2017 CONFERENCE THEME LEAD WITH PURPOSE: REALIZE YOUR PASSION AND POTENTIAL
You’re impassioned in your commitments, your loyalty and your determination. With each pursuit, your nature is to be purposeful, isn’t it? Whether you’re a seasoned leader or just getting your feet wet, your intrinsic drive will determine whether or not you realize your full potential as you see it.
Leading With Purpose requires stepping into the spotlight. Being bright is exactly what leadership demands. We have a full spectrum of breakout sessions, speakers and panel discussions to address any level of leadership you currently occupy, as well as those you aspire to hold.
We invite you to spend an entire day with thought leaders and co-creators in an engaging forum. Join us at the Women’s Leadership Conference of Southern Oregon and Lead With Purpose.
Sessions
A powerful day filled with passionate, nationally recognized keynote speakers, breakout sessions, and panel workshops led by resident community leaders, offering a variety of topics designed to meet all levels of leadership—from those you are currently undertaking, as well as challenges you may face in the near future.
Take a look to see which sessions fit your particular level or interests so you can be prepared to make your final decision the morning of the conference. We’re sure you’ll find more than enough to engage your passion and inspire your purpose.
The schedule is also available for download. PDF
REGISTRATION 7:45am – 8:15am
OPENING REMARKS 8:15am – 8:30am
MORNING KEYNOTE 8:30am – 9:30am
Reframe Your Perspective and Lead a Life of Passion and Purpose
SPEAKER: Mona Patel
Why not? What if? If those questions give you pause, it might be because you’ve been carrying around the wrong frame. To overcome this mindset, WLC Keynote speaker Mona Patel proposes a new way of seeing and working. Her approach will help you discover your own individual roadblocks to accessing creativity. Once we recognize the roadblocks, they can be managed so they don’t develop into excuses for procrastination. By reframing the situation, we’re able to change our perspective and develop the personal determination to find new solutions.
Mona’s process will present a series of steps and techniques that will allow you to take advantage of your own vision and break through limiting mental models to find meaningful opportunities and ideas for action. Her approach will teach you to refocus your mindset and see problems not as annoying, insurmountable, irrefutable obstacles but amazing, juicy, creative opportunities. Issues then transform into openings that allow you to invent, innovate, create, explore in order to solve a problem and stop feeling stuck.
TRANSITION 9:30am – 9:45am
BREAKOUT SESSIONS #1 9:45am – 10:45am
COMMUNICATION/BRANDING YOU
How does communication affect your effectiveness as a leader? Whether you are a corporate professional, small business owner, or a leader in the non-profit or educational sectors, how you present yourself on the page, online and in person matters. Hear from communications and marketing professionals about how to increase your impact by refining your message.
SPEAKER: Gwenne Wilcox
Career Track: Beginning Career Level
Brand Purpose: your magic ingredient
Brand purpose is the one thing you are known for—that one thing that separates you from everyone else—and expresses the kind of experience you deliver consistently and passionately. It’s the one thing which is so natural yet easily overlooked. This singular idea is then translated into a compelling message and communicated through every marketing channel.
Brand Story: your magic beans
Something possessed you to pursue your dream – case studies of brand stories
- Your source of inspiration
- An impressionable experience
- A specific unshakeable deep motivation
- An unarticulated passion
Brand Personality: your magic spell
Your brand IS personal. It’s you. Your brand has to sound, look and act like you. If your customers were able to sit down with you, would your website or social media presence deliver that same experience or would it seem out of alignment?
Brand Alignment: your magic show
Brand alignment is the voice, personality and experience your customers recognize anywhere both internally and externally. It’s your personal Cirque du Soleil.
- Internal brand alignment—every member of your organization is passionately living the brand by creating products, services and experiences that emulate the brand purpose.
- External brand alignment—your products, services and experiences become the external extension of your brand’s purpose.
When both are accurately represented, your customer’s interaction with your brand create perceptions aligned with you and your organization’s passion, personality and purpose. Then you can take your show anywhere!
SPEAKER: Moneeka Settles
Career Track: Mid-Career Level
How do women share their voice differently than men do in the workplace? How are women heard differently? In this workshop, participants will explore how women’s voices are currently understood and how they could be amplified. We will role play scenarios and discuss tools for how to make sure a woman’s voice is heard clearly in a meeting, through a resume, translated by a reference letter and as a negotiator.
SPEAKER: Brenda Johnson
Career Track: Advanced Career Level
Have you ever avoided conversations because you were afraid of the other person’s reaction, or struggled getting clear about what message you wanted to send in the first place? Have you ever left conversations feeling incomplete, frustrated, and confused? Have you seen co-workers challenged by their peer or supervisory relationships and wished you knew how to support them in having open and direct conversations?
If you have wondered what you could do to communicate more effectively and with greater ease, this session is for you.
