Seeking women stepping out of their comfort zones

By Jennifer Poff Cooper

Addressing “women in business” is still an important distinction, particularly in fields where males dominate significantly; here are three examples from one of our Chambers.

“About a third of nonexecutive posts are held by a woman,” a recent www.cnbc.com report said. “The news from the C-suite is even worse. Only 5% of CEOs are women and 19.2% of corporate leadership team members are female.”

Times are changing however. Women now come to be leaders in the business world through myriad routes. Several local Chamber members discuss some of those pathways.

Devin Tobin, COO of LewisGale Hospital Montgomery and a member of the Montgomery County Chamber Board of Directors and its Executive Committee, was always interested in health care administration because her mother struggled with bipolar disorder and addiction.

“I was passionate about changing policy,” Tobin said, leading her to a degree in public health and a master’s in health care administration.

The path was more circuitous for Jennifer “Jenn” Majdanik, Principal HR Business Partner of BAE Systems and a Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce volunteer since 2016. She started from the “front lines” and worked her way up, showing ability for leadership and taking on additional tasks in a telecommunications company, a male-dominated world. Fast-forward: she finished her degree, passed HR certification tests, completed a