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Neiman Marcus Partners with over 100 Influential Women in Nationwide Panel Series

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In celebration of Women’s History Month, Neiman Marcus recently announced a series of women’s leadership panels throughout the month of March in stores across the country. Stores are engaging with customers and associates alike to showcase the importance of women in leadership positions in business, technology, the arts, design, health, wellness, and their communities.

“As a woman co-founded, majority-women-led organization, female leadership is paramount to who we are,” said Marjon Zabihi Henderson, senior director of brand experience and special events at Neiman Marcus. “These panels allow us the opportunity to connect and uplift women in communities across the country, which for us is extremely powerful.”

Co-founded by Carrie Marcus Neiman, Neiman Marcus Group has a longstanding history of women leadership. Today, women make up the majority of the company’s board of directors, 59% of VP level and above, and 68% of all corporate and store associates. Additionally, Neiman Marcus Group is dedicated to providing female designers, brands, and business partners a place to thrive.

With over 100 women participating in panels from coast to coast, participants include Academy Award-Nominated Actress, Screenwriter and Director Maggie Gyllenhaal; award-winning Writer and Director Janicza Bravo; FASHIONPHILE Founder Sarah Davis; Actress and Co-founder of Studio 189 Rosario Dawson; emerging designer Autumn Adeigbo; and “A Girl Named Carrie” author and grand-niece of Carrie Marcus Neiman, Jerrie Marcus, among others.

“I’m thrilled to celebrate Women’s History Month with the brilliant women on this panel,” said Gyllenhaal.

The Neiman Marcus Beverly Hills store hosted a panel moderated by Journalist and Best-Selling Author Melissa Magsaysay with panelists including Maggie Gyllenhaal; Janicza Bravo, and Senior Vice President, Customer Engagement and West Region Integrated Retail at Neiman Marcus Group, Stefanie Tsen Ward. Titled, “The Future is in Her Hands: Inspired by the Past. Hopeful for the Future.,” the event highlighted some of fashion’s most influential history makers and innovators, including the ways they can inspire current and forthcoming generations to be a force for positive change.

“I had to pave my own way in an industry that had not made room for me,” said Bravo. “I had been raised to think in terms of scarcity and now I know there’s more land to be had. I hope that the road will be more open for the women and folks of color that will come after.”

On Thursday, March 31, Neiman Marcus NorthPark will host the final panel event in the series. Moderated by fashion entrepreneur journalist, media personality, speaker and best-selling author Leah Frazies, the panel will feature Rosario Dawson of the fashion brand Studio 189 and Abrima Erwiah, co-founder of Studio 189, Director of the Gromek Institute for Fashion Business at Parsons School of Design and professor at Parsons School of Design. The panel will offer attendees a sneak peek into the Studio 189 line coming soon to Neiman Marcus stores and online. Panelists will also discuss how to grow your business in the world of fashion.

Accompanying the Women’s History Month panels, Neiman Marcus Group also created a variety of activations and initiatives to support and inspire women including:

  • Collaborating with Boss Beauties to launch a “Role Models” NFT collection
  • Sponsoring young women in the Boss Beauties community to travel to Neiman Marcus’ downtown flagship store to meet with NMG female executives
  • Supporting Mindy Scheier and Runway of Dreams’ adaptive fashion show titled “A Fashion Revolution,” empowering individuals with disabilities
  • Spotlighting female history-makers and innovators in Neiman Marcus’ online magazine in a story titled, “The Future is in Her Hands“
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Southern Company: Energy to Lead

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For decades, Southern Company has been a role model among companies forging opportunities for women across all areas of its businesses. The company’s diversity, equity and inclusion eff orts help ensure all groups, and especially historically underrepresented groups, are well represented, included and fairly treated at all levels.

Southern Company has focused its energy on cultivating and promoting an inclusive work environment where all employees feel welcomed, valued, respected and engaged  so everyone can contribute and reach their full potential.

