PEACE THROUGH BUSINESS® Chairperson
Betsy DeVos is Chairman of the Windquest Group, a privately held multi-company operating group, founded in 1989.
Active in Republican politics since college, Betsy DeVos served a two-year term as Chairman of the Michigan Republican State Committee (MRSC) which she was elected to at the MRSC convention on January 25, 2003. She previously served as Chairman of the Michigan Republican State Committee, from May 1996 to February 2000. Her political involvement and activities have spanned more than 25 years.
Betsy is also very active in the community and currently serves on a number of national and local boards including the Alliance for School Choice, Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Michigan Chamber of Commerce, Kids Hope USA, The Acton Institute, Compass Arts and the Education Freedom Fund, a Michigan foundation that provides scholarships for low-income children to attend schools of their choice.
PERSONAL
Formerly Elisabeth Prince of Holland, Betsy is married to Dick DeVos. They have two sons and two daughters, ranging in age from 23 to 14. They enjoy travel, boating, and skiing together as a family. A graduate of Holland Christian High School, Betsy received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration/Political Science from Calvin College in Grand Rapid, Michigan.
Kathy L. Bennett is the President & CEO of Bennett Packaging & Display of Kansas City, Inc., a manufacturer of high-quality packaging and display products, ranging from standard brown shipping cartons to deluxe point-of-purchase display products. The business in addition provides structural and graphic design, fulfillment, co-packing, warehousing, and distribution services.
Founded in 1987, today Bennett Packaging & Display is a certified woman-owned enterprise and a family-managed business that employs over 150 people in three locations; Lee’s Summit, Mo., Wichita, Ks. and Bentonville, Arkansas. In 2009, sales exceeded $38,600,000.
The company has been recognized and the recipient of several national awards for printing & structural design within their industry.
Bennett Packaging was honored in 2006 & 2007 by the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce as a “Top 10 Small Business of the Year.” The award is given based on outstanding key elements of growth, sustainability in revenue, employee relations, and a commitment to community service in Kansas City. Kathy also received the “Women Who Mean Business” recognition in 2005 from The Kansas City Business Journal and recently received an “Enterprising Woman of the Year” award in the over $25 million category in 2008. In 2009, Bennett was listed in Ingram’s as one of the top 100 Fastest Growing Companies in Kansas City.
Kathy Bennett has over 25 years of management experience and expertise in manufacturing, sales and marketing, inventory management, corporate finance, and business process development.
Bennett Packaging & Display is a member of the Chambers of Commerce of Missouri, Kansas City and Lee’s Summit. Kathy serves on the Board of Directors for Summit Bank, Lee’s Summit Economic Development Council (Benefactor Level), Kansas City Council of Women Business Owners, National Association of Women Business Owners, Women Impacting Public Policy (National Level) and numerous industry specific trade organizations.
Kathy is also a proud sponsor of “Peace Through Business”, a program bringing Afghan women to the United States for a mentoring program to encourage entrepreneurship. And most recently has become a new board member for IEEW, Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women.
Janet L. Hill is the Owner of Eden Salon & Spa. She began hairdressing at 16 years old. Her plan was to attend college for Bachelors in Sociology/Psychology then attend law school with the ultimate goal of running for a Senate seat. Her plans changed when her older brother returned from the Marine Corps injured. It was time to become self- sufficient.
Hairdressing has been a great career for her and she has been blessed with many opportunities to “elevate” public perception of the salon/spa industry. Eden Salon LLC grossed over 1 million dollars the past two years.
Past achievements include awards from:
• Haircutting, Styling, Make-up for Oklahoma and Texas State Champions 1979
• Oklahoma Psychological Association - Psychologically Healthy Workplace Award 2002
• Salon Today Top 200 Salons in North America
• Elle Magazine Top 100 Salons
• Oklahoma Magazine Best of the Best
Published: Passion, Passion for Men, Modern Salon, Salon Today, Elle, Rachel Ray, Opubco, Oklahoma Today.
Janet has been married to her husband Richard for 34 years and they have two adult children. She and Richard have been salon owners since 1982 and are focused on growing legitimate jobs. They are members of Saint Luke’s Methodist Church and support our community charities such as Infant Crisis Services, Suited for Success, City Rescue Mission, the OKC Food Bank and hundreds of school and charitable fundraising requests for goods and services.
When asked about her experience as a mentor for the Peace Through Business program with The Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women, she said, “Our experience hosting and mentoring a woman salon owner from Rwanda changed our lives forever and I came to realize that helping raise awareness and funds for Peace Through Business is my “pay it forward” for the freedom and opportunities I enjoy.”
Nancy Hyde is President of Hyde & Company. Established in 2002, Nancy brings more than 30 years experience to Hyde & Company. She specializes in individual and business tax and compensation planning, retirement plan design and administration. Nancy’s prior experience as a court appointed trustee for individual and business debtors in bankruptcy included responsibility for management, protection and liquidation of assets.
