Program Overview

Breaking Through Gender Barriers and Interview with Tom Peck, Senior VP and CIO of MGM MIRAGE
July 11, 2:30 pm - 4:00 pm

Bestselling author, Barbara Annis will interview Tom to discuss the top gender barriers and offer the solutions for breakthrough results. Barbara is the leading expert on Gender Issues in North America, and together with Tom will draw on powerful insights and innovative solutions designed to empower you in breaking through the barriers. Over the past 20 years, Barbara has been able to collect many insights from men and women who have consistently expressed a gender gap in their experience of the challenges they face in day-to-day business. These seem to be far removed from the typical gender issues of the past. Today, there seems to be a focus on building partnerships and congruence between women and men.

Creating a Culture of Courage™: The New Leadership Challenge
Cindy Solomon, President, Solomon & Associates, Inc.
July 10, 8:00 am - 9:30 am

As companies are demanding that employees take more risks, do more with less, and try to anticipate the future, courage has become a critical and often overlooked element of every leader’s skill set. As the world has become a less secure place and business less predictable, the skills it takes to be a strong, effective leader and build a thriving organization have changed dramatically. We can no longer be averse to taking risks or remain complacent in any organization -- for success depends almost entirely on our ability to make difficult decisions confidently and quickly – about our products, our customers and our employees. While many believe that courage is a quality that leaders are born with, Solomon’s extensive research shows that everyone can build “courage skills” and help create the strong, productive organizations needed to succeed in today’s changing environment. Learn how to create an organization that not only embraces, but thrives on change -- and learns with every decision it makes how can help every leader succeed in this new world order. Creating Courage™ enables every employee and every organization to meet the demands of an uncertain future. Solomon’s delivery of this humorous, poignant and highly provocative speech will leave the audience believing they can accomplish anything – both in their personal and professional lives!

How Smart Companies are Adapting to the World's Most Important Consumers - Women!
Fara Warner
July 10, 12:15 pm - 1:45 pm

Led by Fara Warner, Author, The Power of the Purse
Women make 80 percent of all buying decisions. They control $7 trillion in purchasing power. By 2010 they'll control more than $13 trillion in private wealth. And that's just in America. Globally, women's soaring economic power is changing business forever. Some remarkable companies are on the leading edge of this revolution. In The Power of the Purse, business journalist Fara Warner goes behind the scenes at McDonald's, Kodak, The Home Depot, and others to reveal how these companies transformed the way they think about today's powerful women consumers — and then transformed their business. From Kodak's leap from fourth to first place in the digital camera business to DeBeer's creation of a $4 billion right-hand ring category, all have succeeded by rethinking everything about how they do business with today's most important consumers.

Fara Warner is currently a contributing writer to Fast Company. She has written extensively for The New York Times and other national publications, including The Wall Street Journal where she worked as staff writer in New York, Singapore and Detroit. She is the recipient of a Knight-Wallace Fellowship at the University of Michigan for 2005-2006.

Storytelling
Robin Raskin, Founder, Raising Digital Kids
Wendy Wallbridge, President / Executive Coach, On Your Mark
Carolyn Leighton, Founder/Chairwoman, WITI
Alyse Hart, Founder, Corporate Recovery
Victoria Castle, Owner, Castle Enterprising
Linda K. Bolliger, Founder & CEO, Boardroom Bound
Kathryn A. Bax, Vice President-Investments, First Financial Equity Corporation
July 11, 8:00 am - 9:30 am

We human beings bring meaning to the experiences in our lives - events occur and we decide what they mean. The resulting stories we then tell ourselves can either open or close possibilities for our future. Following a dynamic presentation by Victoria Castle, author of "The Trance of Scarcity", executives will have an opportunity to share their own stories of transforming experiences. Each table will have a facilitator who will start by sharing her own story. Plan on an interactive and enlivening morning.

