F E B RUA RY 21 - F E B RUA RY 27, 2014 | T H R E E D O LL A R S
FLOR IDA’S NE WSPAPER FOR T HE C - SUI T E
Panel | Women have come a long way at work. So why are we still talking about it? PG.14 P A S C O • H I L L S B O R O U G H • P I N E L L A S • M A N AT E E • S A R A S O TA • C H A R L O T T E • L E E • C O L L I E R
WOMEN
DEMOLISH BARRIERS
inside DATA
Disparity Despair
We celebrate business owners no matter their sex, but disparity still exists between men and women in business. PAGE 7
ADVANCEMENT
Accounting for Change
When Gail Markham was told she shouldn’t want to make decisions, she made a big one. She left her job to start her own firm — and took 100 clients with her. PAGE 9
Mary Forristall built a successful niche in a traditionally male-led industry. What got her there is simple: Be better than everyone. PAGE 8
HOSPITALITY
Suck it Up
As one of three women hotel general managers in Tampa, Pam Avery doesn’t complain. She excels. PAGE 10
DISCUSSION
Shattering Stereotypes
To hear what women in business think of the topic, we asked them. Their answers, and advice, might surprise you. PAGE 14
FAMILY
Finding Balance
Mary Brandt quit her corporate gig with 200 employees to raise her family. Her new venture makes room for that. PAGE 18
WISDOM
Voice of Experience
From hiring flight attendants for TWA to running a luxury travel agency, Wilma Boyd has seen times change. And she has always stayed ahead. PAGE 27
TOP DEALS M&I Bank Plaza in Tampa sells for $30.36 million. 22 William Warren Group buys Lock Tite Self Storage for $7.5 million. 23
Mary Forristall | President, Forristall Enterprises
Hazelden buys residential portion of its Naples facility for $5.8 million. 24
MARK WEMPLE
19 How Venus and Mars communicate in the workplace. 116578
DON’T MISS
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FEBRUARY 21 – FEBRUARY 27, 2014 | BUSINESS OBSERVER
BusinessObserverFL.com
WOMEN
Recently, it seems there’s an uprising of publications, events and organizations dedicated to women in business. Some seem serious about bringing women together to help advance their careers, while others seem more interested in creating out-of-office days for shopping veiled as “networking.” Pink invitations are a dead giveaway. At the Business Observer, we’ve talked about doing a women in business issue for years, but we’ve always shied away from it. It wasn’t because we weren’t comfortable with the subject, or didn’t think it was important or relevant. It was that in our minds, it seemed wrong to do an issue that lauds women for doing the same things men do. We look for success stories no matter the race, ethnicity or gender of our subjects. We care about what
strategy they’ve chosen to advance their business, how they’ve found success and what they’re going to do next to keep their business growing — not what they look like. We think it’s insulting to treat women any differently from their male counterparts on these pages, including caging them into an issue about women. Yet the fact remains that we end up with far fewer women in our newspaper than we’d like. It appears there are fewer women presidents, CEOs and entrepreneurs — the Csuite positions on which we focus. This results in a disparity of coverage regarding gender. The issue has sparked some spirited discussions in our editorial meetings for years, but we decided it was time to tackle the topic. We put a lot of thought into how to cover
the issue without diminishing the achievements of the women featured, as well as how to add something to the conversation that isn’t trite or obvious. To cover this complex topic, the issue before you has two main parts. We start on page 8 with stories of women who have built their business in typically male-dominated industries — long before this was accepted — and what it took to overcome some challenges inherent in that quest. The second part (page 14) features a discussion from a panel of five prominent women business leaders, as well as their tips for other women in business. Although we can only share a fraction of the conversation in print, you can listen to the entire discussion on our website, at businessobserverfl.com.
The most repeated parts of the ladies’ advice (have a plan, be professional, then outperform and outwork everyone) could apply to either gender. Members of the panel stated several times how much progress has been made, and some wondered if talking about women in business is even worth the time these days. As Alex Miller, CEO of Mercedes Medical, put it: “... in a decade where we need it least, we are getting it most.” That may be true, but the truth also remains that there will always be differences between men and women — it’s in our DNA. But, as our columnist Denise Federer writes on page 19, the key to lessening disparity is having both men and women understand these differences, so that we can focus on what really matters: performance. – Kat Hughes
DISPARITY DESPAIR
Notes
Women make up more than half the workforce. Not so much for corporate boards. Gulf Coast publicly traded companies, at least the 10 largest based on annual revenues, pretty much mirror firms nationwide when it comes to women board representation.
The national rate of women board directors among S&P 500 companies, according to a 2013 report from Ernst & Young, was 17% in 2012. Women hold 18.2% of corporate board seats in
MEN BOARD MEMBERS
COMPANY
the largest companies from Tampa to Naples, a Business Observer analysis shows. That’s 17 out of 93 seats. – Mark Gordon
WOMEN BOARD MEMBERS
Tech Data Corp., Clearwater $25.3 billion (2012 revenue)
9 1
Jabil Circuit, St. Petersburg $17.1 billion
8 1
WellCare Health Plans, Tampa $7.4 billion
9 1
Bloomin’ Brands, Tampa $3.98 billion
7 3
Raymond James, St. Petersburg $3.89 billion
8 2
HSN, St. Petersburg $3.26 billion
6 3
Teco Energy, Tampa $2.99 billion
7 2
Roper Industries, Sarasota $2.99 billion
8 0
Chico’s FAS, Fort Myers $2.58 billion
4 3
Cott Corp., Tampa $2.25 billion
NUMBER OF WORKERS, FL, 2012, IN THOUSANDS
10 1
WOMEN’S EARNINGS AS A PERCENT OF MEN’S
MEDIAN WEEKLY EARNINGS, 2012
86%
900
84%
Florida United States
$854
$796
$691
$676
700
82%
300
76% 74% Sources: Reuters, Google Finance
100 1997 ’99
’01
’03
’05
’07
’09
’11
Florida
Women
78%
Men
500
80%
Women
3,307 men
Men
2,992 women
7
United States
GRAPHICS BY NICOLE THOMPSON
• Tech Data’s only woman board member is Kathleen Misunas, an airline industry executive. Misunas worked for AMR Corp., parent of American Airlines, for 22 years. Her roles there included chief information officer. She previously served on the board of Canadian Tire Corp. • One of the three woman board members at HSN is its CEO, Mindy Grossman. HSN’s senior executive team is also well represented by women. Judy Schmeling, CFO and COO, and Lisa Letizio, chief human resource officer, are two of four C-suite-level executives who report to Grossman. • Jabil Circuit’s lone woman board member, Martha Finn Brooks, is currently a director at aerospace firm Bombardier and motorcycle company Harley-Davidson. She previously held executive positions in the aluminum and recycling industry. • One of the two woman directors at Raymond James, Shelley Broader, was CEO of Sweetbay Supermarket from 2006 to 2008, when she was one of the most visible female business leaders in Tampa. Broader is now president and CEO of Walmart Canada. Energy and utility industry executive Susan Story, past chair of the Florida Chamber of Commerce, is the other woman director at Raymond James. • One of Teco’s two women board members, Evelyn Follit, was an executive with Radio Shack from 1997 to 2005. Follit is currently a director at Bradentonbased retailer Bealls, and she was previously a director at Winn-Dixie Stores, Linens-nThings and Nautilus. The other women board member, Loretta Penn, was an executive with IBM and Spherion Staffing Services.
