NOTE: This is an archive and may contain outdated information.
Registration is CLOSED for this event.
Karen Baetzel, Retired US Navy Captain |
 | CAPT Karen Baetzel retired after 30 years of commissioned service in the United States Navy. She is one of the few Naval aviators of either gender to qualify to fly helicopters, propeller and jet aircraft. amassing over 2000 military flight hours in seven aircraft types. After her Commanding Officer tour, Karen was one of two Navy Reserve officers nationwide to be chosen to attend the prestigious Naval War College in residence, earning a Masters Degree in National Security and Strategic Studies. She was then hand picked to serve on the elite Navy Leadership Training Team for senior officers. Karen also specialized in defense Emergency Preparedness serving at the state level and the Pentagon, and responded to national emergencies including the 9/11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina.
Before launching her own consulting and training business, Karen served as a Program Director for a ten year, 50 million dollar training and technical assistance contract for the Department of Defense, supervising a team of consultants, analysts and subcontractors serving clients in 29 states. Prior to that she had leadership jobs in numerous non-profit entities, including Executive Director, Committee Chair and Comptroller.
Karen is a Professional Member of the National Speaker’s Association, a former newspaper columnist and an award winning public speaker. Karen’s current consulting and training business, BattleAxe Consulting Services, serves clients in national defense, leadership and women’s issues throughout the United States. |
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Maribeth Kuzmeski, President
Red Zone Marketing |
 | 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. |
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Susan Wilson Solovic, CEO
SBTV.com |
 | Susan Wilson Solovic is CEO of SBTV.com – Small Business Television. SBTV.com is the first and only video news and information destination site for America’s small businesses. Solovic began her professional career as a television news anchor and reporter for NBC and CBS affiliates. Subsequently, she joined a Fortune 100 company where she was named vice president, director of corporate marketing, of the firm’s international asset-based lending division. While working in an executive capacity, she attended Saint Louis University Law School and graduated with honors. Her legal background provides her with a unique view of American business.
Solovic is the author of “The Girls’ Guide to Building a Million Dollar Business” which is consistently ranked among the top 25 books for women in business on Amazon and was listed as a “must read” in Entrepreneur magazine. Solovic made her debut as an author with “The Girls’ Guide to Power and Success,” which was originally released in June 2001 and was re-released in paperback in 2003. The book is also being published in Korea, China and Thailand. “Reinvent Your Career: Attain the Success You Deserve and Desire” is another of Solovic’s books. It offers motivational and practical advice for those individuals seeking to re-ignite their careers. She also authored “Hanging onto the American Dream: A Story of Business Leadership and Leaving a Legacy.” A popular keynote speaker, Solovic has spoken to more than 250,000 small businesses in the past four years.
Solovic serves on the advisory board for the John Cook School of Business Entrepreneurial Studies at Saint Louis University – one of the top rated entrepreneurial schools in the U.S. She is a member of the Board of Advisors for Enterprising Women magazine and in 2007 was selected as one of the magazine’s Enterprising Women of the Year. Solovic was also tapped for the inaugural Women Impacting Public Policy Board of Directors serving on the Executive Committee and as Chair of the organization’s Executive Advisory Board. WIPP honored Solovic with the organization’s highest recognition, The President’s Award in 2007. She is a founding member of Women Leadership Exchange’s LEXCI Circles program and a founding member of Boardroom Bound.
Solovic served on the National Women’s Business Council which counsels the President, Congress and the SBA on issues impacting women business owners. She was named one of the Most Influential Women in St. Louis (2004) by the St. Louis Business Journal and received the 2004 YWCA’s Special Business Leader award for Entrepreneurial Success. In 2006 she received the Distinguished Leader award from Southeast Missouri State University and in 2000 she was named a Distinguished Alumni from Columbia College. Solovic previously served on the John F. Kennedy School of Government Women’s Leadership Board at Harvard University. On behalf of SBTV.com Solovic accepted the Stevie Award for the Most Innovative Company up to 100 employees. The Stevie Awards are considered the Oscars of business. Recently, AT&T awarded SBTV.com and Solovic the Innovator of the Year award for pioneering a new industry. SBTV is the first recipient of this prestigious award.
In October 2006, SBTV.com was recognized by the Women’s Technology Venture Cluster as the Best Investment Opportunity, and in 2008 Solovic was one of 20 women-led media companies selected from more than 100 applicants to participate in the All Things Media venture forum.
For nearly a decade, Solovic taught a women’s entrepreneurial training program at a St.Louis-based college. She is regular small business contributor on ABC’s America This Morning and MSNBC’s “Your Business”. She is also a popular media guest on radio and television programs across the country, KSDK-TV and Fox 2 in St. Louis. She hosts an Internet radio program called “Power Lunch with Susan” and she is an expert columnist for AT&T’s Onward Small Business, as well as a featured blogger for Dell, AllBusiness.com, SCORE and Women for Hire. |
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Shawna Vercher
CEO, Vti-Web & President, The SSW |
 | Shawna Vercher helps small business owners get smart about marketing their businesses online utilizing Web Publicity and Web 2.0 strategies. She founded what is now VTi-Web, a web development firm, in 2002 and grew it to be one of the most successful and well respected in its market. The company has successfully completed projects for seven government agencies, several top corporations and hundreds of entrepreneurs, and coordinated over 80 programmers in 12 countries.
She played a vital role on the Obama Presidential Campaign in Florida, implementing the Web Publicity tools and techniques that she now provides - and teaches - to small business owners. During the initial stages of the campaign Shawna coordinated press coverage and ensured accurate reporting by acting as web liaison between the campaign and various national publications and journalists. During the Primary and General Election she was responsible for monitoring, shaping and enhancing viral web coverage on hundreds of blogs and news sites, as well as assisting with the coordination and management of four events for the Senator.
She is also the President of “The SSW”, an online publication for women. The SSW recently hosted the inaugural Successful Women’s Super Bowl Luncheon to benefit the NFL YET Centers of Tampa Bay. Based on the success of the event The SSW has been asked to coordinate and host the event for future Super Bowl host cities and NFL YET centers across the country. |