A leading energy company providing clean safe, reliable and affordable energy to more than 9 million customers throughout the U.S., Southern Company provides the energy communities depend on to work and play through electric utilities in three states (Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama), natural gas distribution companies in four states (Georgia, Illinois, Tennessee and Virginia), a competitive generation company serving wholesale customers across America, a leading distributed energy infrastructure company, a fiber optics network and telecommunications services.

As important as keeping the lights on and the natural gas flowing is, Southern Company employees know that
how they work is just as vital. The company’s uncompromising values help ensure employees place the needs of the
customers they serve at the center of everything they do and govern the business to the benefit of everyone.

The company’s commitment to diversity and inclusion begins with the board of directors. The company’s board believes a variety of viewpoints contribute to a more effective decision-making process and helps drive long-term value.
The Southern Company board of directors has included a female member every year since 1984 – nearly four full decades. Of the four new independent directors named to the board since March 2018, two are women of color. Currently, three women – Dr. Janaki Akella, Juanita Powell Baranco and Colette D. Honorable – sit on the board governing Southern Company and overseeing the organization’s strategy. Their distinguished backgrounds include expertise in the fields of engineering, digital transformation, business operations, and energy regulation and policy.

     “The experience and expertise Juanita, Janaki and Colette contribute to our board is further evidence of the importance we place upon corporate governance, risk oversight, board refreshment, diversity, and transparency,” Southern Company Chairman, President and CEO Tomas A. Fanning said.

Beyond the board, women hold leadership positions across Southern Company. Kimberly S. Greene is the chairman, president and CEO of Southern Company Gas, a leading natural gas company in the industry and a subsidiary of Southern Company. Women serve on the boards of the various operating companies within Southern Company and women populate executive roles at the parent company and subsidiaries.

In fact, women work in every function of the business at every level across the Southern Company system.
Additionally, the company’s corporate culture and hiring practices have been recognized nationally for excellence
in diversity, engagement, inclusion, equality and overall excellence by many organizations and publications.

Southern Company is committed to an equitable and inclusive workplace that mirrors the diverse communities
it serves. Its ongoing aim is to increase and improve outreach, recruitment, hiring and retention of diverse groups
at all levels of the workforce; ensure equity in leadership development programs; and seek diverse candidate slates
for management roles.

Its people make Southern Company one of America’s premiere energy companies. A commitment to developing
talent and helping employees succeed in every phase of their careers is a long-held practice that Southern Company seeks to continue.

Attracting, developing and retaining women is more important than ever as companies modernize their businesses
and become more efficient. Southern Company is working to increase and improve outreach, recruitment, hiring and
retention of diverse groups at all levels of the workforce. The deliberate and intentional development strategy will
help ensure the company has the breadth of skills needed today and for the future.

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IBM Celebrates Global Women Leaders Shaping the Future of AI

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As part of its annual Women Leaders in AI program, today IBM (NYSE: IBM) recognized 40 innovative female business leaders from 18 countries who are using IBM Watson to help drive transformation, growth and innovation across a wide variety of industries. This year honorees include women leaders from The Clorox Company, City of Austin, The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation, EY, Ford Motor Company, ServiceNow and many more.

Celebrating diverse talent in the field of AI and creating a culture of inclusion are important as the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women in the workplace becomes more apparent. A recent IBM Institute for Business Value study revealed that despite heightened awareness of the challenges facing women in the workplace driven by the pandemic, gender equality is still not a top priority for 70 percent of global businesses, according to business professionals surveyed. Moreover, fewer women surveyed hold senior vice president, vice president, director and manager roles in 2021 than they did in 2019.

IBM created the annual Women Leaders in AI program in 2019 to help encourage increased diverse participation in the field and provide honorees a network for shared learning. This year’s class of honorees demonstrate how efforts to advance natural language processing and automation and build responsible AI can be used to help organizations better predict outcomes, automate processes and drive new efficiencies.

“As AI adoption continues to accelerate, we believe that diverse teams are needed to help build and implement trustworthy AI that can help mitigate bias and deliver explainable outcomes,” said Ritika Gunnar, Vice President, Expert Labs, IBM Cloud and Cognitive Software. “Today, we are sharing the incredible stories of 40 women who are paving the way forward in AI for business and impacting how people work and live. Working with clients in an era of global workplace and workforce change, we see the need for women and diverse teams working at the forefront of AI.”

