2024 Arizona Women in Leadership Symposium
March 07, 2024
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM (PT)
Theme
Leading with Heart: Empathy, Ethics & Excellence
Host Sponsor
Sponsored By
Panelists
Boggs
Jamie Boggs is the Vice President of Athletics for Grand Canyon, having assumed the role on April 26, 2021. In her role, she oversees all day-to-day department operations. She also serves as the sport administrator for baseball and men’s basketball. Boggs was named the permanent Vice President of Athletics after holding the role on an interim basis since Aug. 12, 2019 Previously, Boggs served as the Deputy Athletic Director/Senior Woman Administrator since joining GCU in January 2015. Boggs shifted titles but not roles or impact. GCU Athletics' interim leader becomes Vice President of Athletics for 21 Lopes sports after already playing an integral role in laying GCU's Division I footprint, stabilizing the WAC with expansion, improving student-athlete academics and seamlessly intertwining University and Athletics cultures. The native Phoenician, initially raised 3 miles north of GCU, is the first woman to serve as Lopes athletic director. Boggs is the fourth Asian American AD among 353 Division I programs, alongside Vicky Chun of Yale, Pat Chun of Washington State and Terry Mohajir of UCF. Additionally, females accounted for 14% of Division I athletic directors in 2019-20. Boggs graduated from the University of San Diego in 1999 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology. She received a Juris Doctor from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law in 2002. She is a member of the State Bar of Arizona. A native of Phoenix and graduate of Xavier College Preparatory, the former Jamie Pootrakul is married to Matthew Boggs. The couple has a son, Aiden, and a daughter, Lilia.
Brown
Cheryl Brown is in constant pursuit of Organizational Excellence as a capable and confident hands-on Senior Executive with experience in Strategic Planning, Talent Management, Organizational Development, Change Management, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), Innovation, and Process Improvement. She is a champion of creating a P.R.A.I.S.E. Culture™ in the workplace, which fosters performance synergy that inspires engaged employees to excel to their fullest potential while ensuring the organization builds a pipeline of future leaders that are "best in class." Cheryl has won numerous awards for being a thought leader in business and community outreach such as: Credit Union West, Best Credit Union to Work for in Arizona, 2023 Credit Union West, Top Company to Work for in Arizona, 2022, 2023 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Board of Examiners, NIST 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 America’s Best-In-State Credit Union, Forbes 2018 People’s First Award, Tampa Bay Business Journal, 2017 Tampa Bay HR Person of the Year Award, HR Tampa, 2017 Recipient-Florida Diversity Council Most Powerful and Influential Woman Award, Tampa, 2012 Finalist for the Tampa Bay Business Journal Best Places to Work, 2012 Finalist for Tampa Bay Business Journal Businesswoman of the Year Award, 2011 Finalist for Tampa Bay Business Journal Healthiest Employer of the Year Award, 2011 The highest Chapter Excellence Award, The Ruby Class, HR Florida State Council, 2011 Cheryl holds her Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from North Carolina Central University and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Walden University. She has earned 3 Human Resources certifications: PHR (2002), SPHR (2012), and SHRM-SCP (2015). One of her favorite quotes: When you create a “People-First” Culture, your people will create a “Member-First” Experience.™
Ferrill
Wendy Ferrill is Vice President of Worldwide Sales for BWHSM Hotels. A leader committed to continually advancing the global sales organization, Ferrill fosters an innovative and collaborative approach, which has resulted in increased sales, profitability and customer satisfaction. As a 25-plus-year industry veteran, Ferrill has a wide range of experience - from meeting, event and incentive travel management to development of luxury boutique hotels and large brand portfolios that include select service, extended stay, upscale and destination resorts. Additionally, her leadership has been instrumental in turning distressed hotels into profitable assets and significantly enhancing key partnerships and revenue growth in B2B markets. In 2012, Ferrill was named one of the “Top 25 Extraordinary Minds in Sales and Marketing” by Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International.
McCormick
Formerly from the San Franciso Bay area, Jackie has over two decades of professional experience in human resources leadership within the finance and banking, technology, consumer, non-profit, media, life science, and education industries, both as a hands-on leader and external consultant. Currently the Chief People and Culture Officer for OneAZ Credit Union headquartered in Phoenix, Jackie understands the importance of fostering a strong internal culture. She is an expert in crafting people-focused strategies that emphasize growth and development to ensure that the company’s associates have the resources needed to succeed. As a strategic thinker, keen observer, creative problem solver, and collaborator, Jackie is passionate about building and developing teams to get the most out of people. In addition to having worked with high-growth and start-up organizations as well as companies undergoing massive change, Jackie is greatly experienced in integration and change management, organization culture development, mergers and acquisitions, talent acquisition, executive and management development, succession planning, performance management, compensation and benefits, employee relations and investigations, HR team development, HR processes and efficiencies, and HRIS. Her previous positions include EVP/Chief Human Resources Officer for Mechanics Bank, Vice President of Human Resources at Fremont Bank, and President of DJM Consulting. Additionally, Jackie has served her community on the Board of Directors at Kidango as First Vice President, Northern California Human Resources Association as Chair, and Bluefeet Software as a Member on the Advisory Board. Jackie operates at the key intersection of business, HR efficacy, and people oversight. As an accomplished human resources star, she has championed efforts to be recognized in the Top Work Places, has created Lean Six Sigman training programs, has led various career pathing and employee morale-boosting initiatives, and has developed and facilitated training programs that focused on behavior profiling, effective hiring, new-hire orientation, employee development, diversity, and more.
