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Aldonna R. Ambler, CMC, CSP, Founder
The Growth Strategist |
 | Known as The Growth Strategist™, Aldonna R. Ambler, CMC, CSP is an award winning entrepreneur, a frequent speaker at national business conferences and corporate annual meetings, a prolific author, the host of an online radio talk show, and an intermediary who helps mid-market companies obtain growth financing all while Achieving Accelerated Growth With Sustained Profitability®. Ambler is President of the international firm AMBLER Growth Strategy Consultants, Inc. which is headquartered in Hammonton, New Jersey. Her business has grown through geographic expansion, acquisition, joint ventures, diversification, and an ESOP. The firm’s services include opportunity and resource analysis, organizational design, strategic working sessions, and executive coaching.
Ambler’s corporate clients include IKON, CertainTeed, US Honda, US Homes, H&R Block, Horizon BC/BS, Eastman Kodak, Bank One, Robert Wood Johnson, Bluegreen Resorts, Scott Paper, Knoll International, Resorts International, Caesars, and others. Over 50 corporations, (including IBM, Nortel, Verizon, SBC, Wachovia, Entrepreneurial Edge magazine, Business-to-Business Yellow Pages, Bell South, Pacific Bell, and others) have sponsored multi-city tours (spanning as long as 14 years) featuring Ambler’s speeches/seminars about business strategy and growth management. She has guided the growth of over 150 professional service firms, over 100 technology-driven businesses, and over 100 construction-related product, service, and distribution companies.
Ambler is the host of a weekly Internet radio show, The Growth Strategist™, which airs live every Tuesday at 11 am ET on the VoiceAmerica® Business Channel found at www.business.voiceamerica.com. It is a peer-to-peer show featuring CEOs of mid-market companies that have successfully executed the growth strategy featured on that week’s show. Ambler has recognized these growth strategies in her over 30 years serving the types of companies that appear on the Inc. 500/Fortune 500 lists. The show reaches thousands of listeners each week via live broadcast or download/podcast. |
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Kristal Bergfield, Director, Strategy & Business Development
American Express OPEN |
 | As Director, Strategy and Business Development, Kristal Bergfield leads the team at American Express OPEN responsible for developing strategies and partnerships that will help small businesses grow their revenue through digital marketing. In addition, she works with some of American Express’ largest global partners to integrate them into OPEN Forum, the online community designed to help business owners find valuable connections and gain access to information and tools to help manage and grow their businesses.
Kristal has been with American Express since 2003 in various partnership and business development roles. She was a key player in developing OPEN’s first Card distribution program with retail banks and has managed global communications programs for American Express’ global network services group. Immediately prior to her current role, Kristal was the chief-of-staff for the President of OPEN, developing business strategies, managing priorities and crafting communications.
Kristal worked in the public relations and advertising industries prior to joining American Express. She holds a bachelors degree in Journalism from University of Oregon and a MBA from the Stern School of Business at New York University. |
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Gail Blanke
President & CEO of Lifedesigns, LLC |
 | Gail Blanke is founder, president, and chief executive officer of Lifedesigns, LLC, a company whose vision is to empower men and women worldwide to live truly exceptional lives.
A best selling author, Ms. Blanke’s newest book, Throw Out Fifty Things - Clear the Clutter, Find Your Life, was published March 20th, 2009, by Grand Central Publishing and has been featured on The Today Show, CNN International and CBS Sunday Morning. The book recently won the prestigious “Books-for-a-Better-Life” award from the Multiple Sclerosis Society. Ms. Blanke’s last book, Between Trapezes: Flying into a New Life with the Greatest of Ease, about thriving on change and mastering the art of self re-invention, was published by Rodale in August 2004. The website www.oprahselects.com included Between Trapezes on its list of “must have” books. In My Wildest Dreams, Living the Life You Long For was published by Simon & Schuster in June 1998 and appeared on Amazon.com’s Best Selling Books list and the New York Times Business Best Seller List. Ms. Blanke was the sole guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show in October 1998 where she used concepts from the book to help empower audience members to create the lives of their dreams. Ms. Blanke’s first book, Taking Control of Your Life: The Secrets of Successful Enterprising Women, sold more than a half million copies. Her column, “The Motivator” has appeared monthly for two years in Real Simple magazine and she is featured as a Business and Career Coach on AOL Coaches. Ms. Blanke appears monthly on Martha Stewart Whole Living Radio, and regularly on CNN International and CBS 2 Sunday Morning.