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WOMEN
Success in a Man’s World
WOMEN WHO BROKE THROUGH MALE-DOMINATED INDUSTRIES BY MARK GORDON | DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR
KNOCK IT
DOWN The core of Mary Forristall’s unique story of success in a male-dominated field is gender-proof: Outwork everyone.
MARK WEMPLE
MARY FORRISTALL has been in the site demolition sector of the construction industry for more than 25 years.
A
dmitted introver t M a r y Fo r r i s t a l l would likely cringe if the word trailblazer dotted her biography. But it certainly fits. Forristall is an executive, after all, who is the first woman board member in the 62-year history of the Lakewood Ranch-based Gulf Coast Builders Exchange, a 450-member lobbying organization and industry trade group. Forristall is also a woman who built a $3 million business in the niche construction sector of site demolition — the epitome of what’s traditionally been a man’s world. Then there’s this pioneering path: Forristall quit high school on her 16th birthday in 1976 to start working. She earned a GED the next year, then she didn’t go back to school until her late 20s, when she took night classes toward an associate’s degree. More night classes awaited Forristall in her 30s, when she earned
“”
bachelor’s and master’s degrees. “I have ba nged my head against the glass ceiling a couple of times,” says Forristall, chairelect of the Builders Exchange. “But being the hard-headed Italian I am, I just kept knocking.” Forristall, 53, is president of Palmetto-based Forristall Enterprises. Sales increased about 15% last year, says Forristall, from $2.9 million in 2012 to $3.3 million, part of an ongoing rebound from the recession. The company has 39 employees, up from 30 a few years ago and recently hired an estimator to grab more market share. Forristall says the firm’s headquarters, a 1,700-square-foot building near Port Manatee in north Manatee County, is currently out of space. She seeks to add at least another 900 square feet. The key to success in a man’s working world, says Forristall, is to make certain every interaction with a customer or peer is of the utmost professionalism. Then it’s about performance, not gender.
That ideal was so important to Forristall that when she started in the business, especially when she met with clients, she reverted to the name Mary. That’s her legal name, but growing up she was always Bambi, to friends, family, teachers and everyone else. The switch to Mary, she thought, would eliminate one possible way for people to look down on her. “I was the first person people would see on the job site,” says Forristall. “I didn’t want to come off as overly sexy or flirty.” Forristall says her family, especially her three children and husband, Stephen, vice president at Forristall Enterprises, has been a bedrock of support during her career. That’s helped, but so too has an inner drive that propels Forristall to always find a way to do it better. That motor explains how she earned three college degrees while she ran a business and raised three children. “I was focused on getting it done,” Forristall says. “I look back on it, and I don’t know how
Tips Palmetto-based Forristall Enterprises President Mary Forristall has been in site demolition for more than 25 years. Here are tips for young professional women in construction. • Get schooled. A focus on education, Forristall says, is paramount. “Construction can be a great career for women, especially now that things are picking up,” says Forristall. “I would advise them to attend one of the construction schools.” • Stay ahead. Forristall says a competitive advantage in construction, past personal education, is to have a company that outshines competitors in its capabilities. Says Forristall: “We wanted to get every licensure and certification we could get.”
the hell I did it. I guess I didn’t sleep much.” Follow Mark Gordon on Twitter @markigordon
I have banged my head against the glass ceiling a couple of times. But being the hard-headed Italian I am, I just kept knocking. Mary Forristall | Forristall Enterprises
FEBRUARY 21 – FEBRUARY 27, 2014 | BUSINESS OBSERVER
BY JEAN GRUSS | EDITOR/LEE-COLLIER
Held accountable
Gail Markham achieved firsts in accounting, building her firm despite the obstacles.
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ho turns down an accountant for a business loan? Barnett Bank did just that to Gail Markham when she founded her accounting firm 35 years ago. A banker refused to consider Markham’s loan to fund the expenses of additional office space even though her business plan was solid and her client roster was growing fast. Markham knew the reason she was turned down: She was a woman. Markham had left her previous employer after hitting the glass ceiling. After four years, when she was denied a partnership with a Fort Myers accounting firm because she was a woman, Markham resigned. “You don’t want to worry and make decisions,” the male partners told her when she asked why she hadn’t earned a partnership. “I walked out the door feeling pretty bad,” she remembers. Her first firm partner, Joni Norton, joined her a few years later. “I’ve never had that happen,” Norton says, listening to Markham’s experience. At a Christmas party before she resigned from the male-dominated accounting firm, the partners handed Markham a holiday card with the title “Firm Hustler.” That’s because she had been given the task of crossing the bridge to Cape Coral to grow the practice. “Go to Cape Coral and hustle up a practice,” she remembers them telling her derisively. Unbowed, Markham hustled up such a practice that about 100 clients followed her to her new firm after she resigned, launching what would become Markham Norton Mosteller Wright & Co. She never thought of applying to O V E R
6 5
Tips As Joni Norton, Gail Markham and Karen Mosteller celebrate their firm’s 35th year in business, they lend the following advice to other women in business: • Be the best at what you do and exceed expectations. “We go way beyond what’s required,” Markham says. • Be a planner. “You need to have your story down,” Norton says. • Be conservative. “What about six months of losses?” Norton asks. • Don’t grow too fast. “You can go out of business being too successful,” Norton cautions.
ED CLEMENT
JONI NORTON, GAIL MARKHAM and KAREN MOSTELLER celebrate their accounting firm’s 35th anniversary this year. other accounting firms. “I didn’t even try,” she says. Today, Markham says she finds the firm has to work harder than male-dominated rivals. “Our fees are questioned more,” she says. “I find little subtleties.”
