WoMen OF
PRoSPERity
business women ’ s alliance
The Business Women’s Alliance, sponsored by Progressive Heating, Air Conditioning, and Plumbing in partnership with Carrier, enjoyed another productive year, featuring a variety of thoughtful speakers who offered thought-provoking keynotes at the tri-annual luncheons. In March, Karen Kulinich, CFO of Smith Automotive Group and Nissan of Newnan, addressed a crowd of over sixty members and guests on the topic of owning and maintaining one’s professional image and integrity. In the competitive automotive industry, primarly dominated by male influence, Kulinich has out-performed many of her peers with a proven track record and regional star quality. The second in the luncheon series, September’s event featured Shan Cooper, a regional c-suite icon who serves alongside forty senior executives within the Atlanta metro community comprised of CEOs, university presidents, and civic leaders as the Executive Director for the Atlanta Committee for Progress (ACP). ACP serves as the cabinet for the city’s mayor.
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Shan’s address provided insight into her success, empowering the thought-forward audience to be themselves, consider personal value, be expressive, be a good listener, offer solutions to employers, and to be transparent within themselves about their non-negotiables.
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The third and final of the series welcomed Chamber executive turned independent consultant Anissa Starns, CEO of Swingbridge Partners, LLC. Annissa shared anecdotes from more than 25 years of experience in non-profit and chamber of commerce management. She has enjoyed an extensive career as an advocate for business interests, including CEO positions with several chambers of commerce. Passionate about helping businesses and organizations grow customer, member, and donor relationships, Anissa has presented training and workshops to more than 30,000 business owners and non-profit executives to help them build capacity within their organizations.
Shan Cooper, Executive Director of the Atlanta Committee for Progress, shares wit and wisdom with members and guests at the second in the three-part Business Women’s Alliance luncheon series.
Developing and expanding upon the knowledge of professional female leaders in the Coweta community is at the forefront of the Business Women’s Alliance mission. BWA programs are structured to offer an abundance of opportunities for participants to learn about best practices and harness the tools necessary to persist as productive and informed community influencers and stakeholders.