Communication skills are critical for success, especially for leaders who want to create strong relationships and become more effective in their work. This interactive session is designed to provide practical tools for communication that can be used in high-stakes conversations as well as in coaching co-workers or employees. Through use of a tool called the Awareness Wheel, for example, participants will gain understanding of themselves as they practice how to frame a challenging conversation, get clear about a desired outcome, and create a courageous and calming path for communication. Continued practice with simple yet powerful tools such as this lead to fewer misunderstandings, greater authenticity in relationships, and increased levels of personal self-awareness and efficacy.
This session is structured with large group discussion, individual reflection, and learning partner dialogue. Participants will leave with copies of tools they can begin using immediately.
SPEAKER: Stacy Ferratti
Career Track: All Career Levels
A critical component of leadership is your ability to speak effectively to convey information, persuade, and inspire. But like many people, you may lack knowledge or confidence about how to do this effectively. In addition, if you experience anxiety about making a presentation, you may feel less than motivated to take on this growth opportunity. The downside, if you don’t take it on, is that you will remain uncomfortable, likely be less effective than you could, and also, you won’t experience your full power as a leader. On the other hand, if you accept the challenge, you will grow in your ability to effectively communicate your ideas, and to persuade and inspire others. You will experience freedom and a sense of yourself that only comes from taking a risk. And at some point, you will find you are enjoying yourself in front of an engaged audience, and making a difference.
In this interactive workshop, you will practice skills for effectively opening your presentations, organizing your content, and using body language and voice to your best advantage. Along the way, we’ll have fun while learning practical skills that you can use immediately.
TRANSITION 10:45am – 11:00am
BREAKOUT SESSIONS #2 11:00am – 12:00am
MANAGEMENT
Decision making and management skills are the hallmarks of any effective leader. These breakout sessions will provide an opportunity for attendees to learn from the experience of prominent leaders in our community. Gender inequality and navigating career paths will also be discussed.
SPEAKER: Jamie Ross
Career Track: Beginning Career Level
We all have a place in the workforce and we can all hone our skills of getting there – the ability to get a job offer through effective writing and preparation of your resume, cover letter, and interview. Whether you are just starting your career or looking to make a change, this session will help you be confident in your documents and preparation. Through The 4 P’s of Interviewing (presentation, personality, proficiency, and potential), you will learn the framework for showing you are the perfect candidate. We will also talk about preparation for writing resumes and cover letters, and formulating answers to potential interview questions.
Recognizing challenges and realizing your leadership potential
SPEAKER: Dr. Laurie Addison-Lavelle
Career Track: Mid-Career Level
This session will highlight recent studies and current trending of women in leadership and gender inequality in general, and emphasize millennial women in business leadership. Dr. Addison-Lavelle will showcase several research findings from large, global studies conducted by McKinsey Group, Price Waterhouse Coopers, the United Nations, and her own research from her doctoral focus on millennial women in leadership. With over 60% of the global workforce, 75% of senior level leadership positions, and 95% of CEO positions within the world’s largest corporations being held by men (United Nations Parity Report, 2016), the issue of women in business leadership has never been more important. These studies will show current trends and issues of gender biases and issues impacting women in business and leadership with an intent to lead to better understanding and creating a path to self-awareness for both women and men. The research shows the top trends of the common gender biases that young women are facing in the new world of work and how it impacts career progression. The top trends of why women leave organizations will be discussed with interactive polling via mobile devices during the session to gauge the audience’s experiences. These real-time polling results will be used for further discussion and some interactive Q&A for lively engagement and quality audience experience.
The session will also cover important considerations to: 1) help recognize the gender related biases that impact women and young women in the workplace, 2) assist with creating self-awareness and managing yourself more effectively, and, 3) better manage staff members and your overall business or organizational environment in the context of gender equality.
The ultimate goal of this session is create more awareness of the new world of gender biases now impacting our new generation of millennial women, identify the key considerations and areas where we all can look for helping to improve and eliminate inequalities in the workplace and in the greater world, and help advance women in leadership overall.
SPEAKERS: Dr. Cathy Kemper-Pelle and Dr. Linda Schott
Career Track: Advanced Career Level
Dr. Scott and Dr. Kemper-Pelle will discuss the challenges encountered as they each rose through the ranks of higher education administration to become successful leaders of their institutions. Questions taken from the local WLC and Women in the Workplace surveys will be used to facilitate the presentation.
SPEAKER: Dr. Tim Becker
Career Track: All Career Levels
Good choice…good decision! You decided to attend this session. Thank you. It’s great to have you here and I hope to exceed your expectations and interest in the topic.
This presentation is intended to enable you to take a practitioner’s view of decision making and its role and possibilities at work and your personal life. Speaking about life, it’s about making choices, choices of jobs, locations, purchases, friends, schools, and almost everything. We will look at this from a macro perspective where you are making decisions which will contribute to a big project or something with very significant consequences. In parallel, we will investigate decision making from a micro view where you are deciding for you or for others, but few others are involved in the decisions. Finally, you will learn and practice a decision making tool that you all have been recipients or victim of.