A renowned executive coach and presentation skills trainer, Ms. Blanke has advised CEO’s, presidential candidates, college presidents – and even a jazz musician. A recent presidential candidate recently remarked, “You’ve enabled me to find qualities in myself I didn’t know I had and express myself with power, grace and persuasion. What a difference you’ve made.” Ms. Blanke was called in by FOX News to critique George W. Bush’s second inaugural address.
Considered one of the finest motivational speakers in the country, she has delivered keynote addresses for scores of corporations including GE, MasterCard, JPMorgan Chase, UBS, AXA Financial, Citigroup and at events such as the “Global Summit of Women” in Taiwan, the “Decade to Democracy” conference in Budapest and Cornell University’s symposium, “Contracting Out: Danger Signal for Working Women and Men” chaired by Betty Friedan. She’s also delivered keynotes for students at Beijing University, the University of Virginia and the Stern School of New York University. Ms. Blanke has appeared on CNN, FNN, CNBC and FOX TV. Articles about Ms. Blanke have appeared in Newsweek, Business Week, The Wall Street Journal, Reader’s Digest, Ladies’ Home Journal, Redbook and Self. O, The Oprah Magazine, referred to Gail as “The Motivational Maven.” Recently, she delivered a keynote address for the American Heart Association’s “Go Red for Women” gala in New York and was invited to become a board member for the New York Chapter of the American Heart Association.
Ms. Blanke was one of the youngest female senior vice presidents of Avon Products, Inc., where, in addition to her responsibilities as global head of public affairs, she motivated and inspired Avon’s half million sales representatives to live the lives of their wildest dreams. A member of the Chairman’s Executive Council, she led the re-positioning of Avon as the world’s premier direct selling company for women and launched the widely acclaimed Avon Breast Cancer Awareness Crusade, which has raised more than $500 million. Prior to her experience at Avon, Ms. Blanke held numerous executive positions at CBS including manager of special promotions for the New York Yankees.
Ms. Blanke is a past president of the New York Women’s Forum and the first member to hold that position for two terms. She is a past chairman of the board of Fashion Group, International. In 1997, she was elected a corporate director of Sweetheart Paper Holdings, one of the country’s leading paper suppliers.
Ms. Blanke has received the Women Who Make A Difference Award at the 1999 International Women’s Forum Conference, the 1994 Matrix Award for Public Relations presented by New York Women in Communications, Inc. and the 1994 Star Award presented by the New York Women’s Agenda. In 2003, Ms. Blanke was named president of the New York Women in Communications Foundation which provides college and graduate school scholarships for deserving young women, and was among the first wave of women to be inducted into the YWCA Academy of Women Achievers.
Ms. Blanke is a graduate of Sweet Briar College in Virginia and majored in acting at Yale University Graduate School of Drama. She and her husband, F. James Cusick, a writer, and their two daughters, Kate and Abigail live in New York City. Please visit her website at www.throwoutfiftythings.com |
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Jim Blasingame, President
Small Business Network, Inc. |
 | Jim Blasingame is one of the world’s foremost thought-leaders on small business and entrepreneurship, and the president of Small Business Network, Inc., a media company dedicated to serving small business.
Jim is the creator and award-winning host of The Small Business Advocate® Show, since 1997, the world’s only weekday radio program dedicated to small business, plus he has been simulcasting on the Internet since 1998. He conducts over 1,000 live interviews annually with his Brain Trust, the world’s largest community of small business experts.
Jim is a syndicated newspaper columnist and contributes to many print and electronic publications. He is the author of two books, Small Business Is Like a Bunch of Bananas and Three Minutes to Success, which have sold a combined 90,000 copies.
Jim has received awards and recognition for his work and leadership on behalf of small businesses from such national organizations and publications as The SBA, American Small Business Development Centers, The American Chamber of Commerce Executives, New York Enterprise Report, FORTUNE Small Business and TALKERS magazine, to name a few. Plus Google ranks Jim as the #1 small business expert.
In addition to helping small business owners compete in the 21st century global marketplace, Jim also teaches large companies how to speak small business as a second language. |
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Tasha (TC) Cooper Coleman, Esq.
