The Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women.

Dr. Terry Neese is a wife, a mother, “Gema” to 2 grandchildren, pilot, mentor,advocate, national political strategist and entrepreneur are all words that describe the many facets of Terry Neese. She will be the first to say, “I don’t understand all the fuss, I’m just a girl from Cookietown”, but she has spent the majority of her life helping women achieve their dreams and become advocates.

Terry started her entrepreneurial career 30+ years ago as a young woman with a dream. Her personnel firm, Terry Neese Personnel Services, has found careers for more than 25,000 individuals and generated over $2.7 billion in payroll to her community. She faced many adversities in building her multimillion dollar firm including a devastating fire and highway construction, which closed access to her business for over two years.

Being involved and giving back to the community and state has been important to Terry. She became actively involved in public policy issues which led her to seek the office of Oklahoma Lieutenant Governor. She is the first woman to make it to the general election for this seat. Terry has always been involved in women’s organizations for networking and women’s issues because it is her passion. She became the national president of National Association of Women
Business Owners, the largest women’s association of its kind. From that experience and her experience in politics, Terry founded Women Impacting Public Policy and the Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women (formerly WIPP Institute). Terry knew the power behind uniting women’s voices to implement change. She single handedly united almost 50 national women’s organizations and individual members from all 50 states to form the largest women
business owner’s grassroots association. By testifying before congress and making Capitol Hill visits to their elected officials, women entrepreneurs are finding their political voice because of Terry.

Whether she’s writing white papers as a Distinguished Fellow for the National Center for Policy Analysis, speaking in front of a crowd, or organizing women from as far as Afghanistan, Terry Neese is an inspiration to men and women all over the world.

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Barbara Kasoff is currently the President and CEO, and Co-Founder, of Women Impacting Public Policy, Inc., a non-profit, public policy advocacy organization with over half a million members advocating on economic issues for women in business. She is also Co-Founder of GrassRoots Impact, Inc. a public policy strategies firm whose mission is to connect Corporate America and Political Leaders to small business owners, including women-owned businesses, minorities, and women in business.

Other companies that she has owned and managed, are Voice-Tel of Michigan, the fourth largest voice messaging company in the United States, Voice-Tel of Central Michigan, and Voice Response Corporation, a telemarketing and database marketing company. Barbara also opened and developed Voice-Tel of Australia, a company with 11 offices throughout Australia and New Zealand for the Voice-Tel franchisor. With her experience, Barbara has been able to incorporate her skills in management, her strengths in communications, and her considerable energies in powering her fledgling companies to secure a solid foothold in the rapidly expanding world of communications. Prior to becoming a business owner, Barbara previously served as Vice President of Customer Service and Senior Vice President of Research and Software Development for World Computer Corporation in Michigan for ten years where her team designed and installed new financial services software for credit unions. Altogether, she has been a business owner and corporate executive for 20 years, and has successfully sold 3 of her four companies.
For many years, Barbara has been an active supporter for small businesses, and women and minorities in business in particular. She continues this work both nationally and internationally. She has linked together thousands of small business owners with her voice messaging network, enabling them to communicate directly with one another to improve their businesses, learn of programs, opportunities and appointments in the communities, improve the climate of entrepreneurship, and play a part in public policy making. Her efforts to unite various organizations, has enabled small business owners to share information with each other, learn from one another, and become better informed in economic and political issues.Barbara currently serves on the following corporate and non-profit Boards:

• Board of Directors, nFocus Software
• SCORE Association Board of Directors, a national nonprofit organization of volunteers who counsel small business owners;
• Public Affairs Officer of the National Global Trade and Technology Board of Directors, whose mission is to help reverse the long standing trends in balance of trade deficits by making the task of finding, selling and delivering US products and services into global markets as simple as doing business next door;
• Board of Directors of the National Women Business Owners Council, the premier certification agency for women business owners;
• National Board of Directors of the Women’s Leadership Forum for the Democratic National Committee, Small Business Chair for Kerry for President

In addition, Barbara has previously served as President of The National Association of Business Owners in Detroit, Vice President of Public Policy for the national NAWBO organization, and on various community Boards, including: Detroit Edison Community Relations Board, Forgotten Harvest, International Institute and Majority Business Initiative. She has helped develop new and closer relationships with the US Small Business Administration, Small Business Development Centers, Department of Commerce and local, national and international corporate leaders. She also advises for the Committee for Working Families for Wal*Mart. Barbara has served as a Delegate to the White House Conference on Small Business, was an invited delegate to President Clinton’s Midwest Regional Economic Summit and was the recipient of the State of Michigan Women in Business Advocate of the Year in 1995.