Women as Technology Leaders
Laura Fucci, Chief Information Officer, City of Henderson, NV
Gail Farnsley, Vice-President and Chief Information Officer, Cummins, Inc.
Bettina Jetter, Coaching Sanctuary
Robin Raskin, Founder, Raising Digital Kids
July 11, 12:15 pm - 1:45 pm

How has the landscape changed for women who are CIOs, CTOs of today's companies? What are the opportunities for women in technology leadership? How has being a woman in a historically male role impacted the way you have handled your position?

Track Information: Mix and Match between Business Toolkit, Career and Professional Development, and Technology Trends and Innovations

Corporate Board Service is The Next Frontier
Linda K. Bolliger, Founder & CEO, Boardroom Bound
July 10, 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm

Corporate Board Service is The Next Frontier, How to Translate Your Nonprofit Leadership Skills to the For Profit Corporate Boardroom

Boardroom Bound specializes in preparing C-Level executives, heads of universities, nonprofits, appointed officials and business owners for corporate board service. Receive Tips on how to assess your director-candidacy readiness and start planning to take your seat in the boardroom.

Finding the Big Idea: Innovation Strategies
Nilofer Merchant, Entrepreneur, CEO & Chief Strategist, Rubicon Consulting
July 10, 2:15 pm - 3:15 pm

Almost every company says innovation is important, but few know how to get real about driving innovation. Don't just wait for the apple to fall from the sky. Nilofer Merchant presents a practical tool anyone can use to get the 'Big Idea.' In this session, she demonstrates scenario planning as a framework that allows market intelligence to drive innovation as a regular process. Attendees will learn what to do, and will also understand what role research and insight play in driving innovation.

Think this sounds too good to be true? It's not. The combination of market intelligence, competitive analysis and technology innovations allow a company to navigate forward while shaping the industry. Two real-world case studies on use of the scenario planning framework at HP and PalmSource to drive rapid innovation without 'betting the farm' will be used to demonstrate the power of this approach. You will leave with an understanding of:

* Scenario planning and what it involves
* How to structure scenario planning in practice
* What key questions need to be asked and answered

Global Business Development: The Landscape of Opportunity
Marian Cook, Senior Director, CAP
Alie Chang, Intl. Telecommunications, Inc.
July 11, 11:00 am - 12:00 pm

Many U.S. based companies are expanding into foreign waters, outsourcing their manufacturing, etc. to countries abroad. Topics include 1) where are the opportunities? 2) Overview of general business environment, trends, developments, opportunities and challenges; 3) Mergers, acquisitions and investment opportunities; 4) technology transactions (licensing, etc); 5) Intellectual property issues; 6) etc.

Results By Design – Optimizing Team Performance on Projects
Mary Dossett, Director of Gaming Technologies, Harrah's Entertainment
July 10, 2:15 pm - 3:15 pm

Why do projects still falter and fail despite strong methodologies and processes? Often overlooked, especially on software development projects, is the human factor. This workshop marries the project process (using a PMI-compatible methodology) with the human dimension (relying on modern temperament theory.) Applicable on all types of projects, and in day-to-day work, this workshop equips participants with the skills to anticipate potential pitfalls and neutralize them by identifying team member's strengths and work preferences – capitalizing on them to the ultimate advantage of the project.

Starting/Building a Successful WITI Network
Marian Cook, Senior Director, CAP
July 10, 9:45 am - 10:45 am

Have you considered building a WITI Network in your community or your company? Marian Cook, from the successful WITI Chicago Network, will share how Chicago has built a successful WITI Network and how doing so can benefit you and your company.

