The CLUB - Incubator of Women Leaders News & Insights

Discover your Shine: The CLUB Retreat for Bay Area Women Leaders

Fri, 01 Mar 2024 21:35:19 GMT

For the past five years, CLUB members escaped to the beaches of Santa Cruz for our annual Shine Retreat! The coastal fog and high winds seemed fitting to refresh our mind, body, and soul.

Our agenda was thoughtfully crafted and structured around four pillars: social, environmental, physical, and developmental. We delved into our leadership vision, discussed opportunities for change, and shared actionable advice to bring our ideas with us home. It was all about setting the stage for a successful year ahead.

Inspiration & Connection

We kicked off on Friday with a light lunch at the Ideal Bar & Grill, went on a self-guided tour of The Sanctuary Exploration Center, and headed to Cowell’s Beach for a beach clean up. It was a good reminder of the impact we have as humans and the role we can have to protect the ocean and sea life. The highlight of the day though was at dinner. Led by the wicked smart Tamar Serna, we enjoyed Table Talks - a series of thought-provoking questions that helped us uncover unique and mutual interests. The intimate setting also made it easy to engage in profound discussions, build stronger connections, and deepen our sense of belonging.

Charting the Path Forward

Saturday dawned with restorative Isha Uppa Yoga exercises and a scenic beach view. We had a great turnout at this early morning stretch. We loosened our muscles and activated our energy ahead of our goal-setting session with Laraine McKinnon.

Laraine helped us define what matters to us at this stage in our lives and careers. As a recovering overachiever, I particularly appreciated how she led us through the process and helped us hone in on our Most Important Goal (MIG). Through a series of exercises, we tied our goal with a bigger why so that we could prioritize actions accordingly.

Makes sense right? If you don’t have clear goals, how can you possibly be sure you’ve made the right choices? Laraine thoughtfully broke us into groups to partner up on specific timelines and action items to hold each other accountable post the retreat.

Playing Big with Empathy and Accountability

This tied well with our authentic leadership session led by Candice Heidebrecht. Candice is a long time CLUB Member and coach who leads our Mentoring Circles. She commanded the space with her bold colors and executive presence. She came uber prepared with a Cultivate Empathy workbook. Returning participants enjoyed looking back at last year’s journal and comparing how they’ve grown.

“When you are playing big, your behavior is confident, you feel motivated, and you tend to be investing in people and projects that energize you” - Candice Heidebrecht

How can you spend more time playing the big version of yourself? Think about how many identities you navigate in your day-to-day and throughout your life. Sometimes, we become different people to adapt and flex in certain situations. Interestingly, being sincere in your motivations helps you adapt to each situation while staying true to yourself. In the same manner, when you set goals, make sure you start by understanding your value system.

Bringing it all together

One of my biggest takeaways is remembering that accomplishing your goals comes with small behavior changes. Makes it super easy to say yes. Once you’re comfortable with the first action item, you can stack another action item and build traction. Also, make it memorable. I loved the idea of translating your goal into one word that can be used as your password. This keeps it top of mind. Lastly, connect with people who keep you inspired and accountable.

The CLUB is a community of women, who have been continuously inspiring each other, sharing challenges, and serving as role models to our accelerate our leadership journeys. If you missed this event, be sure to join us next year, and let's continue to build a world where every woman leader shines in her unique way.

The CLUB Bay Area Women’s Leadership Organization Announces 4 New Board Members!

Thu, 11 Jun 2020 15:52:40 GMT

The CLUB Bay Area Women’s Leadership Organization Announces 4 New Board Members! Svetlana Kamyshanskaya, Julia Andrianova-Figg, Galina Livitina, Manju Abraham

Women of the CLUB Incubator named Silicon Valley 2020 Influencers

Mon, 25 May 2020 18:05:21 GMT

Palo Alto—Women’s leadership non-profit The CLUB is delighted to announce that four alumnae of the CLUB’s Incubator Program have been named 2020 Silicon Valley Women of Influence by the Silicon Valley Business Journal. The four awardees are Colleen Crangle, Olga Mack, Marla Sofer and Aila Malik.

"We’re delighted to see these dynamic women recognized by the Silicon Valley Business Journal. In this group we have an AI pioneer, a CEO, a FinTech executive, and a non-profit strategist, each of whom is shaping the future." says Laraine McKinnon, President of the CLUB and founder of strategic consulting firm LMC17.

The CLUB’s Incubator program is an annual advocacy program for women leaders. Founded and run by McKinnon, the Incubator helps diverse cohorts of talented women crystallize, showcase, and be recognized for their expertise.

Colleen Crangle has forged a path of distinction in both her professional life and her community involvement. An immigrant twice over, she moved to the US first as a child of Irish nationality and then as a young adult from South Africa to enroll in a Ph.D. program at Stanford University. Collen is a pioneer in Artificial Intelligence who, through joint undertakings with professionals in public health and medicine, genetics and neuroscience, adult literacy and bioinformatics, has helped move AI into the mainstream. Colleen is co-founder and owner of Converspeech LLC, the lead author on ‘Language and Learning for Robots’, CSLI Press, Stanford University, Associate Professor in Public Health and Information Sciences at the University of Louisville, a NIH award winner, and co-founder of an independent small publisher, Faultine Press. Her volunteer efforts support criminal justice reform, the unhoused, and LGBTQ+ youth.

Olga Mack is a powerhouse CEO, lawyer and advocate. She is currently the CEO and Chairwoman of Parley Pro, a contract automation startup and previously served as VP of Strategy for Quantstamp. Olga is also the Founder of the Women Serve on Boards movement, where she single-handedly launched full-fledged social media campaigns targeting specific companies to place a woman on their board. She is the author of “Get On Board: Earning Your Ticket To A Corporate Board Seat.” Olga is a contributing writer to Bloomberg, Newsweek and writes columns for the Association of Corporate Counsel and Above the Law Through which she frequently showcases other members of the legal profession for their unique talents and contributions.

Aila Malik is a standout leader in the non-profit ecosystem of the Bay Area, inspiring mission-driven organizations to fulfill promises on their impact. As Founder and Principal of Venture Leadership Consulting, she is a strategic advisor to non-profits and occasionally serves as an interim executive to help non-profit organizations to deepen impact, drive performance, and scale solutions. Aila has served as Advisor, Board member or Commissioner on twelve Bay Area non-profit boards, from Mountain View to Santa Clara to San Quentin. Aila lives with intention as a compassionate advocate of community kindness, planet protection, and family togetherness. She is deeply committed to contributing to a world in which disparity does not limit people’s access to opportunity.

Marla Sofer, Marla is VP of Strategic Partnerships at Jemstep, by Invesco. Throughout her career, she has been a proponent and driver of innovation across the traditional financial services ecosystem. She led major relationships while at JP Morgan and BlackRock and dove head-first into FinTech in 2015 to improve the customer experience. Marla bridges FinTech with traditional financial services companies, simplifying technological integration. She’s also an ardent believer in the value of non-linear career pathing. She has launched two women’s leadership networks, and has supported countless mentees with job transitions. Marla has also served on the executive board of a high profile community relations non-profit focused on social justice, and chaired her synagogue’s youth education committee. Her unique and impactful leadership style stems from her background studying Middle East peace and conflict resolution.

Past CLUB Incubator members who have received the Women of Influence award include Joselle Deocampo (LinkedIn), Anuradha Gali (Uber), Nolwenn Godard (PayPal), Heather Jerrehian (startup executive) Alice Katwan (Salesforce), Nancy Poon Lue (Advanced Education Research & Development Fund), Sherry Main (UC Irvine, UC Board of Regents), Mindy Morton (Procopio), Mansi Shah (Kilpatrick Townsend), and Leedjia Svec (US Navy), as well as founder Laraine McKinnon (LMC17).

More information about the 2020 Women of Influence can be found in the Silicon Valley Business Journal.

About The CLUB Silicon Valley

Founded in 2012, The CLUB is a diverse community of inspiring, professional helping women accelerate their leadership journeys. Our Bay Area based community is hundreds strong and made of professionals who are leaders in their industries–tech, finance, engineering, marketing, legal, rocket science and beyond. We connect women with one another in order to build critical, multi-disciplinary peer groups and mentorship opportunities that strengthen their careers and keep them at the top of their game. www.theclubsv.org

CLUBbie Awards, Round 2!

Mon, 09 Dec 2019 23:21:58 GMT

Two more CLUBbie awards were presented at an event for alumnae of the CLUB’s Incubator program.

The Connect Award

The CLUB honored Marla Kowalski Knapp, a masterful strategic connector with our “Connect” CLUBbie award. Marla is an executive with global experience and a unique mind that brings together people, ideas and resources. Pictured with Board member Tanal Basma.

The Build Award

Adimika Arthur is a visionary who builds for the future. We're thankful that she took time out of her passion project (transformational innovation for Medicaid) to build the CLUB's Shine Retreat. Board members Tammy Serna and Jeanel Carlson present Adimika with the CLUBbie award for "Build.”

Congratulations to the 2019 CLUBbie Award Winners

Tue, 12 Nov 2019 00:34:32 GMT

The CLUB celebrated its 7th Anniversary with a banquet, held at the Fremont Hills Country Club on November 5, 2019. At this event, the CLUB recognized three of its members for their outstanding service:

The Connect Award

The CLUB awarded Susan Freeman our CLUBbie for ”Connect.” Susan is an avid supporter of women, putting many ‘on stage’ as speakers at events, including her upcoming event “Empowered Women” event on December 5th in SF. Pictured here with Board Member Catherine Cannon Francis.

The Unite Award

Congratulations to Kristen Guggeis, winner of the 2019 CLUBbie Award for “Unite.” As a top enterprise client relationship executive, Kristen has incredible skills - we thank her for pouring them into our CLUB mentoring circles. Here Board member Lamya Alaoui thanks Kristen for her efforts!

The Lead Award

Cheers to Melissa Mahoney winner of our 2019 CLUBbie award for “Lead.” She’s a thought leader in small business and soloprenuership, a successful artist with a unique corporate approach, and a volunteer for CLUB mentoring and social events.

These CLUBbies will be handed to the winners at an upcoming gathering of CLUB members.

Cheers to Melissa Mahoney winner of our 2019 CLUBbie award for “Lead.”

Tue, 12 Nov 2019 00:33:02 GMT

Congratulations to Kristen Guggeis, winner of the 2019 CLUBbie Award for “Unite.”

Tue, 12 Nov 2019 00:32:19 GMT

The CLUB awarded Susan Freeman our CLUBbie for ”Connect.”

Tue, 12 Nov 2019 00:31:23 GMT

The CLUB Annual Party Celebrates Women Leaders

Tue, 15 Oct 2019 00:29:58 GMT

The CLUB Annual Party Celebrates Women Leaders

The CLUB of San Francisco Bay Area celebrates its seventh anniversary with a party to celebrate women

Palo Alto—The CLUB, a San Francisco Bay Area organization focused on accelerating women’s careers, announced their “Celebration of Women” party scheduled for November 5, 2019 at the Fremont Hills Country Club. CLUB President, Laraine McKinnon, said, “Every year we pause to celebrate our accomplishments, refresh our aspirations, and gain inspiration. Our events are open and inclusive and we welcome guests to join us. The event is a great way to plug into a supportive and friendly community focused on helping women in the Bay Area reach their career goals.”

The highlight of the event will be a Fireside Chat with three exceptional women who research and improve women’s roles and reputation in the workplace.

Julie Des Jardins, Ph.D., Author, Editor, Scholar, and Cultural Analyst focusing on women and gender in American culture. Julie’s books include: Lillian Gilbreth: Redefining Domesticity, The Madame Curie Complex: The Hidden History of Women in Science and Women and the Historical Enterprise in America: Gender, Race, and the Politics of Memory.
Susan Freeman, M.A., CEO at Freeman Means Business. Susan is a super-connector and communication expert who helps women in business communicate effectively with the world -- and men communicate effectively with women in business.
Jennie Giron, MBA, MEd, Senior Consultant at Riva Negotiations. Jennie is a scholar and consultant focused on researching and teaching women negotiation skills.

The discussion will be moderated by Tanal Basma, an HR diversity business partner at Epic Environmental Inc.

The event takes place at the beautiful Fremont Hills Country Club starting at 6 pm with a champagne reception and fun networking icebreaker. The evening includes a formal dinner with remarks by The CLUB President Laraine McKinnon and Board Members Sherry Hashimoto Main, Jeanel Carlson, Lamya Alaoui, Catherine Cannon Francis, and Tanal Basma, followed by a dessert buffet.

To recognize and celebrate women, the event also our annual CLUBbie Awards – recognizing women in our community who Connect, Lead, Unite and Build to create a strong ecosystem for women’s success.

Register today! CLUB members and guests are encouraged to register before October 23 as registration will close on Thursday, October 24th at 5 PM PDT.

About The CLUB

The CLUB is a leadership incubator for San Francisco Bay Area women who want to accelerate their careers. The name is an acronym for Connect, Lead, Unite, and Build. Collectively we grow talent through high-impact programs, networking, and support. We’re an inclusive organization and we invite anyone interested in supporting women through the leadership pipeline to join our membership: https://theclubsv.org/join.

You're invited to take the 2019 CLUB Member Survey

Wed, 04 Sep 2019 01:12:19 GMT

In recognition of YOU, we'd love your feedback! As you know, the CLUB is a unique community supporting the professional growth of women. Each and every one of you make the CLUB successful. Help us learn about what's working (or not) by taking this short 10-minute survey. Your input will help us shape the future of the CLUB with the goal of making your membership a valuable experience for years to come. Making the CLUB better for YOU!

Survey is open until 9/12/19.

Take the Survey

The CLUB Bay Area Women’s Organization Announces New Board Members

Thu, 01 Aug 2019 19:24:39 GMT

The CLUB Bay Area Women’s Organization Announces New Board Members

The CLUB of San Francisco Bay Area appoints new Board members to accelerate members’ leadership journeys

Palo Alto—The CLUB, a San Francisco Bay Area organization focused on supporting women in their careers, announced new Board members for the 2019-2020 term. CLUB President, Laraine McKinnon, said, “We’re bringing on four people passionate about the CLUB’s mission to create a diverse community of inspiring professionals helping women to accelerate their leadership journeys.”

New Board members include:

Lamya Alaoui, Tanal Basma, Catherine Cannon-Francis, and Jeanel Carlson.

Lamya Alaoui. Lamya leads Membership for the CLUB, reaching out across the CLUB’s collective network to welcome and onboard new members. She is a certified behavioral consultant, and founder and CEO of CoachMya, a management consulting firm.

Tanal Basma. Tanal brings her experience as a talent and diversity advocate to the CLUB’s Board and membership. She is a senior Human Resources operations manager and business partner at EEC, Inc. Tanal will be Board liaison for the CLUB’s mentoring efforts, including Mentoring Circles.

Catherine Cannon-Francis. Catherine runs the social portion of the CLUB’s calendar, designing events where CLUB members can relax and socialize. A former teacher, Catherine is now part of one of the country’s largest financial services firms and helps clients with financial planning. For the CLUB, Catherine will take on the role of leading our Community, ensuring CLUB members have great opportunities to connect and unite in person and online.

Jeanel Carlson. Jeanel has been a CLUB member since 2017 and she loves the connections with fabulous like-minded women at the CLUB’s events. Jeanel is director of strategic relationships at Decker Communications, a company that helps clients transform communications to drive growth, engage teams and inspire audiences. Jeanel will be Board liaison for all of the CLUB’s marketing efforts.

About The CLUB

The CLUB is a leadership incubator for San Francisco Bay Area women who want to accelerate their careers. The name is an acronym for Connect, Lead, Unite, and Build. Collectively we grow talent through high-impact programs, networking and support. We’re an inclusive organization and we invite anyone interested in supporting women through the leadership pipeline to join our membership: https://theclubsv.org/join.

The CLUB's new partnership with Alley powered by Verizon

Tue, 12 Mar 2019 23:20:12 GMT

We are delighted to announce that The CLUB has a new partnership with Alley powered by Verizon. Alley is a coworking space built to help people revolutionize their work, build meaningful connections, engage, and collaborate with the next generation of leaders and creators.

Alley’s downtown Palo Alto location will be our location host for the Incubator program and local Mentoring Circles (if desired). In addition, Alley invites us to use their space a couple of times a month for events to gather and share expert insights on topics of interest to the broader community.

Alley and Verizon also sponsor the All In Fellowship, a global fellowship program designed to cultivate opportunities and provide resources to founders who have struggled to find a seat at the table (due to their gender, socio-economic background, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc.) The fellowship includes enrichment programming and access to a mentor network curated to provide growth opportunities and address specific challenges that the participants face.

CLUB members shine as influential Silicon Valley women

Mon, 02 Apr 2018 19:18:33 GMT

The CLUB Silicon Valley is excited to announce that five of the CLUB's members have been named 2018 Silicon Valley Women of Influence by the Silicon Valley Business Journal. The five awardees are Nolwenn Godard, Nancy Poon Lue, Sherry Hashimoto Main, Laraine McKinnon, and Mansi Shah.

"We’re delighted to see our members recognized by the Silicon Valley Business Journal. The CLUB is a community of diverse women leaders who lend their amazing talents to an array of top Silicon Valley organizations." says Laraine McKinnon, President of the CLUB and founder of strategic consulting firm LMC17.