Barbara and her family now reside in San Francisco, CA.

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Sandra A. Abalos is the Managing Partner of Abalos & Associates, P.C., a full service CPA firm that provides accounting, tax planning, compliance services, profit enhancement, management advisory services and estate planning to businesses in the small and mid-size range. Abalos & Associates has been ranked a top accounting firm in Arizona by a number of publications.

With over 25 years of successful accounting experience, Sandra has become nationally recognized in the areas of taxation, independent contractor status and estate tax reform. As a delegate to the 1995 White House Conference on Small Business (WHCSB), Sandra has taken small business issues to Washington, D.C., where her voice has been heard. She drafted and co-sponsored the number one issue to come out of the conference: the need to clarify the definition of independent contractor status for small businesses.

Spending countless volunteer hours and her own resources to champion tax-related issues supportive of small business, Sandra served as National Tax Issue Captain for the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) at the WHCSB, as well as the Region IX Implementation Tax Chair for the WHCSB from 1995-2005. Sandra met the President, advised national officials about upcoming tax code revisions and testified before Congress on these same matters. She was instrumental in the passage of the Small Business Tax Bill, known as the Small Business Jobs Protection Act, and advocated and won a 100 percent health deduction for the self-employed, an increase in depreciation expensing and a reduction of the alternative minimum tax for small businesses.

Within her own community, Sandra is currently the Director of Public Policy for the Phoenix Metro Chapter of NAWBO. She sits on the Board of Directors for Western National Bank and the Phoenix Tax Workshop Advisory Board, and was named to the IRS Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee for 2000-2001. Recently appointed to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) National Advisory Council, she has served as Director for the Arizona Society of Certified Public Accountants (ASCPA) and the Phoenix Industrial Development Authority.

After earning her Bachelor of Science with a major in Accounting at Arizona State University in 1979, Sandra became a Certified Public Accountant in the state of Arizona in 1980. She obtained her Master of Accountancy with an emphasis in Taxation from Arizona State University in 1986. Over the years, Sandra has received numerous awards and was most recently named the 2005 U.S. Small Business Administration Arizona Woman Entrepreneur of the Year. She was named to the 2004 Business Journal Valley Influential Class, and was named the 2003 Arizona Small Business Person of the Year. In 2002, she was named the NAWBO Business Owner of the Year, and was awarded the 2001 Public Service Award by the ASCPA. Her greatest honor to date was being recognized as the 1996 SBA National Accountant Advocate of the Year.

Sandra has an outstanding record of public policy leadership, business excellence and community effectiveness. Her awards, achievements and history of recognition on a local and national level make her one of the nation’s top businesswomen.

Education

• Certified Public Accountant - State of Arizona - 1980
• Master of Accountancy - Major in Taxation - Arizona State University 1986
• Bachelor of Science - Major in Accounting - Arizona State University 1979
• Business Organizations
• Arizona Society of Certified Public Accountants
• American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
• National Association of Women Business Owners
• Phoenix Chamber of Commerce
• 1995 White House Conference on Small Business Delegate
• SBA Region IX WHCSB Taxation Implementation Chair
• Phoenix Tax Workshop - Advisory Board
• National Federation of Independent Business Guardian Advisory Council
• Abalos & Associates Member of AthenaPowerLink® Program