LUNCH 12:00pm – 1:15pm
TRANSITION 1:15pm – 1:30pm
BREAKOUT SESSION #3 1:30pm – 2:30pm
DIVERSITY
In these breakout sessions, speakers will tackle the sensitive, yet vital topic of cultural diversity in leadership: How to address it, how to discuss it and what changes are required to be certain it does not get ignored in all areas of our community.
SPEAKERS: Mona Patel and V. Simone Stewart
Career Track: Early Career Level
Traditional male and female roles still exist in many cultures. In these cultures, women are often expected to be wives and mothers and choose family over career. How do women choose career first and help their traditional family members understand their choice?
SPEAKERS: Alma Rosa Alvarez and Marjorie Trueblood-Gamble
Career Track: Mid-Career Level
In the United States, we profess the values of egalitarianism and democracy. While we subscribe to these, we can also be obstacles to creating truly equitable communities. One barrier is prioritizing the identity of gender at the expense of other intersecting identities such as race, class, and sexual orientation. This leads to other barriers such as a lack of awareness or minimization of other oppressive forces that we may be complicit to. Sometimes we may have awareness, but we lack the courage or skill set to engage in difficult conversations and difference. We fear making mistakes. We fear inadvertently offending others. We fear being misperceived. This session seeks to remove some of the obstacles to race awareness through The Race Tool Kit which contains activity prompts, experiential activities and videos with discussion questions. We will provide participants with a safe, space for low-stakes entry into race conversations. Through modeling of the Race Tool Kit, participants will learn how to facilitate their own race conversations in the workplace and other spheres of influence.
SPEAKER: Alena Amato Ruggerio
Career Track: Advanced Career Level
Doxxing and microagressions existed before we had language for them, but now that the words are coined, it’s easier to recognize when they’re happening and do something in response. It’s the same way with women’s lives: when our experiences are identified with words, we can better understand, value, and act on them.
During this session, you will be learning the steps of communication creativity and hearing stories of other people who have successfully gone through this process. Together we will identify some experiences that have gone unnamed, look to existing examples of language use for ideas, generate new words to honor those experiences, and share that language interpersonally and digitally with friends, family, and the wider community. This skill of communication creativity can be helpful in both the workplace and personal life, but it’s not just useful in helping individual women find their voice—it’s also one of our best collective responses to cultural silencing.
If you attended Dr. Ruggerio’s workshop at the 2015 Women’s Leadership Conference, this session will pick up approximately where she left off. If this is your first trip to AlenaLand, however, don’t worry, we’ll start with an overview of the fundamentals.
Join Alena as she names moments in her own story of fighting through the challenges of life, and leads you in putting words to your own experiences in the workplace and beyond. Communication is never a solitary activity, however, so we’ll be walking through the steps together in an interactive format. And discover the definitions of doxxing and microagressions if they’re new to you!
SPEAKERS: Mary Ferrell, Shae Johns, Kate Lasky, Gilda Montenegro
Career Track: All Career Levels
“Your profession is not what brings home your weekly paycheck. Your profession is what you’re put here on earth to do, with such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling.” —Vincent Van Gogh
Meet three nonprofit leaders from local education and charitable fields who work for the common good: Mary Farrell (Maslow Project), Shea Johns (Southern Oregon Goodwill Industries), and Kate Lasky (Josephine County Libraries). Each have a unique story to tell including the mentors who inspired them to follow their paths toward leadership in the community and how they leverage challenges such as constant fundraising and lack of resources. The discussion will be moderated by Gilda Montenegro-Fix, a former Costa Rican Olympic athlete and current entrepreneur, who brings her own unique passion and commitment to the nonprofit community as well.
TRANSITION 2:30pm – 2:45pm
BREAKOUT SESSION #4 2:45pm – 3:45pm
WORK/LIFE BALANCE
Effective leadership can only be sustained when self-care and balance are prioritized. These breakout sessions will empower established leaders and those warming to the concept to strike a healthy balance while boldly moving to changing the world!
SPEAKER: Carol Putnam
Career Track: Early Career Level
No matter how well we plan, there will always be unanticipated events, delays, and/or emergencies. It can be as simple as losing your car keys or forgetting to pay a bill and feeling unsettled. You can be challenged by having an argument with someone important to you, losing a job, or feeling overwhelmed by life.
How do you remain resilient in the face of seemingly unrelenting challenges? Resilience is the ability to effectively cope with adversity, to have the flexibility to bounce back when knocked down. Developing adaptability in the face of unanticipated events can seem daunting. Resilience isn’t a personality trait. It is a skill that can be learned and practiced.