The 40 leaders recognized in 2021 were selected based upon the ways they are using AI as a transformation agent to help drive results for their organizations and the employees, customers and citizens they serve. Examples include:

  • Improving the effectiveness of advertising with AI: The Ad Council partners with top advertisers and marketers to create campaigns that address pressing social issues. President and CEO Lisa Sherman used IBM Watson Advertising Accelerator to help improve the effectiveness of the Love Has No Labels “Fight for Freedom” initiative, which promotes diversity and inclusion, and is currently leveraging the technology for their “It’s Up To You” COVID-19 vaccine education initiative
  • Empowering independent farmers with crop forecasts: Farmers in developing countries often lack the tools and means to critical resources that could help them prepare and grow their crops efficiently. Manoela Morais, Chimka Munkhbayar and Helen Tsai created a solution called Agrolly, as part of Call for Code in 2020, which uses IBM Watson to help farmers plan crop production and minimize risks caused by extreme weather conditions.
  • Detecting cybersecurity threats in global financial markets: The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) provides post-trade infrastructure for global financial markets, standardizing and simplifying administration of safety-critical securities transactions. Poonam Verma, who oversees DTCC’s critical cybersecurity services function, implemented IBM services to help further advance the organization’s cyber detection capabilities.
  • Meeting the challenge of a threefold surge in customer service calls: As conversation volumes surged due to COVID-19 uncertainty, Ekaterina Ostankova and her team at Lloyds Banking Group helped design and define a solution using IBM Watson Assistant that enables customers to get support quickly. She drives adoption of conversational AI to unlock new opportunities for the bank and seeks to support customers by resolving ever more complex queries through messaging and web channels.
  • Helping teenagers land their first job with a friendly avatar: Finding your first job can be intimidating, so Australian bank Westpac created “Wendy,” a friendly digital coach, that answers spoken and written questions about job preparation. Annie Shu, Manager of Strategy and Innovation, used IBM Watson natural language processing capabilities to help make Wendy engaging and relatable. She championed Wendy’s cause with bank executives and led the service design and innovation development teams.

The 2021 IBM Women Leaders in AI honorees are: 