Awards

• 1996 SBA Arizona Accountant Advocate of the Year
• 1996 SBA Region IX Accountant Advocate of the Year
• 1996 SBA National Accountant Advocate of the Year
• 1996 NAWBO Public Policy Advocate of the Year
• 1998 Impact for Enterprising Women Distinguished Honoree
• 1999 Working Woman Magazine - Entrepreneurial Excellence Award
• 1999 Phoenix Chamber of Commerce Small Business Person of the Year Finalist
• 2001 Arizona Society of CPA’s Public Service Award
• 2002 NAWBO Business Owner of the Year
• 2003 Arizona Small Business Person of the Year
• 2003-2008 Arizona Business Magazine - Abalos & Associates Named Top Accounting Firm in Ranking Arizona
• 2004 Business Journal - Valley Influential Class of 2004
• 2005 U.S. Small Business Administration -Woman Entrepreneur Of The Year
• 2007 Enterprising Women - Enterprising Woman of the Year
• 2007 Alfred P. Sloan Award for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility

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Janet Harris-Lange is national President of the National Women Business Owners Corporation. NWBOC was the first national certifier of women business enterprises providing certification as well as procurement opportunities. She has been a small business owner since 1972 and is president of Agenda Dynamics, Inc., a meeting, event and association management company in the West Palm Beach, Florida area. Agenda Dynamics, Inc. is certified as a woman business enterprise with the State of Florida.

She received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Florida Atlantic University and began her professional career as a French and Spanish teacher.

Among her accomplishments, Janet has been a member of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) since 1982 and served as its national President in 1991-1992. She was a member of the Small Business Advisory Council for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta from 1993-1996 and was a delegate to the 1986 White House Conference on Small Business, and co-Chair of the Florida Delegation for the 1995 White House Conference on Small Business.

Her awards are numerous including the 1993 Entrepreneur of the Year Award by Inc. Magazine and the Gillian Rudd Leadership Award in 1994.

She has been featured in many publications, and on television and radio and authored a monthly article for a business magazine for women.

Janet is twice widowed and has an adult son and several stepchildren.

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Martha Parker has developed and managed award-winning consumer education and brand communications programs for private sector clients including Mobil Chemical, Coca-Cola, Weyhauser, Tenneco Packaging and not-for-profit clients including BRBA - the Business Alliance for Sustainable Purchasing, Corrugated Packaging Council, National Recycling Coalition and the National Football league (NFL).

She founded Parker Associates in 1996 in order to focus exclusively on strategic communications. Prior to founding Parker & Associates, Parker was president of a $20 million marketing and strategic communications company, (Providence, RI). Previous positions include legislative aide in the US. House of Representatives, (Washington D.C.), Special Assistant to the Dean, Yale School of Architecture, and marketing management with a banking corporation.

Parker has been recognized by :

• Who’s Who of American Women
• Accredited by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) (holds Senior Counselor status),
• Certification in management (PMP) from the Project Management Institute of America.
• B.S. degree, Communications, the University of Illinois, MA degree,University of Rhode Island,
• Graduate studies at Harvard University (2003), Graduate School of Education, Project Zero. Currently in the MPA program, Harvard University, Kennedy School
• National (Founding) Partner, Women Impacting Public Policy (consortium of 500,000 women in business), and member of the national policy committee.
• National Board, Alliance of Business Women International (San Diego, CA)
• Board of Directors, Ars Cognita, Inc., focusing on artificial Intelligence (Manchester, NH)
• Board, LISTEN, Upper Valley Charitable organization
• Parker is a resident of Grantham (Eastman), New Hampshire, and currently serves as volunteer in the NH Adult Literacy program

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Valerie Shondel is CEO and Chairman of the Board of SelectoFlash one of the largest printing firms in the country. Following in the footsteps of her father, James Peepas, the founder of the company, and later her mother Estelle Peepas who ran the company for twelve years, Valerie is now owner and manages the day-to-day business. This year SelectoFlash will celebrate 50 years in business under second generation ownership and management.

SelectoFlash takes your image where it needs to go. Inside. Outside. Overhead. Underfoot. Anywhere. Everywhere. We partner with customers to create Consultative Graphics Solutions in 5 areas: Fleet and Transportation, Interior and Exterior Environmental Graphics, Outdoor Durable Media., POP and DOT/Conspicuity. We can handle your job from beginning to end, including design, production, nationwide installation, and fulfillment.