Y E A R S
Markham works on behalf of litigants and attorneys who sometimes refer to the partners as “you girls.” Markham says those comments don’t bother her now. “We have earned the respect,” she says. “We’ve worked very
hard.” Her firm is well established with offices in Fort Myers and Naples and billings of “several million.” The three women partners say they didn’t intend to build the firm to be one owned mostly by women. “It was just by accident,” Norton says. Because they don’t work on government contracts, they say they don’t benefit from being woman-owned. Chauvinistic remarks are less prevalent outside of law circles, say partners Norton and Karen Mosteller. They’re quick to say that men make up a majority of their clients and most are professional. The firm’s fourth partner, Randy Wright, is a man who joined the firm in 1986. “If we send someone to a bank to get a loan, it doesn’t matter if they’re a man or a woman,” Norton says. Follow Jean Gruss on Twitter @JeanGruss
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WOMEN
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WOMEN
Success in a Man’s World
WOMEN WHO BROKE THROUGH MALE-DOMINATED INDUSTRIES BY TRACI MCMILLAN BEACH | TAMPA CORRESPONDENT
WILD CARD
Pam Avery is one of three women hotel general managers in the Tampa Bay area. PAM AVERY says her hotel’s signature bottomless jar of M&Ms won’t disappear with the hotel’s name change to a Holiday Inn next month.
P
am Avery is not a fan of complainers. That’s why she tells other women: “Just suck it up.”
“Suck it up, do the work and be excellent, and it will all work out in the end,” Avery tells her young employees. That’s how she says she worked her way up from a desk clerk in Sheridan, Wyo., making $2.10 an hour, to become one of Tampa Bay’s three women hotel general managers. Avery, 53, is general manger of the Quorum Westshore hotel and board chair of Visit Tampa Bay. Overseeing the hotel with 272 rooms, 128 employees and revenue topping $10 million is an around-the-clock job. “You just don’t get to close the doors,” Avery says. Her biggest challenge was raising kids as a single mom in an industry that is open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. It’s all a juggling act, says Avery, who would finish work at night during her kids’ homework time. She was also lucky to have help — when her kids had to stay home from school because they were sick, they got to stay in a room at the hotel where she was working.
“”
The kids could watch pay-perview movies and get room service from her coworkers. Balancing a family life could be one of the reasons there aren’t as many women in the hospitality industry as people may assume, Avery says. But she doesn’t let the lack of diversity at the top bother her. “I can hang with boys, do everything they do, and play really bad golf once a year,” she says. “It’s really just about working hard and showing up.” Avery’s biggest project right now is a $6 million renovation and a rebranding effort to change her hotel to a Holiday Inn, another Quorum hotel property. The rebranding isn’t anything new for the GM, who has led the same hotel through its changes from Quorum to Wyndham, and back to Quorum in her five years at the Westshore location. Avery knows the gender gap has impacted her at times in her career. She remembers a note she found in her personnel file from one of her early jobs that said, “Give Pam $4.50 and give Ron $5.50 because she’s married and has a second income.” “At that time, I had a choice to make: Just shut up, do my job, be great and it would be OK. And
that’s how I approached that,” Avery says. Avery says there’s also a flip side to being a woman in business, and at times in her career, she’s lucked out for being a woman. “I’ve worked hard at Visit Tampa Bay, so don’t get me wrong. But five years of being in a market and being chair is pretty remarkable, so I am also afforded opportunities because I’m a woman, and I totally realize that,” she says. As chair of Visit Tampa Bay, Avery says she spends between four and eight hours a week at the bureau. Avery says she brings a fresh perspective and fresh energy to the board, because she hasn’t lived in Tampa for 20 years, like other members. She also admits that she is brutally honest, which she credits as her greatest strength and weakness. “Some of my more political guys think I’m a wild card,” she says. Avery is skilled at leaving an impression. She says her hotel’s most expensive amenity is the bottomless jar of M&Ms at the front counter, which costs the equivalent of an employee salary annually. The price is worth it, for the number of positive M&Minspired reviews she receives
MARK WEMPLE
Tips Pam Avery has been in the hospitality industry for 28 years. Here are her tips for other women wanting to make a mark in boardrooms and business meetings. • Learn sports. “If you can talk sports, if you can talk the game, if you can the trades, if you can talk just something that is going on, it gives you instant cred, or you are kind of part of the guys,” Avery says. “If all else fails, that’s a good rapport builder and a good icebreaker.” • Work hard. Avery says in any industry, no matter your gender, you should always strive to “do a little bit more than the next guy.” She says with women in business “it goes one way or the other — we’re still dressing like a fraternity girl or we are so serious that we can’t crack a smile all day. But all you really have to do to stand out is work hard.”
on TripAdvisor and for brand recognition from clients who are used to receiving the candy during sales calls. “Nobody tells you to go away if you have bags of M&Ms in your hands,” she adds.
I can hang with boys, do everything they do, and play really bad golf once a year. Pam Avery | Quorum Hotels and Resorts
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BusinessObserverFL.com
WOMEN BY JEAN GRUSS | EDITOR/LEE-COLLIER
BUSINESS OBSERVER | FEBRUARY 21 – FEBRUARY 27, 2014
Engineered to grow
Trudi Williams busted through the good-old-boy network to build her engineering firm in Fort Myers.
T
rudi Williams became an engineer to prove a point. A nurse by training, Williams was headed to medical school when her boyfriend told her she didn’t have what it takes to be an engineer. So she switched careers, became an environmental engineer in 1981 and married that boyfriend, Don Williams, also an engineer. “I should’ve gone into medicine,” she says with a smile. But Williams says she wanted to prove that she could be an engineer, and she built TK W Consulting Engineers in Southwest Florida where the good-oldboy network was still well entrenched at the time. Williams had been turned down for partnership in the Fort Myers engineering firm where she labored for seven years after completing her university degree. When a male engineer she had trained was promoted to partner over her, she decided to leave. “We need to keep the boys together,” they told her when she asked why she was excluded. A friend told Williams she could start her own firm, which she did in the living room of her house. Her biggest expense at the time was a $700 monthly bill for the brick-sized cell phone she used. Her first client was the Gasparilla Inn on Boca Grande. “The reception among the private sector was OK, but the government wasn’t,” she says. Lee County municipal chiefs wouldn’t give TKW a shot at government work despite Williams’ qualifications. She overheard one make a disparaging comment that she drafted while stirring spaghetti sauce. She wasn’t discouraged, however. “It made me more determined,” she says. “If you give up, they win.”
