The Network of Executive Women’s fifth anniversary was marked by record
growth in membership, event and attendance and revenue, according to a
year-end report from NEW President Helayne Angelus, vice president of
Global Customer Business Diversity for Procter & Gamble.
Angelus thanked NEW’s sponsors, members, executive team and board
members “for an absolutely outstanding 2006—and I want to take the
opportunity to update our supporters on the progress we made this year
to achieve our mission to attract, retain, and advance women in the
retail and consumer packaged goods industry through education,
leadership and business development.” Excerpts from NEW’s year-end
update follow:
STRATEGY
Early in 2006, the officer team of NEW embarked on renewal of our
strategic plan. It was clear that the rapid growth and momentum of NEW
called for a strategy to deliver improved ROI and to expand the value
equation for our members and sponsoring companies. To that end, we set
objectives to ensure that NEW grew into a coast-to-coast organization
with the expansion of our regional strategy and to provide best
practices around diversity and inclusion for the industry. In order to
fund those goals, we set aggressive revenue targets for 2006.
CAPITAL CAMPAIGN
NEW's fifth anniversary capital campaign pushed 2006 revenue to a
record $1.2 million, including $800,000 in sponsor contributions, 45
percent more than our sponsor revenue target of $550,000. Event revenue
increased to $400,000, a 73 percent increase from last year's event
revenue of $231,000. The expanded revenue will enable the Network to
fulfill its mission and expand its programs and services in the year
ahead.
MEMBERSHIP
NEW membership grew 25 percent to more than 2,500 senior executives and
emerging leaders. NEW's membership includes individuals from more than
300 companies and 38 corporate sponsors, and is more diverse and
national than ever. NEW’s membership committee is chaired by Kathy
Casey of Kellogg Company.
NEW SPONSORS
The Network welcomed many new corporate sponsors to our growing roster
of industry supporters: Title Sponsors Unilever, Nestlé Purina and
Chevron; Platinum sponsors General Mills, Johnson O'Hare and Nestle
Waters; Gold Sponsors Del Monte Foods, KPMG and S&D Coffee; and
Silver Sponsors ConAgra Foods, CPGjoblist and The J.M. Smucker Company.
Our sponsors share the Network's vision of increased retention and
attraction of women to our industry. The Network’s sponsorship
committee is co-chaired by Alison Kenney Paul of Deloitte and Mike
Gorshe of Accenture.
NEW LEADERS
The Network's leadership received an infusion of talent, including
seven new at-large board members: Anne Fink vice president, PepsiCo
Sales for PepsiCo; Michelle Gloeckler, VP and general manager, The
Hershey Experience, The Hershey Company; Julie Hamilton, VP,
International Business Development, the Coca-Cola Company; DeDe Priest,
senior vice president, GMM Food Division, Wal-Mart Stores; Regenia
Stein, vice president, Central Area, Kraft Foods; Mary van Praag, vice
president of sales, Neutrogena Corporation (a Johnson & Johnson
Company); and James White, senior vice president, Consumer Brands,
Safeway, Inc. The Network is actively working to create future leaders
through recruitment and succession planning. As part of this process,
NEW's nominating committee, led by immediate past president Michele
Hanson of Vertis, is being transformed into "the board development
committee," which will eventually be responsible for all board strategy
and structures, including nominations and on-boarding of new board
members.
REGIONAL GROWTH
NEW's regional event committees and activities grew in scope and
number. A record of more than 2,500 men and women attended 14 regional
events across the country, and there were first-ever events in Tampa,
Philadelphia and the Twin Cities. High-profile speakers and dynamic
programs coast-to-coast received high marks from attendees. A new
regional committee was formed in Chicago and more are planned for early
2007 for Northern California, the Mid-Atlantic region and the
Carolinas. Nationally, more than 300 men and women participate in the
leadership of the regional event committees. Participation by retailers
was a highlight of regional events in 2006. The 2006 launch of the
northern Florida regional committee in Tampa was driven by Kash n'
Karry/Sweetbay and Publix; our Philadelphia launch was spurred by Acme
Markets. NEW's huge regional expansion has been led by our tireless
Regional Events Chair, Bobbie O'Hare of Johnson O'Hare.