SelectoFlash produces screen printed and digital graphics from their manufacturing facility in West Orange, New Jersey. SelectoFlash provides the highest quality graphics for a wide range of clients. From Fortune 500 companies to small local businesses including clients such as Anheuser Busch, UPS, Target, U-Haul and Home Depot.

Valerie is involved in many organizations including the IEEW, WBENC Forum, Enterprising Women Magazine Board of Directors, WIPP Executive Advisory Board, WPEO Steering Committee, WPO Platinum Group, C200 Protegy Group and SGIA.

Beyond her business and family there is one other love of Valerie’s life: her music. Indicative of her lifelong love of music, Valerie earned a degree in Piano Performance and Musicology from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. Her talent and ongoing commitment to music have enabled her to experience things that other musicians only dream of. She has held faculty positions at Wake Forest University, Greensboro College and Eastern Music Festival. A highlight of her career was to perform as an Organ Soloist at the Cathedral de Notre Dame in Paris, France. And she regularly performs with many of New York City’s top musicians. Besides these experiences, Valerie continues to share her musical talents with her church as a pianist and organist.

On a local basis, SelectoFlash is a member of the West Orange Chamber of Commerce and they support St. Barnabus Hospital ICU Children’s Center, the “Make a Wish” Foundation, the West Orange and Kinnelon Volunteer Fire Departments, the Bone Marrow Transport Society of West Orange and many other community organizations.

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Desma Reid-Coleman is a highly successful Detroit Businesswoman who has owned and operated as many as seven businesses simultaneously since first hanging out her shingle as an entrepreneur on July 1, 1994. Desma currently owns and operates four primary businesses, which include:

Fashion $en$e Upscale Resale featuring apparel and accessories for the entire family, with specialization in the St. John knit line of clothing

• Lady Valet Concierge and Valet Parking Services for business events, private parties, residential and commercial affairs that also provides coat check, bartending and service personnel
• Quality Professional Services, a human resources consulting, mediation and business development firm
• QPS/BagPort LLC, a luggage cart concession business originating in Germany and ensuing from her prior ownership of the luggage cart concession at Detroit Metropolitan Airport from 1999-2004.

With QPS, Desma is the only minority partner to own such a concession at any major airport in the United States. However, she is currently playing a key role in insuring that she will not remain with that status! She is initiating the DBE involvement of a well established African American businessman in the inaugural luggage cart franchise program at Philadelphia International Airport, the fifth largest commercial airport in the United States.

Long active in the Detroit business community, Desma initiated a monthly networking luncheon (The Sisterhood Collaborative) for four years which connected women together professionally across a wide spectrum. She is active with her alma mater, the University of Michigan, as an Emeritus member of the Center for the Education of Women (CEW) Leadership Advisory Council, and former Vice Chair of the Alumnae council (2005-2007).

Desma is the recipient of numerous community, civic, and institutional awards - DTE Energy Entrepreneurs Award, University of Michigan Distinguished Alumna in 1997, and Small Business Award of Distinction by the Michigan Business and Professional Association just to name a few.

Desma served with distinction as President of the Greater Detroit Chapter of National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), is the past chair of the NAWBO PAC, and served on the NAWBO National Board of Directors from 2003-2007, concluding with her role as the chair of the 2007 annual Women’s Business Conference in Atlanta, GA. In addition, she has served on over fifty boards such as the Skyline Club Board of Governors (a Clubcorp facility), the National Black MBA Association Detroit Chapter, the National Political Congress of Black Women, Spaulding for Children Adoption and Foster Care Agency, and many more over the past 15 years.

Essence Magazine (September 2007) featured Desma in an article entitled “How I Got Rich” in a Black Women’s Guilde to Accumulating Wealth. In addition, she is featured in a chapter of the June 2007 book The Millionaire Zone by Jennifer Openshaw detailing the ‘life net’ concept of business success.