ED CLEMENT
TRUDI WILLIAMS didn’t let disparaging remarks about her gender stop her from growing her Fort Myers engineering firm. Williams acknowledged that losing business because of her gender made her mad. She released her anger on the tennis court. “I’ve been known to put people’s initials on that tennis ball,” she smiles. But times changed and TKW landed its first big municipal job in 1995, designing the sewers for the new campus of Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers. “You just never, ever, ever give up,” Williams says. Williams’ reputation was cemented when she was named to the board of the South Florida Water Management Dis-
trict and elected chair in 2001. Her peers with the National Society of Professional Engineers awarded her the prestigious Professionals Engineers in Private Practice Award in 2006. In 2004, Williams was elected to the Florida House of Representatives, propelling her to prominence in the region. Her biggest accomplishment was shepherding the state’s purchase of Babcock Ranch, 71,000 acres that straddle Charlotte and Lee counties. Gender issues aren’t a problem for Williams anymore. She says engineering schools are graduating an equal number
Big expectations
of women and men, creating a more level playing field. TKW weathered the recession despite the drop in billings from $7 million at the peak of the boom in 2007 to about $2.5 million last year. “We’ve always been a very profitable outfit,” Williams says. “Service separates us from the rest.” Follow Jean Gruss on Twitter @JeanGruss
BY TRACI MCMILLAN BEACH | TAMPA
W
MARK WEMPLE
CAROL HAGUE advises young women to plan and think about their goals for their work life and family life. “Today, you’re told, ‘You can do it all, you can have it all.’ But you can’t,” she says. “The pace in the workplace will not allow you to be part-time.” be at home.” Three years later, the same boss was telling her to apply to law school. Hague was nicknamed “Blondie” by the men in the office, something she shrugged off and ignored. “That’s just how it is. It’s the South,” she told her family. She started at the firm with the hopes of eventually going to law school. At the time, there were only two women lawyers in St. Pete. “It was going to be rolling a boulder uphill to be a woman in the practice of law,” she says, so she decided to pursue the administrative side of the industry. Hague now oversees a team of more than 90 employees, including 42 lawyers
Trudi Williams successfully grew her Fort Myers engineering firm into a $2.5 million business. Here are tips she shares with other women: • Never give in to disparaging remarks by your competitors. “Don’t let the bastards get you down,” Williams says. • Be passionate and don’t be timid. “You’ve got to have fire in the belly,” Williams says. “Jump in with both feet.” • Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Williams says she asked clients to refer others to her and write letters of recommendation. One client passed her business cards at a Rotary Club meeting. • Look for talent. “Always hire people who are smarter than you,” Williams says. • Be professional. The first time Williams ordered business cards, they were printed on peach-colored paper. Today, they’re solid green. “It was probably a bad to do light peach,” she says. “We’re professional.”
WOMEN
After witnessing challenges as a woman in the workplace firsthand, Carol Hague likes to share her story with others. Not to complain, but rather, to provide a purpose. hen Carol Hague was asked to lead a new women’s group formed by the Clearwater Chamber of Commerce, her response was swift: “Absolutely not.” Later, when the group’s leader asked Hague to be a cofounder, Hague agreed to help out. That was, only if the group abided by her rules. “It can’t be something trite,” Hague said. “I don’t do Tupperware parties. I don’t do weddings. I don’t do female social club things. So if we’re going to have cocktail parties, count me out. We need to have a real solid purpose.” Purpose could be Hague’s middle name. “I’m a purpose-driven person,” she admits. “I am a child of duty, not a child of play. I can’t sit still for that long.” Hague, 60, is chief operating officer of Johnson, Pope, Bokor, Ruppel and Burns, a firm of 42 lawyers. For the last 30 years, she’s spent her free time as an adjunct professor at St. Pete College. She’s served as a board member of the Clearwater Chamber of Commerce since 2006 and was chairwoman of the board in 2009 and 2010. She’s now cofounder of the chamber’s women professionals group, AchieveHERs. This year Hague was awarded with the Clearwater Chamber of Commerce’s Woman of the Year award and she’s currently in the running for the St. Petersburg Chamber’s Business Woman of the Year award. Hague started working in the legal industry as a paralegal in 1973 for Fowler White in St. Petersburg. At the time, the women weren’t allowed to wear pants to work. “It was a Hugh Heffner kind of thing, she says.” On her first day, her boss told her, “Just so you know, I think women should not be working. I think they should
Tips
in three offices — Clearwater, Tampa and St. Petersburg. Hague declined to share the firm’s revenue, but did say that the company has recently grown, adding five lawyers to its team in January. AchieveHers has stuck to Hague’s “purpose-driven” rule, with a mission to provide a vessel where females feel safe talking to each other about their professional lives. The group’s kickoff event sold out Ruth Eckerd Hall in St. Pete, and its mailing list touts more than 200 local women. Women are always expected to do more, Hague says. Even if they work, they’re “expected to nurture and expect-
Tips Carol Hague has watched the legal industry transform from a male-dominated industry to a more even split over the last 40 years. Here are her tips for others in maledominated industries. • Find mentors. Hague advises women to find two mentors, “one that’s older, so you can learn from that experience and wisdom, and one that’s younger that can reverse mentor you on how to stay young.” • Brag about yourself. Hague says advice from former White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers is the most significant thing she’s heard in the last 10 years: “Take time to brag about yourself.” “As women, not only do we lean in, we lean back. We let men take credit for everything,” Hague says. That’s why women need to talk to other women to learn how to start bragging.
ed to take care of the home and pick up the dry cleaning.” It doesn’t make a different to Hague, who says, “I’m a person that never says ‘no.’” She also doesn’t like complainers or those who make excuses. “I think it is time we stop talking about the glass ceiling and the tension between men and women,” Hague says. “We all just need to be very accepting of the differences in people and judge people by their work and by their credibility and by the value of their souls. Forget about all these other things we’ve talked about.”
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BUSINESS OBSERVER | FEBRUARY 21 – FEBRUARY 27, 2014
BusinessObserverFL.com
WOMEN
The Panel
| BY MARK GORDON | DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR
TRAIL BLAZERS PHOTOS BY MARK WEMPLE
Back: Colleen Kvetko with Shamrock Bank in Naples; Molly Jackson with New Balance in Sarasota; and Katie Pemble with C1 Bank in St. Petersburg. Front: Judy Green with Premier Sotheby’s International Realty in Naples and Alex Miller with Mercedes Medical in Sarasota.
Five of the region’s top women leaders offer a glimpse into how they approach the gauntlet of business decisions they make every day. The insights are surprising, inspiring and enlightening.
