The Women in Business Conference, which brings together Holy Cross alumnae who work in business and students interested in entering the field, will mark its 10th anniversary with this year’s event on Nov. 7.
At its inception a decade ago, the conference immediately struck a chord.
“I knew we were on to something big when the number of alumnae who registered for the first conference in 2006 reached the maximum expected number of 40 by the end of the first day the registration email was sent out,” says David Chu, director of the Ciocca Office of Entrepreneurial Studies, which sponsors the conference.
More than 100 alumnae and students ended up attending. Since then, the conference draws approximately 180 every year.
The theme of this year’s conference is “Major in Anything – Succeed in Business: Creating Your Platform for Success.” The keynote speech will be delivered by Aimee Bell ’88, deputy editor of Vanity Fair magazine. Last year, in honor of her professional achievements, Bell received a Sanctae Crucis Award, the highest non-degree accolade that the College bestows on alumni. The deadline for registration is Nov. 4.
The first conference featured speakers Maggie Wilderotter ’77, chairman and CEO of Citizens Communications Company (now the executive chairman of Frontier Communications); Julie Halpin ’84, founder and CEO of the Geppetto Group; Sheila Cavanaugh ’81, senior vice president of Fidelity Investments; and Kristen O’Hara ’92, senior vice president and managing director of Time Warner Global Marketing (now chief marketing officer for Time Warner Inc.).
Since then, the conference has continued to feature as keynote speakers highly accomplished alumnae working in the field of business. The list appears below:
- 2007: Mary Ann Rettig-Zucchi ’76, principal consultant at Jupiter Consulting Group
- 2008: Anne Fink ’85, senior vice president and general manager of PepsiCo Sales (now chief operating officer of PepsiCo North America Foodservice)
- 2009: Joan Hogan Gillman ’85, corporate executive vice president and president of media sales at Time Warner Cable
- 2010: Carolyn O’Keefe ’78, senior vice president of marketing at International House of Pancakes
- 2011: Nancy Taylor ’81, president and CEO of Tredegar Corporation
- 2012: Jennifer Haskell ’93, partner, national office – Audit, Deloitte & Touche, LLP
- 2013: Molly Jolly ’89, senior vice president of finance and administration for Angels Baseball LP
- 2014: Anne Fink ’85, chief operating officer of PepsiCo North America Foodservice
Chu says he is happy to see student organizers of early conferences return as panelists for later conferences. All student organizers from past conferences have been invited this year, and will be recognized at this year’s event.
One of those alumnae is Alexandra Schiffmann ’15, who is an eCommerce sales associate analyst at PespiCo North America Beverages.
“Supporting and empowering women to succeed in the business world should be at the forefront of what we offer our female students at the College,” she says. “It is how we will put our Jesuit education to use beyond the hill to make a difference in the world. By empowering our female students through events like this, Holy Cross women will continue to go on to do amazing things.”
Schiffmann, who was a French and sociology double major, says she’s living proof of this year’s theme, “Major in Anything – Succeed in Business: Creating Your Platform for Success.”
“I definitely think my Holy Cross education played a role in launching my career despite the fact that my current job probably couldn’t be farther from French and sociology. I studied the disciplines I did because I loved them and this allowed me to learn extensively about the way our society and others operate. This, if nothing else, has made me a more informed employee and conscious world citizen.”
Sophia Jin ’15, who majored in economics and had minors in studio art and Asian Studies, says the liberal arts education she received at Holy Cross also helped her career take off. She is a marketing analyst at FSAstore.com, an ecommerce site that sells flexible spending account eligible healthcare and medical products.
“The combination of classes I took and the various cocurricular clubs I was a part of heavily influenced my work ethic,” she says. “I was also challenged to think analytically and see the different sides of things, to have open discussions and to work well in teams or groups of people, and also to innovate and be open to change.”
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