Desma holds a master’s degree in business management from Central Michigan University and is an avid golfer. However, she is most proud of her role as the mother of four accomplished and wonderful adult children, two sons and two daughters, ages 25-33.

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Dr. Diane Rivers is the President and CEO of Quality Educational Systems, Inc., a research, development, consulting, and school reform company, located in Birmingham, Alabama, and committed to transforming public education through quality initiatives. QES, Inc. was the 2003 recipient of the Alabama Quality Aard and the 2005 recipient of the Alabama Quality Award for Continuous Improvement, based on the demanding Baldrige criteria.

Dr. Rivers earned her Ed.D. from the University of Arkansas, and has extensive experience as an elementary, secondary, and university teacher, as an educational pscyhometrist and psychologist; and sixteen years experience in a variety of system level administrative roles. She is a member of numerous professional and civic organizations, including AASA, ASCD, ASQ, WIPP (National Founding Partner), and Rotary International, and has been listed numerous times in Who’s Who in American Women, Who’s Who in American Education, and Who’s Who in the South.

She is a frequent speaker and writer, with a particular passion for creating and sustaining quality school systems. She has provided educational leadership and consultation to urban, suburban, and rural school systems, colleges and universities, professional organizations, and businesses. Dr. Rivers is the developer of QuESt - Quality Educational Systems: Tools for Transformation, a nationally recognized Comprehensive School Reform Model. She has trained k-12 institutions, colleges and universities in the model, which was first used at Wilkerson Middle School as a pilot to enable them to be the first school in the nation to receive the prestigious Rochester Institute of Technology/USA Today Quality Cup Award in 1994. As team leader for the award, Dr. Rivers was recognized in a 1995 issue of Forbes magazine, and was also selected as the Distinguished Lecturer for the Gasser Lectureship Series in April 1995, at the Business College, Rochester Institute of Technology. Since 1997, schools in 20 states have implemented QuESt, many of whom have received recognition from their state level Baldrige Award offices.

Dr. Rivers was recognized as one of “21 Voices for the 21^st Century” by the American Society for Quality, and was featured in the January 2000 issue of Quality Progress. Dr. Rivers combines her practitioner’s experience as a teacher and system level administrator with her expertise as a consultant. Dr. Rivers has also designed and developed multiple web-based technology applications to assist schools in performance management. She is also a certified Covey trainer, providing leadership training in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, 4 Roles of Leadership, and 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens to schools and districts throughout the country. Her seminars, leadership forums, and learning materials combine an interactive, developmental approach, based on adult learning theory, enabling participants to embrace the philosophy of continuous improvement, systems thinking, and strategic focus, internalize the concepts, and emerge prepared to lead a quality initiative.

Dr. Rivers is a member of ASQC, AQP, and a charter member of AASA’s Total Quality Network. She also served as member of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce’s Total Quality Task Force, which she chaired in 1994. During her Chairship, the Total Quality Center and subsequent Quality Council was formed. She is a member of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Board of Examiners (2002, 2003, 2005), and served as an Examiner (1996-97), Senior Examiner (1997-1999), and Overseer (1999-2000) for the Michigan Quality Council’s Board of Examiners, where she also served as Chair for the Council’s statewide K-16 Education Committee. She is also a member of the Alabama Quality Award Board of Examiners (2003, 2004, 2005). In 2005, she was nominated by President George Bush as a Commissioner to the National Commission on Libraries and Information Sciences.

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Peace through Business® Chairperson

Betsy DeVos is Chairman of the Windquest Group, a privately held multi-company operating group, founded in 1989.

Active in Republican politics since college, Betsy DeVos served a two-year term as Chairman of the Michigan Republican State Committee (MRSC) which she was elected to at the MRSC convention on January 25, 2003. She previously served as Chairman of the Michigan Republican State Committee, from May 1996 to February 2000. Her political involvement and activities have spanned more than 25 years.

Betsy is also very active in the community and currently serves on a number of national and local boards including the Alliance for School Choice, Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Michigan Chamber of Commerce, Kids Hope USA, The Acton Institute, Compass Arts and the Education Freedom Fund, a Michigan foundation that provides scholarships for low-income children to attend schools of their choice.