A
quintet of women business leaders on the Gulf Coast with a stellar list of career achievements has a message for anyone who hopes to follow them to success one day: It’s not about gender. It ’s about a hy per-foc u s on planning and execution wrapped around a tireless work ethic. That’s how these leaders — a sneaker and retail entrepreneur; a medical supply executive; a regional real estate executive; and two banking executives — achieved their success. “I don’t do anything half,” says Naples-based Shamrock Bank President and CEO Colleen Kvetko. “We are all drivers in here and we are all over-
achievers.” T he execut ives met w it h Business Observer editors at the Observer Media Group’s downtown Sarasota office Feb. 11 for an hour-long conversation about women in business. Here’s an edited excerpt of the conversation: Many women have risen to the top of the ranks in a variety of fields, yet women businessthemed publications and events have surged in popularity. Do we still need to have the “women in business” discussion in 2014? Is it still worth talking about? Kvetko: I think it’s great. I think you are onto something. Last year the Florida Bankers Association had a women in banking seminar to help women maneuver through an organization and a career. I think more and more people are realizing
what you are realizing. Let’s highlight some people for others to follow. Miller: I think it would have been more relevant 20 or 30 years ago. It should be based on performance, whether I’m purple or blue or black or white or female or male, it doesn’t matter because my shareholders are concerned about performance, and that’s it. I find it interesting that in a decade where we need it least, we are getting it most. It almost provides a disservice to women, when you start to segment them out. Pemble: I think the popularity of (Facebook executive) Sheryl Sandberg’s book is evidence that there are a lot of women still striving to reach the level the women in this room have reached. That book hit a chord with so many people.
The Panelists Judy Green: President and CEO, Premier Sotheby’s International Realty Molly Jackson: Co-owns two New Balance stores in Sarasota and Manatee counties with her husband, David Jackson Colleen Kvetko: President and CEO, Naples-based Shamrock Bank Alex Miller: CEO, Sarasota-based Mercedes Medical, a medical supply firm Katie Pemble: President, St. Petersburg-based C1 Bank
FEBRUARY 21 – FEBRUARY 27, 2014 | BUSINESS OBSERVER
Do you think there’s extra pressure and scrutiny on women business leaders to succeed? Kvetko: I do. When I was the first female named (a division) president and CEO of Fifth Third Bank in 1992, the phone calls I got from throughout the organization, I felt like I had a ton of bricks on my shoulders because I was the first. And that was very difficult. I thought there was no way I could screw this up. There was a lot pressure. But my gender never held me back because I had to produce the numbers. I had to show that just because I’m a female, it really doesn’t matter. Miller: There are still few female CEOs, and few women sit on boards, and I think until the unicorn phenomenon stops and there are many more women in leadership roles we will continue to dissect them and take them apart. The decision-making process for women between their careers
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Judy Green COMPANY: Premier Sotheby’s International Realty.
that merged with Premier Sotheby’s International Realty of Naples two years later. The firm’s reach now CAREER: Green started in spreads to the Tampa marreal estate in 1978, and ket. Real Estate Magazine she eventually ran Florida named Green, based in and Texas operations for Naples, one of the 500 real estate giant Coldwell Most Powerful Women in Banker. Her tenure there the World in 2004. included overseeing the purchase and merger with AGE: 64 Arvida Residential Real Es- ADVICE TO YOUNG WOMEN tate. Green worked in cen- PROFESSIONALS: “Never tral Florida in the 1990s forget the human touch. and she was elected mayor We can do anything with of Oviedo, outside Orlando, technology. We can grow in 1993, when she ran her but we can never forget own realty brokerage. She the human touch. It’s all founded Signature Sotheabout relationships and by’s International Realty of building trust and that huSarasota in 2008, a firm man touch.”
See PANEL page 16
BUSINESSOBSERVERFL.COM // Visit our website to watch video and hear full audio of our Women in Business panel discussion.
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BUSINESS OBSERVER | FEBRUARY 21 – FEBRUARY 27, 2014
Molly Jackson COMPANY: New Balance, Fleet Feet.
Colleen Kvetko COMPANY: Shamrock Bank of Florida. Naples-based First National Bank of the Gulf Coast acquired Shamrock last year. CAREER: Kvetkto started in banking in 1971, and she was hired to work in Fifth Third Bank’s national lending division in 1987 in Cincinnati. In 1992 she was the first woman named president and CEO of a Fifth Third state division, in Florida. Fifth Third Bank South Florida operations grew from $1 million in assets in 1992 to $1.1 billion in assets and 16 locations by 2005 under Kvetko. She has since retired and unretired, and was named president and CEO
PANEL from page 15
and family life is a much-discussed topic. Have any of you struggled with being more of a mom and less of a business leader? Jackson: That’s a daily struggle for me. (Jackson and her husband have four children, ages 4-14.) We went from a one-vendor relationship for about 13 years to opening two stores within a 12-month period and going from one vendor to 300, and having a baby, and oh by the way, it was the recession. That took a lot of time away from raising the other kids. Now looking back four years ago, it’s a very big blur in my life that I might have changed a little bit. Miller: There’s an expression: Show me a mother without guilt and I’ll show you a man. Women have guilt and mothers who work have the worst guilt. Lean In (by Sandberg) is the first book I read where I felt maybe I shouldn’t feel guilty. She removed a lot of the feelings I had about feeling guilty. Green: I think there’s an element of that a man feels, too. Our kids are
of Shamrock, a $100 million asset bank, in 2011. U.S. Banker named Kvetko one of the “Twenty Five Most Powerful Women in Banking” in 2004 and 2005.
CAREER: Jackson began her career in banking, in marketing with First Union Bank, which later became Wachovia. She was then a business consultant for handbag and luggage retailer Vera Bradley before she and her husband, David Jackson, began to expand their sneaker retail business in 2008. Now the couple co-owns two New Balance stores, one in Sarasota and one in east Manatee County. They also run Fleet Feet Sarasota, and a women’s
store, Molly’s! A Chic and Unique Boutique. Jackson is a past chairwoman of the national New Balance Advisory Board. AGE: 44 ADVICE TO YOUNG WOMEN PROFESSIONALS: “Family first. If you’re happy at home you will be able to exceed expectations at work. And collaborate as often as you can. As a team in most cases we will be better. Sometimes even collaborating with your competition can be really energizing.”
AGE: 59 ADVICE TO YOUNG WOMEN PROFESSIONALS: “Be yourself. You can’t put a mask around who you are because you will always be the person you are. Know who that person is because if you want to be back room or operations or a CFO you definitely don’t want to be out selling. So you need to understand who you are and what you are after and build upon that.”
grown and we have nine grandchildren. But my husband is like: ‘Boy, I should have taken more time with the boys. I should have taken them fishing or taught them to hunt.’ Pemble: I have one daughter and I have been the sole care provider since was 4. (She’s 14 now.) Balancing my professional ascent and career that I value tremendously while raising somebody I want to be independent and full and happy as any other child takes decisions every single day. You need to approach your life the way you approach your business — you have to plan. There’s a saying: If you don’t know where you are going, any map will get you there. You first have to know what it is that you want to achieve. Then you work it backwards like an algebra problem. And then you recognize that every day you will be thrown a curveball. Is there a glass ceiling for women, and if so, how have you broken through it? Pemble: I’ve personally been really fortunate. I had an 18-year career with Nations Bank, which became Bank of America, and it was built
Katie Pemble COMPANY: C1 Bank CAREER: Pemble was named president and chief operating officer of C1 Bank in 2010. She began her career with Nations Bank and stayed when it became Bank of America. Pemble was a senior vice president for commercial lending at BofA and was also Pinellas County president. She later held several executive roles at the Bank of St.