Avoidance, pretending something didn’t happen, getting angry, withdrawing, blaming others (or yourself), or wallowing in pain are coping behaviors people typically use when they feel buffeted by the circumstances of life. Unfortunately, those are short term solutions with negative consequences.
Even for the self-aware, unanticipated struggles can take us by surprise and knock us off our center. Developing resilience can help you regain your balance. This interactive session will help you understand the difference between coping and resilience and teach you specific practices to increase your adaptability.
This workshop will be a combination of mini-presentations and experiential exercises.
SPEAKER: Megan Peterson
Career Track: Mid-Career Level
If you’re feeling trapped in your work environment but love what you do, then this session is for you! After nearly fifteen years of working in film production in Los Angeles, my husband and I decided to raise our two sons in a rural environment near my family. Against everyone’s advice that I would lose my relevancy once I was out of ‘the industry’, we packed up and moved.
Five years later, I am still making television and films from a home office in Etna, California, and have come to realize that most of the hurdles to making a big change that we claim exist are most often mental barriers. In this session you’ll learn how it’s possible to break free from the traditional mindset of what an office is, and how to assess if a move is right for you. You will be introduced to different approaches that can ease the transition from office to home, and we will dive into some of the technology and virtual tools that can make your home office feel as if it’s just down the hall. You will emerge inspired.
I’m so busy! Whose job is it to take care of me?
SPEAKER: Sue Kretschmann
Career Track: Advanced Career Level
It would be nice if we could delegate the job of self-care to someone – maybe to an employee, an assistant, or to our spouse! However, this is an inside job. Sometimes though, we’re not sure what it takes to have more than enough energy – especially when we’re running top speed all day. It can feel like we just don’t have enough time to fit in one more thing – even if it might make us feel better. However, there is a stream-lined and efficient path to successful self-care.
As leaders, we know that our passion, energy, and well-being are visible to everyone. If you wonder about any of these ‘self-check’ questions, this session is designed for you:
- What does my current level of energy and passion say to my family, colleagues, and organizational leaders?
- Am I a source of energy for others – or not so much?
- Am I frazzled and frayed at the edge by what is asked of me every day?
- Everyone seems to need something from me – can I really get it all done and still have time for myself?
- When was the last time I felt an abundance of energy?
- What types of activities drain my energy?
Each of us have our own unique needs – yet often we don’t know what we need in the day to have a sense of personal satisfaction. Knowing our personal needs directs us to specific actions that will ensure these needs are met. When our needs are met, we have a strong sense of self-control, as well as a greater satisfaction from both work and home activities. When our needs are defined, we can set and uphold our boundaries, we have more personal discipline to use our time intentionally, and our actions are more goal-oriented.
SPEAKER: Michelle Atkinson
Career Track: All Career Levels
Being a candidate for an election requires that you put yourself “out there” and be vulnerable but can help lead to great improvements in your community, even if you aren’t elected. It can be scary talking to large crowds, knocking on strangers’ doors alone, and being criticized by press. Yet just by running for public office you can engage in your community and find shared goals with your fellow residents.
In this session, Michelle will discuss how to embrace your vulnerability and engage people in a political campaign so that you can improve the lives of people in your community.
In this session you will learn how to:
– Engage Positively with Community Members
– Build and Organize Your Team
– Grow and Promote Your Facebook Page
– Find Volunteers
– Fundraise Efficiently
– Make a Budget
– Attend Events
– Knock on Doors
TRANSITION 3:45pm – 4:00pm
AFTERNOON KEYNOTE 4:00pm – 4:45pm
Taking a Seat at the Table
SPEAKER: Kris Allison
This presentation focuses on the importance of being at the “table” in your organization and how you can make a difference when you have a voice. This presentation comes from a professional and personal experience of how to break barriers, engage mentors and identify the true issues in being in leadership.
CLOSING REMARKS 4:45pm – 5:00pm
RECEPTION 5:00pm – 6:00pm
Bringing WLC to YOUR Company
SPEAKERS: Barbara Perkins, Jeri Reno
What would it look like if the values and goals of the WLC program were incorporated into your company? Barbara Perkins of Lithia Motors and Jeri Reno of People’s Bank share their stories of their efforts to introduce women’s leadership functions into their organizations. Each will share what moved them to make these programs a reality and the challenges that they faced in the process. Learn what worked and what didn’t. This is a great chance for you to get ideas of things that you could do to incorporate the WLC program into your workplace, spreading the content and support further into the community. Hopefully, their stories will inspire and prepare you to begin a journey of your own.
