A panel of highly successful women will be featured at the Women in Business Forum & Luncheon to be held at the BizTech Conference & Expo on Wednesday, April 28.
This event will celebrate and provide resources for women business executives in southeastern Wisconsin.
Women in business are invited to attend to learn valuable insights from a panel of prestigious women leaders who will their insights about a variety of issues, including: leadership styles, breaking the glass ceiling, work and family balance, accessing capital, taking risk, mentoring, growth strategies in today’s economy, climbing the corporate ladder and workforce management.
The women to be featured on the panel will include:
Ellen Bartel, president of Divine Savior Holy Angels High School, Milwaukee. Bartel was named DSHA’s first president in 1998. Under her leadership, the high school has seen tremendous growth. DSHA has had a waiting list for its freshman class for 11 consecutive years. The school has earned top marks for its academic rigor and completed major new construction projects and renovations. DSHA is known for providing strong single-gender education and Christian values for young women. Bartel previously served as the associate director of admissions at Lake Forest College. She has numerous professional affiliations and has had leadership roles on several boards in the community.
JoAnne Brandes, founder and senior fellow of the Carroll University Center for Leadership Excellence. Brandes is an attorney, an outside board member of several corporations, and a speaker and consultant specializing in leadership development, corporate structure and governance, cultural transformation and change management. She retired after a distinguished career with the S.C. Johnson Family of Companies as the executive vice president, CAO, general counsel and secretary of JohnsonDiversey Inc., where she had major responsibilities for the company’s acquisition and integration of global companies, adding more than $2 billion in sales. She has served on the boards of several community organizations and resides in Franklin.
Mary Isbister, president of GenMet, Mequon. The manufacturing business was acquired in 1999 with sales of $3 million per year and has grown to $13 million in annual sales. GenMet has been named three times to the list of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC) Future 50 fastest growing companies. Isbister serves on the board of directors of the Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership (WMEP) and the MMAC’s Council of Small Business Executives (COSBE). She also is president of the board for Ebenezer Childcare Centers.
Cindy Lu, president and founder of The Novo Group, a Milwaukee-based professional services firm providing custom recruiting solutions. Lu has more than 21 years of business-to-business general management experience, as well as accomplishments in sales and professional services. Under Lu’s guidance, The Novo Group has been named to the MMAC’s Future 50 list of fastest-growing companies. In addition, The Novo Group was recently named by Inc. Magazine to its Inc5000 list. Before joining The Novo Group, Lu was the principal of J. Galt & Associates, a boutique executive search firm Milwaukee. She serves as a board member for the Milwaukee County Council of The Boy Scouts of America. She helped found and is a current member of Gan Bei, an organization of Chinese women in business and was formerly on the board for the Insurance School of Chicago and associate board for the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.
Lynn Sprangers, consultant for the Milwaukee Brewers. Sprangers has worn many hats for the Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club, serving as president of Brewers Charities, vice president of Community Relations and coordinator of the 2002 All-Star Game. Before joining the Brewers in 2000, Sprangers was director of communications for the Milwaukee County Executive and spent nearly 20 years in broadcast journalism at WTMJ-TV. She is a co-chair for the 2010 United Way Campaign of Greater Milwaukee. She has served on the boards of several community organizations. Sprangers and her husband, Mike Gousha, live in Milwaukee’s Third Ward.
The panel discussion will be moderated by BizTimes Milwaukee reporter Alysha Schertz.
The Women in Business Forum & Luncheon will be part of the sixth annual BizTech Conference & Expo, to be presented by BizTimes Media at Wisconsin State Fair Park April 28-29. The BizTech Expo is the largest business-to-business event in the state. Last year, more than 4,500 people attended the two-day event. Booths are still available for businesses and organizations at the BizTech Expo. For more information, visit www.bizimes.com/expo.