Petersburg and Florida Bank Group, including president and CEO. AGE: 49 ADVICE TO YOUNG WOMEN PROFESSIONALS: “Know your stuff. Be a student of whatever it is that you are doing. You can’t do something half-baked. You have to be willing to put in the work. And then make sure your performance is undisputable.”
FEBRUARY 21 – FEBRUARY 27, 2014 | BUSINESS OBSERVER
BusinessObserverFL.com
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Alex Miller
CAREER: Miller has spent most of her career with Mercedes Medical, a firm founded by her mother, Noelle Haft, in 1991. Miller was chief operating officer from 1998 to 2003. She was named CEO in 2005. The company, with $30 million in annual sales and 65 employees, has made the Inc. 500 list twice for fast growth. Miller was elected to the board of the on a meritocracy, so it was how you performed. But I joined in the mid-80s and I don’t think there were any women on the bank’s board and very few, if any, bosses who were women. My company had monthly diversity meetings to focus on how to do a deep pull of talent. Green: I don’t feel like there was (a glass ceiling.) Whatever I wanted to do I just did it. It’s not a man’s world or a woman’s world. It truly is who you are and what you achieve and how hard you work. And you can accomplish whatever you choose to accomplish. I don’t even know what a glass ceiling is because I haven’t reached it yet. Miller: I don’t think it’s relevant anymore. I think it’s more like a glass door. Women choose to pull themselves out of their careers to have children and that puts them back however many years in their career path. If they choose to go back it’s going to be a tougher road for them. Kvetko: I don’t think anything ever held me back. Did I ever think I was breaking through a glass ceiling? Yes. Because in my particular bank (Fifth Third) everyone was watching me. Were there some challenges along the way? Sure. I would have had those no matter what. Why has it taken women so long to break through on boards and into the C-suite? And why does a pay disparity continue to exist between women and men? Green: I think there are a lot reasons why. In today’s world we have a lot of single women raising their children and being the caregiver. In many of our homes today it’s not the old family unit that we were raised in. It’s a single woman or a single man. I’ve seen it in my own family. My daughter has raised three children on her own and there is no question that those grandchildren have missed something very special. Kvetko: Some women ta ke breaks to have children. (But) the pay disparity effort has been going on since I was born, which is a long time. The numbers get closer and closer but it goes back to part of our DNA, walking in, talking about your skill set and asking for that raise. We just don’t think that way — but we should. Jackson: Women don’t ask for it. Women don’t demand it. I don’t think the money part is as important to women. Obviously we have to pay our bills, and especially if you are raising a family. But I think for women it’s more about the overall package of what we are doing, which really speaks to the quality of life issue. To women it’s much more than a paycheck.
There’s an expression: Show me a mother without guilt and I’ll show you a man.
Sarasota Memorial Health Care System in 2012. AGE: 40 ADVICE TO YOUNG WOMEN PROFESSIONALS: “You can never be overdressed or overeducated. If you are not educated you will hold yourself back eventually, that’s just a fact, unfortunately, for better or worse. My philosophy, what I tell people, is to do what you are good at and make a career out of it and don’t leave it. Stick with it and develop it.�
Alex Miller | Mercedes Medical, Sarasota
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BUSINESS OBSERVER | FEBRUARY 21 – FEBRUARY 27, 2014
BusinessObserverFL.com
WOMEN
Finding Balance | BY JEAN GRUSS | EDITOR/LEE-COLLIER
MAKING
ROOM VANESSA ROGERS
MARY BRANDT is the owner of Hotel Escalante, a 10-room boutique hotel in downtown Naples.
Mary Brandt traded in her corporate life for entrepreneurship after she had children and later divorced.
A
s the former president and genera l manager of insurance giant Cigna’s operations in Indiana, Mary Brandt oversaw a $900 million business with 200 employees. Today, she owns a 10-room boutique hotel in Naples. Brandt’s journey from the corporate heights to hands-on entrepreneur may be a familiar story to women. Brandt retired from Cigna in 2003 when she became pregnant with her first daughter, moving to Naples for lifestyle reasons. She invested in real estate with her husband while doing some health care consulting as time permitted. But as part of her subsequent divorce, Brandt became owner of the Hotel Escalante last year, a 10-room boutique hotel off tony Fifth Avenue in Naples, just steps from the beach. Now a si ng le mom w it h
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two daughters ages 10 and 4, Brandt lives a block and a half away from the hotel. She’s invested about $200,000 of her own money into upgrading the rooms, adding a restaurant and planting an organic garden. A staff of 11 including a full-time gardener looks after the guests. Brandt seems to relish her entrepreneurial life today, balancing the opportunities to be involved in her children’s school activ ities w it h running t he daily operations of a hotel. She doubts she could be involved in her daughters’ lives to the same degree if she had stayed with Cigna. Although work is so close, Brandt says she leaves it behind when she goes home. “I’ve always been great with balance,” she says. Still, her children enjoy the social aspects of the hotel. “My 10-year-old loves to be at the front desk,” she says. Brandt stays in touch with changes in the health insurance industry, inviting her col-
leagues to the hotel for meetings. “Sometimes I miss it,” she says. But, she adds, “right now I can’t go back.” Brandt got a fast education in the hotel business when she and her husband bought the Hotel Escalante at bankruptcy auction in 2004. The manager quit the same day and she discovered guests scooping pastries from the breakfast buffet into their bags. “You figure out everything fast,” she laughs. “The hardest part was finding the best place to find supplies.” Because of it s Napa-l i ke charm and location close to the beach and Fifth Avenue’s upscale shops, Brandt says she can charge $200 to $900 a night. In the winter season, the hotel is fully booked and 80% full on an annualized basis. Brandt uses skills managing the hotel that she acquired running Cigna’s operations. “I always try to hire people better in all areas than myself,” she says.