Godard, Lue, Main and Shah are alumnae of the CLUB’s Incubator program, an annual advocacy program for women who have developed their expertise and want to boost both their career and personal potential. The Incubator program, founded and run by McKinnon, attracts a diverse cohort of women, as exemplified by Godard, Lue, Main and Shah who represent PayPal, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the University of California, and leading law firm Merchant & Gould.

Nolwenn Godard, is a Director at PayPal. She has fueled PayPal’s growth with sophisticated pricing technology, and is also recognized for shaping PayPal’s culture of inclusion. When PayPal spun out of eBay to become an independent company in 2015, Nolwenn saw the unique opportunity to promote inclusion as the firm moved into its next phase of growth: she created Unity, the women’s community at PayPal, and grew it to 1,800 people globally. Nolwenn serves as Director of West Coast Operations of the Women’s Initiative Foundation, an organization that helps Bay Area women leaders and entrepreneurs scale their careers and businesses while reinforcing the French-American ties in the community. Nolwenn is a subject matter expert on scaling products & platforms, and on creating inclusive cultures, who has been interviewed/quoted in publications such as CIO Magazine and HR.com and is a sought-after speaker on pricing in the digital age.

Nancy Poon Lue is a dynamo at the intersection of venture and education. She blends experience with public policy in the Obama administration, non-profit engagement with Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and a venture capital background (GSV) to bring a unique perspective to the future of education. Nancy also deepens her impact in her community through extensive service on the boards of six Silicon Valley based organizations that expands opportunities for low-income students, women, and underrepresented entrepreneurs.

Nancy is currently co-leading a collaborative effort between the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to explore new advanced education research and development programs aimed to tackle the most persistent problems in education the way DARPA did for the defense industry and GoogleX is doing in the private sector.

Sherry Hashimoto Main is a tireless communicator and creative force behind student success and groundbreaking research stories at the University of California, Santa Cruz. As the Chief Communications and Marketing Officer and Assistant Vice Chancellor, Sherry is deeply committed to improving the “pipeline problem” through transforming the narrative and experience in higher education. She develops strategies to support student success, research excellence, and community partnerships through creative means – with particular focus on supporting first-generation students, underserved communities, and non-traditional college students. Sherry is a trusted advisor on issues and crisis communications.

Sherry is currently serving on the University of California Board of Regents, where she represents more than 140,000 non-academic employee staff at the UC’s 10 campuses, five medical centers and hospitals, and three national laboratories. Her work on the UC Board of Regents includes advocacy efforts in support of career development, childcare and dependent care, and employee wellness. She also serves on the CLUB board of directors.

Laraine McKinnon is CEO of LMC17, a consulting firm that brings a strategic mix of behavioral science, big data and practical implementation to corporate America’s hard-to-solve problems. Laraine focuses on three pillars: retirement readiness, diversity and inclusion and advocacy for underrepresented talent. She’s a former Managing Director at BlackRock and a recognized thought leader on the 401(k), a diversity and inclusion strategist for culture tech platform Emtrain, and managing director of the CLUB Incubator, a year long talent advocacy program for women leaders.

Laraine is an Advisor to Betterment for Business, Emtrain and WomenCollegeTech, an ambassador for Innovation Women and President of The CLUB Silicon Valley.

Mansi Shah, a founding partner at Merchant and Gould’s Silicon Valley office, is a trailblazer for women of color in the legal profession and among the technology companies she represents. Mansi is a Fellow to the American Bar Foundation, a Fellow to the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, and a recipient of the Cornerstone Award from South Asian Bar Association of North America (SABA). In 2016, she was named Best Under 40 by NAPABA, and in 2015, made the Lawyers of Color Power List.

Mansi has never wavered in giving back to the community and has represented a diverse group of pro bono clients. She is a Board Member of the Ecumenical Hunger Program in East Palo Alto, chair of the National Advisory Council for SABA, an active leader in Lawyers for Good Government, and a Board of Trustees member for Young Jains of America.

"These awards demonstrate not only the talent and influence of the amazing women in the CLUB, but also the impact of Laraine McKinnon’s leadership of the CLUB, and her development of a signature CLUB program, the Incubator,” says Annie Rogaski, VP & General Counsel of Avegant, founder of The CLUB and CLUB advisory board member. “When we launched the CLUB five years ago, it was precisely women like Nolwenn, Nancy, Sherry, Laraine, and Mansi that we hoped to bring into our community — women whose influence extends beyond their companies into the broader communities, inspiring other women to broaden their impact."

Past CLUB members who have received the Women of Influence award include Anuradha Gali (Uber), Alice Katwan (Genesys), Mindy Morton (Procopio), Erin Rand (ServiceRocket), Annie Rogaski (Avegant), and Leedjia Svec (US Navy).

About The CLUB Silicon Valley

Founded in 2012, The CLUB is a diverse community of inspiring, professional women helping each other accelerate their leadership journeys. Our community is hundreds strong and made of professionals who are leaders in their industries – tech, finance, engineering, marketing, legal, rocket science and beyond. We connect women with one another in order to provide them with critical, multi-disciplinary peer groups and mentorship opportunities that strengthen their careers and keep them at the top of their game.

Farewell & Intro Note

Mon, 02 Apr 2018 18:45:44 GMT

Dear Club Members,

It has been my distinct pleasure to serve as Managing Director of Membership over the last three years.

During this time, the Club has grown to 480 current members and alumnae.

Together we have built a solid pipeline for membership, developed a sustainable and replicable process for membership recruitment, evaluation and onboarding, created a membership Spotlight program; and launched initiatives to continuously enhance membership outreach and experience. Our efforts have resulted in increased visibility in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, and greater Bay Area, and continued growth in membership.

I would like to thank Asta Sendonaris, Heather Fugitt, Holly Hogan, Katie Prescott, Laura Fechete, Laurie Charrington, Libby Moulton, Lisa Wong, Mary Fuller, Megan Iudice, Megan Olesek, Michelle Garrison, Pam Fulmer, and Shannon Dahl for their contributions and impact. Their commitment has shaped the Club’s membership and positioned us for growth in the future.

I am delighted to introduce Lamya Alaoui who will be the new Managing Director of Membership. Lamya is poised to build on our momentum. Lamya is a certified Behavioral Consultant with a 14+ years experience in Talent acquisition and Management. She designs and leads workshops to support individuals and teams achieve their goals through understanding behavioral dimensions and motivational drivers.

You can learn more about Lamya in her Spotlight.

To all of your continued success!

My very best regards,

Joselle Deocampo-Gautam

CLUB 2018 Leadership Update

Fri, 08 Dec 2017 16:37:50 GMT

CLUB Community-

The last 2 years have been an exciting time for women leaders and to be a part of The CLUB! Our 5th Anniversary last month proved there continues to be a vast need for our community. As we prepare for the road ahead, our leadership team and member volunteer corps continues to grow stronger than ever

I’m thrilled to announce that the CLUB’s Board of Directors voted unanimously to appoint Board Member Laraine McKinnon as the CLUB’s 2018/2019 president, and to welcome three new additions to our Board of Directors: Maya Tussing, Principal and West Co-Head at Alesco Advisors, Sherry Hashimoto Main, Chief Communications & Marketing Officer at University of California, Santa Cruz, and Lauren Rothenberg, Litigation Consultant at R&D Strategic Solutions. I’ll continue to serve on our Board of Directors through the transition, eventually moving to our Advisory board, and look forward to contributing to our community in different ways.

Laraine McKinnon

2018/2019 CLUB President & Founder of strategic consulting firm LMC17

A tireless advocate for high potential underrepresented talent, Laraine joined the CLUB just after it was launched and launched the CLUB Incubator, a women's leadership advocacy program, and builds diagnostics and programs to support the onboarding, retention and promotion of diverse talent. She’s served on the CLUB’s Board of Directors since 2015 and continues to serve as the Incubator program’s co-Director.

Laraine is the founder of LMC17, a strategic consulting firm that blends behavioral science, big data and practical implementation ideas to address challenges and opportunities in the retirement industry, diversity & inclusion and talent development. As an acknowledged retirement readiness expert, Laraine helped improve retirement outcomes for millions of Americans through key roles at BlackRock, Barclays Global Investors, and Wells Fargo Nikko Investment Advisors. Laraine currently serves on the Advisory Board of Betterment for Business and on the Advisory Board of Emtrain.

Maya Tussing

Principal and West Co-Head at Alesco Advisors

Maya is a relatively new member of the CLUB but jumped right in, volunteering for the membership committee. Earlier this year she developed and launched the Make The Ask program for the CLUB, a 3-month interactive program to help women craft their “ask” and negotiate for more, for which she received this year’s Groundbreaker CLUBbie award.

Maya is a wealth advisor and co-leads the San Francisco presence of Alesco Advisors, an SEC-registered investment advisory firm servicing the investment needs of foundations, endowments and high net worth individuals. Previously, she led BlackRock’s U.S. Institutional Index Asset Allocation business, responsible for over $200B across all asset classes, investment styles and vehicles. She held senior risk management roles at firms such as BlackRock, Barclays Global Investors, Visa, and GE Capital and has coached hundreds of men and women at all levels of corporate and non-profit organizations to achieve personal and professional success and satisfaction. Maya serves as a board member and Finance Chair for BizWorld.org, a nonprofit providing entrepreneurship education to elementary and middle school children.

Sherry Hashimoto Main

Chief Communications & Marketing Officer at University of California, Santa Cruz

Sherry joined the CLUB in 2015 and is a graduate of the 2017 Incubator program.

At UC Santa Cruz, Sherry works to enhance and protect the university's public face and lead the teams responsible for marketing, news and media relations, and social media. She is a leader in the higher education communications industry with 15 years of experience in creative and digital strategy. More recently, she has become the chief crisis and issues communications advisor to executive leadership at the university. Sherry was recently appointed to serve a two-year term as an advisor to the University of California Board of Regents.

Lauren Rothenberg

Litigation Consultant at R&D Strategic Solutions

Lauren joined The CLUB in 2015 and has served as the Managing Director for the CLUB in San Francisco since early 2017. She has led the efforts to increase the number of programming and networking events in San Francisco and develop our membership there, for which she received this year's Evangelist CLUBbie Award.

Lauren is an experienced litigation consultant and attorney with expertise developing litigation strategy in a wide variety of matters including intellectual property, contract, product liability, antitrust, securities, insurance, employment, and professional malpractice cases. She routinely consults with clients in the technology, banking, pharmaceutical, medical device, energy, insurance, automotive and consumer product industries.

Maya, Sherry and Lauren will join existing board members Mindy Morton, Anuradha (Anu) Gali, LouAnn Conner, Laraine McKinnon and me to form the CLUB’s 2018 Board of Directors.

Please join me in welcoming Laraine, Maya, Sherry and Lauren to their new roles!

Kristiane Koontz

CLUB Founding Board Member & 2016/2017 President

A little inspiration: a new eBook from the CLUB

Sun, 19 Nov 2017 20:38:18 GMT

We are delighted to give a gift of a little inspiration: a new eBook from the CLUB.

"Lessons from Resilience" is a compilation of seven career stories from CLUBmembers who participated in the CLUB Incubator program in 2016. From personal and professional challenges, to wonderful achievements, these Lessons from Resilience are sure to inspire.

Download Lessons from Resilience

Applications for the Incubator Program Due Nov 30th

Sat, 18 Nov 2017 18:24:00 GMT

Have you developed your expertise, but find you aren't getting any recognition for it? If you're a woman in the Bay Area, consider the CLUB Incubator, an annual women's leadership program that meets monthly in the heart of Silicon Valley. The Incubator's structured, actionable process has been used by diverse women in a variety of industries to accelerate their careers.

For more information, go to www.theclubsv.org/incubator-program. Applications are due November 30.

Congratulations to the 2017 CLUBbie Award Winners

Tue, 14 Nov 2017 00:45:18 GMT

The CLUB celebrated its 5th Anniversary with a banquet, held at the Fremont Hills Country Club on November 9, 2017. At this event, the CLUB recognized four of its members for their outstanding service:

The Driver Award

Natalya Thakur, Relationship Manager at FutureAdvisor (a subsidiary of BlackRock)

Natalya was awarded the Driver award for 2017. Natalya joined the CLUB late 2016 and almost immediately took on a leadership role as the CLUB’s 2017 Operating Committee Chair and Managing Director of Communities. Natalya was instrumental in bringing together the leaders of the CLUB’s various committees to ensure cross-committee communication and coordination, as well as working with our Community (Segments) leads to drive smaller group gatherings.

The Evangelist Award

Lauren Rothenberg, Litigation Consultant at R&D Strategic Solutions

Lauren has been instrumental in leading the growth of our San Francisco-based community, helping us to refine how we target and communicate with our different geographic communities. If you’ve been to a SF-based event, lunch, walk, or drinks, you’ve probably seen Lauren there - she regularly leads events in our San Francisco market.

The Groundbreaker Award

Maya Tussing, Alesco West Co-Head and Principal at Alesco Advisors

Maya is a relatively new member of the CLUB but jumped right in, volunteering for the membership committee. Then she developed and launched the Make The Ask program for the CLUB, a 3-month interactive program to help women craft their “ask” and negotiate for more. The program piloted this year and we are looking forward to a broader rollout in 2018. For this, we award her this year’s Groundbreaker award.

Special recognition, Evangelist

We don’t usually award CLUBbies to board members, but we made an exception for Laraine McKinnon, founder of strategic consulting firm LMC17. Laraine joined the CLUB just after it was launched, and in 2014, she asked if we’d let her create a women’s leadership Incubator for the CLUB. You’ve seen some of the results of the program. Laraine also has referred the most new members to the CLUB this year, so we think she is highly deserving of our Evangelist award.

Please join us in congratulating these phenomenal women on their accomplishment!

The CLUB Board of Directors

Celebrating 5 Years of Advancing Women in Leadership

Sat, 11 Nov 2017 00:59:46 GMT

CLUB Members & Supporters –

Many of you joined us last night as we celebrated the 5th Anniversary of the CLUB’s launch and the impact our members have made on one another and the broader community of women leaders in the Bay Area. The change is real and it’s truly inspiring to see such power and passion converge in support of our mission. I left the evening energized for the future and grateful for the support this community brings to one another.

Five years ago, five women and 150 friends, colleagues and supporters launched The CLUB at an event not unlike last night’s. These women, our founding board including Annie Rogaski and I, were fed up. Through personal experience and published studies, it was clear that women’s advancement in the workplace had stalled and, by some metrics, regressed from the advancements made in the '70s and '80s.

Marissa Mayer had just taken the CEO role at Yahoo with headlines that focused more on her gender, her pregnancy and her clothing choices than her capabilities and accomplishments. Sheryl Sandberg had yet to publish Lean In. Women comprised just 14% of executive officer positions and 16% of board directors in the Fortune 500. The proportion of females graduating with degrees in computer science had actually decreased over the prior three decades as women were discouraged from pursuing interests in STEM. And yet we found that not enough people were talking about the issue.

Annie, the other founders and I, spent nights and weekends combing through statistics to evidence the stall in women’s advancement and to help prove that having women in leadership is a good thing for companies--how improved diversity is shown to increase corporate returns and lower risk, and how many traits considered ‘feminine’ were starting to be held up as management best practices.

I think back to that time and it seems almost comical to me now how much time we spent just framing the issue, before we could even get to work on fixing it. It felt like we were starting at square one.

While we still have a lot of work to do, I am thrilled at the increase in awareness and dialogue we have today. I’m not spending my nights and weekends framing what the issue is and why it’s important. Individuals and companies are standing up like never before to say this isn’t OK and pledging to do better. HeForShe. The Decency Pledge. Mandatory Targets in the EU for Women Leaders. Paradigm for Parity. Women Serve on Boards. The broader movements to speak out against sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace. These movements and many others are a testament to the progress we’ve made.

Collectively, we’ve achieved step 1 – which is broad acceptance that there’s a problem. We are now getting to step 2 where we are seeing companies establish policies and training to improve the situation, combined with the public pressure to actually make it happen. And through that awareness we are seeing more allies, male and female, stepping in to help pull qualified women up through the ranks.

The CLUB helps to fill the crucial gap between the problem statement and policy. Our community of talented women leaders and mentors is now more critical than ever to help position women with the skills, confidence and network to actually get there.

One way we measure the impact of THE CLUB is through an annual survey called the CLUB Effect. In this year’s survey we found that, because of The CLUB:

73% of members do more networking as a result of their membership, whether that is at a CLUB sponsored event or outside the CLUB. As members, they gain lessons and experience on building their network at CLUB events and then take them beyond into their individual professional spheres.
69% of members are inspired to grow their career.
70% are more likely to make an “ask” of someone to advance their career.

2017 in particular has been a phenomenal year for CLUB members receiving recognition. Highlights include:

Anuradha Gali and Leedjia Svec were recognized in the Silicon Valley Business Journal 2017 Women of Influence Awards
Leedjia Svec was also named STEM Influencer of the Year at the 4th Annual Global Women in STEM Conference (WiSTEM)
Joselle Deocampo-Gautam was included on the Silicon Valley Business Journal’s 40 under 40 Class of 2017
Olga Mack and Heather Jerrehain were honored with Watermark's “Make Your Mark” Awards
Erin Sawyer was featured in Haute Living San Francisco as one of the Top 10 Bay Area Boss Ladies.
Megan Jones was featured in the Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal as a Top Women Lawyer.