Social Media Consultant, & CEO, UpwardAction |
 | Tasha (TC) Cooper Coleman, Esq. (aka "Coach TC") is a social media consultant, branding strategist and CEO of UpwardAction®.
Armed with more than a decade of legal and business experiences that include practice at a top international law firm and a federal banking regulatory agency and serving as in-house counsel and a corporate executive at a premier luxury brand, publicly-held company, TC’s unique combination of experiences fuels her ability to help clients develop and strengthen a wide array of online business generating initiatives.
She has spoken about social media, online marketing and leadership branding to organizations that include NASA, New Jersey Small Business Development Centers, Vicinity Media Group, SUNY-Levin Institute FastTrac Growth Venture and New Venture programs, Rutgers Business School Center for Urban Entrepreneurship & Economic Development, UNCF - Special Programs and the New Jersey Association of Women in Communications, among others.
Her company, UpwardAction®, is a brand development, social media and digital marketing company that specializes in helping growth stage businesses strengthen their online communications and develop new channels for business development through the use of social media, blogs, press releases, online community platforms and emerging web technologies.
TC is a member of NJAWBO, 85 Broads, inBiz Connection and the American Bar Association. She hosts the weekly radio show BrandingTalk on on BlogTalk radio and blogs at www.TakingUpwardAction.com. |
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Allisson Griesedieck, Vice President, Marketing and Media Relations
JG Black Book of Travel |
 | Allisson joined JG Black Book of Travel with years of sales and marketing experience from a successful career in magazine publishing. At Departures, the leading luxury lifestyle magazine, she was a senior account manager. Allisson served in the same capacity at Travel + Leisure magazine, where she represented T+L, T+L Family, Travel + Romance, and six international editions of T+L. Allisson is a member of HSMAI and the Luxury Marketing Council.
Allisson manages media relations for the JG Black Book of Travel brand and collection. In addition, Allisson develops partnerships and strategic alliances that support and enhance the marketing strategies of JG Black Book and its collection members. |
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Beatriz Mallory
CEO & Chief Strategist, HispanAmérica |
 | Beatriz Mallory, is a business planner and marketing strategist, and CEO & Chief Strategist of HispanAmérica, a marketing services company specialized in optimizing Hispanic market opportunity.
Beatriz brings a blend of tech savvy and consumer insight to clients in financial services, pharma and health care, retailing and entertainment. She excels at crafting data-driven marketing strategy, generating new revenue and identifying new opportunity markets.
Ms. Mallory has led varied Hispanic marketing efforts, including: multichannel advertising strategy & execution; customer acquisition; Hispanic database marketing for retailers; patient & member relationship management for pharmaceutical and health insurance companies; gamer acquisition programs for lotteries and casinos; and Latin American expansion programs. Her current efforts focus on CRM, market sizing, share growth and category dominance strategies for Hispanic marketers.
In 2009, Beatriz received the prestigious Silver Apple Award from the Direct Marketing Club of NY, recognizing 25 years of leadership in direct marketing. Previous awards include the Latina Trailblazer A.ward
Prior to founding HispanAmérica, Ms. Mallory worked as an engineer at IBM, an Accenture consultant, and in technology sales at the Data Group, Exeter Software, and Persoft. A successful Hispanic and African-American entrepreneur, she shares her expertise in multicultural marketing through seminars, speaking engagements and by judging awards in the US and Latin America. Beatriz has served on several non-profit boards, and is particularly proud to serve on the Board of Trustees of the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation (DMEF), working with colleges and universities to prepare students for careers in the interactive and direct marketing industry. Her activism is propelled by a passion for developing enterprises, ideas, and people.
Beatriz holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering & Operations Research from Cornell University, and completed graduate course work at Harvard University’s Extension College. She’s fluent in Spanish, but her Portuguese and French need work. A certified yoga teacher, Beatriz lives her personal philosophies of seeking equanimity in all things, and a lifetime dedication to selflessly serving others. |
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Sue Malone
Founder, Strategies for Small Business |
 | Sue Malone is the founder of Strategies For Small Business. Her sole mission for the last five years has been to help people obtain access to capital to start or expand their businesses. In doing so, one of her specialties has been small business start-up loans. And she has done so exceptionally well. She is the undisputed, number one SBA loan provider for the Community Express Loan Program in the nation. As of April 2008, she is responsible for closing over 20,000 of these much needed loans.
