Quarterly Meeting of the National Women's Business Council

WASHINGTON, Sept. 22, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Wednesday afternoon, the National Women's Business Council will convene for the final public meeting for fiscal year 2014. This event – An Afternoon with the NWBC: Tea, Cookies & #Access to Markets – will focus on women's access to markets, highlighting the Council's recommendations to increase the access of women-owned and –led businesses into new markets, and to increase the market share in existing target markets.

The afternoon will commence at 2:30pm with an official business meeting, featuring: remarks by Carla Harris, the Chair of the Council, and the Vice Chairman, Global Wealth Management, Managing Director and Senior Client Advisor at Morgan Stanley; remarks by the Honorable Maria Contreras-Sweet, the 24th Administrator of the Small Business Administration; and updates and highlights of the Council's recent activity by Council Members – including the announcement of three new Council Members.

The Council has organized an all-star line-up for the related workshops that follow.

• On increasing women's access to the federal marketplace - Michelle Thompson-Dolberry, Advisor on Small Business Growth and VIP Program Administrator at American Express OPEN will moderate the Get Ready for Primetime workshop. Participants will hear from two women who have successfully navigated the federal marketplace: Vanessa E. Gentry-Ali, President and CEO of All-U-Need Personnel and Rose Wang, Founder and CEO of the Binary Group and NWBC Council Member. Aditi Dussault, Senior Advisor to the Associate Administrator for the Office of Government Contracting and Business Development at the U.S. Small Business Administration will join to share resources and programs; and Ann Sullivan, President of Madison Services Group, Inc. will provide an update on the Procurement Parity Act.
• On increasing women's access to corporate supply chains - Pam Prince-Eason, President and CEO of Women's Business Enterprise National Council, and new Council Member, will moderate a workshop called Get Your Fortune from the Fortune. Participants will hear directly from the women behind major corporate supplier diversity programs: Donna Donato, ‎Vice President of Global Procurement at Bristol-Myers Squibb; Pamela Pesta, Vice President of Strategic Sourcing at Nationwide Insurance; Shendora Pridgen, Vice President of Firmwide Sourcing at Morgan Stanley; and Deborah Rosado Shaw, Senior Vice President & Chief Global Diversity and Engagement Officer of PepsiCo.
• On access to the international marketplace - The Go Global, Get Your Export On workshop will feature a fireside with women exporter extroardinaires: Roz Alford, Co-principal of ASAP Solutions Group, LLC and Council Member; Kim Benson, Vice President (and co-owner) of Cange International, Inc.; and Dr. Amanda Sozer, Founder and President of SNA International. Richard Ginsburg, Senior International Trade Specialist in the Office of International Trade at the U.S. Small Business Administration and Mary Estelle Ryckman, Senior Policy Advisor for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will be present to share helpful resources and programs for women interested in exporting. This workshop will be moderated by Roberta Zenn Phillips, the Executive Director of the Center for Women in Business at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

This quarterly public meeting of the Council will take place at the Ronald Reagan Building from 2:30pm to 5:00pm on Wednesday, September 24th.The business meeting and the workshops are free and open to the public. All are welcome. RSVPs are being collected online at http://bit.ly/rsvpfor924.  There is a dial-in option for those seeking to participate from afar.

The Council promises this will be afternoon packed with interactive workshops and resource sharing for women business owners, leaders, and those aspiring on exporting, corporate supply chain, and government contracting, plus updates from the Council.

For media availability with the NWBC Chair Carla Harris, or any of the Council Members, please contact: Amanda Brown at [email protected] or 202-205-6827.

SOURCE National Women's Business Council