Additionally, we heard from members about dozens of speaking opportunities, appointments to advisory councils and boards, promotions, job placements, raises, business and consulting referrals, press citations and more! The power of this community truly amazes me and it goes to show when we come together, nothing can stop us. It’s only a matter of time!

Get More Out of the CLUB

One of the ways our members get the most out of the CLUB is by volunteering in a leadership position with one of our committees or on our Board of Directors. We find that members who volunteer are generally those who form the deepest connections with other members and have the best success stories from their CLUB interactions. We are currently running our 2018 leadership drive for volunteers at all levels through November 15th. Click here to learn more and apply online.

Our Incubator program is also accepting applications for the 2018 program through November 30th. The Incubator helps a select group of talented women propel their career growth and personal potential. Our annual program begins in January and brings participants through a structured path of action steps that include: furthering your career development, refining your personal brand, expanding your public profile, building out your network, giving back to the community of professional women, and preparing to sit on boards. Unlike a mentoring or coaching program, the Incubator designs actions on behalf of participants to enable recognition for their expertise and leadership. Click here to learn more and apply.

Lastly, I’d like to thank our event sponsors PwC and Procopio for their continued support of the CLUB’s mission. Both of these organizations have sponsored our Anniversary party for the last four years in a row! Another huge thank you goes to Jennifer Dulski, our keynote speaker, for sharing with us a fresh perspective on ‘movement starters’ and how they find success, both in the form of social movements as well as corporate leadership. Jennifer’s book along the same theme will come out in mid 2018.

Stay Fabulous,

Kristiane Koontz

CLUB President & Founding Board Member

Announcing the CLUB's 2018 Leadership Drive - Apply Today!

Wed, 08 Nov 2017 15:54:18 GMT

You joined us to accelerate your leadership journey and help other women on their paths. Now you have the opportunity to join the ranks of The CLUB's leadership team and/or committees and further your development and the CLUB's mission! We are launching our 2018 leadership and committee participation drive to find the next leaders and supporters for the CLUB.

Our leadership in 2018 will be comprised of the following roles:

Participating in The Club in any of these positions offers great opportunities to network and build lasting relationships with dynamic, inspiring women achieving tangible results. Its an opportunity to strengthen your resume and stretch yourself while working towards a united goal of creating power opportunities for women in the Bay Area.

Board of Directors – We want strategic thinkers who can further the CLUB’s reach and also roll up their sleeves to provide leadership and oversight for critical CLUB initiatives. Many of our board aspire to positions on public and private companies and see this effort as a stepping stone. Its an opportunity to shine and be recognized for the important work being done
Time commitment: 10 to 20 hours per month. 3 year term (minimum).
Managing Directors / Operating Committee – A Managing Director provides the leadership for each CLUB committee, and collectively they comprise our Operating Committee. This leadership body meets once per quarter as a committee to facilitate coordination and synergies between each area, in addition to any committee leadership meetings. A Managing Director is a great way to influence the direction of The Club meet with influential women and be recognized for the work that you do. Many members consider this role a stepping stone to the Board of Directors position.
Time commitment: 6 to 10 hours per month.
Committee Directors – If you are passionate about the work the committees do and want the ability to influence and drive them forward consider becoming a committee director. We’re looking for someone that can take ideas and turn them into action while working with some fellow all star influencers. Committee Directors will lead key initiatives and programs within each Committee and will report into the committee’s Managing Director.
Time commitment: 4 to 8 hours per month.
Event Chair - Manage the planning and execution of one of our larger in-person events in San Francisco or the Peninsula. Are you looking for ways to engage with local influencers and connect with dynamic leaders in the Bay Area, then working on Events is the perfect opportunity for you.
Time commitment: 10 to 15 hour one time commitment

Community Leaders – help organize quarterly informal events for a subset of the CLUB community (e.g. industry, geography, and experience level groups). If you are new to The Club and want an easy way to connect with other members, these positions are for you.
Time commitment: 2 to 3 hours per month.

We are seeking applicants at each of these leadership levels. If a leadership position within the CLUB is not right for you at this time, we strongly encourage you to join one of our committees. We’ve found that the most satisfied members are those who actively participate in these roles because they are able to connect with other leaders and strengthen critical leadership skills. More than a few of them have also found new jobs or contracts by volunteering, so what are you waiting for?
Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis and all applications are due by end of day November 16, 2017.

To apply to leadership positions or to choose a committee to join in 2018, please fill out this brief survey by Thursday, November 16th.

As a CLUB leader, you will be given the opportunity to lead or co-lead teams, with guidance and feedback from other CLUB leaders and/or the Board. You'll also get to know more CLUB members and deepen the connections you have already made. Please note that some committee leadership positions have already been filled based on last year's leadership. We will contact applicants for leadership positions to set up interviews later this year.

We look forward to an exciting and inspiring 2018!

CLUB Effect Survey 2017

Thu, 29 Jun 2017 22:46:56 GMT

SURVEY NOW CLOSED

Please complete the two minute survey and let us know what effect the CLUB has on your professional development. On completion your name will be added to a prize draw for the chance to win a $100 gift voucher.

Members of The CLUB honored by Silicon Valley Business Journal 2017 Women of Influence Awards

Fri, 19 May 2017 20:17:07 GMT

Two members of The CLUB were honored last night at the Silicon Valley Business Journal’s Women of Influence Awards 2017. Anuradha Gali is Director of Engineering at Groupon Inc. in Palo Alto; and Leedjia Svec is a US Navy Lieutenant based at NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley. Both women are advocates for bringing women and girls into STEM. These Women of Influence awards are given to women who are making a positive impact in their profession and community.

Leedjia Svec (left) and Anuradha Gali celebrating their Women of Influence awards.

Anuradha Gali is a Director of Engineering and lives in Palo Alto. Gali has an MS in Computer science and has built engineering teams and steered large-scale projects in Web, e-commerce and mobile technologies for companies such as Groupon, Shutterfly and Adobe. She also joined the CLUB’s Board of Directors in January 2017.

Leedjia Svec is a Director of Military Programs and lives in Mountain View. Svec holds an MA and PhD in Experimental Psychology from University of Nevada Reno, an MA in International Relations from St Mary’s University and a BA in Psychology/Technology Engineering from University of the Pacific. She is responsible for collaborations between NASA, the US Navy, US Department of Defense and other institutions centered around NASA Ames Research Center.

CLUB President Kristiane Koontz commented: “We are thrilled that Anu and Leedjia join the growing ranks of Women of Influence honorees who are also CLUB members. At the CLUB our goal is to build the pipeline of women leaders by creating a community of women helping women, just as Anu and Leedjia are.”

Both women participated in the CLUB Incubator, a women’s leadership and advocacy program. “It’s wonderful to see these very talented women receive recognition for their expertise and leadership in Silicon Valley,” noted Laraine McKinnon, founder of the CLUB Incubator.

Gali and Svec join the list of eminent CLUB members who have been recognized by their peers at the SVBJ Awards, since The CLUB’s inception in 2012, past and present CLUB Honorees include:

2017

Anuradha Gali - Groupon
Leedjia Svec – NASA Ames

2016

Mindy Morton – Procopio LLP

2015

Alice Katwan – Genesys Inc
Annie Rogaski – Avegant Inc
Erin Rand – Service Rocket
Jacqueline Lee –Jones Day

2012

Mona Sabet – Tribal Ventures

About The CLUB

The CLUB is a leadership incubator for San Francisco Bay Area women who want to accelerate their careers. We are a tight knit community. We know, and help each other in our individual leadership development. Collectively we grow talent through high-impact programs, networking and support. For membership inquiries please go to https://theclubsv.org/join.

Media Contact for The CLUB:
Judith Coley
Email: Judith@theclubsv.org

6 Ways to Get More out of The CLUB (and help other women) in May

Fri, 19 May 2017 17:16:15 GMT

May is here and that means longer days, increased energy and more time for networking! Here are six ways to get more out of your CLUB membership (and help other women) above and beyond our many programming events.

Invite a friend or colleague to join the CLUB. The more women we have in our community, the more power and connections we have to tap into. Our goal this year is to grow to 500 full members, and we need your help to do so! Many CLUB members are able to get their employers to cover the cost of their membership.
Join a CLUB Committee. Build deeper connections with other members while giving back to the CLUB by serving on one of our committees. Our programming and outreach is 100% member driven on a volunteer basis! Committees include:

a. Marketing – even if you only have a couple of hours to spare, we need help marketing our awesome CLUB to potential members and to drive our leadership for women agenda. Please drop a line to marketing@theclubsv.org
b. Membership – Looking to grow your network? Help to drive our membership including recruiting new members, welcoming & onboarding new members, and finding opportunities to increase membership. Please contact membership@theclubsv.org.
c. Partnerships - Help us build and maintain relationships with other Bay Area non-profits and organizations whose vision of empowering women aligns with our own. Email partnerships@theclubsv.org
d. Programming – Got a great idea for a program, or a knack for organizing events? Lead or support organizing one of our programming events! Email programming@theclubsv.org.
e. Technology – Help to improve the CLUB’s use of technology including digital events, please contact anu@theclubsv.org.

Join a CLUB interest group. Did you know the CLUB has dozens of smaller groups around industry focus, interests and geographic locations? These groups meet from time to time and also discuss topics of interest and also share asks for each other through our online forums.
To join a group, log into the secure members-only area of our website at theclubsv.org, edit your profile and under Group participation, check the box of the group you’d like to join. Each group has its own discussion board. You can post new topics, reply to existing discussions as well as subscribe to receive updates when new discussions are posted.
To participate in group discussions, login to the secure member site, then navigate to Members – Groups for the group you have joined. To receive updates click the “Subscribe to forum” link on the Group Forum page. (Note: members who received notifications prior to the migration to the new members site will need to re-subscribe to notifications on the new site). Here’s a short video tutorial on how to manage group settings: https://theclubsv.org/video-tutorial-group-participation/
Participate on our online discussions or job referrals board on the CLUB’s members only website. There are a number of online discussions including member Good News, and a Job Referral Board. You can post new topics, reply to existing discussions as well as subscribe to receive updates when new discussions are posted by clicking the “Subscribe to forum” link.
Have Event Planning Experience? Help us plan our anniversary party which happens every fall. We are looking for 1 to 2 individuals to work with our special events lead to plan and coordinate the event. Please email Kristiane at kristiane@theclubsv.org if interested.
Become our Volunteer Coordinator. If you love to connect people, this is the job for you. We are looking for a volunteer 5 to 8 hours per month to help connect our volunteers with open needs. Please email Kristiane at kristiane@theclubsv.org if interested.

Kristiane Koontz
President & Co-Founder, The CLUB

Want to diversify your board? We’ve got candidates

Wed, 08 Mar 2017 16:01:57 GMT

Demand. Not supply. That’s the driving force behind the low numbers of women on corporate boards.

And despite modest gains in recent years, there’s little change in the representation of women and minorities on boards. Catalyst, the leading nonprofit organization accelerating progress for women through workplace inclusion, recently reported that almost 70% of Fortune 500 board seats are still held by Caucasian/white men.

Catalyst also reported that the “recycle rate”—or rate at which individuals serve on more than one board—is higher for women and minorities than Caucasian/white men, which indicates that there needs to be a broader net cast to capture “new” women and minorities for boards.

In this report, the U.S. GAO finds three factors that may hinder women's increased representation among board directors: boards not prioritizing recruiting diverse candidates; few women in the traditional pipeline to board service (i.e., CEO or board experience); and low turnover of board seats.

Companies need to look beyond a CEO title. Instead, they need to look to the skill set that makes a CEO desirable – for example, strategic and operational skills, or P&L experience – and seek out those skills from leaders in other roles, like GMs, functional heads, or other executives. They need to scout out talent that will bring a fresh energy and perspective to a board. They need to identify candidates who will diversify a board’s thinking, and its ability to help oversee and push a company to greater success in the ever changing, and diverse, marketplace.

And we’re here to help. The Women’s CLUB of Silicon Valley has partnered with the Women Serve on Boards movement to showcase highly qualified and successful women, with proven track records in their respective professions, interested in corporate board service. The CLUB provides a unique environment that offers the opportunity for women leaders across industries, and career stages, to connect and build a critical mass of women leaders in Silicon Valley.

Inspired by this Business Insider article and this second one, we are showcasing 15 CLUB members, representing female leaders across industries, including a glimpse of what expertise each can add to a company’s board:

Denise Shiffman

Experience: Senior Vice President of Product Management and Strategy for Juniper Networks. Previously VP Product Management and Marketing for Storage at Sun Microsystems.

Why Denise Shiffman should be on your board: Denise can help you with market expansion strategies, having successfully launched worldwide over thirty uniquely positioned products resulting in more than $2B in revenue. With her deep experience leading customer-focused functions, she can help companies create remarkable customer experiences. She’s also a skilled business strategist who wrote an award-winning marketing strategy and business book, “The Age of Engage: Reinventing Marketing for Today's Connected, Collaborative, and Hyperinteractive Culture,” which received accolades from notable executives including Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

Find her on:LinkedIn or Twitter

Jill Soley

Experience: VP Marketing at Freshdesk. Previously, Director of Product at Adobe Systems during its transition from a shrink-wrap software business to a service and subscription model.

Why Jill Soley should be on your board: With strong cloud and mobile product and marketing expertise, Jill can help early cloud startups hone their product strategy, product/market fit, positioning, and go-to-market plans. She can also help achieve a seamless end-to-end customer experience.

Find her on:LinkedIn or Twitter

Karen Catlin

Experience: Former VP of Engineering at Adobe Systems. Former VP of Engineering at Macromedia. Now Advocate for Women in Tech, TEDx speaker on gender diversity in tech, frequent keynote speaker, and author. Member of the Brown University Computing and Information Technology Advisory Council. Also on the Advisory Boards of Brown University’s Computer Science Department Diversity Initiative, The Women’s CLUB of Silicon Valley, WEST (Women Entering & Staying in Technology), and Women Serve on Boards.

Why Karen Catlin should be on your board: Utilizing her strong operational leadership skills, deep background in shared engineering services, and experience redesigning software engineering organizations for efficiency, Karen can help companies scale during periods of growth. She can also help companies respond to seismic shifts in the tech industry, leveraging her 25+ years of experience responding to changes in software business models, product security strategies, outsourcing of talent, and the growing pressure for workforce diversity.

Find her on:LinkedIn or Twitter

Carly Alameda

Experience: Business Litigation Partner at Farella Braun + Martel. Board Member for Mammoth HR (HRAnswerLink) and Board Member of Berkeley Law Alumni Association.

Why Carly Alameda should be on your board: Carly has a knack for not only asking the right questions but also coming up with strategic solutions to the complex challenges. She manages business risks proactively and pragmatically as a result of her broad experience in business litigation and as a board member of a private company.

Find her on:LinkedIn

Sandra Shpilberg

Experience: CEO of Seeker Health, a digital health company that connects patients to clinical trials and approved treatments. Previously Vice President of Strategic Marketing & Commercial Planning at Nora Therapeutics, and Executive Director of Product Development at BioMarin. Writer for The Huffington Post.

Why Sandra Shpilberg should be on your board: Sandra has extensive leadership experience and deep knowledge of the health and medical industry. She can help health and medical companies locate and engage patients, develop strategies to accelerate product development, and design "radical collaborations" between health and patient groups. She has a unique understanding of how to use social media and digital advertising to engage patients. Originally from Uruguay, she brings a great appreciation for diversity and an understanding of how to create effective teams. As an avid reader and writer, she also helps companies align messaging to their vision and values.

Find her on:LinkedIn or Twitter

Anu Gali

Experience: Director of Engineering at Groupon and Board Member of The Women’s CLUB of Silicon Valley. Formerly Director of Engineering at Shutterfly.

Why Anu Gali should be on your board: Anu has extensive experience in building and scaling viral products for diverse markets. Using her strong software leadership skills combined with her focus on strategic business growth, Anu would be a great resource for companies building and scaling during periods of hyper growth.

Find her on:LinkedIn

Erin Sawyer

Experience: Director of Supply Chain at Wrightspeed and Board Member of Kids' Vision. Previously Group Manager for Core Technologies at Tesla Motors.

Why Erin Sawyer should be on your board: Erin has a proven track record of disrupting and reinventing the automotive industry. Using her industry knowledge coupled with her experience with high growth and rapid expansion initiatives, she can help you scale operations to meet aggressive business targets.

Find her on:LinkedIn or Twitter

Emily Walker

Experience: CEO of Landis & Co which focuses on providing advice to companies in the areas of strategic planning, capital raising, CEO mentoring, and security & resiliency. Dual UK/US citizen who has lived in five countries. Former senior roles at OCSiAl Nanotech, Citigroup Corporate & Investment Bank, Barclays, 9-11 Commission, UN World Food Programme, and the International Monetary Fund, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and US Treasury.

Why Emily Walker should be on your board: Using her international network, capital raising background, and government and financial services experience, Emily can guide start-ups through developing a robust and due diligence-friendly corporate strategy and connect them globally for funding.

Find her on:LinkedIn or Twitter

Katie McCann

Experience: VP of Product & Engineering at Prism Skylabs. Former software leadership roles at early to mid-stage startups, including experience in automotive, media, and AI.