She is a grassroots provider of these loans, serving all communities across the United States. As one of the busiest women in America, she is on the road constantly, dispensing a plethora of capital through innumerable loan workshops to: organizations, groups, churches, associations, chambers of commerce, non-profits, colleges, franchises, and entrepreneurial organizations. She is proud, along with other banks, to work directly with the SBA, as well as SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives), Womenís Business Centers, and SBA Small Business Development Centers (SBDCís).
An inspirational speaker, she has been highlighted in countless speaking engagements, as well as in newspaper articles, magazines, television, radio, conventions, and CNN. Together with her numerous awards and with the assistance of the lenders she has partnered with, she has been responsible for their achieving the #1 SBA lender status in West Virginia, South Carolina, Louisiana, Tennessee, Hawaii, North Carolina, and in the top five lenders category in other districts.
Sue Malone has a degree in accounting and an MBA in finance. As such, she brings not only the requisite education and expertise, but the proven commitment to care deeply for the success of this Nationís small businesses. |
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Beth Polish
Director of Corporate Innovation for Hearst Corporation and Senior Vice President of Hearst Interactive Media |
 | 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. |
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Birute Regine
Author, Iron Butterflies & Leadership Expert |
 | Birute Regine, Ed.D, (her Harvard doctorate is in human development) spent 25 years as a psychotherapist in private practice and now works as an executive / life coach, facilitator, speaker and author. She previously co-authored the critically-acclaimed The Soul at Work: Embracing Complexity Science for Business Success with her husband, noted science writer Roger Lewin. In her remarkable new book, Iron Butterflies: Women Transforming Themselves and The World, Birute puts femininity and masculinity in context and explores what it truly means to be a successful woman today. She also examines how women together can help each other become ”Iron Butterflies” and bring greater balance and well-being to a world sorely out of balance. Through her sage observations and candid stories of the 60 women interviewed, Iron Butterflies paints a picture of revolutionary changes taking place in what she calls a new “Era of Women. " As an aboriginal elder in Perth, Australia told her, "Women hold the wisdom, men hold the love. "She had it right; we have it all backwards!' That was an Aha moment that set Birute on a journey of uncovering women's wisdom. |
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David Meerman Scott
Marketing Strategist & Author, The New Rules of Marketing and PR |
 | David Meerman Scott is a marketing strategist, keynote speaker, seminar leader, and the author of the award-winning BusinessWeek best-selling book The New Rules of Marketing and PR, now in its second edition, which is being published in 24 languages and the new hit book World Wide Rave: Creating Triggers that Get Millions of People to Spread Your Ideas and Share Your Stories. He is a recovering VP of marketing for two publicly traded technology companies and was also Asia marketing director for Knight-Ridder, at the time one of the world’s largest newspaper and electronic information companies. David has lived and worked in New York, Tokyo, Boston, and Hong Kong and has presented at industry conferences and events in over twenty countries. Check out his blog at www.WebInkNow.com or download his free ebook, The New Rules of Viral Marketing: How Word-of-Mouse Spreads Your Ideas for free. |
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Alexa Von Tobel
Founder & CEO, LearnVest, Inc. |
 | Alexa von Tobel is the Founder and CEO of LearnVest, the leading independent personal finance website for women. Alexa came up with the idea for LearnVest in 2006, during her senior year at Harvard when she realized she, and most of her peers, had never had any formal education about how to effectively manage their finances. Alexa searched for reliable financial guidance and consistently came up overwhelmed or disappointed. Thus, the LearnVest mission was born – to make trusted personal financial information accessible to millions of women.
Since its debut as a TechCrunch50 Company in September 2009, LearnVest has helped over 100,000 women gain control of their finances. The company recently closed a $4.5 million series A round of funding led by Accel Partners (an investor in Facebook, Kayak.com, Glam Media, Etsy and more). Alexa has successfully enlisted the support of an impressive line-up of industry experts for LearnVest’s Board of Advisors including: Lee Barba (Former CEO, Investools/thinkorswim), Ann Kaplan (Former Partner, Goldman Sachs), Catherine Levene (Former CEO, DailyCandy), and Betsy Morgan (Former CEO, The Huffington Post).