Soares
Silvana’s ability to authentically and warmly meet people where they are and lead them to accomplish extraordinary goals has taken her from her Venezuelan roots to leading Walmart’s International Talent Acquisition Community and Global Executive Talent Acquisition to heading Kellogg Company’s Global Talent Acquisition. Currently the VP of Talent at Discount Tire, Silvana inspires trust and loyalty by being genuine, transparent, and driven to succeed. Her team and key stakeholders know that what they see is what they get: a strategic mind, an innovative and collaborative business partner, and a caring leader. With almost 1200 stores across the United States and growing, Discount Tire relies on Silvana to think beyond today and imagine the future, provide strategic direction, and build effective relationships within and beyond the company. And she does that by embracing her unique qualities and using her many powers to pay it forward.
Moderator
Mai
Tram Mai anchors 12 @ 12, 12News’ multi-platform noon show, with 12 minutes of uninterrupted content. She also anchors First @ 4 from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., and reports across all 12News shows and platforms. Tram began her career in 1995 as a production assistant at KABC in Los Angeles. She got her first reporting job at WOFL in Orlando, FL out of the Gainesville bureau. A year later, she worked at CFN-13 out of the Volusia County bureau in Florida. She then moved to Columbus, OH as a reporter and weekend anchor for three years, before coming to KPNX in 2003. During her career, Tram has won Emmy’s for anchoring and reporting. She has also been nominated for several Emmys, most recently for Best Anchor in 2019; She’s also won a Casey Award and awards from the Ohio Society of Professional Journalism. Tram was born in Saigon, Vietnam. When she was a year old, she and her family fled on the last plane out of Saigon before the Communists took over the country. She took her first steps at a refugee camp at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. Her family eventually made their way to southern California, where Tram was raised most of her life. She graduated from UCLA, majoring in communication studies with a minor in Asian American Studies. From the hurricanes in Florida, to the death of Senator John McCain and Arizona’s historic ‘Red for Ed’ teacher walkout in Arizona, Tram has covered the some of the biggest stories of our time. Tram has also co-hosted with Regis Philbin, interviewed numerous celebrities, covered the red carpet for the Emmys in Los Angeles and the Arizona Cardinals when they went to the Super Bowl in Tampa, Florida. As a journalist, the most rewarding part of Tram's job is making a difference in people’s lives. Tram is married and has twins, Zakary and Zoey. She also has a golden retriever, Pressley Ann. FUN FACTS: • Tram enjoys camping, NOT “glamping” • Tram loves to bake: her specialties are angel food cake and key lime pie • Tram loves to decorate and host parties for friends and family, especially kids’ parties
Awardee
Mitchell
Mary Mitchell is Co-CEO of Girl Scouts—Arizona Cactus-Pine Council. She officially stepped into the role on October 1, 2022 after serving in as interim Co-CEO since 2021. She has spent the majority of her professional career working within the non-profit sector. Prior to becoming Interim Co-CEO, she served for three years as Deputy Director and co-lead of the council’s senior leadership team. Over the course of her 24 years at the organization, she has held various roles in the areas of fund development, finance, volunteer services, membership and community engagement. Mary serves as the senior advisor and co-lead for the organization’s work related to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Racial Justice (DEIRJ) and holds an expertise in the areas of community-building, engagement, collaborative practices and team-oriented design. Mary is a 2017 Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust Fellow. She is also a member of International Women’s Forum-AZ; a member of the AZ Community Foundation, African American Women’s Giving and Empowerment Circle; a 2020 Phoenix Mercury Believe in Women Honoree; and a 2020 recipient of the YWCA Tribute to Leadership Award; as well as a graduate of Valley Leadership, Class 26. She values the power of honest and authentic conversation and has an unquenchable thirst for collective dialogue spaces that can bear the weight of what such dialogue and connection can mean for discerning the future of communities and organizations. You will often find her sitting with leaders from a wide spectrum of disciplines, engaging in conversations centered around deep questions that matter and that create action and systemic change. She has served on several nonprofit boards and community coalitions and is a current Vice President of the Board for Arizona Legal and Women Youth Services; serves as a member of the Communities for Philanthropic Justice, Board of Directors, and as a member of the South Mountain Community College President’s Community Advisory Council. She holds a Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies from Governors State University (GSU) in Chicago and holds an AA in Interdisciplinary Studies, from South Mountain Community College. She completed extensive coursework in Public Relations at Arizona State University, Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, prior to transfer to GSU. Additionally, Mary has completed expansive coursework at Grand Canyon University for an Executive MBA. Mary is the mother of four (4) adult children and (8) grandchildren.
2024 Arizona Woman of the Year Press Release
Sponsorship Information
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