Succeeding In A Male-Dominated Industry: The Myth-Busting Panel
Lilian Vayhinger, Deputy, Strike Product Line, Raytheon Company
Christine Collins, Director, Supplier Management, Raytheon
Chuck Ross, Raytheon
July 11, 9:45 am - 10:45 am

When you're a woman in a male-dominated industry, do you have to act like a man in order to succeed? Can a woman be taken seriously in such an industry without the "right" credentials? Is there really such a thing as "the good old-boy network"? This panel is about discussing the differences between men and women in the workplace and understanding how to make the differences work for you in your career. This panel is designed to be interactive with the audience to encourage open dialogue about "real life". The members of this panel have successfully navigated traditionally male-dominated industries and/or work with this challenge as part of their day-to-day leadership responsibilities. This session is designed to inspire you to dispel the myths about ""glass ceilings"" and limitations and arm participants with the tools to engage and succeed.

The Cultural Map of the Business Environment
John King, President, JLS Consulting
July 11, 9:45 am - 10:45 am

Strategy is one of the three prime concerns of a leader, and, if strategy fails, the other two don’t matter. Leaders rise and fall on the success of their strategy.

Unfortunately for most leaders, 70% of all business strategies fail. This is not good.

Generally, strategies don’t fail because the leader is stupid, but rather, because the leader is blind. What most leaders are blind to is: Culture eats Strategy for breakfast every day. Therefore, the leader who is interested in implementing successful strategies, is the leader who understands corporate culture.

This session will be an executive overview of corporate culture from both a linguistic and a structural point of view. We will examine the principles that are the hallmark of every level of corporate culture, and conduct an interactive dialogue that analyzes, diagnoses, and suggests effective solutions to create high performing cultures. We will see that great leaders identify whom they are working with by the manner in which they cluster, and we will see that while people may talk a big game, cultural structure never lies.

This session promises to be lively, informative and thought provoking.   

The Cultural Map of the Business Environment
John King, President, JLS Consulting
July 10, 9:45 am - 10:45 am

Strategy is one of the three prime concerns of a leader, and, if strategy fails, the other two don’t matter. Leaders rise and fall on the success of their strategy.

Unfortunately for most leaders, 70% of all business strategies fail. This is not good.

Generally, strategies don’t fail because the leader is stupid, but rather, because the leader is blind. What most leaders are blind to is: Culture eats Strategy for breakfast every day. Therefore, the leader who is interested in implementing successful strategies, is the leader who understands corporate culture.

This session will be an executive overview of corporate culture from both a linguistic and a structural point of view. We will examine the principles that are the hallmark of every level of corporate culture, and conduct an interactive dialogue that analyzes, diagnoses, and suggests effective solutions to create high performing cultures. We will see that great leaders identify whom they are working with by the manner in which they cluster, and we will see that while people may talk a big game, cultural structure never lies.

This session promises to be lively, informative and thought provoking.

The Impact of Global Privacy Regulations on US Based Companies
Rena Mears, Partner, Deloitte & Touche
July 10, 11:00 am - 12:00 pm

The myriad of complex, varying, and contradictory international privacy laws and regulations make privacy compliance a major challenge for US based companies operating globally. As globalization proceeds for US based organizations, the personal data they hold about their worldwide customers, employees and business partners increasingly are passed around the globe, subjecting them to the various privacy and data protection regulations in each jurisdiction. In addition, privacy requirements are increasingly appearing in private contracts and agreements. Individual regulation or requirement-based compliance tactics are proving to be extremely inefficient and difficult to implement in the business. Organizations need a rationalized and risk-based approach to meeting these various privacy requirements and an efficient and effective way to operationalize these requirements in their business operations and information systems. The consequences for doing otherwise can entail regulatory enforcement actions, brand tarnishments, and business stoppages.

The Secret to CRM Success... People, Process and Technology
Kate Schrader, President, Mondo Solutions
Keith Eades, Chairman & Senior Managing Partner, Sales Performance International
July 11, 11:00 am - 12:00 pm

Learn the importance of all elements of a successful CRM implementation. It's not just the software that sustains true success. You will learn what to look for in a CRM tool, and then see how your sales process and customer needs effect the success of your initiative. Also learn the effectiveness of fully implementing CRM into your entire company.