Originally from Florida, Alexa received an A.B. in Psychology at Harvard College. Upon graduation, she worked as a trader at Morgan Stanley on their Proprietary Trading Desk before leaving to be the Head of Business Development at Drop.io, a venture backed start-up in NYC. She enrolled in Harvard Business School Fall of 2008 only to take a leave of absence to launch LearnVest and pursue her dream of bringing financial literacy to millions of women everywhere. In addition to LearnVest, Alexa is the co-founder of L.W.A.L.A. (www.lwala.org) a 501c3 focused on fighting HIV/AIDS in Africa. |
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Lena L. West, Founder & CEO
xynoMedia |
 | Lena L. West is an award-winning social media consultant, blogger, speaker, journalist and technologist.
She is also the CEO & Chief Strategist at xynoMedia, a consulting and web development firm that helps fast-growing companies effectively navigate the new world of blogs, podcasts, widgets, online communities and social networks. West says, “What makes xynoMedia different is we don’t just offer some of the best marketing ideas and strategy in the industry, we have a full-scale development team and anything that we recommend to our clients – you can bet we can build it.”
As a certified technical expert, West learned about the intricate aspects of computers and networking while consulting with Fortune 500 companies such as IBM, Pitney Bowes, Philips Magnavox, Hyperion Software and MasterCard International. After cutting her ‘technical teeth’, she founded xynoMedia in 1997.
West’s expertise has been widely acknowledged. She is the winner of several business awards, among them: The Network Journal’s “40 Under Forty”, AlleyCat News’ “25 Women of Silicon Alley”, The Women’s Congress’ Entrepreneurial Champion for Women in Business and was dubbed an “Entrepreneurial Hero” by NCWIT. West has also been featured as the cover story for publications such as The Westchester County Business Journal and Black Enterprise.
A sought-after writer and speaker, West writes and speaks regularly about the merits and potential pitfalls of technology. She communicates her expertise about social media, web 2.0 and online technologies through Social Media 360, her blog on FastCompany.com; her Social Results column and blog for Entrepreneur Magazine; as well as feature articles for both InfoWorld and Jupitermedia. She has spoken for the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) and Syracuse University.
A firm believer in the adage, “To whom much is given, much is required”, West is deeply committed to her pro bono work as well. She sits on the BlogHer Business Advisory Board, the Center for Women’s Business Research Advisory Council and the National Advisory Board for The Women’s Congress.
She is a member of the Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO), 85 Broads, Guru Nation, Technology Executives Networking Group (TENG) and the Downtown Women’s Club (DWC).
West strongly believes that social media is a catalyst to uniting the world’s people and will continue to lead businesses and individuals toward greater levels of environmental accountability, social responsibility and corporate transparency - hence her passion for the medium. |
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Marcia Wilson, President and CEO
Daffy's Inc. |
 | Almost 50 years ago, Irving Shulman opened Daffy Dan’s Bargaintown, a small off-price establishment in the heart of Elizabeth, New Jersey, where bargain hunters flocked to find everything from orange paint to designer dresses.
More than twenty-five years ago, Marcia returned full time to the family business. Daffy’s, as the company is now known, has grown and prospered over the course of these years, but throughout has maintained a single-minded focus. Shulman’s original slogan “Clothing Bargains for Millionaires” remains the foundation for the company’s marketing philosophy. Daffy’s is still all about bargains!
Today, Daffy’s is a leading off-price retailer of clothing and home accessories. As President and CEO, Marcia is responsible for the vision, the day-to-day business operations and for energizing the team of over 1500 associates in 18 locations. Known for their unbeatable bargains and offbeat ads, Daffy’s receives raves from customers and awards from the advertising industry. They are listed in Crain’s New York Business as one of New York Area’s Top Privately Held Companies and Top Women Owned Companies. They have been featured on CNN Business, The Today Show and in numerous magazine and newspaper articles. Daffy’s was a pioneer in the off-price industry and continues to be an innovator.
Marcia has received the Leading Women Entrepreneurs of the World award and is a member of the Women’s Leadership Board, JFK School of Government, Harvard; The Committee of 200; The International Women’s Forum; The Belizean Grove Advisory Board; The Women's Leadership Exchange®, LEXCI; FGI; an avid volunteer for various social and environmental causes; and, the mother of four fabulous sons and now a grandson. |