  • Joan Francy, CEO, AdMed (United States)
  • Chimka Munkhbayar, Co-founder, Agrolly (Mongolia)
  • Manoela Morais, CEO and Co-founder, Agrolly (Brazil)
  • Helen Tsai, Web Developer Lead and Co-founder, Agrolly (Taiwan)
  • Airei Soh, Assistant Manager, Marketing Strategy System & Solution Planning, All Nippon Airways (Japan)
  • Leah Karlin, Director of Machine Learning and Data Engineering, At Point of Care (United States)
  • Fella Benaziza, UX Designer Consultant, Capgemini France (France)
  • Elisabetta Burei, BRM Technology CRM, CheBanca! (Italy)
  • Divya Rathanlal, Emerging Technology Program Manager, City of Austin Texas (United States)
  • Regina Olivares, Principal Management Analyst, Clark County (United States)
  • Siew Choo Soh, Managing Director, DBS (Singapore)
  • Sandra Corkern, Associate Director, Real Estate Technology and Innovation, EY (Ernst & Young LLP) (United States)
  • Jennifer Turner, Senior Director, Digital Innovation, Strategy and Transactions, EY-Parthenon (Ernst & Young LLP) (United States)
  • Sabita Sharma, AVP, Automation and Innovation, Everest Re Group (United States)
  • Tracey Hawes, General Manager, Marketing and Trading, Fine Wine Delivery (New Zealand)
  • Julie Losee, Manager, Equipment Lease Accounting, Ford Motor Company (United States)
  • Denise Stokowski, Group VP, Platform Products, Gainsight (United States)
  • Hagit Tzafrir, SVP Healthcare Division, Harel Insurance & Finance (Israel)
  • Annapurna Vishwanathan, Former Head of Digital, HCCB (Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt. Ltd.) (India)
  • Curren Katz, Director of Data Science R&D, Highmark Health (United States)
  • Satoko Maeda, Senior Managerial Staff, Hiroshima Prefectural Government (Japan)
  • Mari Sasaki, Data Construction and Media Product Director, Kakuichi (Japan)
  • Anette Böhm, General Manager, Corporate HR, KBC Group (Belgium)
  • Ekaterina Ostankova, Product Manager – Virtual Assistant Lab, Lloyds Banking Group (United Kingdom)
  • Kaori Matsue, Senior Director, General Manager of Responsible Care and Quality Assurance Division, Mitsui Chemicals (Japan)
  • Alu Rodríguez, SVP Business Transformation, NH Hotel Group (Spain)
  • Jeanette Fürst, Director of Sales, OpenAdvice IT Services (Germany)
  • Donatella Sciuto, Professor of Computer Engineering and Executive Vice Rector, Politecnico di Milano (Italy)
  • Bharathi Ramadass, IT Product Manager, ServiceNow (United States)
  • Gema T. Pérez Ramón, Director, Taxation Office, Madrid Municipality (Spain)
  • Melissa Dorey, Digital Experience Principal, Telstra (Australia)
  • Lisa Sherman, President and CEO, The Ad Council (United States)
  • Pam Griffin, Associate Director, Cleaning Division, The Clorox Company (United States)
  • Poonam Verma, Managing Director, Head of Security Engineering and Operations, The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) (United States)
  • Supaluck Umpujh, Chair, The Mall Group (Thailand)
  • Manami Endo, IT Planning Section, Information System Department, TRUSCO Nakayama Corporation (Japan)
  • Mio Sugihara, Assistant Manager, System Management Section, TRUSCO Nakayama Corporation (Japan)
  • Catharine Fennell, CEO, videoBIO (Canada)
  • Amy Oding, Operational Support and Automation Manager, Vodafone (New Zealand)
  • Annie Shu, Manager of Strategy and Innovation, Westpac (Australia)

Explore the stories of how these women leaders are using AI to help transform their businesses — and the lessons they’ve learned along the way — at https://www.ibm.com/watson/women-leaders-in-ai

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DICK’S Sporting Goods Releases Campaign Focused On Female Leadership

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To celebrate Women’s History Month, DICK’S Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS) unveiled a new advertising campaign this week, Inside Moves, to showcase the powerful women who help lead the Company’s efforts to ensure that girls and women everywhere receive the opportunities they deserve — both on and off the field of play.

The goal of the campaign is to reach female consumers and establish their connection to the female leaders at DICK’S Sporting Goods in order to affirm that DICK’S is a brand and company that will fight to champion women and address their concerns and needs. The leaders highlighted in this campaign, in order of appearance, are:

  • Julie Lodge-Jarrett, Chief People Officer
  • Carrie Guffey, Senior Vice President, Merchandising
  • Nina Barjesteh, Senior Vice President, Product Development
  • Melissa Christian, Vice President, Marketing
  • Toni Roeller, Senior Vice President, Store Environment
  • Kim Walker, Senior Director, Visual Merchandising
  • Aimee Watters, Executive Director, DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation
  • Lauren Hobart, President & Chief Executive Officer

The campaign was developed by creative agency, Badger & Winters. “DICK’S has a team of incredible leaders who are writing a new playbook for women and girls in sports. Lauren and the team recognize the power sports has to change the trajectories of girls’ lives. Our agency is so proud to be a part of their efforts,” said Madonna Badger, Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Badger & Winters.

Already in 2021, the Company has made several efforts to champion women, while highlighting the importance youth sports play in the lives of girls including:

  • A commitment by The DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation to donate 100,000 DSG Brand sports bras over the next 18 months to under resourced female athletes across the country.
  • The formation of the Company’s first-ever Girls’ Power Panel for girls ages 13-17 with the goal of giving a younger generation of females a voice to provide general insights on sports issues and input on product offerings.
  • A National Girls & Women in Sports Day social challenge, #StrongerWithSports, aimed at showcasing the strength girls and women gain by participating in sports. Candace Parker, Sydney Leroux and Morgan Simianer were among the group of today’s female sports advocates and leaders supporting the challenge.
  • The launch of the second annual Brooks Running “Empower Her” collection. The product line is currently available in DICK’S stores nationwide and online at dicks.com.