Speakers
Brenda Johnson
Breakout Session
Communicating with Ease: Effective Tools for Communicating in Any Setting
Dr. Laurie Addison Lavelle
Breakout Session
Millennial Women in Business Leadership – Recognizing Challenges and Realizing Your Leadership Potential
Megan PetersonBreakout Session
‘You’re Moving Where?’ Trying To Do What You Love No Matter Where You Are
Sue KretschmannBreakout Session
I’m so busy! Whose job is it to take care of me? Self-Care for Leaders
Mona Patel
2017 KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Mona Patel is a dynamic and engaging entrepreneur with 17 years of experience assisting the world’s top brands in reimaging their creative ideation process to ultimately optimize customer experience. She is the Founder and CEO of Motivate Design, a user experience (UX), research design, and staffing agency that specializes in helping major corporations in establishing a company vision and ensuring that resources are effectively allocated to execute it. With a degree in engineering psychology, Mona’s expertise sits at the intersection of human emotion and technology. She has assisted clients including Mercedes-Benz and GE in identifying the next ‘Big Thing’ by encouraging the exploration of new research methodologies, emerging markets, and new ideas that meet consumer needs while at the same time tapping into emerging and innovative technologies. The best-selling author of Reframe: Shift the Way You Work, Innovate, and Think, Mona inspires clients to think outside the box by offering an actionable and practical roadmap for breaking through creative barriers and generating great ideas.
Kris Allison
2017 CLOSING SPEAKER
Chief Kristine Allison started her law enforcement career in 1992 as a Cadet with the Oregon State Police. In 1994, Chief Allison was hired by the Phoenix Police Department as a Reserve Officer and sworn in as a Patrol Officer in 1996. In 1996, Chief Allison was hired by the Lincoln City Police Department, Lincoln City Oregon until 1998. In 1998, Chief Allison had the opportunity to come back to her home and was hired by the City of Central Point Police Department where she has remained for the last eighteen years. Chief Allison has held the position of patrol officer, Field Training Officer, Detective, Lieutenant, Captain, and has been the Chief of Police for the last five years. Chief Allison has a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from Southern Oregon University and a Master of Criminal Justice from Boston University.
Gwenne Wilcox
2017 BREAKOUT SESSION SPEAKER
Gwenne Wilcox began working with branding pioneers on Madison Avenue in New York. Since 1990, her creative advertising solutions for multi-million dollar brands such as Stuart Weitzman, American Express, Herman Miller, and Gianni Versace have gained national and international recognition. An early adopter to digital marketing, Ms. Wilcox has launched online brands from small start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. Three years after graduating from the prestigious Art Center College of Design, Gwenne started her own design firm with just one project: establishing the branding for entrepreneur shoe designer Stuart Weitzman (which later sold to Coach for $575 million). Other clients such as Newsweek Magazine, Genentech, and DeBeers Diamonds soon followed. She has worked on campaigns for notable advertising agencies Riney (fna Hal Riney & Partners) in San Francisco, NW Ayer in New York, and helped launch WongDoody Advertising in Seattle in 1994. In 2005, Harry & David recruited Ms. Wilcox as Creative Director for their retail, wholesale and B2B divisions. Her collective experiences on both the agency and corporate sides provide a unique perspective in delivering a comprehensive brand strategy, resulting in predictable customer engagement and purchasing outcomes. Her branding company, RockPaperScissors, provides revenue generating content marketing strategies for privately owned and entrepreneurial-led companies.
Moneeka Settles
2017 BREAKOUT SESSION SPEAKER
Moneeka Settles is the Program Coordinator for the Innovation and Leadership degree at Southern Oregon University. She teaches both Intercultural Communication and Organizational Communication at S.O.U. She holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership from Columbia University. She has advocated for and taught many young women how to best understand how their voices are used in the classroom and the workplace.
Brenda Johnson
2017 BREAKOUT SESSION SPEAKER
Brenda has more than 16 years of non-profit leadership experience in migrant and community healthcare and community development. Brenda is known as a collaborative leader who has worked in the field of child abuse prevention, public health, and health disparities, and as CEO of La Clinica leads in the provision of medical, dental and social services to the diverse and low-income populations in Southern Oregon. Brenda has served on the Board of Directors for several local, regional, and state organizations focused on improving the health and well-being of people who live in poverty. Brenda notes she is grateful to witness the power and resilience of the human spirit and is fascinated with what is possible when individuals and organizations align in service to a common purpose. Brenda spends her free time with her family and friends—playing.
Stacy Ferratti
2017 BREAKOUT SESSION SPEAKER
Stacy Ferratti has a direct and humorous coaching style that puts both individuals and groups at ease. She is an insightful coach who has spent her entire career helping organizations and individuals create clear and compelling communications.
After graduating from Boston University with a degree in Mass Communication, Stacy began her career as a graphic designer at Boston University Medical School and Suffolk University in Boston. After having what she describes as an “epiphany,” she transitioned to the field of training and consulting.
Stacy teaches and coaches Presentation Skills, as well as Leadership, Collaboration, and Facilitation.
She works with many different types of individuals and organizations to create effective presentations, including sales people who need to speak to executive decision makers, engineers (and others!) who would rather not make presentations but have to, and executives who are getting ready for a keynote address.
