 | Maribeth Kuzmeski is the President of the consulting firm, Red Zone Marketing. Maribeth and her firm focus on designing and improving sales and marketing strategies, customer service programs and branding and differentiation strategies for companies from high producing entrepreneurial firms to Fortune 100 companies and business units. The one goal: to increase the consistent flow of sales.
Maribeth is the author of 4 books including, "The Connectors” and “Red Zone Marketing.” She has frequently appeared on TV and radio, and has written articles on marketing strategies for hundreds of publications including Business Week and Entrepreneur. She regularly speaks to audiences on topics relating to business development, marketing, and sales strategies.
Maribeth graduated with a degree in journalism from Syracuse University and has an MBA from The George Washington University. She lives in the Chicago, IL area with her husband Rich and 2 children. |
 | Karyn Pettigrew is a welcome anomaly. Five years ago, she founded KPConsulting, a firm providing services to readily and successfully apply intuition to traditional business principles.
Ms. Pettigrew received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Wellesley College and her Masters of Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing from Harvard University. She has over 15 years of experience leading major organizations such as People’s Energy, the Illinois State Lottery, and Quaker Oats through myriad marketing, communication and corporate strategy initiatives.
Ms. Pettigrew currently sits on the board of Directors for the Chicago Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners. Her past speaking and workshop engagements include:
Harvard Business School Alumni Association– North Shore
National Kidney Foundation of Illinois
NIA Enterprises Leadership Summit – Northwestern University, Chicago
POWER Women’s Networking Symposium – Chicago
National Association of Women Business Owners - NAWBO
Black Women Lawyers’ Association of Greater Chicago
Expo For Today’s Black Woman, sponsored by WVAZ and WGCI radio
National Black MBA Association Conference - Are you living your passion?
Southwest Women Working Together
University of Illinois Chicago – Women’s Leadership Symposium
Ms. Pettigrew has developed integrated strategic marketing; brand and new product management; organizational strategy; advertising and media coordination; product promotion; event coordination; crisis management and execution; and research planning, development and execution. Coordinating staff teams of 25 or more, managing budgets of over $22 million, directing and managing multiple external partnerships with media, advertising, public relations and research firms were all part of a day’s work.
Specific communications initiatives include the competitive planning and analysis against PepsiCo and Coca-Cola for the Gatorade brand. Ms. Pettigrew launched a revolutionary multi-state lotto game for the Illinois State Lottery. She was responsible for the marketing behind hundreds of online and instant-win game initiatives.
At People’s Energy, Ms. Pettigrew spearheaded the brand transition from People’s Gas to People’s Energy. This included internal and external communications and research, logo development and brand repositioning during de-regulation of the natural gas industry in Chicago.
KPConsultants facilitates business-related courses and offers motivational presentations and individual consultations on intuition in the workplace, personal leadership, and work/life balance.
Ms. Pettigrew is currently touring with workshops based on material from her books, I Quit! and the best-selling The Invitation- The Secret to Creating Your Best Life. She be found online at www.kpconsulting.biz. |
 | Beth Polish is Director of Corporate Innovation for Hearst Corporation and Senior Vice President of Hearst Interactive Media. In this newly created position, Polish is developing and leading an employee innovation program focusing on inspiring Hearst’s nearly 20,000 employees, across more than 200 businesses, to develop their creative business ideas into profitable ventures with the support of the company.
Polish has held senior management positions in media, finance, private investment and technology. She was president of Anthony Robbins’ Dreamlife, Inc., founding CFO of iVillage, Inc., CFO of Goldman Sachs Ventures, and managing director at KPMG.
“Building great ideas into thriving businesses is the cornerstone of my work and personal passion,” Polish says.
Polish is the creator and author of the multi-media program Business Plan Power: Creating a Tool that Works for Your Company and the DROOM® (Don’t Run Out Of Money) primer series, In The Market For Money. A frequent speaker on the subject of strategies for growth, Polish teaches entrepreneurship at NYU’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies and has lead workshops at many WLE conferences since 2002. She serves on the executive committee of the Women's Leadership Exchange® and is the past co-chair of the New York New Media Association’s Venture Downtown Technology Showcase Conference. Polish has an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. |
 | As Founder of the Russell Williams Group, Brenda Williams brings 20 years of strategic planning, branding and creative problem-solving expertise to illuminate an inspiring direction to solve challenging business issues. “We look for ingenious ways to tackle tough business problems, and bring clarity to life within companies,” says Williams.
Brenda Williams espouses a unique belief that “strategy is human”. This encompasses a perspective that ideas are only as good as the leaders who make them happen. “It is people who make or break great strategies; great strategy begins and ends with aligning people around a vision that will help the organization ultimately thrive.” As such, her work entails collaborating with senior leaders to articulate a vision and create pre-emptive opportunities are embraced and acted upon by those accountable.
Her approach fuses rigor and analysis with creativity and intuition to develop ground breaking results. Engagements include global corporate decision-making areas such as vision development, corporate positioning and internal branding. Client experience includes Walt Disney, Museum of Science and Industry, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago United, Proctor & Gamble, Motorola, Starbucks, Starcom Mediavest Group, Charles Schwab and a vast array of others.
Prior to forming RWG, Brenda served 14 years at Chicago-based Leo Burnett advertising agency as founder and managing director of The Lab, a multinational subsidiary specializing in brand and strategy consulting. Ms. Williams also spent 2 1/2 years at McKinsey & Company, an international management consultancy.
Ms. Williams graduated with honors from the University of Colorado, with a double major in Communications and Psychology. Additionally, she attended graduate studies at Northwestern University and executive studies at University of Chicago, Harvard University and Tuck University. She has given many key note addresses and is featured in the University of Colorado’s business textbook, “Profiles in American Enterprise”. Brenda was also featured in Fast Company Magazine in an article, Twice the Career, Half the Time”. Additionally, she has participated as guest speaker for Fast Company and American Marketing Association events.
Brenda is currently on the Board of LV Education through Sports Foundation whose mission is to provide at risk youth alternatives to drugs and violence by participating in track and field. The foundation sends 60-70 athletes to the Junior Olympics every year. She is also on the Board of Bayridge College, Houston, TX,, functions as Mid-west Regional Coordinator for Spelman College, Atlanta, GA and awaiting appointment to Mayor Daley’s Women’s Advisory Council in Chicago. |