A Calling for Great Leadership: Targeted Solutions and Best Practices
Victoria Castle, Owner, Castle Enterprising
July 10, 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm

In today's world, being a great leader is about being a great integrator. We can talk about the glass ceiling, and we can talk about the sticky floor- but at the end of the day, whatever the organizational obstacles or individual weaknesses are that potentially hinder success, the relationships are what count. This session will focus on how to achieve your self-defined professional goals by building the strategic relationships critical to achieving your goals.

Acquiring Wealth and Influence
Fara Warner
Kari Foster, Financial Advisor, Citigroup, Smith Barney
July 11, 11:00 am - 12:00 pm

Oprah has clearly demonstrated that acquiring wealth empowers women to influence society on a worldwide scale, and opens up untold opportunities to contribute and positively influence in socially responsible ways. Our question is - why can't there be multiple Oprahs? Why only one? WITI wants to help women take a serious look at obstacles women impose on ourselves so we can shift our perspectives and use our talents and intelligence to help each other achieve wealth and use that wealth to make positive, socially responsible contributions.

Health & Well-Being
Lisa Powell, Director of Nutrition, Canyon Ranch
Michael Hewitt, Ph.D., Research Director, Canyon Ranch
Nina Gass, President, Mobile Spa
Ralph Carson, Ph.D., RD, LD, Chief Science Officer, Monarch Health Sciences, Inc.
July 11, 11:00 am - 12:00 pm

Today’s hectic pace leaves little time for rest, relaxation, and wellness. Our panel of experts will address principles and solutions for a more balanced, healthy life. Topics will include:
• “Eating for Energy” instructs you on how to make the best food choices to sustain optimal energy throughout the work day;
• “Foundations of Health,” which offers a well-rounded approach to physical activity, nutrition, stress management, and sleep as well as an exercise program that works in the real world;
• “Mind over Matter” reveals how numerous parallels between the body, mind and spirit can be leveraged to combat stress, obesity, and other physical and mental ailments; and
• “Corporate Wellness Programs Make $ense,” which will examine how a regular wellness program can benefit employee health, increase productivity, reduce sick days, lower an employer’s insurance costs, and improve employee motivation, morale, and loyalty. How these programs can support working mothers will also be covered.

Marketplace Success: Building Personal Eminence and Strengthening Personal Brand
Tracie Kambies, Senior Manager, Deloitte Consulting
Mallika Govindan, Senior Manager, Deloitte Consulting
July 11, 9:45 am - 10:45 am

Successful careers are built from personal brands and effective networking. At Deloitte, our Women's Initiative has helped consultants achieve a greater degree of success through tools and techniques that build eminence within the firm and externally. Depending on where we are in our careers we sometimes have to re-evaluate who to build that strategic relationship with or what we want to be known for. This session will look at how to build your personal brand and how to strengthen your internal and external network. It will address key questions such as: Do you know who is on your personal 'Board of Directors'? Do you know what your PR profile looks like? Do you know how strong your relationship Balance Sheet is? What are your real assets and liabilities from a career growth perspective? We will try a few Deloitte techniques in this hands-on session.

Success Strategies for Life - "What Do You Really Want?"
July 10, 11:00 am - 12:00 pm

Successful achievers know that they must take 100% responsibility for achieving the lifestyle, relationships, financial freedom, and opportunities that they want in life. What are their secrets? During this workshop, we will explore the different strategies and tools that they use. In order to be successful, we must be "really specific" about what we want and why we want it. We will discuss how to get this clarity and how to put a successful plan together. Your goals can be about anything - career, relationships, health, or finances. You will leave with a much deeper understanding of yourself, what is holding you back, and with steps that you can begin to implement immediately.

The Feminine Principle in Leadership
Bill Lamond, President, The Feminine Principle in Leadership
July 10, 2:15 pm - 3:15 pm

Women…unique in how you think, operate, and communicate. The power of possibility lies in leveraging your “natural genius” to create a personal strategy that produces extraordinary results in a brand new way. Revolutionize, reinvigorate, and revitalize your life based on the Feminine Principle.