“I was never threatened by it [at Cigna],” she says. “I’m not worried someone’s after my job.” To control costs, Brandt decided to bring in-house what many hotels outsource. That includes laundry, catering and landscaping. “When you’re 10 rooms, outsourcing may not make sense,” she says. Although she’s a good delegator, Brandt says every one of her 11 hotel employees reports directly to her. The hotelier says she doesn’t need more than four hours a sleep at night to function effectively. “It has to be four hours consecutively,” she smiles. Because she’s the final decision maker at the hotel, Brandt says she’s less concerned about tracking expenses than giving guests a great experience. At Cigna, she says, “I’d know where every penny went. Here, I don’t. It would probably keep me up at night.” Follow Jean Gruss on Twitter @JeanGruss
I always try to hire people better in all areas than myself. Mary Brandt | Hotel Escalante
FEBRUARY 21 – FEBRUARY 27, 2014 | BUSINESS OBSERVER
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bottom-line behavior
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BY DENISE FEDERER | CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST
Gender issues: Yes, we’re different To overcome gender differences in the workplace, both men and women need to attempt to understand them. But first, we need to acknowledge they exist. women acknowledging they exist and attempting to understand them is a great start. GENDER’S IMPACTS AT WORK Perhaps this lack of awareness stems from the differences men and women have with regard to conversations, which can be significant. While there is always a continuum when looking at behavior, there have been some interesting findings in gender communication research. BARGAINING Women certainly don’t lack the ability to bargain, but they often hedge their assertiveness when negotiating by simultaneously seeking social approval. Ironically, women as a rule don’t have an issue negotiating for someone else; it’s when they need to promote themselves that they often stumble. BEING DIRECT Women often hold back in situations that warrant stepping up, assuming they’ll be picked, noticed or rewarded solely due to their accomplishments. They often have trouble being direct. Men, on the other hand, tend to ask for what they want — so they get their needs met more often. Women can learn from this and many have; those who excel have learned to communicate in a direct and confident fashion (even if they retain internal doubts). CONVERSATION GOALS For men, conversations are nego-
tiations focused on achieving and maintaining the upper hand, and hierarchical, with a goal of achieving independence. For women, conversations are negotiations for closeness, where they seek and give confirmation and support, and a way to enhance their network of connections. The goal for women in most conversations is to reach consensus, thus you can see why problems can ensue when men and women stick to their traditional behavior patterns. Those issues are exacerbated when men use “I,” which they often do instead of “we” or “us,” a practice that makes women feel excluded from conversations or plans. The final nail in the conversation coffin can be differences in communication style; women speak in details, while men talk about the big picture. Add to that the fact that men cite facts and often express them as absolutes, something that can make them appear patronizing. HOW TO ADDRESS DIFFERENCES If you’re a woman struggling to have your voice heard in the workplace, it is necessary to embrace strategies to empower yourself. The first step is to take a look at your own behavior to see if you’re inadvertently sending a message that frustrates others or tends to get you excluded as a conversational partner — resulting in having your voice ignored. Women who often find themselves in that situation must determine what about their style
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makes this happen, and what can they do to turn things around. What specific steps can women take to communicate more effectively, to both be heard and get what they want? Here are a few suggestions: • Make it a goal to be more assertive; • Be aware of your needs and prioritize them; • Be aware of your language; use powerful words and drop qualifiers like perhaps or maybe; • Take note of your tone, inflection and body language — focus on exuding confidence; • Directly communicate your needs. If you want something, ask for it. Considering the powerful impact women have demonstrated in driving results in the business world, it is critical that both men and women share in the responsibility of narrowing the communication gap in the workplace. This can only be accomplished if both genders are willing to shift the way they think and behave — even if it means getting out of their comfort zone — and anticipate that the outcome will be worth the short-term discomfort.
Geri F. Armalavage, MAI, CBA, CVA, CMEA Valbridge | Armalavage Valuation, LLC 2240 Venetian Court Naples, FL 34109 239-514-4646 x213 garmalavage@valbridge.com valbridge.com
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Gender differences in communication are both obvious and subtle. The wildly popular book, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, highlights the differences in how men and women think, with a focus on personal relationships. While we often find humor in these conflicting perspectives, it can be extremely frustrating and potentially derailing when we experience these diverse attitudes in our professional lives. Therefore, understanding gender distinctions in communication is critical for both men and women to work together effectively and maximize their individual and collective potential for business success. The work place differences in the male/female dynamic is demonstrated in a recent article in the Harvard Business Review that found that not only are women grossly underrepresented on Fortune 500 boards, but females’ experiences are vastly different from their male counterparts’ perception of how women experience being on a board. Women often feel excluded and isolated in the boardroom — and men don’t pick up on that at all. Additionally, in my leadership coaching work, many female executives will express that often in corporate meetings they share an idea that is ignored, while a male colleague may express a similar thought and he is lauded, resulting in these women feeling frustrated that their voice is not heard. What can be done to overcome gender differences at work? Both men and
Denise P. Federer, Ph.D. is founder and principal of Federer Performance Management Group. She has 27 years of experience working with key executives, business leaders and Fortune 500 companies as a behavioral psychologist, consultant, coach and trainer. Contact her at: dfederer@fpmg.info
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BUSINESS OBSERVER | FEBRUARY 21 – FEBRUARY 27, 2014
BusinessObserverFL.com
WOMEN
Executive Session | BY MARK GORDON | DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR
the
LAW WON A 35-year legal career provides Rhea Law a chance to impart reams of wisdom. ‘Focusing on something you love,’ she says, ‘will help you be really good at it.’
MARK WEMPLE
RHEA LAW is CEO of Tampa-based law firm Fowler White Boggs, one of the most prominent firms on the Gulf Coast.