Why Katie McCann should be on your board: With her strong background in software product leadership in key industries including automotive and media, coupled with domain experience in AI, Katie can help early to mid-stage startups hone their product strategy, ensuring their teams are laser-focused on quickly and iteratively building solutions for their customers’ problems.

Find her on:LinkedIn or Twitter

Olga Mack

Experience: General Counsel at ClearSlide, financial statements lecturer at UC Berkeley Law (Boalt Hall), and founder of numerous leadership trade and advocacy organizations. Advisory board member at TimeJoy and ChannelMeter, both early stage startups and leadership board of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), San Francisco Bay Area chapter. Previously Assistant General Counsel at Zoosk, in-house Counsel at Visa, and Attorney at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. A widely recognized, prolific, and award-winning writer and speaker about legal, risk, technology, privacy, security, and workplace issues.

Why Olga Mack should be on your board: Olga is a recognized legal, HR, privacy, security, and operations strategic leader with strong communications skills. She navigates corporate transitions, such as expansion, contraction, leadership change, or regulatory changes with ease, grace, and credibility. She manages and mitigates risks and conflicts professionally and has very high financial acumen and a diverse understanding of technology landscape. Finally, her understanding of social, economic, technology, and regulatory trends assures that her strategies are rooted in a healthy dose of reality.

Find her on:LinkedIn or Twitter

LouAnn Conner

Experience: CEO of SagaciousThink, a consulting firm specializing in strategy, business process engineering, post M&A integration, and change management. Instructor at UC Berkeley and Golden Gate University. Member of C Suite of Astia. Board Member of The Women’s CLUB of Silicon Valley. Previously Senior Manager at PriceWaterhouse Coopers. Member of NACD and in the process of securing her Corporate Director Governance Fellowship.

Why LouAnn Conner should be on your board: With her leadership skills and financial acumen, LouAnn can help you with corporate governance, financial strategy, risk management, and global expansion.

Find her on:LinkedIn or Twitter

Mansi Shah

Experience: Founding Partner of Merchant & Gould's Silicon Valley office. Past President of the South Asian Bar Association of North America, Recipient of Best Under 40 by National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Previously a software engineer in the defense industry.

Why Mansi Shah should be on your board: Using her legal and technical background, business acumen, and strong network, Mansi can creatively solve issues and provide strategies for increasing the bottom line.

Find her on:LinkedIn or Twitter

Maggie Harmon

Experience: 20 years of experience working in consultative, strategic roles across a wide variety of organizations. In the last ten years the companies she’s worked with have raised over one billion dollars in investment funding, and seen nearly 15 billion in revenue from IPOs and acquisition activity.

Why Maggie Harmon should be on your board: Leveraging her financial industry knowledge, strategic leadership experience, and deep understanding of market trends, Maggie can guide you through the challenges in communicating an offering, differentiating an organization in a crowded market, identifying the right audiences to speak to at the right time, and building the foundations for successful, sustainable long-term growth.

Find her on:LinkedIn

Mindy Morton

Experience: Internet and Intellectual Property Litigation Partner at Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch, LLP. Board Member of The Women’s CLUB of Silicon Valley. Previously President of the Board of Trustees for the Santa Clara County Bar Association and President of the Board of Directors of Schola Cantorum.

Why Mindy Morton should be on your board: Mindy is a business-oriented attorney with extensive experience serving on and leading nonprofit boards. She can help you with strategic planning and governance issues.

Find her on:LinkedIn or Twitter

Sherry Main

Experience: Chief Communications and Marketing Officer with expertise in crisis communications at UC Santa Cruz, a large public institution with over 16,000 students. Previously a creative and digital strategist at UC Irvine.

Why Sherry Main should be on your board: Sherry can guide companies using her deep experience in higher education leadership, brand management in regulated industries, and communications. She has a passion for connecting people through storytelling.

Find her on:LinkedIn or Twitter

While we’re incredibly pleased to highlight the above CLUB members, we know there are many, many other qualified women as well. If you’re a woman interested in board service, be sure to join The CLUB. The CLUB provides a unique environment that offers the opportunity for women leaders across industries, and career stages, to connect and build a critical mass of women leaders in Silicon Valley. Also, check out The Athena Alliance, which is dedicated to advancing gender diversity in the boardroom. It serves as an extension of a board’s intimate network, introducing them to incredible executive women. At the same time, they are an essential part of a woman’s support structure, helping her overcome the ‘last mile’ barriers to board service.

-- The teams at The CLUB and Women Serve on Boards

The CLUB Supports International Women’s Day 2017 – Five Ways to Get Involved

Tue, 07 Mar 2017 00:17:25 GMT

International Women’s Day (IWD) has been going for nearly 100 years. Although we may feel that awareness for women’s issues is growing, there’s also strong evidence of just how far we still have to go to achieve gender parity. If you were wondering whether it mattered whether to participate or not, then data from a study by McKinsey “Promoting Gender Equality in the Workplace” may well inspire you. Bottom line - women lag behind men by 15% to 25% in most gender-equal societies yet account for half of the global labor supply and 70% of the global consumption demand.

This year on Wednesday 8th March, there are several ways to get involved with International Women’s Day; locally, globally or personally and anywhere you choose along the political spectrum. We’ve put together some resources to help you create your own formula for the day:

Learn - at the International Women’s Day official website: https://www.internationalwomensday.com. Their hashtag is #BeBoldForChange, in support of creating a better, more inclusive, gender equal world.
Strike – The ‘Day Without Women’ general strike is set for March 8th. This is a political event where the call out is for women across the United States to take the day off from their work, avoid shopping for one day (excepting women owned businesses), and to wear red as a sign of solidarity.
Gather – the Women’s March of San Jose is holding a lunchtime rally at City Call. More event details: https://www.womensmarchsj.org/a-day-without-a-woman
Donate – make a donation to your favorite non-profit that benefits women – perhaps your local shelter, or to an organization that benefits girls and women.
Meditate – there’s a call for 15 minutes of silence at 12.00 noon. This is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the women who have made your life better, and to think about your own experiences.

We’d love to hear how you observed International Women’s Day, drop us a line at info@clubsv.org.

CLUB 2017 Board of Directors New Additions

Wed, 04 Jan 2017 02:05:04 GMT

The CLUB is thrilled to announce Anuradha Gali, Director of Engineering at Groupon and LouAnn Conner, Founder & CEO of SagaciousThink, will join the CLUB’s Board of Directors in 2017.

Anuradha (Anu) Gali

Director of Engineering, Groupon

Energetic and engaged in her work and her community, Anu is a creative, award-winning and accomplished leader, an entrepreneur, a tireless mentor, coach and volunteer, and a loving wife and mother of two.

A tech leader, Anu has built great engineering teams from the ground up and steered large-scale projects in web, e-commerce and mobile technologies for companies such as Groupon, Shutterfly and Adobe. In her spare time she founded and ran her own company, 32Skills, and continues to volunteer as a computer science instructor for GirlsWhoCode, a mentor for multiple Technovation Challenge teams, and as a mentor for First Lego League.

Anu believes that the best leaders help others to reach their potential.

She received her Master’s in Computer Science from the University of Illinois. When she isn't teaching her own kids to code she enjoys cooking and sharing good movies with her husband.

LouAnn Conner

Founder and CEO, SagaciousThink, LLC

LouAnn helps companies address their business operations challenges whether its small, medium companies seeking to expand internationally, or larger Fortune 100 companies requiring M&A assistance, business process reengineering, or strategy. When she is not consulting, LouAnn is also an adjunct at local universities where she teaching intentional business and strategy, contextual environment of business, managerial analysis and team dynamics, and entrepreneurship. LouAnn has lectured globally on entrepreneurship and innovation. She serves as Golden Gate University's Small Business Program Director, where she develops programs and mentors alumni seeking to start their own businesses. She sits on the Board of Advisors for PulpWorks, a clean tech startup with a mission or reducing packaging related waste. She mentors and angel invests in startups and serves on ASTIA's C-Suite Board reviewing companies on their viability.

LouAnn has an undergraduate degree in engineering from Iowa State University and a MBA from The Johns Hopkins Carey School of Business.

Anuradha and LouAnn will join existing board members Kristiane Koontz, Mindy Morton, Alice Katwan, Judith Coley and Laraine McKinnon to form the CLUB’s 2017 Board of Directors.

Perspectives from Board Member Karen Catlin

Fri, 23 Dec 2016 19:48:38 GMT

As the year comes to a close, I want to extend a hearty ‘Thank You’ to board member Karen Catlin for her numerous contributions to the CLUB and our community over the past few years. Karen's impact on the CLUB during her three year term on the Board, including this past year as our Vice President, is significant and she's helped to shape the careers of countless CLUB members through her leadership. During her time on the board Karen presented at multiple CLUB events, oversaw initiatives around mentoring, programming and affiliate relationships and helped us to quantify our impact as an organization. This is going to be Karen’s last year on the Board, and while she’ll still continue to be very involved in this community I want to thank her, on behalf of the whole CLUB, for all of her contributions over the years.

I sat down with Karen recently to talk about her time on the board and her insights for CLUB Members:

What accomplishment are you most proud of during your time on the board?

I had a blast serving a 3-year term on the CLUB’s Board of Directors. As I look back, I’m proud of so many things that we accomplished as an organization. Some of my personal accomplishments include identifying how to measure the impact of The CLUB and coining the phrase “The CLUB Effect.” I also came up with the #womenhelpingwomen hashtag, which I use in tweets from @TheCLUBSV whenever I have spare room in the 140 character limit.

I also want to mention The Big Read. Almost two years ago, CLUB member Judith Coley (who is now a member of our board) approached me about starting a book group. She proposed not only discussing books, but also publishing reviews of books by female authors under The CLUB’s moniker to both help the authors and build our brand awareness. And she had an awesome name for it: The Big Read. I loved Judith's idea and sponsored its launch. Little did I know that, about a year later, I would co-author "Present! A Techie’s Guide to Public Speaking” femgineer.com/present-book/ and The Big Read would write a review for its back cover. #womenhelpingwomen in action!

What is your best advice for new CLUB members?

We’re all about women helping women on their leadership journey. CLUB members want to help you, and we want you to help other CLUB members. So get involved! Here are some ideas:

· Search the CLUB membership directory to find people you can tap for advice or who can make introductions to people in their network. I recently heard from a CLUB member who did just this. She felt stuck in her current tech job and didn’t see much growth, and wanted an external perspective on her career to date and potential directions she could pursue. She found just the right person to talk to, a former head of HR at a large company, reached out, and had an inspiring phone call later that week.

· Fill out your CLUB membership bio so that other members can find you when they need help with their career.

· Come to each CLUB event with an “ask” - one thing that you need some help on. As you meet people, introduce yourself and make your ask. I’ve done exactly this many times. A few years ago, I had a goal to do more public speaking, and my ask was, “Please let me know if you hear of any opportunities to speak on a panel on women’s leadership or to give a lightning talk.” CLUB members started making introductions, and I received many invitations to speak as a result.

What are you planning to focus on in your newly available time?

On our vacation this past summer, my son and I went for a walk along a beach. It was a beautiful day, and we started off talking about how excited he was for his upcoming freshman year of college and some goals he had for his studies. He then asked me about my goals for the rest of the year. I mentioned that I would be wrapping up my term on the CLUB’s board, and he asked me the same question, “What will you do with the extra time?”

I believe that when you make room in your life for new opportunities, they will come your way. And that’s definitely been happening for me.

On that walk, I told my son that I wanted to serve on more advisory boards, to “pay it forward” and share my expertise, especially with organizations that are focused on women in tech and women in leadership. Literally the next day I got an email from a former colleague asking if I would serve on the advisory board for WEST (Women Entering & Staying in Technology). I’ll also be joining the advisory board for The CLUB, and continuing with my work as an advisory to Brown University’s Computer Science Diversity Initiative.

I should emphasize that I’m not going very far as I leave the board. I’m still going to be an active member of The CLUB, and I look forward to attending events and making connections with other members. In the meantime, you can find me online at karencatlin.com

Thank you Karen for your contributions to the CLUB!

Kristiane Koontz
President & Co-Founder, The CLUB

Congratulations to the 2016 CLUBbie Award Winners

Thu, 17 Nov 2016 21:37:56 GMT

The CLUB celebrated its 4th Anniversary with a banquet, held at the Fremont Hills Country Club on November 15, 2016. At this event, the CLUB recognized three of its members for their outstanding service:

The Driver Award

Angelika Ryan, Consultant at PwC, was awarded the Driver award for 2016. Angelika joined the CLUB late 2015 and immediately took on a leadership role as the CLUB’s 2016 Treasurer and Financial committee lead. Angelika is not only creative and detail oriented but also strategic in her approach. In addition to her significant ongoing Treasury duties, she undertook a complete revamp the CLUB's financial management practices to better position us for the next phase in our growth.

The Evangelist Award

The CLUB recognizes Olga V. Mack, General Counsel at ClearSide, with the Evangelist award. Olga is passionate about driving the success of women. Olga publishes spotlight articles on women leaders, and has founded and leads a national movement to increase female representation on corporate boards. This year Olga represented Silicon Valley women at The White House's "United State of Women." Olga also evangelizes for the CLUB throughout her public presence.

The Groundbreaker Award

Katherine Mendonca, an Enterprise Mobile Computing Solutions Strategist at Apple, was awarded this year’s Groundbreaker award. Using the Design Thinking methodology from Stanford, Katherine led an initiative to revamp our Mentoring program to better meet our members’ needs. Because of Katherine, we now have CLUBconnect, a program focused on making connections happen between members to facilitate tapping into our wide-ranging professional expertise.

Our Time IS Now: Reflections on our Fourth Year – and the Year to Come

Thu, 17 Nov 2016 01:39:26 GMT

Last night nearly 100 CLUB members and supporters gathered to celebrate the CLUB’s 4th Anniversary at the Fremont Hills Country Club in Los Altos.

It was a wonderful evening filled with laughter, networking, great food and wine, and an inspiring keynote speech by CEO and Author Lee Caraher.

At the event I also shared my reflections on the CLUB’s progress, the environment around us, and what that means for the coming years, and I’d like to share these thoughts with those of you who weren’t able to attend our celebration last night as well.

I also want to echo again a giant thank you to our sponsors for the event, PwC, Procopio and Hausfeld, three wonderful organizations that really care about diversity and have sponsored multiple events for The CLUB in the past.

Thank you also to all who brought donations of toiletries to the event, these will benefit the Women's Gathering Place in San Jose, a non- profit that assists homeless women.

As the CLUB concludes its fourth year of existence and looks ahead to what is next, we’ve continued to grow and broaden our impact in ways that amaze and inspire me. Just a few of these accomplishments from across the CLUB community over the past year:

We’ve accepted over 170 new members into the CLUB year-to-date .
Our community engagement has increased across the board, with over 87 events and small group gatherings held, including regular meetings at our CLUBhouse in Palo Alto, and regular walk and talks in Palo Alto, San Francisco, and the East Bay in addition to our regular quarterly programming.
Our Incubator program, designed to help mid-career executives reach the next level, is going strong in its 2nd year with 10 phenomenal women. Incubator Alumni from 2015 have moved into leadership positions including with the CLUB and onto our board of directors.
Our Big Read group which reads and reviews women’s leadership books, has launched a San Francisco chapter, reviewed and discussed eight books so far this year and is now publishing reviews of women's leadership books.
Our mentoring program, now called CLUBconnect was redesigned to make it easier for CLUB members to tap into the collective expertise and wisdom of The CLUB.
We launched our Thriving Workplaces initiative designed to identify and promote workplace cultures that foster inclusive environments and increased levels of women in leadership positions.
We extended our lease on our CLUBhouse in Palo Alto through March of next year while also expanding the number of events held in San Francisco.

All of this work translates into impact against our ultimate goal of growing the pipeline and ranks of women leaders across the Bay Area. One way we measure this impact is through an annual survey we do called the CLUB Effect. In this year’s survey we found that, because of The CLUB,

82% of our members do more networking,
82% are more likely to make an ask of someone who can help advance their career,
86% are inspired to grow their career.

And the word about this is getting out – I’ve had many encounters this year where people have already heard about us and the work we are doing before I can even give them my pitch!

In addition, I continue to hear other stories from our members of the ways they leveraged the CLUB to grow their careers and those of other women, including speaking opportunities, leadership roles, mentoring relationships and job placements.

At the event we also unveiled the CLUB’s new branding and member portal. One of our goals this year was to update our visual identity to represent the CLUB in its growth over the coming years as well as to make it as frictionless as possible for our members to leverage The CLUB. Check out our revamped website at www.theclubsv.org.

In parallel, we are launching our new member portal which will make it much easier for members to manage their membership, participate in virtual discussions and learn about CLUB events, all integrated with our main CLUB website. This new member portal officially launches TODAY, so for all of you CLUB members please be on the lookout for an email invitation to the new portal. I think you are a really going to love it.

Another important ‘Thank You’ goes to Karen Catlin, who has been a longtime member and huge supporter of The CLUB, including serving on our board for the past three years. Karan has spoken on numerous panel discussions and events and served as our Vice President this past year. This is going to be Karen’s last year on the Board, and while she’ll still continue to be very involved in this community I want to thank her, on behalf of the whole CLUB, for all of her contributions over the years.

