Smeal Celebrates Women In Business At Second Annual Conference
Penn State's Smeal College of Business will host Penn State students, alumnae, and businesswomen from around the country next month for its second annual conference celebrating women in business.
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA (February 23, 2009) – Penn State's Smeal College of Business will host Penn State students, alumnae, and businesswomen from around the country next month for its second annual conference celebrating women in business.
The 2009 Powerful Women Paving the Way conference, sponsored by the Smeal student organization Penn State Women in Business, is scheduled for March 20-21 at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel on Penn State's University Park campus.
The conference gets underway at 8:30 a.m. with remarks by Michelle Trahey, president of Penn State Women in Business. Concurrent sessions are scheduled throughout the day, including topics of interest to working professionals and current students.
Sessions for the professional audience will cover topics including the current economy, mentoring, and strategies for successful careers. Student-centered sessions will address the transition from college to career, self-advocacy, and nontraditional career paths. Other sessions of interest to both students and professionals will address corporate best practices for supporting women at work, work-life balance, and academic perspectives on women in business.
Rebecca Shambaugh, president and chief executive officer of SHAMBAUGH Leadership, will address attendees at the breakfast keynote event, followed by a book signing. Shambaugh is a nationally known leadership strategist with more than 20 years of experience helping organizations and executives respond to critical leadership challenges and opportunities. She is the author of It's Not A Glass Ceiling, It’s A Sticky Floor (McGraw-Hill), which draws on the thousands of speaking engagements and other educational events she has presented that focus on how women can get unstuck, empowered, move up, and prosper in their careers.
Janet Vergis, president of Janssen Pharmaceutica, will then address the conference as the lunch keynote speaker. Vergis, a Penn State alumna, has spent more than 20 years in the pharmaceutical industry. Prior to her current position, she led more than 1,000 employees in sales and marketing in the Central Nervous System Franchise of Janssen, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary. Throughout her career with Johnson & Johnson, Vergis has held positions in the areas of clinical research, market research, brand management, new business development, and sales.
The conference will wrap up on the morning of March 21 following a networking breakfast.
Further details and registration information are available on the conference Web site.