F
owler White Boggs law firm CEO Rhea Law is regularly recognized as one of the most powerful business leaders in Tampa Bay. Her accomplishments, past running a 94-attorney firm with five offices in Florida, include leadership roles in economic development, Super Bowl committees and the University of South Florida board of directors. She’s pocketed numerous awards, both for her legal work and philanthropic efforts. Law also is a sought after speaker on women in business panels and a mentor to many young women leaders. “There were a lot of people who helped me,” says Law, “and now it’s incumbent on me to help them.” Law, 64, recently spoke with the Business Observer about some issues and topics important to woman business leaders. Here are excerpts of the conversation. TURKEY DAY: Law and her husba nd, Way ne Wi l l ia ms, write one-year, five-year and “over the horizon” life plans every Thanksgiving — a tradition that takes place before turkey and gravy. The documents, says Law, cover everything from personal goals to work goals to painting the house. Law evaluates her plans each
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quarter to see where she should focus her time. The meticulous plans, she says, are a big part of her success. “Planning is tremendously important. We started out modestly, but now it’s quite a spreadsheet,” she says. “We look forward to doing these plans every year.” PLUG AWAY: Law has spoken on dozens of women business leader panels, and has given doz en s more speeches on women in business topics. The subject is both a passion and something she says remains necessary, even with the strides women have made over the last decade. “It provides an outlet that’s relevant to 51% of your workforce,” Law says. “It shines a spotlight on these issues.” THE MAZE: The legal field wasn’t something women regularly went into when Law earned her law degree, in 1979 from Stetson University. A fifth-generation Floridian, Law says she stayed humble and outworked other attorneys while she built up a client base in government policy and land-use law. That experience and success, she says, helped her break through what she calls “a glass labyrinth,” not a glass ceiling. Law also says she was aided by a host of mentors and champions. “Champions,” she says, “are people who use their high positions to ask peo-
ple to give you a chance.” DOING IT ALL: Law says balancing work with family can be conquered just like a lot of other problems — through communication. Communicating and managing people’s expectations, she says, is the key to establishing strong family relationships. “I consider it an alignment,” Law says. “People might say I’m the most unbalanced person they know, but it works because Wayne and I are aligned.” BIG DISPARITY: T he low number of women on corporate boards is a wrongheaded approach, in Law’s view. “There shouldn’t be a board member disparity,” says Law, “because there’s all this research that has come out that says a company with a diverse board of directors performs better financially than other companies.” CONFIDENCE BUILDER: Before her law career, Law worked at the University of South Florida, where she helped write grants and contracts. It was there, in the 1970s, where Law met and worked under her first mentor, Dr. William Taft. Unsure about a career path, it was Taft, says Law, “who told me every day that I can do anything I want to do. After a while I started to believe him.”
Fowler White Boggs CEO and board chair: Rhea Law Headquarters: Tampa Offices: Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Tallahassee and Tampa. Attorneys: 94 Shareholders: 60 Associates: 29 Employees: 205 History: Tampa lawyers Cody Fowler and Morris White founded the firm in 1943. Source: Fowler White Boggs
PASSION PLAY: Law spends a good amount of time mentoring young women professionals, especially new attorneys. Her advice: Find your passion and stick to it. “When young lawyers come in my office for the first time I tell them that you need to love what you do because you will spend more time here than you do with your family,” says Law. “Focusing on something you love will help you be really good at it.”
It is important to have these panels and discussions. It shines a spotlight on these issues. Rhea Law | Fowler White Boggs
FEBRUARY 21 – FEBRUARY 27, 2014 | BUSINESS OBSERVER
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WOMEN
Voice of Experience | BY JEAN GRUSS | EDITOR/LEE-COLLIER
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My husband entered me in a contest that was running for Mrs. America. That was in 1959. YOU HAD TO BE an all-American homemaker. There were about 2,000 contestants and I was chosen as Mrs. Pennsylvania. I got lots of prizes and flew to Florida to compete in the Mrs. America contest. I came in third. IT WAS QUITE AN HONOR to represent the American housewife. I was very pleased to do that because it’s such an honorable profession. I WAS ONE OF 10 WOMEN in the United States responsible for hiring flight attendants for TWA, from 1970 to 1984. Back then you had to have the right height, the right weight, the right teeth, the right skin, the right eyes. They had to make a good first impression. The first two minutes is when you make an impression. I would have sometimes 60 candidates a day. It was glamorous. Ten percent made the cut. THE HEIGHT REQUIREMENT was 5-foot-2 and it was so important because you couldn’t reach the overhead bins. I put them on a scale, which we were permitted to do then, but today I would be put in jail.
TRAVEL
PRO
I SEE SUCH A CHANGE. Oh my gosh, when I worked for TWA, if I got on a flight and one of the flight attendants had her hair in a pony tail, or an extra pin she shouldn’t have on or her skirt was too long, I could have her grounded for six weeks.
Wilma Boyd, president and CEO of Preferred Travel of Naples, is the doyenne of luxury travel. From hiring flight attendants for TWA in the 1970s to running a successful travel agency today, Boyd speaks about her entrepreneurial career and shares insights into the business.
I JUST FEEL it doesn’t take any longer to put on a nice pair of pants and a shirt than it does to put on sloppy old jeans with a sloppy old shirt. AIRLINE DEREGULATION was the biggest mista ke they ever made. That will never be reversed. They had good manners with passengers and now they don’t.
ED CLEMENT
OFTENTIMES women would say to me: How can you leave your children and go to work? Because women weren’t working nearly as much then as they need to now. I would say it’s always the quality of time you spend with them, not the quantity. But my children never took second place.
WILMA BOYD, the president and CEO of Preferred Travel of Naples, is celebrating the 30-year anniversary of her travel agency this year.
I STARTED a travel school with three students. I decided that young women and men needed a lot of training in the basics of travel. I thought I could teach a lot of them skills that would help them to get a job. When I sold the school I was graduating 1,700 students a year with 100 staff members.
I STARTED my travel agency in Naples in 1984. We’re celebrating 30 years here. There were 60 travel agencies in Naples and Marco Island. Now we have about 10. I was able to acquire 10 agencies in about nine years.
OF ALL THE THINGS that I’ve learned it’s knowing how to hire the right people. A good hire is someone who has a good attitude. It’s all about attitude. It’s someone who is basically happy inside. TODAY I NOTICE how seldom
a young man opens a door for a woman. It’s a nice touch, so why not do that? On the other hand, women don’t expect it. I think our society is lacking in being more thoughtful of another person.
everything in sight. I THINK the economy is coming back. People are starting to travel again.
IN ’95 AND ’96 the airlines took our commissions away. At the time we were a very large corporate agency. We’re 85% luxury travel today.
WE DON’T CONSIDER the Internet as competition. People use the Internet to buy airline tickets. But if they’re going to go Hong Kong, they’re not going to go on the Internet. Many people in Naples who travel with us are very affluent and they don’t want to waste their time researching to find out where they should go. Our staff has traveled to almost every country in the world. They can call us 24 hours a day. The Internet doesn’t do that.
A F T E R 9/11 , ou r bu si ne s s dropped 50% . We decided we weren’t going to lay anyone off. We’re just going to pull our belts in and weather the storm. We sold
SPENDING A FEW DAYS in London gives everybody a lift. My most glamorous destination is Monaco. You can gamble there. Once in a while it’s kind of fun.
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YOU HAVE TO REALIZE you’re taking a risk when you open a business. You have to have enough capital to keep you going because you don’t get business the first week. I just counseled someone about this two months ago. BE PREPARED to work very hard. Don’t think you’ll hire people around you who will do all work when you first open. BE NICE to everyone along the way. Don’t be snippy or short. Everyone’s important. Find the time to be nice to people. ANOTHER THING I think sometimes owners do is they’re afraid to let go of different responsibilities. Consequently they get bogged down and can’t do the things they should be doing. I’m a firm believer in letting go.
It’s all about attitude. Wilma Boyd | Preferred Travel
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