And now I’d like to look at the year (and years) ahead. In the coming year, we have a lot to do. I’m elated to see, across all levels of dialog in our media, the business community and social networks that there’s been a great improvement in awareness and sensitivity about the challenges women face with advancement in the workplace - even just in the past year.

And yet, there are pervasive, systemic and sometimes unconscious biases against women’s advancement that still exist, across the country and right here in the Bay Area. I was hoping that today we’d be here celebrating that a woman broke the ultimate glass ceiling in the US, to become our president. But that didn’t happen, and we’ll have to wait a little longer for that moment.

Despite that, and despite these challenges, I feel really strongly that the awareness and the momentum is here, and that we are at a tipping point. Our time is now. We need to continue to look for, and to help each other, find ways to translate this awareness and the zeitgeist around recent events into actionable gains for women.

There are three things I’m asking each of you to do in the coming year to help grow the CLUB and our impact:

Help us grow our membership – reach out to and invite women who are ready to go places in their career to join this community of women helping women. If you have a budget for your team, consider sponsoring a package of membership in The CLUB for promising women.
Take on a leadership position within the CLUB – these come in many shapes and sizes, from organizing an event to spearheading our fundraising efforts – and it’s a great way to give back to the CLUB community while making valuable connections and gaining additional leadership expertise for yourself. Our 2017 leadership drive is currently in progress, with applications due by the end of the month.
For the women – Do at least one more thing to make yourself visible outside the CLUB community this coming year – let’s demonstrate how undeniably capable women leaders are, in mass, all of us. Whether this means speaking on a panel, publishing an article, or a stretch assignment at work. For those of you 12 or more years into your career, consider the Incubator program as a way to do this. We are part of a movement and our time is now.

Lastly – for the men in the room - we need your help too.

Spread the word about the CLUB to grow our membership and funding.
Ask yourself what more you can be doing to help a woman in her career, whether it be stepping in and speaking up when you see unconscious bias at play, providing career mentoring or sponsorship, or giving that next stretch assignment to the woman on your team.

Together, let’s make the next year and The CLUB’s 5th anniversary a year where women’s advancement is an undeniable fact. Our time is now.

Thank You,
Kristiane Koontz
CLUB President and Founding Board Member

CLUB Leadership Drive

Thu, 27 Oct 2016 00:31:10 GMT

You joined us to accelerate your leadership journey and help other women on their paths. Now you have the opportunity to join the ranks of The CLUB's leadership team and/or committees and further your development and the CLUB's mission! We are launching our 2017 leadership and committee participation drive to find the next leaders and supporters for the CLUB.

For 2017 we will continue to leverage the new leadership structure we implemented in 2016 with a few additions. Our leadership in 2017 will be comprised of the following roles:

Board of Directors – We are seeking a few strategic thinkers who can further the CLUB's reach and also roll up their sleeves to provide leadership and oversight for critical CLUB initiatives.
Time commitment: 10 to 20 hours per month. 3 year term (minimum).
Managing Directors / Operating Committee – A Managing Director will be responsible for the leadership and performance of each CLUB committee, and collectively they comprise our Operating Committee. This leadership body meets once per quarter as a committee to facilitate coordination and synergies between each area, and once per quarter with the Board of Directors, in addition to any committee leadership meetings.
Time commitment: 6 to 10 hours per month.
Committee Directors – Committee Directors will lead key initiatives and programs within each Committee and will report into the committee's Managing Director. New this year we are looking for a San Francisco Events Director and a Palo Alto CLUBhouse Director.
Time commitment: 4 to 8 hours per month.
Community Leaders – help organize quarterly informal events for a subset of the CLUB community (e.g. industry, geography, and experience level groups).
Time commitment: 2 to 3 hours per month.

We are currently seeking applicants at each of these leadership levels. If a leadership position within the CLUB is not right for you at this time, we strongly encourage you to join one of our committees.

Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis and all applications are due by end of day November 28, 2016.

To apply to leadership positions or to choose a committee to join in 2017, please fill out this brief survey by Monday, November 28th.

We look forward to an exciting and inspiring 2017!

Thriving Workplace Survey

Tue, 11 Oct 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Do you love your company? Tell us why or why not.

Your input might just turn your company into one you can love.

This 2 to 3 minute survey is the first step in the CLUB's launch of its Thriving Workplaces Initiative. Note, your input will be anonymous.

Thriving Workplaces are those that provide more than just interesting work and competitive pay, they appeal to the whole employee by providing inclusive company policies, state-of-the-art benefits, flexible work options, wellness programs, community volunteerism programs, unconscious bias training and more.

Thriving Workplaces are workplace cultures that are more inclusive environments which naturally result in increased women's leadership.

Your input will help the CLUB establish a website that you, your colleagues, and Silicon Valley companies can refer to for benchmarking and best practices in establishing and maintaining a Thriving Workplace.

Take The Survey Now

Take the CLUBconnect Challenge

Sun, 04 Sep 2016 00:43:10 GMT

Take the CLUBconnect Challenge

Are you ready to share your expertise and wisdom with other CLUB members?
Want to learn from other CLUB members?

Reach out to CLUB Members today, make connections, and log your connections! You are now in the CLUBconnect Challenge. It’s that easy.
The more connections you log the better your chance to win!

We are looking for our CLUB super connectors

The CLUB member who has entered the most connections with other CLUB members will be recognized at our Anniversary Event, November 15, 2016.

Need some connection ideas? You may be thinking about ….

Identifying sponsors
Negotiating career strategies
Pitching to a VC
Pursuing your next promotion
Making partner at a law firm
Work - life balance
Developing client relationships
Moving into leadership positions
Working successfully with all generations
Becoming savvy with social media
Promoting diversity
And many other topics …..

Start NOW:
Log into the Members Only site to find out how to log your connections. Log all of your connections between now and November 13, 2016.
(each connection is logged separately. Log in as many times as you like to submit entries)
The CLUB is a tight-knit community of women helping women, and everyone will do their best to help you.

More information about CLUBConnect and how to reach out to CLUB members is available at CLUBconnect.

We are looking forwarding to creating more connections among CLUB members through CLUBconnect!

CLUBconnect is the new iteration of our mentoring program. The mentoring program webpage has transitioned to CLUBconnect.

All CLUB members are eligible to participate.

Thriving Workplace Survey

Fri, 15 Jul 2016 00:44:25 GMT

Do you love your company? Tell us why or why not.

Your input might just turn your company into one you can love.

This 2 to 3 minute survey is the first step in the CLUB's launch of its Thriving Workplaces Initiative. Note, your input will be anonymous.

Thriving Workplaces are workplace cultures that are more inclusive environments which naturally result in increased women's leadership.

New Mentoring Committee Member

Wed, 06 Jul 2016 00:44:58 GMT

The Club mentoring committee would like to welcome Heather Jerrehian as the newest member of the mentoring committee. Heather brings a wealth of experience to the committee and we look forward to leveraging her talent.

Heather will join the following Club members on the mentoring committee:

Katherine Mendonca, Managing Director
Karen Catlin, Board Representative
Michelle Garrison
Holly Hogan
Karen Kaufman

The mentoring program draws on the wealth of wisdom and experience of Club members to inspire and promote the advancement of Club members.

The CLUB provides various engagement opportunities for mentoring.
The most popular are:
Micro-mentoring:

Mentors provide short-term coaching on a targeted topic.

Mentoring Circles:

A formal group of mid to senior level members meet monthly to identify, develop, and integrate personal brands and achieve professional and personal goals. (The Circle requires a formal submission and participants are chosen annually).

Let Everyone Know You Are Ready to Participate!
What to be a Mentor? Looking for Mentor?

We are glad to have you on board! Visit the Club Profile page and make your mentor category selections.

Join the Mentoring Group on The Club site to stay informed on mentoring topics (click the upper right “join” option)
Identify Your Amazing Skills: Update your CLUB profile. Choose as many preselected options or add your own topics to help identify you via the site search option.
Mentee Interests: Update your CLUB profile. Let the membership know your interests. Additionally, search for a mentor via the site. When you have identified potential mentors, feel free to reach out to them directly.
For assistance contact us at mentoring@theclubsv.org.

Why Women From Apple, Facebook, And Tesla Are Joining This Silicon Valley Incubator

Sat, 11 Jun 2016 01:03:01 GMT

https://www.fastcompany.com/3060748/why-women-from-apple-facebook-and-telsa-are-joining-this-silicon-valley-incubator

by Lydia Dishman – Fast Company

A new program aims to boost women’s careers so they can get to the executive level of companies and boards.

The case for having more female representation in the workplace—particularly at the executive level—is strong.

An even gender split at one company contributed to a 41% increase in revenue. Research from Catalyst demonstrates that companies with higher female representation in top management outperform those that don’t by delivering 34% greater returns to shareholders. Another report revealed women-led companies perform three times better than the S&P 500.

We also know that both men and women share the same skills that drive business. Yet the recent McKinsey/LeanIn.org study found that from entry level to manager and from SVP to executive rank, women are less likely to advance. The greatest disparity occurs between the move from manager to director: There is a 79% chance that women managers will reach director level, compared to 100% chance for men in the study.

The reasons for this disparity range from unconscious bias beginning with the hiring process to women being cautious about promotions, even sexual harassment.

One group of women aims to break that glass ceiling by helping each other become leaders. Founded in 2013, The CLUB (an acronym for Connect, Lead, Unite, Build) is a diverse community of professional women with over 200 members. Membership is by application and the CLUB also offers networking and member-led skills development and other programming relevant to career advancement.

To help solve the pipeline problem, the CLUB’s organizers hope to “build a critical mass of women leaders in Silicon Valley, so that when a company needs to fill a leadership position, whether for a CEO, CIO, CTO, general counsel, director, or a project leader, it need not look any further than the CLUB.”

Laraine McKinnon joined the CLUB in its early days. “I was interested in networking,” McKinnon says. She says she was drawn in by what the name stood for and the inclusiveness of the membership.

“Women keep their heads down at work. While they often get great reviews, they look up one day and say ‘I’m not being recognized the way I ought to be.’”

McKinnon soon discovered that even with the CLUB’s focus on career development and leadership, something was missing. Among the women who developed expertise in their fields, many had access to training and leadership development within their organizations. What they didn’t have, according to McKinnon, was the chance to develop their own personal brand outside their workplace.

“Women keep their heads down [at work],” she says. While they often get great reviews, she explains, “They look up one day and say ‘I’m not being recognized the way I ought to be.’” In an era of social media platforms that can showcase what an individual has accomplished and their viewpoints on industry trends, McKinnon believes there is a big opportunity for women to become known for their personal expertise.

So she started the CLUB’s Incubator in 2015. McKinnon describes it as an advocacy program designed to help senior leaders accelerate both their careers and personal potential by focusing on community, network, and board readiness, among other areas. McKinnon says there is an aspect of accountability for progress and members are encouraged to engage in discussions on how best to manage challenges.

The first class had seven incubees from companies such as Apple, Facebook, Tesla, and Adobe. Seeing the response from women at these top firms, McKinnon says, “I knew I was onto something.” A new class began recently with 10 new incubees.

Overall, the group comes from a diverse set of backgrounds, ethnicities, companies, roles, and leadership styles. Their career tenure ranges from 10 to 35 years and they hold positions that span industries from litigator to full stack developer, rocket scientist to entrepreneur and marketing executive.

Last year’s group has cited benefits from assistance with the creation of their public profile, to gaining confidence to grow professionally and having a better roadmap to get there. Others said they were able to leverage their newfound knowledge to get a promotion or an advisory role.

The new group is winning awards and snagging coveted speaking engagements. McKinnon points out that Megan Jones, a partner at the firm Hausfeld, was even selected to attend the United State of Women Summit at the White House.

In a blog post, another incubee, Olga Mack, also in the legal profession, went from viewing gender inequality as a “hurdle that I could overcome over time if I tried a little harder,” to a radical shift toward action.

“I started the Women Serve on Boards petition movement (#WomenServeOnBoards) that makes a fiscal and social case for taking initial steps toward gender equality on boards. My first two petitions — to Land O’Lakes and Discovery Communications, two companies on the list of 24 — requests these companies to add at least one woman to its board of directors.”

Yet gender isn’t always the first point of discussion, McKinnon underscores. “When I am coaching women, I am reminding them that first, they are a leader and they have a style.” She does say that some women feel that their leadership style is informed by gender, but their credentials stand apart from that.

“For Silicon Valley in particular, bright talent is important,” she notes. It helps, says McKinnon, that people are starting to recognize the diverse teams tend to be more successful. For her part, she doesn’t think changing the ratio of female representation in leadership will take as long as closing the gender wage gap.

“There is strength in numbers,” she explains, “And that is why we are trying to built this community.” The CLUB’s members and incubees are resilient, she says. “They’ve been through it all and they’ve still got drive and momentum. It’s extremely inspiring,” says McKinnon. “If we can help them as a cohort, it just gives back in spades.”

Looking for our Director of Community

Fri, 10 Jun 2016 00:48:22 GMT

Do you love bringing people together?

Have you been a member of the CLUB for at least 3 months?

Are you looking to expand your network within The CLUB?

If so, you may be a perfect fit to be the CLUB's Director of Community! We are looking for someone to help steer our many segments and micro communities (SF members, legal leading ladies, aspiring leaders, etc.) and chair our quarterly operating committee meetings. Expected commitment is 3 to 5 hours per month. Check on the discussion on the member's only site if interested.

Open Position: Membership Experience Director

Tue, 26 Apr 2016 00:49:22 GMT

The Membership Experience Director is an integral role for developing the Club’s brand and enhancing the membership experience for the Club. The Membership Experience Director is responsible for spearheading the new membership experience. You will serve as the Club’s ambassador for both potential and new members. You will provide outreach and serve as a central point of contact for potential members, and ensure that new members integrate into the Club.

As the leader of the Membership Experience, you are in a great position to meet and support other CLUB members, share leadership perspectives, and contribute to your fellow Club members’ professional goals. This is a new position that will give you the opportunity to create the vision for Member Experience program and build the architecture to run the program.

2015 Year in Review, and 2016 Preview

Sat, 30 Jan 2016 01:52:02 GMT

In 2011, five women started building The CLUB, to create an environment where women can help women accelerate their collective leadership paths. In the years that followed, The CLUB has found strong support for building this community that enabled us to grow to 250 members across many professions and generations, while also delivering programming and services and expanding leadership within our organizations.

To help guide us through the next critical chapters, the Board of Directors has appointed Kristiane Koontz to the role of CLUB President. Annie Rogaski, our president for the past three years, is moving to our Advisory Board and will remain heavily involved in The CLUB. Annie will continue to provide leadership to our Thriving Workplace Initiative, and will continue to walk and talk on Fridays, and to participate in our CLUB events. Diana Olin, who has served on our board for the past two years, will be serving as a consultant for new initiatives. Many thanks to both Diana and Annie for their board service and for the lasting impact they’ve had on The CLUB.

Please join us in congratulating our new board members, Mindy Morton; Alice Katwan; and Judith Coley as our new 2016 board members alongside existing board members Karen Catlin, Laraine McKinnon, and Kristiane Koontz!

2015 Programming Recap

Our main event for the fourth quarter was our 3rd Anniversary Party at the picturesque Fremont Hills Country Club, with a thought-provoking keynote by Sally Thornton on the future of work and women’s leadership. Sally offered a few time-saving tips: energy gives you more time so exercise is important (aim for 10,000 steps a day); cheat time by finding “multipliers” (e.g., a walking meeting with your team or cooking dinner while listening to a podcast); sleep matters; and outsource what you can (a great cleaning person is totally worth the cost). Mostly importantly, find work that you’re passionate about.

2015 signified the inaugural year of our Incubator Program, our Big Read Initiative, and the launch of our CLUBhouse in Palo Alto! Incoming 2016 President Kristiane Koontz presented her vision for the future of The CLUB and the importance of the CLUB’s Thriving Workplace initiative in shaping the dialogue on workplace policies and best practices that will help enable a critical mass of women leaders to thrive. CLUB members Jennifer Lotz, Kathleen Bost, Jo Ann Woodsum and Judith Coley received CLUBbie awards for their contributions to the CLUB this year.

2016 Programming Quarterly Theme Announcement

The CLUB’s Programming Committee is excited to announce the quarterly programming themes for 2016.

Q1: Power: “Unleash Your Inner Superwoman”
Q2: Promotion: “How to Brag Your Way To The Corner Office”
Q3: Prosperity: “Bring on The Abundance”
Q4: Philanthropy: “You Get Back More Than You Give”

First Quarter – Power: “Unleash Your Inner Superwoman”

In the First Quarter, we’ll explore power – how to accumulate power, how to be a strong leader, and how to embrace your superpower to propel you to success. Despite all of the strides made by women in leadership over the years, the percentage of women holding the very top positions remains disturbingly small. According to a CNNMoney analysis in 2015, only 14.2% of the top five leadership positions at companies in the S&P 500 are held by women. Even more startling, out of 500 companies, there are only 24 female CEOs.

http://money.cnn.com/2015/03/24/investing/female-ceo-pipeline-leadership/

Equally troubling is the fact that the percentage of female equity partners has remained largely stagnant for nine years now, with women comprising only 16.8 percent of equity partners according to demographic data from Am Law 200 firms.

http://www.americanlawyer.com/id=1202726917646/A-Few-Good-Women?slreturn=20151001205058

Here’s a little homework to get you in the mind set for our First Quarter Theme - Did you know that just standing in a Wonder Woman pose can boost your self-esteem and make you appear more confident and powerful?

http://www.bustle.com/articles/64462-how-the-wonder-woman-power-pose-might-actually-help-you-get-ahead-at-work

On March 2, 2016 at Synopsys, the CLUB’s inaugural Incubator participants will host a panel discussion on learnings gleaned through the 12-monthIncubator program and inspire us with their personal leadership journeys. The panel discussion will be complemented by break-out discussions on developing leadership skills based on the Incubator Honeycomb format and finding your own path to leadership.