Jamie Ross
2017 BREAKOUT SESSION SPEAKER
As the owner of You to the Next Level, Jamie Ross provides resume and interview guidance and coaches clients to boost confidence in the face of career changes. Jamie is also a trainer for Asante’s Information Technology Department providing technical and non-technical training to new and current staff. She was a mentor in The Job Council’s Women’s Mentoring Circle where she led resume reviews, mock interviews, and support to women in career transition. Jamie is a frequent speaker through Toastmasters International where she has held various leadership roles and mentored new members. Jamie graduated with a Masters in Applied Psychology in Organizational Training & Development and worked in higher education for several years. She has previously held various positions with Horizon Air, T-Mobile and Walt Disney World.
Dr. Laurie Addison-Lavelle
2017 BREAKOUT SESSION SPEAKER
Dr. Laurie Addison-Lavelle is a senior leader for a large global technology business, Schneider Electric, with responsibility for global marketing strategy and execution. This includes overseeing staff members in Asia-Pacific, India, Europe, North America, Latin America, and the Middle East. Laurie is also the founder and president of Greater Good Leadership, a consultancy and coaching business focused on developing leaders and helping them find purpose for their businesses, organizations, and themselves, and is centered around the philosophy of the greater good leadership ecosystem
Laurie earned her doctorate in Organizational Leadership from Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Education and Psychology, with a focus on women in leadership and gender equality issues. Laurie was raised in a small town in Oregon (Baker City), and while currently residing in Southern California, she still calls Oregon, “home.”
Dr. Linda Schott
2017 BREAKOUT SESSION SPEAKER
Dr. Linda Schott is the President of Southern Oregon University. She grew up on a cattle ranch in the Texas Hill Country. After graduating from Bandera High School she attended Baylor University and received a B.A. in history and German in 1979. She then attended Stanford University, earning an M.A. in History in 1982 and a Ph.D. in History and Humanities in 1986. Dr. Schott returned to Texas to begin her teaching career, working first at Texas State University, then at Texas Lutheran University. Later, she worked at the University of Texas at San Antonio where she was an assistant and associate professor of history and American Studies as well as the Director of the Center for the Study of Women and Gender.
In 2003, Dr. Schott began her career at Eastern Michigan University as Director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program. In 2006 she became head of the Department of History and Philosophy as well as Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. In 2008, Dr. Schott began serving as the Dean of the School of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Fort Lewis College in
Durango, Colorado. In 2012, Dr. Schott became the president of the University of Maine at Presque Isle.
Dr. Schott is a specialist in the intellectual history and the history of women in the United States. She has published several articles on Women in Texas, the Peace Movement, and is also the author of Reconstructing Women’s Thoughts: The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, 1915-1941, published by Stanford University Press in 1997.
Dr. Cathy Kemper-Pelle
2017 BREAKOUT SESSION SPEAKER
Dr. Kemper-Pelle is the President of Rogue Community College. She is a first-generation college graduate. After earning her A.S. in General Studies, she transferred to Illinois State University where she earned both a B.S. and M.S. in Biological Sciences. She discovered teaching as a career while working as a marine research biologist at McNeese State University.
Teaching became her passion, and she reconnected with her community college roots at Lone Star College in Texas. Cathy created many innovative instructional programs that included field biology courses, service learning, honors programs, and multiple online biology courses.
Dr. Kemper-Pelle has served as Vice President of Teaching and Learning Services at Tarrant County College, Dean of Academic Affairs and Dean of Institutional Effectiveness and Accreditation at Blinn College, and Vice President of Learning at Lee College, all community colleges in Texas.
Her executive leadership positions have taught her – It’s all about relationships. She has extensive experience in integrated strategic planning and leveraging financial and human capital to build synergy through collaborative alignment. She has engaged local communities in the identification of educational needs and built exemplary college partnerships with school districts, businesses, and industry.
Cathy is married to Robert Pelle, and together they have five grown children and three grandchildren. Both Cathy and Rob are avid outdoor enthusiasts who fit in well in Southern Oregon.
Dr. Tim Becker
2017 BREAKOUT SESSION SPEAKER
An academic, entrepreneur and futurist, Dr. Becker never stops. He is always thinking, creating, challenging, and enhancing, whether it is in a university classroom, office, or in the business environment. He has directed over 3,000 employees in an airline’s worldwide customer service operation, co-lead the startup of an airline in Australia, and co-founded and developed a patented learning software program and company. In academics, he has taught for over 20 years, developed and updated over 20 courses, and was one of six faculty members tasked with developing the first online competency-based
education Bachelor of Arts program. Further, he has authored a book “Challenge Givens,” regularly presents at the annual Lilly Conference on Teaching and Learning.
