGSON, President, DLS International, was elected to the board of the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania.
Awards/Milestones
MARGO BLOOM, Director, National Museum of American Jewish History, was honored by KOLOT: The Center for Jewish Women’s and Gender Studies of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. She also served as co-chair of the annual conference of the Council of American Jewish Museums.
SHIRLEY BONNEM, Vice President, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, was honored by the Cardiac Arrhythmia Research and Education Foundation with its annual "Heart of a Child" Award.
LILA BOOTH, General Partner, LBCII, was chosen by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Community and Economic Development, as one of the state’s 50 Best Women in Business for 1998.
MONICA MALPASS, News Anchor, WPVI-TV, was the first place winner, "Spot News" category, Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters’ Broadcaster of the Year 1998, sponsored by the Philadelphia Chapter of Women in Communications.
MARIAN MARCHESE, Co-founder, VirTu, Inc., along with her partner, Joe Barone, were named in "Who’s Who in Technology," Philadelphia Business Journal. Also, Marchese was named to the board of the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania.
FRANCES PIERCE, President/CEO, Data Systems Analysts, was a finalist for the Ernst & Young 1998 Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the field of Technology-Services.
LORI REINER, Senior Associate, Margolis & Company, was named one of the Philadelphia Business Journal’s 40 under 40 for 1998.
LINDA RESNICK, President, CEO Resources, was honored as one of Pennsylvania’s 50 Best Women in Business for 1988 by the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development in association with the Business Journals of Pennsylvania. Also, she was a featured speaker at Wharton Alumni Club of Philadelphia’s 4th Annual Career Management Seminar, she moderated a panel discussion on "HR and the Bottom Line" during a program at the New Jersey Technology Council and she spoke as part of a panel of accomplished women activists at the 20th Annual Delaware County Women’s Conference. Resnick invites Forum members to visit her company’s new web site at www.ceoresources.com.
Speeches/Publications
SUZANNE FAIRLIE, President, ProSearch, was interviewed on radio station Q102 about the job search process in the Philadelphia area. Also, she will speak at the Data Analysis Management Association quarterly forum in Philadelphia about career progression in data warehousing and other technical fields.
TERRY GILLEN, Consultant, Pennsylvania Environmental Council, spoke before the Philadelphia Committee on City Policy about regionalism and taxation.
EILEEN HEISMAN, Senior Vice President, National Philanthropic Trust, had articles published in the Philadelphia Estate Planning Council Newsletter ("Donor-Advised Funds: Everything You Wanted to Know") and in Delaware NonProfit magazine ("Ten Ingredients of a Successful Planned Giving Program"). The National Philanthropic Trust was featured in an April article in The Chronicle of Philanthropy, a national trade publication. Also, the Trust received an EPIC Award from Trust & Estates magazine in recognition of its contributions to philanthropic endeavors.
FAYE HELLER, President, Philly Fasteners, was featured in an article in Small Business News about her achievements and success in the predominantly male waste-hauling business.
SUSAN O.W. JAFFE participated in the American Jewish Committee National Board Institute that traveled to Germany, Israel and Turkey to meet with these countries’ business and military leaders.
MARY PLATT, Vice Chair, Litigation Department, Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads, and ROZ POLLACK, Assistant General Counsel, PECO Energy, co-chaired "Bench and Bar: Partners in the Profession," a successful conference sponsored by the Pennsylvania Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession. This was the first conference of women lawyers and judges in Pennsylvania to focus on issues facing women in the courtroom.
ROSEANN B. ROSENTHAL, President, Ben Franklin Technology Center of Southeastern Pennsylvania, taught a course on technology-led economic development at the National Counsel for Urban Economic Development conference.
KAROL M. WASYLYSHYN, President, Leadership Development Forum, was invited to be the 1998 Distinguished Speaker at the Widener University Institute for Graduate Clinical Psychology. She will speak on "Variations on Some Themes: One Psychologist’s Journey into Corporate America." Also, Wasylyshyn’s article entitled "Executive Coaching—the Need for Standards of Competence" was accepted for publication by the Journal of Consulting Psychology.
Personal Notes
RALF RUNDGREN GRAVES, Principal, Astrion, traveled to Estonia, Lithuania and Croatia in May on behalf of Carelift International to begin the implementation of the new International Medical Exchange Program of the Open Society Institute. In June, she hosted a delegation from Croatia, who were in the U.S. to study IPOs and underwriting.
VIVIAN GREY, while providing clients with marketing communications projects, as president of Vivian Grey & Associates Marketing Communications, also has been active as the author of books for younger readers. In June, as part of its reception for distinguished authors, Cornell University’s bookstore featured Grey’s most recent book, The Spy Behind Home Plate: Moe Berg. She also lectures at the University of Pennsylvania on writing for the children’s market. Founder of the 27-year-old Rutgers University Advisory Council on Children’s Literature, Grey helped to establish a manuscript and illustration repository at the Zimmerli Art Museum.
Back to Top
EXTRAS
Special Thanks
Our thanks to Judy von Seldeneck and her company, Diversified Search, for their generosity in helping to sponsor The Forum’s annual meeting and reception in June.
Errata
In the last issue of this newsletter, we listed an incorrect business address for new member Juliet Newman, Owner/President, Details, Inc. The correct address is 131 S. 18th St., Phila., PA 19103, (215) 977-9559.
We apologize for the error.
Back to Top