Second Quarter - Promotion: “How to Brag Your Way To The Corner Office”

While “bragging” can sometimes seem like a dirty word, the reality is that no one will know about your accomplishments unless you toot your own horn from time to time. We’ll spend the Second Quarter getting comfortable with the idea of self-promotion and how to do it effectively, both within your organization and externally, including through social media and other tools. CLUB Board member Karen Catlin will give a workshop on self-promotion and teach us how to promote ourselves effectively within our organizations. Attendees will have the opportunity to perfect their “elevator update” so they can be prepared when the opportunity arises for a little self-promotion. We’ll also have a workshop on use of social media to promote yourself, and we’ll partner with the Mentoring Committee on a micro-mentoring event exploring individual strategies for self-promotion.

Third Quarter – Prosperity: “Bring on The Abundance”

Prosperity often means different things to different people and your definition of prosperity can change as you move through various stages of life. Whether you want financial security, more meaningful or challenging work, or more time to focus on your personal goals, the Third Quarter will give you the opportunity to find out how to live your most prosperous life! We’ll have a presentation on financial prosperity by Financial Advisor Laura Jarrell, and, in CLUB Member Kristi Royse’s workshop, you'll create the personal strategic plan you need to make your dreams and goals a reality.

Fourth Quarter – Philanthropy: “You Get Back More Than You Give”

The CLUB was founded on a philosophy of women helping women, recognizing that we all have special talents to share and everyone benefits when we help one another succeed. Adding to that, numerous studies have found that giving back is a critical component of well-being and that people who give back are happier and more fulfilled.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brady-josephson/want-to-be-happier-give-m_b_6175358.html

In the Fourth Quarter, we’ll put that advice to use and find out how we can get more happiness and fulfillment in our lives by giving back, both within the CLUB and in the broader community. We’ll also celebrate the CLUB’s 4th Anniversary at the Anniversary Party where we’ll have the opportunity to connect, reflect, and set our aspirations for 2017!

Programming Committee Needs

We’re looking for Event Chairs for our 2016 events. Chairing an event is a great way to develop your project management, presentation, and marketing skills while becoming more involved in the CLUB! If any of the above events pique your interest and you want to learn more about what it takes to chair an event, please contact Jennifer Lotz.

Mentoring 2015 Roundup

The Mentoring Committee expanded the mentoring program with new program offerings in 2015. We hosted two micro-mentoring sessions with the Programming Committee (resulting in over 60 mentor-mentee connections at the events) and launched the pilot Mentoring Circles program (a year long, in-depth mentoring program to develop personal brands and career plans). In addition, we continue to support one-on-one and small group mentoring.

Mentoring Program in 2016:

Are you looking for guidance on setting your career goals this year? Have a work-related new year’s resolution? The mentoring program has a variety of program offerings to help you advance your career in the coming year. You can take advantage of the program in the following ways:

Apply to be part of the Mentoring Circles Program. The Mentoring Circles Program is designed for members with eight or more years of experience who want to define their personal brands and career plans through self-exploration and reflection, thought partnership and continuous growth. Through this eight-session program, participants will be challenged to explore their values, strengths, purpose and goals to generate these outcomes. Participants will exit the program with solidified personal brands and networking strategies to meet their career goals. For more information and to apply, please click here.
Reach out to a CLUB member for mentoring. Over fifty CLUB members have offered to mentor fellow members—either as a micro-mentor offering targeted coaching in a single session, or as a formal mentor offering regular, in-depth mentoring. More details about the program and how to find a mentor are available here.

Stay tuned for our launch of virtual micro-mentoring sessions this year. A micro-mentor will lead a small group discussion on an online video conferencing platform that is easy to use with your laptop, tablet or mobile phone. We’ll also be hosting our annual in-person micro-mentoring event in the second quarter.

Philanthropy Update

Thanks to all the CLUB members who joined us for two great Philanthropy Committee events in 4Q 2015. The first event was in October, where a team of Club members volunteered during the evening to sort fruit for the hungry. We had a fun time getting to know each other while helping others and hope more can join us next time. Then, in November, many thanks to everyone who donated toys (or money for toys) for foster children in conjunction with our anniversary party. The toys and donations have been delivered to Sleep Train and CLUB members helped make many foster children very happy this year!

Thank You to our Sponsors!

In 2015, we had many companies step up and be counted on to support our mission in the Club by supporting our Anniversary Party. When we are choosing who we do business with, we should all keep in mind who chose to support The Club. Those companies include:

Sponsorship is available for many levels. If your company is interested in sponsoring The Club, please reach out to Megan Jones now. It is a great way to show support for women across a broad platform in Silicon Valley.

Take the CLUB 2015 Year in Review Survey

Fri, 22 Jan 2016 01:52:55 GMT

2015 was a growth year for The CLUB, and we would love to get your feedback on what worked for you and what we can do better. Whether you attended programming events, interacted with our segments, or participated in the mentoring program, we'd like to hear about your interactions with The CLUB. We were encouraged by the results from our inaugural "CLUB Effect" survey, and this year we are again asking you to tell us how the CLUB helped you.

We will use the survey results to focus our efforts this year and to make the CLUB work for you!

Your feedback is important, so please respond before the survey closes on February 5.

Take the CLUB 2015 Year in Review Survey Today

News from the CLUB Incubator

Fri, 15 Jan 2016 01:54:49 GMT

The mission of the CLUB is to help women accelerate their leadership journeys. In 2015, the CLUB launched an Incubator program, targeting women who have developed their expertise and are ready to take their career to the next level. At the end of the program, “Incubees” were encouraged to share their wisdom and experience. And so we introduce two new features:

The Incubator Blog Words of Wisdom
A professionally produced Video: Meet the Women of the CLUB Incubator, appearing on the CLUB’s new YouTube Channel

2015 Incubees

Last year was the CLUB’s Incubator’s pilot program year. Erin Brooks Sawyer (Purchasing & Supply Chain Executive), Jennifer Adams Draffen (Facebook), Michelle Garrison (Synopsys), Alice Katwan (Genesys), Donna Kolnes (Adobe), Katherine Mendonca (Apple) and Mindy Morton (Procopio) formed the inaugural class of the Incubator.

The 2015 Incubees use words like “motivating”, “inspiring” and “empowering to describe the program. They found it helped push their boundaries to engage in new areas, helped them better understand and draw upon their strengths, achieve personal aspirations, and inspired them to take their career to the next level and give back to others.

You can see the individual Incubee’s work in a variety of places, including:

CLUB Member Spotlight:
Erin Sawyer: http://theclubsv.org/2016/01/06/member-spotlight-erin-sawyer/
Katherine Mendonca (http://theclubsv.org/2015/04/08/mendonca/)
Donna Kolnes (http://theclubsv.org/2015/09/07/member-spotlight-donna-kolnes/)
Alice Katwan (http://theclubsv.org/2015/09/21/member-spotlight-alice-katwan/)

Personal Websites:
Erin Sawyer (https://about.me/erinsawyer)
Katherine Mendonca (www.katmendo.com)

2016 Incubees

The Incubator launched the 2016 program with a diverse group of deeply talented women including

Front Row, Left to Right: Judith Coley (Ushur), Joselle Deocampo (PwC), Heather Jerrehian (serial entreprenuer), Laura Fechete (mechanical engineer), Anuradha Gali (Shutterfly). Back Row, Left to Right: Olga Mack (ClearSlide), Megan Jones (Hausfeld), Sue Gong (Xilinx), Elizabeth DiGaetano (HelloSign), Leedjia Svec (NASA).

We encourage you to watch the fantastic women of the Incubator program as they continue to build their career and public presence - and to consider the Incubator program for you and other talented colleagues in the years to come.

About the Incubator

The Incubator is an annual program structured around 6 “honeycomb” areas which provide the main focus of monthly meetings and are sequenced in order to be introspective at first and then build progressively to a more external focus.

Kristi Royse, an executive coach, helps guide the career development segments. External speakers from organizations like LinkedIn and Glassbreakers help round out the content. Mindy Morton helps co-direct the program with Kristi and founder Laraine McKinnon. More information may be found at: www.theclubsv.org/incubator.

CLUB 2016 Board of Directors New Additions

Thu, 07 Jan 2016 01:57:53 GMT

The CLUB is thrilled to announce Judith Coley, Chief Marketing Officer at Ushur, Alice Katwan, Vice President of Sales, West Region at Genesys and Mindy Morton, Senior Counsel at Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch LLP, will join the CLUB's Board of Directors in 2016.

Judith Coley
Chief Marketing Officer, Ushur

A US citizen by choice, and a British citizen by birth, Judith has enjoyed a career that has spanned the globe. Her various roles have seen her crafting and then delivering complex marketing strategies, as well as building awareness and respect for newcomer brands. Prior to joining Ushur where she currently serves as Chief Marketing Officer, Judith led global marketing at mobile video leader Vuclip (acquired by Hong Kong media company PCCW in 2015), and before that created the marketing strategy for PayPal’s Canada operation. Earlier in her career Judith held senior positions at the UK divisions of Apple, AOL, and Adobe, in each case leading marketing or PR and communications at a time when these brands were emergent. In 2015 Judith founded and ran the CLUB's Big Read initiative

Alice Katwan
Vice President of Sales - West Region, Genesys

Working in sales at enterprise software companies for nearly 20 years, Alice Katwan leads the Genesys North American West Commercial and Operational activities, which accounts for half of the company’s North American revenue. In 2015, Alice was honored with the Silicon Valley Woman of Influence award and was appointed as an advisor at the venture-funded startup Mesosphere Inc. Alice is passionate about promoting women’s leadership and regularly speaks about how women can succeed in traditionally male-dominated areas, specifically in sales, in high tech and as executives.

Mindy Morton
Senior Counsel, Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch LLP

Mindy, an active member of the CLUB since we launched in 2012, is an internet and intellectual property litigator with a passion for litigating cutting-edge cases at the intersection of technology and free speech issues. She also helps clients resolve disputes involving trade secret, copyright, trademark and patent issues. She is dedicated to doing the right thing the right way. She believes in giving back to the community and mentoring other women, and is active with several nonprofit organizations in the Bay Area.

Judith, Alice, and Mindy will join existing board members Kristiane Koontz, Karen Catlin and Laraine McKinnon to form the CLUB’s 2016 Board of Directors.

CLUB 3rd Anniversary Recap

Tue, 01 Dec 2015 02:01:10 GMT

Thank you to those of you who joined us for our 3rd Anniversary Party last week. We had a fantastic turnout at the lovely Freemont Hills Country Club. CLUB President Annie Rogaski spoke of the growth and achievements in the CLUB over the past year, including the inaugural year of our Incubator Program, our Big Read Initiative, and the launch of our temporary CLUBhouse in Palo Alto! Incoming 2016 President Kristiane Koontz spoke of her vision for the future of The CLUB and the importance of the CLUB’s new Thriving Workplace initiative which will help shape the dialogue on workplace policies and best practices that will help enable a critical mass of women leaders to thrive.

CLUB members Jennifer Lotz, Kathleen Bost, Jo Ann Woodsum and Judith Coley received CLUBbie awards for their contributions to the CLUB this year, and keynote speaker Sally Thornton provided thought provoking insight into the future of work and women’s leadership.

For those of you who attended and are not yet members, we invite you to apply to join our organization – click here to complete our short online application.

If you are already a CLUB member and would like to get more involved, we are currently conducting our leadership drive for 2016 to identify CLUB leaders and committee participants at all levels. Click here to learn more and apply. The application period closes November 30th.

Our groundbreaking Incubator program is also accepting applications through November 30th. Click here to learn more about the program and apply for 2016.

Our Philanthropy committee also conducted a toy drive and donations were collected onsite. The holiday season can be difficult for foster children, especially those arriving in a new home during this time. In an effort to help local foster kids keep the joy of the holidays in their hearts, The Club Silicon Valley is supporting Sleep Train’s Annual Secret Santa Toy Drive, and you can help, too!

You can donate online through Dec 13th and the shopping will be done on your behalf.

Finally, we’d like to extend a huge thank you to our sponsors for this event including NERA Economic Consulting, Service Rocket, Procopio, PwC, Kilpatrick Townsend, Brattle, WilmerHale, as well as our fantastic Programming Committee led by Kate Wilson and Jennifer Lotz for organizing this year’s event.

CLUBbie Awards

Wed, 25 Nov 2015 02:02:16 GMT

At its 3rd Anniversary party at the Fremont Hills Country Club in Los Altos Hills, CA on November 17th 2015, The CLUB awarded four CLUBbie awards to current CLUB members making a significant impact to the organization.

The Driver: Jennifer Lotz

Drivers are a special sort of person. Whether they come up with an idea or are inspired by an idea of another, they are the ones who can see what needs to happen to make it come to fruition. Jennifer Lotz, a Freelance Attorney, was one of two CLUB members awarded the Driver award for 2015. Jennifer joined the CLUB in late 2013 and quickly jumped in to contribute as part of the CLUB’s 2014 Programming committee, along with co-chair Laraine McKinnon. Jenn is diligent and detail oriented but also strategic and connected to big ideas. She designed events and moderated panels.

Pitch Perfect to Mastering the Art and Science of Effective Feedback, to this Anniversary Party – Jennifer has given us the opportunity to learn, connect and have fun.

The Driver: Kathleen Bost

We had another significant Driver in the CLUB this year – Kathleen Bost, Principal of Kathleen Bost Architecture + Design. Thanks to Kathleen’s leadership of the CLUBhouse committee – and her architecture and design expertise – we have an adorable and hearty CLUBhouse at 650 Gilman in downtown Palo Alto. I hope many of you have had the opportunity to visit the CLUBhouse. If you have, you’ll see the results of Kathleen’s vision.

Kathleen was the key person driving the design of the CLUBhouse and ensuring the project stayed on track in terms of design and timing. She developed drawings, sourced furniture and flooring, and participated over Facetime when she couldn’t be there in person, updating designs in real time. Part of the reason Kathleen is recognized with the Driver award is that she stayed true to her vision – particularly when getting furnishings for the CLUBhouse.

The Evangelist: Jo Ann Woodsum

Jo Ann Woodsum, Senior Counsel at Carr McClellan, has been a tremendous advocate for The CLUB. Not only inviting those she knows to join, but she proactively suggests ways of getting word out to a broader audience, such as making membership one pagers readily available and encouraging us to bring them to conferences to expand our reach. Jo Ann is a reminder of what made us all excited enough about The CLUB to want to join and build our community.

The New Initiative Groundbreaker: Judith Coley

This award recognizes an individual for developing and implementing an impactful new initiative for the CLUB. Judith Coley, Chief Marketing Officer at Ushur, identified a program that would serve our community while giving The CLUB a marketing boost: The Big Read. Because of Judith, we now have a quarterly book discussion that aligns with our programming themes, and we have just started publishing book reviews on behalf of The CLUB.

The winners were announced at the CLUB’s third anniversary event, which was dedicated to Envisioning The Future of Women’s Leadership and featured Keynote speaker Sally Thornton.

Secret Santa Toy Drive

Wed, 18 Nov 2015 02:03:18 GMT

The CLUB’s Philanthropy Committee is sponsoring an opportunity to give to children in need this holiday season through Sleep Train’s Annual Secret Santa Toy Drive. The holiday season can be difficult for foster children, especially those arriving in a new home during this time. With help from carefully selected non-profit foster care agency partners, the Sleep Train Foster Kids program takes in donations and disperses them to foster children most in need.

Help local foster kids keep the joy of the holidays in their hearts by bringing your donations of new and unwrapped toys, books, electronics, or gift cards to the CLUB’s Anniversary Party. If shopping isn’t your cup of tea, you can donate online at www.sleeptrainfosterkids.org/campaign/theclubsiliconvalley, and the shopping will be done on your behalf.

CLUB President Annie Rogaski to Move to Advisory Board, Vice President Kristiane Koontz to Assume Role of President in 2016

Tue, 17 Nov 2015 02:04:05 GMT

In 2011, five women started building the CLUB, to create an environment where women help women accelerate their collective leadership paths. In the years that followed, the CLUB found strong support for building this community that enabled us to grow to 250 members across professions and generations, while also delivering programming and services and expanding leadership within our organization.

This story of growth is one heard frequently throughout San Francisco and Silicon Valley, as organizations mature and move beyond their startup phase into our building phase. As we look forward to 2016, we do so from a strong foundation -- stable, established, and ready for our next chapter.

To help guide us through these next critical chapters ahead, the Board of Directors has appointed Kristiane Koontz to the role of CLUB President in 2016. As one of the five co-founders, and current Vice President, Kristiane knows the CLUB’s history yet also brings a fresh perspective to charting our future path. Annie Rogaski, our president for the past four years, will be elevated to our Advisory Board and remain heavily involved in the CLUB, providing leadership to our Thriving Workplace Initiative, continuing to walk and talk on Fridays, and participating in our CLUB events. We thank Annie for her vision and leadership in bringing the CLUB to life and leading the organization over the past four years.