ANNUAL LEADERSHIP SUMMIT
Our 2006 NEW Leadership Summit in September was bigger than ever,
drawing a record 350 attendees from the CPG and retail industry's top
companies to Dallas. Our program, themed "Unleash the Leader in You,"
drew excellent ratings from attendees. One of the event's top
highlights was a retailer panel featuring women from 7-Eleven,
SUPERVALU and Wal-Mart Stores. For the first time, separate programming
tracks were directed at senior women and emerging leaders to foster
career-stage development (see this month's Gallery for video highlights
of our 2006 Summit). Debbie Wildrick of 7-Eleven led the Education and
Programming committee in this enhanced offering.
MEMBER SUPPORT AND DIVERSITY BEST PRACTICES
The Network enhanced its professional development services with
increased networking and educational support, more action learning
opportunities, new member teleconferences, and a free online job bank
and member directory. NEW has facilitated mentoring for more than 300
executives in the past five years. In 2006 we launched our next
generation of mentoring workshops, "Deep Dive into Career Development,"
enabling participants to explore their lives and careers and to develop
mentoring relationships for each opportunity area. The Deep Dive
program was created by NEW Board Member Sandra Bushby of KPMG. There
will be three such workshops in 2007. Hundreds of NEW members joined
our members-only teleconferences to get the most from their membership
and network with other industry executives. NEW also launched the Women
of Color/ Latina program, following the success of last year's program
focused on African-American Women. Trudy Bourgeois, Center for
Workforce Excellence and NEW Board member, led the development of the
Women of Color initiative. PepsiCo and P&G were the sponsors. NEW's
special report on corporate Affinity Groups outlines the increasing
influence and popularity of these networks. In 2007, NEW will continue
its Best Practices series with special reports sponsored by KPMG.
AWARDS
In May, NEW honored its Outstanding Champion, Tom Greco, who is now
president of PepsiCo Sales. The Network recognized Greco for advancing
NEW and its mission throughout PepsiCo and among the company's retail
customers. In November, NEW presented the Hedy Halpert Diversity
Awareness Award posthumously to Tom Crawford, CEO of the Leadership
Network Inc. NEW was saddened by Tom's sudden passing in July and will
miss his friendship and support.
SPONSOR SUPPORT
NEW initiated a nationwide round of sponsor meetings to gather feedback
and improve sponsor support, including greater sponsor activation
support, increased sponsor recognition at events and through NEW
communications, more industry scholarships and our "One Woman, Two
Lives" shopability survey, sponsored by PepsiCo and P&G. In
June, NEW took center stage at a standing-room only workshop at the
NACDS Marketplace to present the survey's results. The presentation
included a panel of NEW members who discussed their real-experiences
with shopability and its retail impact. In September, NEW moderated a
panel of representatives from the Kroger Company, General Mills,
Johnson & Johnson, and the Center for Workforce Excellence, as they
discussed ways for the industry to take advantage of the industry's
changing workplace demographics.
EXPANSION PLANS
Key Network objectives for 2007 include: A NEW Executive Women's
Retreat; continuation of our Women of Color initiative through a
Multicultural Forum bringing emerging leaders, managers and diversity
experts together; the appointment of a new Client Services Director to
assist sponsor activation; new regional groups; and an expanded
Leadership Summit featuring a "Deep Dive" career development and
mentoring workshop.
“The Network's fifth anniversary was a year of growth – and we could
not have done it without your support, efforts and participation,”
Angelus concluded. “We're looking forward to 2007 being the best year
yet!”
For sponsor support or information on how to become a NEW sponsor, contact Executive Director Joan Toth at (312) 693-5393. For information on membership activities or joining the Network as an individual, contact Anna Duran (713) 888-5305.
© Copyright 2007 by the Network of Executive Women. All rights reserved.