“While the campaign focuses on several of the women on our leadership team, I can tell you that our entire company is all in on supporting girls and women in all walks of life,” said Hobart. “Along with our partners, we will work tirelessly to ensure that we have the products and programs that speak to current and future female athletes.”

Moving forward, the Company will continue to support these efforts through increased product assortment, in-store programs, a series of marketing initiatives and product donations.

This new campaign and 2021 initiatives follow the Company’s actions taken in 2020, when The DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation provided a $5 million grant to the U.S. Soccer Foundation’s United for Girls initiative, began a partnership with USA Softball, expanded women’s offerings in-store and online and launched a marketing campaign celebrating the power of the sports bra.

 

 

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Millennials, Women are Increasingly Among those ‘Sandwiched’ as COVID-19 Pandemic Shifts Caregiving Responsibilities

by lp
A new report Caregiving and COVID-19: How the Pandemic is Expanding the Sandwich Generation examines how the pandemic has changed who is part of the Sandwich Generation, their expectations for the future and the financial, physical and emotional impact caregiving is having on these households. According to this new white paper, the Sandwich Generation has become increasingly younger, more female, and more diverse as a result of the pandemic. It also suggests these new members may face caregiving and financial challenges that are different than those of their Baby Boomer and Gen X predecessors.“As the Sandwich Generation becomes younger and the economic outlook remains uncertain, preparing for the unexpected becomes critical to achieving long-term financial security,” said Jeff Beligotti, Vice President, Head of Long-Term Care Solutions at New York Life. “This is especially true for Millennials, who are already making up a greater percentage of the Sandwich Generation while still managing the impact of the Great Recession on their early professional years. This group has the greatest opportunity to improve their financial, physical, and emotional outlook for the long-term by developing a sound financial strategy now.”

The report includes three key sections:

Shifts in Caregiving Place the Burden on Women, Millennials and Emerging Majority Populations

  • When it comes to caring for both an aging parent and children, nearly two-thirds (64%) are women and over one-third (39%) are Millennials.
  • Latinx caregivers (34%) are most likely to spend higher-than-average time providing care for loved ones, followed by Black caregivers (29%), and white Millennial family caregivers (20%).

The Financial Cost of Caregiving

  • On average, the cost of caring for an aging relative is about $1,000 per month, with 54% of those in the Sandwich Generation reporting spending more than usual per month to care for others as a result of the pandemic.
  • Almost 7 out of 10 (69%) of Sandwich Generation members are paying for this care out of their own daily budgets; 40% are contributing less to their saving, 30% are contributing less to their retirement.
  • While nearly half of the Sandwich Generation (46%) have $50,000 or more in investments, one-quarter (23%) have no financial investments at all.

Long-Term Expectations for the Sandwich Generation

  • Nearly half (48%) of all members of the Sandwich Generation expect to be in a caregiving position in some capacity for six or more years, yet one-in-four (22%) report they would need to adjust their financial strategies within the next 12 months.
  • The research shows that those who reported feeling prepared to provide six or more years of care with no adjustments were more likely to be working with a financial professional.

“Members of the Sandwich Generation have always been stretched thin, but COVID-19 has undoubtedly exacerbated the stress this group is facing,” said Dylan Huang, Head of Retail Annuities, Investment Solutions and Wealth Planning, New York Life. “Despite a wide gap between those who may be prepared to be caretakers for several years and those who may need to adjust their financial strategies sooner, the outlook is not all dark skies. This report shows that those working with financial professionals are able to improve their financial well-being and feel more confident about their financial solutions, their family’s future, and their own retirement.”

For a more in-depth look at the Sandwich Generation and New York Life’s findings, click here to access the report.

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