In Dr. Becker’s many past and ongoing endeavors he is creative, decisive, and supportive. Students and employees of Dr. Becker excel in the fields of study and work and thrive in practical and out-of-the-box settings. Throughout his career he
has practiced what his fourth-grade teacher encouraged, ‘don’t be a me-no- can be an I-can- do!‘
He has traveled to 38 states in USA and 21 countries. Tim is a graduate of Luther College, received an MBA from the University of Dallas, and a DBA from United States International University.
V. Simone Stewart
2017 BREAKOUT SESSION SPEAKER
Simone Stewart is a first generation American. With a Latin father and Hungarian mother, who lost most of her parents’ family members to holocaust genocide, Stewart’s upbringing was based on the American/Latin ideals of “you can do anything in life; But you are a girl, so serving a husband and raising children should be your career.” She went against her parents’ wishes. Born with an entrepreneurial spirit, Stewart owned and operated a consignment and antique shop in Ashland, Oregon, in the early 2000s.
When she sold her shop, she freelanced as a wine and food reviewer, a wine buyer, an antique dealer, and a marketing guru. Currently, Stewart is a full-time employee of the SOU Small Business Development Center where she helps local entrepreneurs grow their businesses. She is the Vice Chair of the City of Medford Arts Commission, on the board of Directors of Southern Oregon Film and Media, on the advisory board of Collaborative Theatre Project, and a long-time Jackson County/Medford Chamber of Commerce Ambassador. Stewart has been a professional stage and film actor for over 30 years and continues to work in theater, film, and TV projects in Southern Oregon.
Stewart graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1990 with her Bachelor’s degree and is currently working toward earning her MBA in Marketing at Southern Oregon University.
Marjorie Trueblood-Gamble
2017 BREAKOUT SESSION SPEAKER
Marjorie Trueblood-Gamble is the Director of the Diversity and Inclusion and Title IX Coordinator for Southern Oregon University. Outside of work, she is one of the co-founders of the Race Equity Coalition, a grassroots organization that seeks to promote racial equity in the Rogue Valley. She strives to build community through creating space for conversations and connecting students and community members to diversity, inclusion, and equity resources.
Alma Rosa Alvarez
2017 BREAKOUT SESSION SPEAKER
Alma Rosa Alvarez is a professor of English at Southern Oregon University where she teaches U.S. Ethnic Literature. She is the co-founder of the Race Equity Coalition, an organization that seeks to promote dialogue for greater racial understanding.
Alena Ruggerio
2017 BREAKOUT SESSION SPEAKER
Alena Amato Ruggerio loves several things: human communication, women’s issues, progressive religion, and she loves it even better when she can combine any two or all three together.
As a professor of Communication Studies and Chair of Communication at Southern Oregon University, Alena teaches courses such as Women Transforming Language, Evaluation of Public Communication, Persuasion, Argumentation and Critical Thinking, Interpersonal Communication, Research Writing Strategies, and Advanced Public Speaking. Recipient of the AHA International Outstanding Visiting Faculty of the Year Award, she was voted Most Warm and Welcoming Professor by the Associated Students of Southern Oregon University and is under consideration for a Distinguished Teaching Award this year at SOU. Alena is the editor of the book Media Depictions of Brides, Wives, and Mothers (Lexington Books), and her work has appeared in the journals Feminist Media Studies and Qualitative Research Reports in Communication. She holds a Ph.D. from Indiana University in Communication and Culture.
Kate Lasky
2017 BREAKOUT SESSION SPEAKER
Kate Lasky has been the Executive Director of Josephine Community Libraries, Inc. since 2010. She holds a master’s in education and serves on the Oregon Library Association Legislative and Development Committee and the Public Library Division Board. Kate is also a board member of the Oregon Humanities. In 2015, she was honored by the Oregon Library Association with the Olé award which annually recognizes an Oregon public library employee who has displayed exceptional effort and excellence.
Shae Johns
2017 BREAKOUT SESSION SPEAKER
Shae Johns is the President and CEO of Southern Oregon Goodwill—a role she has held since November 2014. Shae was born in West Virginia but considers herself a native Oregonian, having attended school in the Rogue Valley from elementary through high school. She is proud to have been the team captain of the 1995 South Medford Conference champion women’s basketball team. In 2001, she relocated to Colorado to pursue her master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Denver, while beginning a career in healthcare. While in Denver, Shae met her husband Chris. They have two children, a boy (age 5) and a girl (age 8). In 2009, she jumped at the opportunity to return to the Rogue Valley to be closer to family and to raise her kids in this beautiful area. Returning to Goodwill in 2011 as the Director of Mission Services, Shae was thrilled to be back doing what she enjoys the most — helping people with barriers find and keep jobs. Shae volunteers many hours in the Rogue Valley from coaching youth sports to serving as the Board President for the Addictions Recovery Center. Shae has a lifetime love of equestrian sports and spends as much free time as possible with her family enjoying the many recreational opportunities of lakes, mountains, and ocean beaches that Southern Oregon offers.