It’s all about you…your relationship, nourishment, connection, and fulfillment. Discover the critical elements for taking a leadership role in every area of your life that will transform and enlighten with results that are both, quantitative and qualitative. The challenge and the opportunity is to develop new strategies that are holistic in its approach to life and business.

Turning Walls Into Bridges, Becoming The Person You Were Meant to Be©
Wendy Wallbridge, President / Executive Coach, On Your Mark
July 10, 11:00 am - 12:00 pm

Women are gifted with a dual nature- we can be intentional and receptive, dynamic and magnetic, intuitive and linear, and loving and purposeful. When these strengths are undeveloped or out of balance, it can seem like you’ve hit a wall. Breakdowns, unfulfilled expectations, and the frustration of applying extra effort and still not reaching your goal, can cause self-doubt and resignation. Through stories and interactive exercises, this energizing session shows you how to tap into your dual strengths to transform obstacles and become a vehicle for your own greatness. You will learn how to use your Five Innate Capacities to shift yourself in any moment to become the person you were meant to be. By balancing these opposites within you will become your own best advocate and learn to champion the expression of your values, passions and talents to make a difference in the world.

Women Who Have Reinvented Themselves
Gayle Crowell, Senior Information Technology Advisor, Warburg Pincus
Kathryn A. Bax, Vice President-Investments, First Financial Equity Corporation
July 10, 9:45 am - 10:45 am

Are you committed to exploring all possibilities for yourself? Come learn how other women from a variety of industries including bioscience and not-for-profit have reinvented themselves and found the courage to pursue their dreams. Their stories will stimulate some ideas, answer your questions, and inspire you as well!

Are you Protected? An Update of Security Issues From Your Wired to Wireless Network
Sondra Schneider, CEO, Security University
July 10, 9:45 am - 10:45 am

If you need to know "what" questions to ask to direct and support successful computer security programs, Are you Protected? Security Awareness Training is what your looking for! Seminar topics will include:
• Who's hacking your network?
• KeyLogger and Anti-Trojan tools
• PDA security best practices
• Hacking wireless networks (or Wireless Security & Auditing)
• How to do security as a part-time job
• Identity Fraud and Authentication
• Security trends and futures

Leveraging the Internet To Reach, Convert and Keep Online Customers
Alicia Young, Executive Vice President, Ruder Finn
Pat Lynch, Founder & Editor-in-Chief, WomensRadio/WomensCalendar
July 10, 11:00 am - 12:00 pm

How to be heard through the Internet clutter, convert casual browsers to users, and keep your customers loyal in a highly competitive space. Make sure your product offers something more than the competition, easier, faster, cheaper or all three. Be a unique solution to Internet problems, or solve a real world problem in a way that is only possible on the internet. This session is a panel of selected professionals who will discuss leveraging the Internet market platform and will showcase success stories from small businesses to large corporations.

Taking The Lead on the Internet….Top 20 Useful Tips on Succeeding with Search Engine Marketing
Michael Bonfils, President, International Media Management Corp
Stephanie Ann Cota, Position2.com
Ani Kortikar, Founder and CEO, Netramind
July 10, 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm

Whether an individual, a business or a large organization, being seen in the search engine marketplace counts for everything. Like any valuable tool, you must know and understand what you are working with, to make it work for you. This session is a panel of selected professionals who have years of experience in search engine marketing for small businesses, large organizations and advertising agencies. The panelists will be discussing 20 of the most useful tips on succeeding with search engine marketing and optimization. For example, you will learn tips on how you can use press releases as a way to gain high ranking, what are some of the best SEM software products out there, ways to succeed with a limited budget, how to manage an International campaign and more.