She previously served as the Oklahoma Society of CPAs President, past chair of Nomination’s Committee and Committee on Taxation. She has also served as past chairman of the Tax Forms Committee and Member of Relations with IRS Committee, National Task Force on Restructuring the IRS, and Group of 100 Committee. Nancy was inducted to the Society’s Accounting Hall of Fame, selected as 2007 Female Entrepreneur of the Year by EWF International and was recognized as a top 30 Women Owned Business in Oklahoma by the Journal Record in 2007 and 2008. Her firm has also been recognized in the top largest accounting firms in OKC area in 2007 and 2009. In July, 2009 she was appointed by the Governor as Commissioner of the Oklahoma Securities Commission. In 2010, Nancy was selected by CPA Magazine in the Top 40 Tax Advisors to know in a recession. Nancy received her Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Central Oklahoma.
In the community, Nancy has served as a member and past president of Church of the Servant Foundation and chaired the finance committee. She volunteers to speak on income tax, business and management topics and volunteers at the AICPA Financial Literacy program.
Ms. Sylvia Medina is the President of Green Kids Club, Inc., a company devoted to teaching children the importance of environmental stewardship and ecosystem management. She was the previous owner and founder of North Wind, Inc., an engineering and construction company that provided a full suite of environmental services and selected traditional construction services. In 2009, she sold her company to Cook Inlet Region Incorporated (CIRI), so she could spend more time with her children and family. At the time of sale, North Wind had grown to over $120M per year, with over 400 employees and 16 offices around the country. In March 2013, she retired from her position and began an even more incredible journey by launching Green Kids and spending more time with her children and family!
Green Kids Club, Inc. is a company devoted to teaching children the importance of environmental stewardship and ecosystem management. Storylines are prepared and presented in children’s books that pull the child in by bringing in concepts related to a magic spring that gives children the power to communicate with animals. Difficult environmental issues are introduced into the story (such as poaching, endangered species, and habitat encroachment as some examples). Animations and E-Books are also part of the series as well as a line of plush toys. We are expanding into Zoos, schools, and various stores across the country (as well as out of country)!
With over 20 years of experience serving the environmental industry as both a corporate executive and environmental engineer, Ms. Medina is recognized in the industry as a leader in small business innovation and unmatched customer responsiveness. Some of Ms. Medina’s customers included Department of Energy, Air Force, Army, Army Corp of Engineers, Navy, Environmental Protection Agency, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as well as many contracts in the private sector.
Sylvia grew up in Northern Arizona and attended college at New Mexico Tech in Socorro, New Mexico, where she received Bachelors of Science degrees in Environmental Engineering and Biology. After graduating from New Mexico Tech, Ms. Medina relocated to Idaho, where she made numerous contributions as an environmental engineer at the Idaho National Environmental Laboratory (INEL). During her five year employment period at the INEL, she returned to college at the University of Idaho and received her Master’s of Science degree in Waste Management with an emphasis in Chemical Engineering.
In addition to her work in the environmental industry, she serves on the Board of Directors for several organizations, including:
• Snake River Animal Shelter, LLC (President)
• IEEW
- School board chairman of Holy Rosary School
Sonu Ratra is the Founder and President of Akraya, Inc., a multiple-award winning talent solutions company and a dedicated advocate of women empowerment. Sonu’s story is one of a young Indian girl who truly lived the American dream. She arrived to the US only 17 years ago with $50.00 in her pocket and became an entrepreneur making a successful life for herself and her family while never forgetting her roots.
Sonu’s mother has been her primary role model. In spite of being paralyzed from a spinal cord tumor, she raised two daughters to face the world and its hardships with a smile. She provided precious education, counseling, guidance for her family although she was completely bedridden herself. This determination and positive energy helped Sonu through her life and inspired her to work hard towards achieving her dreams while also supporting and counseling other women professionals. As a successful woman entrepreneur, Sonu believes that with success comes responsibility. She has always been very passionate about giving back to the community. (She holds a Masters degree in Social Work from Tata Institute of Social Studies (TISS) in India.) Sonu dedicated two years of her career to working directly with HIV-infected women through fieldwork, and outreach.
Besides leading Akraya’s aggressive growth strategies, Sonu serves as the Vice Chair of the Northern California Minority Supplier Development Council’s MBEIC Committee. In this role, Sonu supports MBEIC’s mission to find ways to help women-owned & minority businesses reach a larger market. Sonu also serves on the Board of Directors at the Northern California Minority Supplier Development Council.
Sonu is a past winner of the Enterprising Woman of the Year Award, the Woman of Influence Award, the Stevie Award for Women Helping Women, the Soroptimist Ruby Award and the Indian American Women Empowered Award.
In her current role, Sonu spearheads the Akraya’s Diversity Supplier Program that gives preference to MBEs to fill Akraya’s corporate needs. Akraya engages MBEs in the areas of recruiting, marketing consulting & promotional items and the company dedicates 90% of its total annual procurement spend to diversity spend. Sonu also leads Akraya’s charitable programs like supporting Race for Literacy, Haiti Fundraising and mentoring young women.