Mary Ferrell
2017 BREAKOUT SESSION SPEAKER
Mary Ferrell is the Founder and Executive Director of Maslow Project-an outreach and advocacy center for homeless children and families. Mary graduated from Southern Oregon University and began working with homeless youth through the Medford School District in 2000. After seven years of direct service and advocacy, Mary founded Maslow Project, a “youth-centered” one-stop resource center where kids and families could quickly and easily access essential needs and services with minimal red tape, to help maintain and support their connection to the school.
Maslow has been featured in the New York Times, BBC, and 20/20. Mary has received recognition for her work including the SOU Alumni Service Award and is an American Leadership Senior Fellow. Mary is part of Southern Oregon Success; helping to align the social, public and private sectors in Southern Oregon working toward collective impact on the health, wellness and educational success of the community’s children and families.
Gilda Montenegro
2017 BREAKOUT SESSION SPEAKER
Gilda Montenegro-Fix is a Costa Rican woman, mother, wife, adventurous world traveler, and global citizen. She represented her country in two Olympic Games (Barcelona ‘92 and Atlanta ‘96), in the sport of whitewater slalom kayak, being the only woman from all of Latin America to compete in this discipline.
Ms. Montenegro-Fix has worked in the fields of outdoor leadership, social work, early childhood, family support, cross-cultural communication, and Diversity and Inclusion. She is passionate about facilitating understanding, cultivating harmony and building bridges that connect us all.
Carol Putnam
2017 BREAKOUT SESSION SPEAKER
Carol Putnam, Ph.D. is a coach, workshop developer, and master facilitator. For more than 25 years she worked at global, hi-tech powerhouses Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, and Tektronix. During her tenure, she led global teams, managed multiple organizational restructuring initiatives, drove leadership development programs, and cultural change efforts. She coached executives, developed communication strategies, and global management development programs. Carol also designed and facilitated strategic planning meetings for executives.
Carol’s experience has given her a deep appreciation for the challenges her clients face in a rapidly changing environment. She utilizes her global experience, education, and training to support clients as they navigate opportunities and obstacles in their professional and personal lives. An advocate of thriving instead of striving, her coaching business is called: Why Strive? Thrive!
Megan Peterson
2017 BREAKOUT SESSION SPEAKER
Megan Peterson (Writer/Producer/Director) has been involved in features, television, and documentary filmmaking since 1999, and is passionate about all things film and story. She has produced, directed and written more than 160 hours of on-air programming for a wide range of cable networks, along with multiple distributed independent features, industrials, and music videos. In 2012, Ms. Peterson made her feature film directorial debut with the critically acclaimed feature Heathens & Thieves, starring Don Swayze and Gwendoline Yeo, and is currently in development on her second feature. In her spare time, she is the executive director of the Jefferson State FLIXX FEST, a film festival now in its third year. In the past, she has also served as a juror for such prestigious festivals as the Los Angeles Film Festival, the Milledgeville Film Festival, Sundance Writing Labs, and the International Documentary Awards, and was a founding member of the United Nations Association Film Festival.
Having recently relocated to Scott Valley, Ms. Peterson continues to write and produce cable programming in addition to her work with the newly formed Scott Valley Film Coalition and is currently writing numerous immersive audio tours for the app Detour.com. She received her MFA from the University of Southern California under the mentorship of Robert Zemeckis and is a graduate of Stanford University, magna cum laude.
Sue Kretschmann
2017 BREAKOUT SESSION SPEAKER
Sue started her career as a new graduate RN at Stanford University Medical Center. During these first years, Sue received development and mentorship as an RN, Nurse Manager, and Project Manager. After working as a Nursing instructor in Bend, Oregon, Sue and her family relocated to the Rogue Valley in 2002. Sue continues to work in healthcare, now as a Senior Project Manager for Providence Medford Medical Center.
Sue’s primary career focus now is as a personal & leadership coach. In this role, Sue’s gratification comes from the success of her clients. In these professional partnerships, Sue’s clients develop action-based strategies to successfully work through personal and professional challenges and achieve their goals.
Although Sue’s educational foundation came from Nursing with Bachelor and Master of Nursing Science degrees, her most recent development is completing the Advanced Coaching Program through Coach University. Sue also has experience with educational and organizational development programs, including communication and conflict management. This varied development and experience have prepared Sue to empower her clients with tools and strategies to competently and successfully negotiate rapidly changing business and corporate environments.
Michelle Atkinson
2017 BREAKOUT SESSION SPEAKER
Michelle Blum Atkinson grew up in Jackson County and is the founder of Blum Family Foundation, which focuses on improving lives in Southern Oregon. She led the Library District to victory, increasing hours at the libraries that were at risk of shutting down. As a political candidate, she campaigned on public safety for all residents, including our most vulnerable people, especially kids, from hunger and homelessness. As a software business owner, she sees that when businesses succeed it can help lift the whole community and lead to more philanthropy.