Please join us at our upcoming anniversary party on November 17th to celebrate the successes of the past and visions for the future. We look forward to seeing you there as we welcome Kristiane, thank Annie, and work together to build an even more dynamic 2016.

CLUB Leadership Drive

Thu, 12 Nov 2015 02:05:32 GMT

You joined us to accelerate your leadership journey and help other women on their paths. Now you have the opportunity to join the ranks of The CLUB’s leadership team and/or committees and further your development and the CLUB’s mission! We are launching our 2016 leadership and committee participation drive to find the next leaders and supporters for the CLUB.

Over the past 3 years, the programming and reach of the CLUB has expanded significantly as more and more CLUB members have taken on formal and informal leadership roles. For 2016 we are further expanding our leadership structure and roles to best support our continued growth. Our leadership in 2016 will be comprised of the following roles:

Board of Directors– We are seeking a few strategic thinkers who can further the CLUB’s reach and also roll up their sleeves to provide leadership and oversight for critical CLUB initiatives.
Time commitment: 10 to 20 hours per month. 3 year term (minimum).
Managing Directors / Operating Committee– A Managing Director will be responsible for the leadership and performance of each CLUB committee. Formerly, we’ve called these roles Committee Chairs. A newly formed Operating Committee will be comprised of these Managing Directors to facilitate coordination and synergies between committees. This leadership body will meet once per quarter as an operating committee and once per quarter with the Board of Directors in addition to any committee leadership meetings.
Time commitment: 6 to 10 hours per month.
Committee Directors– Committee Directors will lead key initiatives and programs within each Committee and will report into the committee’s Managing Director.
Time commitment: 4 to 8 hours per month.
Community Leaders– help organize quarterly informal events for a subset of the CLUB community (e.g. industry, geography, and experience level groups).
Time commitment: 2 to 3 hours per month.

To apply to leadership positions or to choose a committee to join in 2016, please fill out this brief survey by Monday, November 30th.

As a CLUB leader, you will be given the opportunity to lead or co-lead teams, with guidance and feedback from other CLUB leaders and/or the Board. You’ll also get to know more CLUB members and deepen the connections you have already made. Please note that some committee leadership positions have already been filled. We will contact applicants for leadership positions to set up interviews later this year. Please be sure that your members-only site profile is up to date so we can use that for reference as we evaluate candidates.

We look forward to an exciting and inspiring 2016!

Q3 Update

Thu, 22 Oct 2015 01:06:35 GMT

The third quarter was all about building connections for the CLUB. Our strong momentum continued as we :

Opened our CLUBhouse – a pop up physical meeting space where we can gather and grow
Expanded our influence and impact – through the International Visitor Leadership Program
Explored strategies - for “Breaking Through the Silicon Valley Boys’ Club.”

In the fourth quarter, we’ll gather to “Celebrate Success” and set the foundation for another amazing year. Mark your calendars for:

November 3rd – Open House at our new CLUBhouse
November 17th – The CLUB Anniversary Party
November 30th – Applications due for the 2016 Incubator program

Read on to learn more!

NEW PROGRAMS

The CLUBhouse

The CLUB is thrilled to welcome our members and guests to use our CLUBhouse at 650 Gilman Street in Palo Alto – come see what it is all about at our

November 3rd Open House!

We’ll have several sessions throughout the afternoon / evening to visit the CLUBhouse and network with other members and guests. Watch our members only site for more details.

As some of you may recall, four years ago, as the CLUB was being created, the co-founders envisioned a CLUBhouse as the key to our vision – a dedicated space where our members could gather to inspire, energize, and help each other accelerate their leadership paths. Our original vision is being realized with a 6-month “pop-up” CLUBhouse in downtown Palo Alto. This will enable us to test out our vision, see how our members use the space, and decide whether this will be a long-term pursuit of the CLUB. The CLUB also plans a similar venture in San Francisco in 2016.

Members can start using the CLUBhouse right away – just fill out an event form to reserve the space. Thank you and congratulations to the Real Estate Committee for this milestone achievement!

CLUB Incubator

We are officially launching our CLUB Incubator, an advocacy program designed to give experienced leaders a boost to help propel their career growth and personal potential.

If it already sounds familiar to you, you either saw the announcement of our 2015 pilot program, or know Erin Brooks Sawyer (Tesla), Jennifer Adams Draffen (Facebook), Michelle Garrison (Synopsys), Alice Katwan (Genesys), Donna Kolnes (Adobe), Katherine Mendonca (Apple) and Mindy Morton (Procopio) who together formed our first cohort in the soft-launch of the Incubator.

The application period for the 2016 Incubator program is now open - applications are due on November 30, 2015. For more information on the program and eligibility requirements, please see our website, talk to co-Directors Mindy Morton, Kristi Royse or Laraine McKinnon, or one of the 2015 Incubees. If you are an expert in your field, have ambition and drive, and want a little more recognition for it, we encourage you to apply by submitting the 2016 Incubator Application.

The Incubator would like to recognize Joanna Bloor, representatives from Adobe, Glassbreakers, KLR Consulting, Laurie Kretchmar Associates, LinkedIn, and Olive Grove Consulting for their contributions and support, as well as Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch LLP for their generous sponsorship.

The CLUB Hosts an International Delegation of Women Entrepreneurs

Board members Annie Rogaski and Karen Catlin had the honor of presenting the goals and founding story of the CLUB to an International delegation of women entrepreneurs from Latin America who were learning about women's leadership efforts in the U.S., through the U.S. Department of State International Visitor Leadership Program.

The idea of the CLUB was enthusiastically received by the delegation who expressed similar needs to ours – helping each other on their entrepreneurial paths, building strong women networks, and coming together to inspire and help each other. They had a laser focus on and asked fantastic questions about how to start a similar organization in their native countries, and how they could work with the CLUB.

We closed the meeting with the promise to keep talking, to figure out how we could make our network and events more accessible globally, to enable women across the globe to take advantage of resources and ideas already developed that could be adapted to different cultures and countries. It was inspiring to see the global interest in the CLUB model!

ROUNDUP

The Big Read

The CLUB’s fledgling book group called The Big Read, is beginning to take flight. In Q3 we read “Stiletto Network” by Pamela Ryckman – a book that discusses the women’s networks that are bubbling up all over the United States. This was very complementary to the quarter's theme of breaking into the Old Boys’ Club - the book suggests an alternative strategy - of building our own networks. We were excited to be one of the first groups to meet at the CLUB House, and we found it to be an ideal setting for our informal discussion. At our meeting we rounded off the session with a round–the–room ‘make the ask’ session which provided us with some great new ideas and introductions.

As the evenings draw in, we have named two books for Q4, the first is by the ever ebullient Mindy Kaling “Why Not Me” which chimes well with the theme of Celebrating Our Successes. The second book is “From Surviving to Thriving” by Australian author Sarah Cordner, which is a book with a lot of optional workshop activities, to help you get set up for a flourishing 2016.

Whether or not you have read the books you are always welcome to join the meeting, we have found it to be a lovely forum for more in–depth conversations. To receive Big Read updates please join our group: Big Read. Big Read's next meeting will be in early December at the CLUB House.

Please feel free to email Judith Coley if you would like to learn more about The Big Read or the quarterly books.

Programming

We spent the Third Quarter exploring strategies for “Breaking Through The Silicon Valley Boys’ Club.”

In July, communications expert and leadership coach, Felicia Spahr, taught us how to improve our presentation skills and craft a compelling message that inspires action by understanding our audience, communicating our ideas succinctly and persuasively, and presenting our message with confidence through body language and speech. One tip – record yourself speaking and play it back. Keep practicing until you can present your message with power and authority!

In August, we partnered with the Mentoring Committee for a micro-mentoring event on strategies for combatting unconscious bias. We watched a short video presentation from UC Hastings College of the Law professor Joan C. Williams and her daughter Rachel Dempsey, explaining their groundbreaking research on “What Works for Women at Work.” We then broke into small groups for micro-mentoring sessions on each of the four biases to discuss our own struggles with unconscious bias at work, and share strategies for overcoming those biases.

We ended the quarter in September with a networking workshop led by CLUB member Kristy Rogers who gave us techniques for taking the fear out of meeting new people. We practiced our new skills in small groups of five, answering both personal and business questions to get to know one another better. One easy ice-breaker question when meeting someone new – “If I knew you, what would I ask you about?” Find more networking questions.

The Fourth Quarter is about “Celebrating Successes.” Please save the date to join us as we celebrate another year of inspiring women’s leadership with

The CLUB's Anniversary Party on November 17, 2015 at the Fremont Hills Country Club in Los Altos from 5:30 - 9:00 p.m.

A sit-down dinner will be served and our keynote speaker will be Sally Thorton. Tickets for members will be $50.00 per person and guest tickets will be $80.00 per person. Each member can bring one guest at the $50.00 member price and significant others and male guests are encouraged to attend! More details and Eventbrite registration coming soon!

And, watch for announcements on holiday celebrations and get-togethers from the various segment groups.

We are starting to plan for 2016! If you have any ideas for themes, events, speakers, or venues, or would like to get more involved with Programming as an event chair or quarterly chair, please contact Jennifer Lotz.

Philanthropy

The Philanthropy committee is hosting Club members for an event helping community members at the Second Harvest Food Bank in San Jose. Our event is October 28th from 6-8pm and those Club members who want can join us for drinks and/or food immediately afterwards. Please rsvp to rem@kvn.com if you want to join us. The committee is also looking for new members to join our committee. Please join our committee on the Club’s group page if you have an interest in helping develop ways in which Club members can meet each other, while giving back to our local communities!

Membership

The CLUB has experienced a year-over-year growth in fully enrolled members of 51% and has produced 8member spotlights by Q3 2015, twice as many as Q3 2014.

The membership committee continues to welcome new members to the CLUB. Refer friends and colleagues to the application form to connect them to the CLUB network.

CLUB members featured in the Member Spotlight this quarter:

If you would like to nominate a member (including yourself!) to be featured in an upcoming spotlight, please email membership@theclubsv.org.

Member Recognition

Mary Fuller (CLUB member) – Make Your Mark Emerging Leader Award, Watermark
Cecile Thirion (CLUB member) – 2015 40 under 40 by the Silicon Valley Business Journal and 2015 40 Under 40 Awards Young Marketers, Direct Marketing News

If you’ve received an award or know of a CLUB member who has, please email us at membership@theclubsv.org for inclusion in our next newsletter.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Oct 23 - Stanford Dish Walk & Talk
Oct 28 - Second Harvest Food Bank
Oct 30 - SF Group Embarcadero Walk
Nov 03 - CLUB(Open)house
Nov 12 - East Bay Member Dinner
Nov 17 - CLUB Anniversary Party
Nov 19 - Legal Leading Ladies Holiday Happy Hour

There are so many ways to get involved, get connected, and get inspired – if you’re not taking full advantage of your CLUB membership, reach out to any of us to learn how. And to those of you who contribute your talents and energy to lead the CLUB initiatives and programs, THANK YOU. You make an important difference in women’s leadership.

Cheers,

The CLUB Board of Directors

Annie Rogaski | Diana Olin | Karen Catlin | Kristiane Koontz | Laraine McKinnon

CLUB Incubator Launch

Fri, 02 Oct 2015 01:09:30 GMT

The CLUB Silicon Valley announces the successful launch of the Incubator - an advocacy program designed to give senior leaders a boost to help propel their career growth and personal potential.

Seven women were selected for the 2015 pilot program, representing some of the most innovative, successful and renowned companies in the world. Each leader lives and works in Silicon Valley, where the pace is fast, the competition is fierce and resilience and relevance are of utmost importance.

With an average of 21 years of experience, these leaders know what it takes to make it in the real world. As firms struggle to embrace diversity and grow the number of women in the most senior ranks of their organizations, the Incubator is developing senior women to be ready to take the next promotion or attain that next big job.

Erin Brooks Sawyer (Tesla), Jennifer Adams Draffen (Facebook), Michelle Garrison (Synopsys), Alice Katwan (Genesys), Donna Kolnes (Adobe), Katherine Mendonca (Apple) and Mindy Morton (Procopio) formed the inaugural class of the Incubator.

A hallmark of the CLUB Silicon Valley and the women of the Incubator is their desire and drive to give back to others who are striving for leadership excellence. Their professional profile will be publicly available in member spotlights, their advice will be shared via a regular blog and they will be available for speaking engagements, career roundtables and mentoring.

The Incubator was founded by Laraine McKinnon, a long time advocate for women’s leadership, who observed a gap in public recognition for many successful senior female leaders and created the program to address it.

The CLUB Silicon Valley will run the Incubator program on an annual basis. The application period for the 2016 Incubator program opens in October and applications are due on November 30.

For more information on the program and eligibility requirements, please see http://theclubsv.org/incubator-program/

The Incubator would like to recognize representatives from Adobe, Glassbreakers, KLR Consulting, Laurie Kretchmar Associates, LinkedIn, Olive Grove Consulting for their contributions and support, and Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch LLP for their generous sponsorship.

CLUBhouse Announcement

Thu, 01 Oct 2015 01:12:36 GMT

Four years ago, as the CLUB was being created, the co-founders envisioned a CLUBhouse as the key to our vision – a dedicated space available to our members to gather to inspire, energize, and help each other accelerate their leadership paths. The Board is thrilled to announce that we are launching our CLUBhouse! Our original vision is being realized with a 6-month “pop-up” CLUBhouse in Palo Alto. This will enable us to test out our vision, see how our members use the space, and decide whether this will be a long-term pursuit of the CLUB. The CLUB also plans a similar venture in San Francisco in 2016. Stay tuned for a Launch Party announcement.

True to the community of the CLUB, the CLUBhouse became reality through the efforts of various CLUB members:

Susanna Jacob brought the opportunity to the Board.
Kathleen Bost, co-chair of the CLUBhouse Committee, led the design of the CLUBhouse, to ensure it had a comfortable and inviting feel for our members.
Joann Woodsum, co-chair of the CLUBhouse Committee, and members Lianne Kennedy-Boudali and Rhys Cheung, together with Kathleen, worked hard to evaluate feasibility of the space, negotiate for use of the space, and evaluate logistics to make the space easy to use for our members.

Thank you, Susanna, Kathleen, Joann, Lianne, and Rhys, for helping to make the CLUBhouse a reality!

Where is the CLUBhouse?

The CLUBhouse is conveniently located in downtown Palo Alto just off University Avenue, at 650 Gilman Street and is set back from the street, behind 654 Gilman. With ready access from 101, 280, and Caltrain, the CLUBhouse is centrally located in Silicon Valley.

What type of events will be held at the CLUBhouse?

This is a cozy space that all members can use for many of our smaller gatherings, such as:

Committee meetings or gatherings
Segment meetings or gatherings
Coffees, lunches, small group dinners
Cocktail hours / wine and cheese gatherings
Book clubs
Think tanks
Big idea brunches
Mentoring circles
Micro-mentoring events
Game nights
We are limited only by your imagination!

Reserve your space today!

It’s simple – just fill out a reservation form (available on the Members’ Site - Club Resources Page) preferably 1 week or more before your event. If available, your event will be confirmed – if not available, we will look at alternative dates. We will provide you with all the information needed for hosting events at the CLUBhouse.

Help us fully test the CLUBhouse. This is space for you to deepen your connections with other members, so please use the space and let us know how you like it!

Welcome to the CLUBhouse!

-The CLUB Board

Member Recognition Report : July 2015

Sat, 25 Jul 2015 01:14:16 GMT

Stacey P. Slaughter

One of the attorneys to receive Minnesota Attorney of the Year
Shortlisted for Euromoney’s Women in Business Award for Finance for litigation work in financial markets
To be named a New York Superlawyer

Cecile Thirion

2015 40 under 40 by the Silicon Valley Business Journal

2015 40 Under 40 Awards—top young marketers taking the industry by storm by Direct Marketing News

Have you received any awards this year? If so, please send us a note at membership@theclubsv.org so that we can include you in our upcoming Recognition Report!

Q2 Update

Wed, 22 Jul 2015 01:14:58 GMT

The CLUB had an exciting second quarter as we realized a 51% year-over-year growth in members, launched our Big Read book review program, continued to see more members organizing informal gatherings, and hosted two all-members events focused on giving/receiving feedback and board readiness.

In this update:

New Programs - learn about our Big Read, Thriving Workplace and Pitch Perfect initiatives
Round up - news from across the CLUB community including our pop-up CLUBhouse plan and upcoming programming
Member Recognition - key awards received by CLUB members this quarter
Get Involved - help further the CLUB's mission and your leadership skills by volunteering for one of our open positions

Read on to learn more!

NEW PROGRAMS

The Big Read

Are you a book nerd or just looking for some tips on how to navigate the workplace, gain leadership skills or improve your networking? Then the CLUB’s Big Read program is for you. The Big Read selects a book each quarter and organizes reading groups and other programming events associated with the book selection.

This past quarter we read Patty Azzarello’s Rise: How to be Really Successful at Work AND Like Your Life. In Rise, Azzarello shares her guide to succeeding in the workplace based on three precepts: Do Better, Look Better and Connect Better.