PERSONAL

Formerly Elisabeth Prince of Holland, Betsy is married to Dick DeVos. They have two sons and two daughters, ranging in age from 23 to 14. They enjoy travel, boating, and skiing together as a family. A graduate of Holland Christian High School, Betsy received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration/Political Science from Calvin College in Grand Rapid, Michigan.

PRINCIPAL POLITICAL OFFICES and ACTIVITIES

• Chairman, All Children Matter, Present
• Chairman, Michigan Republican Party, 2003-2005
• Member, MI Executive Committee, Bush-Cheney ‘04, Present
• Member, Trust Fund Board, Library of Congress 2003-Present
• Member, Leadership Team, W Stands for Women, Bush-Cheney ‘04, Present
• Chairman, Great Lakes Education Project PAC, 2001-2002
• Chairman, Choices for Children, 2001-2002
• National Finance Chairman, National Republican Senatorial Committee, 2000
• Chairman, Michigan Republican State Committee, 1996-2000
• Republican National Committeewoman-Michigan, 1992-1997
• Chairman, Spence Abraham for U.S. Senate Committee, 1994
• Member, Board of Trustees, American Council of Young Political Leaders, 1995-Present
• RNC Budget Committee, 1992
• Delegate, Republican National Convention, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000
• Alternate Delegate, Republican National Convention, 1984
• Chairman, Fifth District Republican Committee, 1989-1992
• Chairman, Kent County Republican Committee, 1984-1988
• Co-Chairman, Kent County Republican Finance Committee, 1983-1984
• Precinct Delegate, 1986-Present
• Delegate/Alternate Delegate, Michigan Republican State Conventions, 1980-Present
• Vice-Chairman, Bush/Quayle State Steering Committee, 1992
• John Engler for Governor Committee, 1990
• Co-Chairman, Bill Schuette for U.S. Senate Committee, 1990
• Co-Chairman, Michigan Republican State Committee Lake Michigan Barbecue, 1988-1991
• Co-Chairman, Kent County Bush/Quayle Campaign, 1988
• Delegate to China, American Council of Young Political Leaders, 1988
• Volunteer, “ScatterBlitzer” Ford for President, Kent County Republican Committee, 1976
• Numerous other campaigns, local and statewide

COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES

• Member, Board of Directors, Alliance for School Choice, Present
• Member, Board of Trustees, Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Present
• Member, Board of Directors, Children First America - 2004
• Member, Board of Directors, American Education Reform Council, -2002
• Member, Board of Directors, Kids Hope USA, Present
• Ministry Leadership Team, Kids Hope USA -2005
• Member, Board of Directors, Compass Arts, Present
• Member, Board of Directors, Education Freedom Fund, 1995-Present
• Member, Board of Directors, Acton Institute, 1995-Present
• Co-chairman, “Heartbeat” fundraiser for the American Heart Association, 1995-2002
• Member, Board of Directors, Michigan Chamber of Commerce, 1993-1996; 2001-Present; Executive Committee, 1995-1996, 2002-Present
• Member, Board of Trustees, Blodgett Memorial Medical Center, 1986-1997
• Member, Board of Directors, Grand Rapids Economic Club, 1993-1998
• President’s Advisory Council, Calvin College, 1993-1995
• Member, Advisory Board, The Potter’s House School, 1994-Present
• Member, Board of Trustees, Ada Christian School, 1992-1995
• Grand Rapids Christian School Association - Capital Fund Drive, 1990-1993
• Member, Michigan International Year of the Family Council, 1994
• Member, Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs, Governor Engler Appointee, 1991-1992
• Chairman, Ada Christian School Education Foundation, 1991-1992
• Member, Board of Trustees, Kendall College of Art & Design, 1986-1992
• Member, Board of Trustees, Arts Council of Greater Grand Rapids, 1990-1992
• Member, Board of Trustees, Grand Rapids Area Medical Education Committee, 1990-1991
• Member, Board of Trustees, Worldwide Christian Schools, 1988-1991