The Newest Generation Of Technologies
Gayle Crowell, Senior Information Technology Advisor, Warburg Pincus
July 10, 2:15 pm - 3:15 pm

Are you up to speed on all the latest technologies? Do your children know more about blogging or podcasting than you do? Do all of your friends have iPods? Do you have a family webpage? Just what is Bluetooth and how hard is it to set up? Does your family use Wikipedia? Have you lowered your phone bills by using VoIP?    How do social websites like MySpace affect you and your family? Come join this lively session where we will bring you up to speed on this year's latest technologies. After attending this session, you will be in a great position to make informed decisions about which of these technologies are "must haves" for you in your personal or business life.

Things That Go Bump In The Night - When a Security Disaster Hits Will You Have What It Takes?
Sondra Schneider, CEO, Security University
July 11, 9:45 am - 10:45 am

The lighter side of viruses, trojans, malicious code, bad configurations and people. A better way to prepare you for disaster recovery and a restful nights sleep, or not! Scary short security stories to frighten the bejesus out of you:
• Server 54, where are you?
• Is that you?
• Are Nerds Intelligent?
• If its not your job…
• Tracker Guy
• Right test, wrong conclusion
• Help! My laptop is possessed!
• Deal? or no Deal?
• Hack me plzzzzz
• RIDS (Rapid Identity Detection System)
• UPromise

BOTTOM LINE: Laughter is the best medicine, security policies make for a great nights sleep before and after a disaster...

Using Different Mediums to Promote a Key Message
Darcy Neighbors, Founder and CEO, Consultants in Marketing, Inc.
Susan Fleitz, Senior Vice President, Corporate Advertising, MGM MIRAGE
John Marz, Owner, John Marz & Company
July 10, 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm

Converting prospects into customers is challenging and requires a focused approach. Tailored, integrated marketing programs can help organizations communicate offerings and increase awareness while differentiating their products, services and brands. By controlling the content, context and medium, marketers can successfully deliver their key messages and strengthen brand identity. This session will provide tips and techniques to motivate prospects to take action and collapse the buying cycle.

Born To Lead
Bill Lamond, President, The Feminine Principle in Leadership
July 9, 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Born to Lead has the power to create a profound breakthrough in the way you relate to your unique personal magnificence, how you process information, use your personal power, and communicate – all in harmony with the values women hold sacred. Instead of working on your greatness…start standing in it.

Born to Lead offers you the tools to create a roadmap, a personal strategic plan:
• To complete the past and start from a brand new place – at the center of your life in a first-class, leadership position
• To identify the elements that, when nourished, will impact your performance & perspective with immediate results
• To develop a unique, strategic question that has your personal magnificence at its core
• To give Voice to the visions, appetites and desires that are in harmony with your magnificence

POWERFUL and CONNECTED: An Interactive Workshop for Women in Technology
Patricia Shafer, President, Compel Ltd.
July 9, 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Never before have there been so many women in technology - women who influence complex networks of information and relationships in organizations. Recognizing this, WITI's mission is to empower women worldwide to achieve unimagined possibilities and transformations through technology, leadership and economic prosperity. The foundation of the workshop is a belief shared by Shafer, Trautlein and WITI that the most successful 21st century organizations will be more connected, communicative, collaborative, participative and relationship-oriented - but only if new visions and forms of technology are thoughtfully developed to meet the challenge. Importantly, women in technology - when their leadership potential is more fully-tapped - are the ideal candidates to lead the way. Yet, often, "women's ways of managing and leading" are not fully leveraged within technology functions and companies. The "Powerful and Connected" workshop goes right to the heart of this matter. The agenda for "Powerful and Connected" is divided into four dialogue- and experience-driven presentations and topics:
ONE: "Enlightened Power: What is it, and why is it needed?"
TWO: "Looking Inward: How can I tap my own potential?"
THREE: "Looking Outward: Images of Power that Surround Us"
FOUR: "Getting Connected: Seeing the Change that We Can Be"

Session program subject to change