In the staffing industry, Sonu has been recognized as a highly motivated and focused thought leader. Employers and clients have consistently appreciated her dedication to deliver both out of the box and custom solutions to match the situation. After more than a decade of Recruiting and Management experience, Sonu founded Akraya, Inc in 2002 with the desire to fill a gap between what clients needed and what other agencies provided. Akraya has grown in a mere 12 years into a preferred staffing company to several Fortune 500 enterprises with estimated revenue of $38.5MM in 2013. Today, Akraya has offices in Sunnyvale, CA, Bangalore and Pune in India. Akraya has been named Best Places to work 3 years in a row, #1 Staffing Company to work for and won many other accolades.
Monica Smiley ¦ As the editor and publisher of Enterprising Women, Monica Smiley has spent the last decade building the national and now global magazine she leads into a strong voice for women entrepreneurs. Founded as the only national magazine published exclusively for women business owners, the print and digital editions of the magazine now reach a million women entrepreneurs in 185 countries. The company also hosts the annual Enterprising Women of the Year Awards, considered the most prestigious awards program for outstanding women business owners from North America and around the globe. While Enterprising Women began its tenth year in May 2009 serving the women business owner community, Monica has been the president of a magazine publishing and marketing communication business for nearly 30 years, publishing both consumer and trade magazine titles.
Considered a national thought leader on women’s entrepreneurship, Monica serves on the National Association of Women Business Owners National Advisory Council and is a member of the Women Presidents’ Organization. EW is a founding coalition partner of Women Impacting Public Policy, and she has represented the United States six times as a delegate to the Global Summit of Women (in Morocco, Germany, Chile, China, Turkey, and Greece), a gathering of nearly a thousand women entrepreneurs, women business leaders, and women Cabinet or Ministerial level government leaders from more than 90 countries Actively involved in the Peace Through Business program, sponsored by the Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women (IEEW), Monica has served as a mentor in the program for the past five years, hosting women business owners from Afghanistan and Rwanda in her North Carolina home. She was elected to the IEEW Board of Directors in July 2012.
Monica founded the Enterprising Women Foundation in March 2011 to benefit the growth of women’s entrepreneurship here and around the world. She has two sons, three grown step-children, and four grandchildren. Monica holds a degree in journalism from Bradley University, Peoria, IL, and began her career as an award winning newspaper reporter and editor. A recipient of numerous awards, she is a native of Bay City, Michigan.
Erica Anderson Taylor
Erica Taylor is the president of Mondel, Inc. a consulting firm that works with minority and women-owned companies. She founded the “Power 100” awards program to honor outstanding businesswomen and started the Wichita chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO).
Taylor is active in both business and philanthropic groups and has a laudable record of community involvement. She was a founding partner of Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP), the largest national advocacy group for women-owned businesses. She also served as the vice president of the Wichita Minority Business Development Council and on the Board of Directors for the Kansas Minority Development Council. Taylor assisted in launching a statewide welfare-to-work program and was appointed by the Mayor of Wichita to serve on the Small Business Advisory Council for the City of Wichita.
Taylor has been recognized locally and nationally for her efforts to promote women and minority-owned businesses. She spoke at the first White House Conference for Women on Work Life/Balance and was later invited to speak on behalf of the Family Medical Leave Act. She was named both the Kansas State and U.S. SBA “Women in Business Advocate of the Year” in 2004 for her dedication to bettering the climate for women-owned businesses in the area. In addition, she was NAWBO’s “Rookie of the Year” in 2002 and appointed as the organization’s Midwest Regional Director of Public Policy in 2003. Also, in 2003, Taylor was honored by the Wichita Business Journal with the “40 under 40” award.
Taylor is a native of Grand Rapids, Michigan and received a master’s degree in marketing from Eastern Michigan University. She currently resides in Wichita, Kansas with her husband and eleven children.
Dr. Terry Neese is the founder & CEO of the Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women (IEEW). She leads the organization to accomplish its mission both domestically and internationally through training programs for women business owners in the area of public policy and entrepreneurial education. There are many facets to of Terry Neese; wife, mother, “Gema” to 2 grandchildren, pilot, mentor,advocate, national political strategist and entrepreneur. She will be the first to say, “I don’t understand all the fuss, I’m just a girl from Cookietown, Oklahoma”, but she has spent the majority of her life helping women achieve their dreams and become advocates.
Terry started her entrepreneurial career 30+ years ago as a young woman with a dream. Her personnel firm, Terry Neese Personnel Services, has found careers for more than 25,000 individuals and generated over $2.7 billion in payroll for the community. She faced many adversities in building her multi-million dollar firm including a devastating fire and highway construction, which closed access to her business for over two years.
Being involved and giving back to the community has always been important to Terry. She became actively involved in public policy issues which led her to seek the office of Oklahoma Lieutenant Governor in 1990. She is the first woman to make it to the general election for this seat. Terry has always been involved in women’s organizations for networking and women’s issues because it is her passion. She became the national president of National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), the largest women’s association of its kind. Terry founded Women Impacting Public Policy and the Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women (formerly WIPP Institute). Terry knew the power behind uniting women’s voices to implement change. She single handedly united almost 50 national women’s organizations and individual members from all 50 states to form the largest women business owner’s grassroots association. By testifying before congress and making Capitol Hill visits to their elected officials, women entrepreneurs are finding their political voice because of Terry.