Women Rise

Nancy May is founder and President of The BoardBench Companies, a woman-owned board governance consulting group focusing on the advanced development and execution of public, private, and not-for-profit board organization. In this episode, Becky and Nancy discuss the important attributes and practices for women to be “Board Ready” in today’s environment. 

Alex David is the President & CEO of Stifel Independent Advisors. Alex is known for championing and leading diversity and inclusion and was recently named the 2023 InvestmentNews Diversity, Equity and Inclusion honoree for Lifetime Achievement. In this episode, Becky and Alex discuss how he got started on Wall Street, giving back and mentoring as well as advice for increasing the number of women and those of diversity in leadership.  

In this episode of the Women Rise podcast, Rebecca Shambaugh discusses driving your own career path and unlocking your potential. Learn coaching techniques, practices, and strategies for knowing and leveraging your value and championing your leadership.

Robert Reiss is the Founder and CEO of The CEO Forum Group, a tier 1 media group focused exclusively on top CEOs. Today, The CEO Forum Group is recognized as “The Transformative CEO Community” for its efforts in helping to build success, one CEO at a time, by sharing best practices, driving job creation, and expanding innovation and value throughout the world. In this episode, Becky and Robert discuss leadership in a collaborative world and three things that need to happen to achieve gender balance.  

In this episode of Women Rise podcast, Rebecca Shambaugh discusses resetting your playbook for leadership and the top three attributes to optimize performance through people.

Natalie Siston is the Program Experience Leader at Positive Intelligence, a company that delivers groundbreaking, research-based mental fitness programming that has transformed thousands of lives. In her role, she brings Positive Intelligence to companies around the world through partnerships, presentations, and the flagship PQ mental fitness program. In this episode, she discusses what positive intelligence and why mental fitness is so important.

Chic Thompson is the Executive Director of WagiLabs, a nonprofit organization that helps inspiring executives, MBA students, and children to be curious first and critical second while problem solving. He is a Fellow at the University of Virginia's Darden Business School and adjunct faculty at the Brookings Institute. In this episode, he discusses how executives can leverage their strategic curiosity as a path to innovation.

Kimber Maderazzo is the Chairman of the Board of C200, a peer community of female CEOs whose purpose is to advance women in business leadership. Kimber also serves on the Board of Directors of Pepperdine Graziadio Business School and was previously an Executive Vice President & General Manager at The Proactiv Company. In this episode, she discusses how C200 teaches women to be in P&L roles and how its members work with each other to advance each other. She also highlights her five principles of leadership advancement for female executives.

Stacey Stewart is the President & CEO of March of Dimes, responsible for all aspects of the organization's strategy, vision, and operations. She was previously the U.S. President of United Way, the nation's largest nonprofit organization, and was the Chief Diversity Officer and Senior Vice President for the Office of Community and Charitable Giving at Fannie Mae, as well as President and Chief Executive Officer for the Fannie Mae Foundation. In this episode, she discusses the gender wage gap, encouraging women to place greater value on their capabilities at the outset of taking on a new role and how senior women can use their position on boards to make a difference. She also highlights the importance of refraining from the mindset of perfectionism and how to be valued in the workplace without needing to "check every box."

Caroline Feeney is the CEO of US Insurance & Retirement Businesses at Prudential. She has held progressively more senior roles during her 27-year career at Prudential, including as CEO of Individual Solutions, president of Prudential Advisors, and president of Individual Life Insurance. She also leads the company's Women Empowered business resource group and champions women's financial issues, diversity, and professional development both within and outside Prudential. In this episode, she discusses her passion for actively sponsoring, coaching, and mentoring future women leaders, how organizations can be more deliberate about finding opportunities for women who show potential, and the importance of taking on stretch roles and "jumping into the proverbial cold pot."

Kara Goldin is the Founder and CEO of Hint, Inc. and the author of Undaunted: Overcoming Doubts and Doubters (Harper Leadership). She has been named one of InStyle’s Badass 50, Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business, Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs, Fortune's Most Innovative Women in Food & Drink and Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year for Northern California. In this episode, she offers prescriptive advice for entrepreneurial-minded professionals who are looking to take smart risks and create their own success, highlights her own journey to becoming an entrepreneur and changing careers at age 36, and shares an inspiring story of how Hint raised two years worth of capital during the pandemic.

Lieutenant General (Retired) Nadja West is the 44th Army Surgeon General and the former Commanding General of the US Army Medical Command. In 2015, she became the first African-American three-star General in the Army's history and is currently the highest-ranking woman to ever graduate from West Point. In this episode, she provides valuable advice about mentorship, including the various categories of mentors and how to seek out and structure a real mentoring connection, offers her thoughts on how to create an inclusive culture where everyone is respected, and shares how partnership and reflection has helped her and her husband raise resilient children.

Brandon Barnholt is the President and CEO of KeHE Distributors. Under his leadership, the company has grown from a Midwest specialty food distributor to one of the leading Natural & Organic, Specialty, and Fresh Food distributors in North America. In this episode, Brandon discusses the importance of being a purposeful organization, KeHE's commitment as a B Corp, and how gender equity and advancing women in all roles has made the company better.

Ann Cairns is the Executive Vice Chair of Mastercard, representing the company and brand around the world. As a senior ambassador and executive leader, she brings inclusion, diversity, and innovation to the forefront not just within Mastercard, but around the world. She is also the Global Chair of the 30% Club, a global campaign to increase gender diversity at board and senior management levels. In this episode, she discusses why companies with higher gender and ethnic diversity are outperforming the market, what becoming the first woman in British gas offshore taught her about having the confidence to ask for what you want, and more. 

Toni Townes-Whitley leads Microsoft's US sales for Regulated Industries. She is one of the leading women at Microsoft and in the technology industry. Her teams drive digital transformation across national industries and focus on inclusion, equity, and access in the emerging digital economy.  In this episode, she offers insights into how an organization can achieve purposeful social impact, the power of her life mantra: "love fiercely, live fearlessly, and learn forgiveness", the importance of authentic allyship in diversity, and more.

Meg Crofton is a 35-year veteran of The Walt Disney Company. She retired from her position as President of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, U.S. and France in 2015 and currently mentors and speaks on a wide range of leadership issues while serving on multiple boards. In this episode, she reminds leaders about the importance of focusing on self-care, instilling realistic optimism in their teams, and reaching hearts and minds across a now dispersed workforce. She also provides insights into how she recalibrates and re-centers herself daily and offers five pieces of advice for how leaders can thrive in a post-COVID world.