The Do Better portion of the book emphasizes the importance of adopting ruthless priorities, i.e., the idea that in order to succeed it is crucial to select one or two priorities with the understanding that many other priorities may need to be shelved until your main goal is achieved.
Look Better provides a brief but powerful discussion on developing your personal brand.
Connect Better focuses on networking tips including the importance of networking both within your company and outside of your company to the broader community.

A small group of CLUB members gathered to discuss the book on June 17. The discussion was wide-ranging - beginning with the basics of the book and then moving on to invaluable sharing of career advancement ideas amongst the group. Group participants strongly recommend reading Rise.

In connection with the Q3 theme of “Breaking Through The Silicon Valley Boys’ Club," the next Big Read selection is Pamela Ryckman’s Stiletto Network: Inside the Women's Power Circles That Are Changing the Face of Business in which the author interviews women who have formed their own power networks to advocate for each other in the workplace.

If you are interested in participating in the next Big Read, join the Big Read group. If you have any questions, please email Judith Coley.

Thriving Workplace Program

Current workplace practices no longer serve the interests of companies or their employees. Despite massive changes in the workforce in recent decades, the continued emphasis on long hours, “face time,” and 24-7 accessibility often leads to employee burnout and dissatisfaction while negatively impacting profits.

We have an opportunity to reinvigorate our outdated workplace structures by transforming them into thriving environments that leverage diversity and maximize each person’s contribution to success. That’s where the CLUB’s Thriving Workplace Program comes in. The CLUB Thriving Workplace Program provides a platform to bring together business leaders, change agents, and thought leaders to pursue realistic solutions to reinvigorate our workplace cultures.

This new CLUB initiative needs your support in the coming months! Please contact Lianne Kennedy-Boudali or Kshama Swamy for more information on how you can get involved, and join our Thriving Workplace group on the members-only website.

The CLUB's Pitch Perfect - Perfecting Your Elevator Pitch

Do you have a company, product, service or idea you would like to pitch? Or, are you in a business where you need to pitch yourself or your services on a regular basis? The CLUB has a new initiative to give members the opportunity to perfect their elevator pitches. Starting at 6:45 p.m. at the monthly all members CLUB events, up to three members will have the opportunity to give a two-minute elevator pitch to the group and then, in the spirit of learning to grow from feedback, answer up to two minutes of questions or comments about their pitch. If you are interested in pitching at a future CLUB event, please email Jennifer Lotz. We look forward to hearing your pitches!

ROUNDUP

Mentoring

Save-the-Date - Join us on August 25 for a Micro-Mentoring Event on Unconscious Bias.

Real Estate

Pop-Up CLUBhouses:The CLUB is excited to announce we are in negotiations to launch a pop-up CLUB house in 2015. Stay tuned for further details to be announced in the coming weeks!

Community

Our community segments have been busy this quarter--if you haven't had a chance to participate in one of these great small-group events, make some time soon! Our quarter three events will be tied to the theme of Breaking Through the Silicon Valley Boys' Club, which is sure to lead to some interesting and inspiring discussions. Our segments have held over 20 events last quarter, including walk and talks, lunches, big idea brunches, happy hours, and discussions about how perfect your elevator pitch. Don't miss out on this great opportunity to learn more about yourself and your fellow CLUB members. Here are some upcoming events (the details and sign ups are on the events page on the CLUB member website):

July 30th - Member Wine & Cheese with CLUB President and Vice President in SF
August 13th - Tentative Legal Leading Ladies segment lunch in SF and Cupertino
August 25th - A Micro Mentoring Event
August 28th - SF Group Embarcadero Walk
September 25th - SF Group Embarcadero Walk

Keep checking the member web site for new events!

Programming

Our Second Quarter was all about “Authentic Leadership” with two events – “Mastering the Art and Science of Effective Feedback” and “Social Impact Through Nonprofit Governance: How to Live Your Passion While Sharing and Building Your Skills as a Nonprofit Board Member.”

In May, CLUB member Kristi Royse led a workshop examining why we avoid giving and receiving feedback (often because we want to be liked and we are our own worst critics), and how to learn to embrace feedback. In today’s digital age, making the effort to give feedback in person is even more critical. Did you know that only 7% of any message is conveyed through words, 38% through certain vocal elements, and 55% through nonverbal elements (facial expressions, gestures, posture, etc)? Yet, how many of us have important conversations over email, text message or IM?

In June, we learned about the personal and professional benefits of non-profit board service from CLUB member Jean Ries, including how to identify suitable board opportunities and the expectations and commitments that come with being a board member in terms of time, talent, and fundraising. Serving on a non-profit board is a fantastic way to use your skills to help advance the mission of an organization you believe in, and can even help develop new talents that you never even knew you had! Interested in finding non-profit Board opportunities? Check out these resources.

We hope you’ll be able to join us for our Third Quarter events on “Breaking Through The Silicon Valley Boys’ Club.” We’ll kick off the quarter in July with events in San Francisco and San Jose on “Advanced Storytelling and Presentation Skills: How to Create a Compelling Message and Persuade Anyone.”

In August, we'll explore how unconscious bias can hold women back in their careers through a series of interactive micro mentoring sessions. Finally, in September, we'll wrap up the quarter with a session on developing effective networking skills. Find out more about the events and RSVP on our members-only site.

If you have any feedback on programming, or have a speaker or event idea, please reach out to Jennifer Lotz or Kate Wilson. We look forward to seeing you at future events!

Membership

The membership committee has been hard at work recruiting new members and reviewing applications. The CLUB has experienced a year-over-year growth in fully enrolled members of 51% and the membership committee produced 5 member spotlights in Q2 2015.

CLUB members featured so far this year in the Member Spotlight include:

If you would like to recommend a member to be featured in an upcoming spotlight, please email membership@theclubsv.org.

MEMBER RECOGNITION

Key awards received by CLUB members this quarter

Karen Catlin (CLUB Board member) - 2015 Wonder Women Tech Innovator Award
Erin Rand (CLUB Advisory Board member) – Silicon Valley Business Journal's 100 Women of Influence 2015
Annie Rogaski (CLUB President) – Silicon Valley Business Journal's 100 Women of Influence 2015
Alice Katwan (CLUB Member) – Silicon Valley Business Journal's 100 Women of Influence 2015
Jen Helms (CLUB member) - 50 Women in Tech Dominating Silicon Valley in 2015
Judith Szepesi (CLUB member) – IAM Magazine Top Patent Prosecutor 2015
Julie Stephenson (CLUB member) – IAM Magazine Top Patent Prosecutor 2015

If you’ve received an award or know of a CLUB member who has, please email us at membership@theclubsv.org for inclusion in our next newsletter.

GET INVOLVED

Get connected; share your time and talent with the CLUB

The member's only website has many informal industry / location / experience level based groups that meet up regularly for networking and to discuss issues of interest. Be sure to join any groups that interest you to receive updates on these events. Click here to browse a list of groups (members only).

Open Roles at The CLUB:

The Programming Committee is seeking:

Director of Venues: to help find spaces to hold our events.
Quarterly Event Chair for the Second Quarter: with its theme of "Authentic Leadership"
Quarterly Event Chair for the Third Quarter: with its theme of "Breaking Through The Silicon Valley Boys' Club"
Anniversary Party Swag Bag Coordinator: We need someone to head up an effort to put together Swag Bags for The CLUB's Anniversary Party in early October. We would love to have women-owned businesses contribute items to the bags. For example, a coupon for a free exercise class, a coupon for a free bakery item, a discount off a purchase at a boutique, restaurant, or salon, a free or discounted coaching session, a free or discounted resume tune-up, etc. It would also be great if one or more of the businesses could provide an actual item to include, such as a cupcake, cookie, chocolate, key ring, notebook, etc. We need someone to lead this effort by coordinating a team to identify the businesses, obtain the items, and put together the Swag Bags for the event. This will be a great way to promote The CLUB to women-owned businesses and for businesses to promote themselves to CLUB members!
Technology Guru: We need a Technology Guru to help us launch some interactive online events. If you have a passion for technology, and would like to help us explore possible platforms to host online chats or web-based presentations that are interactive and informative for our members, we need your help!

If you are interested in volunteering or learning more about any of these important roles for the Club, please contact Jennifer Lotz or Kate Wilson.

The Sponsorship Committee is seeking:

Co-chair / Tech Lead: lead our sponsorship efforts for companies in the Tech sector. Please contact Megan Jones if interested.

The Membership Committee is seeking:

Welcome Committee Lead: responsible for developing new member onboarding approach and execute on approach. Personally reach out, via email, to new members
Head of Data & Analytics: responsible for analyzing membership data and provide analysis on key trends. Goal is to provide insights from our membership data to better serve, retain, and attract members

If you are interested in any of these positions with the membership committee please email membership@theclubsv.org.

Cheers,

The CLUB Board of Directors

Annie Rogaski | Diana Olin | Karen Catlin | Kristiane Koontz | Laraine McKinnon

The CLUB's Pitch Perfect - Perfecting Your Elevator Pitch

Wed, 08 Jul 2015 01:16:39 GMT

Do you have a company, product, service or idea you would like to pitch? Or, are you in a business where you need to pitch yourself or your services on a regular basis? The CLUB is starting a new initiative to give members the opportunity to perfect their elevator pitches. Starting at 6:45 p.m. at CLUB events, two to three members will have the opportunity to give a two-minute elevator pitch to the group and then, in the spirit of learning to grow from feedback, answer up to two minutes of questions or comments about their pitch. If you are interested in pitching at a future CLUB event, please sign up to be a member. We look forward to hearing your pitches!

Upcoming Events for Members

Thu, 11 Jun 2015 01:18:51 GMT

The CLUB has a host of great events this month just for members - we hope to see you at one or all. Click the links below to learn more and RSVP:

Thursday, June 11th, 6pm - East Bay Happy Hour in Oakland

Swing by after work to share a drink with your East Bay colleagues at Penelope in downtown Oakland! We'll enjoy some good conversation, including on the topic of what makes an authentic leader.

Friday, June 12th 7am - Stanford Dish Walk & Talk in Palo Alto

Hope you can join us at the Dish for an invigorating walk and talk, and the best conversation of the day! (recurring, every Friday).

Tuesday, June 16th, 8am - President's Coffee for New Members in Cupertino

If you have joined the CLUB in the last year, please join CLUB President Annie Rogaski for a new member coffee. You'll meet other new members, share why you joined the CLUB, and explore ways to get the most out of your CLUB membership. Bagels and coffee will be served.

Wednesday, June 17th, 6pm - Big Read Discussion in Burlingame

Please join us for a lively discussion of this quarter's Big Read. We have been reading "Rise: How to be Really Successful at Work AND Like Your Life" by Patty Azzarello. Don't worry if you haven't had time to read or skim the book, we want to have a great discussion about the topics raised in the book, and we'll provide some notes of the book at the start of the meeting.

Monday, June 22nd, 6pm - Social Impact Through Nonprofit Governance in Menlo Park

Come learn about the personal and professional benefits of nonprofit board service, as well as key responsibilities and expectations of board members. Identify the skillsets you offer a board and the nonprofit mission area(s) that fuel your passions.

Wednesday, June 24th, 6pm - The Club at SF Food Bank

Please join fellow Club members (and your Philanthropy Committee) at the SF Food bank on June 24th. We'll spend a few hours helping sort and package up food that the Food Bank distributes to food pantries, children's snack programs, and soup kitchens throughout SF and Marin. This will be a wonderful chance to do some good, while you meet and chat with other Club members.

We hope to see you soon!

The CLUB

Hot off the Press: The CLUB's Newsweek cover story

Fri, 13 Feb 2015 02:19:51 GMT

There's no denying that the recent Newsweek cover story "What Silicon Valley Thinks of Women" has garnered a lot of attention. First, the cover art went viral. Many considered it offensive...until they read the story and realized that the artwork suited the article perfectly. Next to buzz were the salacious stories within. They were carefully curated by the author, but still pretty shocking for mainstream media. So now that the fireworks are over and the edition has run its course on the newsstand, how do we keep the spotlight on women's opportunities and drive positive momentum?

Simple. By connecting women into stronger networks, by supporting one another's endeavors, by building leadership opportunities. You know this as the mission of the CLUB. What you may not know is how the CLUB provided background and positive content for the Newsweek article.

Late last year, journalist Nina Burleigh reached out to Annie Rogaski, Founder of the CLUB, to get her thoughts on the issues women face in Silicon Valley, and asked for introductions to professional women in Silicon Valley. Nina - who at the time was writing for ELLE magazine - was interested in profiling a young female entrepreneur who was pursuing venture funding. Annie immediately thought of CLUB member Eileen Carey, who was in the process of launching Glassbreakers, a tech startup and peer mentorship community for women. After a couple of conversations, Nina was certain that Eileen and her co-founder Lauren Mosenthal were exactly the right people for her profile. She loved their "hacker-hustler" partnership, and the fact that Glassbreakers is a technology designed for women.

Nina made a trip to Silicon Valley in December and spent time with Eileen, Lauren and many other people that they suggested. Annie organized a meeting at her firm so Nina could gain perspective from a mix of entrepreneurs and investors - all of whom were connections of the CLUB.

Just a few months earlier, CLUB Member Laraine McKinnon had been architecting the CLUB Incubator program, and CLUB members Holly Hogan, Katherine Mendonca and Diana Olin each suggested that she meet with Eileen Carey, who could contribute networking expertise. Laraine met with Eileen in August at a Starbucks and (as retold in the article) quickly became a mentor and financial supporter of Glassbreakers.

In January, an exciting twist came from Nina. She had just taken a job as national politics correspondent at Newsweek, and the first story she was writing was a cover feature on women entrepreneurs trying to make it in Silicon Valley. The article was going to cover Eileen and Lauren as they launched. The issue had an early on-line release (the cover art had been leaked) and hit newsstands on February 6, 2015. The in-depth story reviewed the good, the bad and the ugly for women in Silicon Valley tech. It featured a range of photos, including Eileen and Lauren; the Valley's prominent C-suite women; and - in yet another CLUB connection - a photo of the founders of the Women's Startup Lab, taken in their donated host space, the law firm of CLUB member Mindy Morton.

Each of these seemingly random events - connecting women into stronger networks, supporting one another's endeavors, creating leadership opportunities - is a success story for the CLUB. There are hundreds of connections and ideas happening through the CLUB. Though they may not always combine to make the cover of Newsweek, they are all critical to our mission to support women and grow the pipeline of women leaders. We encourage you to make the time to reach out to others, mentor, support, share the story and help build on the positive momentum - in Silicon Valley and beyond.

Announcing our 2015 Programming Themes

Tue, 20 Jan 2015 02:21:48 GMT

The CLUB’s programming committee is excited to announce the quarterly programming themes for 2015.

Our 2015 themes are:

Q1 New Year, New You
Q2 Authentic Leadership
Q3 Breaking thru the Silicon Valley Boys Club
Q4 Celebrating Success

First Quarter - "New Year, New You" – We all start our New Year off with resolutions, but how can we actually keep them? Let’s start the New Year off right, beginning with our January event - “Stop Making the Lists of Competing ‘Shoulds’ — Amplify Your Life Instead!,” on January 21, 2015 from 6:00 – 8:30 p.m. at the Silicon Valley Pad. This event will challenge you to examine the guiding principles for your life, what is most important to you, and what embedded assumptions you may be carrying that prevent you from achieving the life you want.

In February, we'll move on to the subject of “Transitions,” and discuss making effective career transitions, whether you’re looking at moving laterally, advancing within your organization, or completely changing careers.

We'll close out the First Quarter in March with our Mentoring event and be inspired by mentoring success stories, learning how to “make the ask” to a potential mentor, as well as how a mentor can help you “make the ask” to move forward in your career.

Second Quarter - “Authentic Leadership” - Many of us want to be leaders in our organizations or industries, but don’t know how to take that first step. Others are already leaders, but want to progress to the next level or become better and more effective leaders. In the Second Quarter, we'll explore what makes someone a great leader, how to find and capitalize on leadership opportunities, and how to develop and hone your leadership skills and style.

Third Quarter – “Breaking Through The Silicon Valley Boys’ Club” - Despite all of the advancements made by women over the years, in many ways, Silicon Valley remains a boys’ club. In the third quarter, we’ll be looking at ways to break through that boys’ club, by changing the conversation to how women can gain power in the workplace, and examining the biases (both overt and unconscious) that can prevent women from attaining top positions.

Fourth Quarter – “Celebrating Successes” – The Fourth Quarter is all about reflection and celebration. We’ll look back at what we’ve achieved over the year, celebrate those successes, and look forward to even more progress in the upcoming year with the Club’s Anniversary Party in October and our Holiday Party in December.

Thank you to our programming committee for driving our monthly events!

The CLUB Board of Directors

CLUB 2014 Sponsorship Recognition

Fri, 16 Jan 2015 02:22:38 GMT

Thank You To Our 2014 Sponsors!

You helped the CLUB build a diverse community of professional women who, in turn, helped each other accelerate their leadership journeys. And it’s working. Read our 2014 Annual Sponsorship Recognition Report to hear about the impact we’re having on women from your organization and others across the Bay Area.

The CLUB Year in Review 2014 … and 2015 Preview

Sun, 11 Jan 2015 02:23:59 GMT

As we close out 2014, the CLUB Board wanted to share our insights and thank you’s with our members for a fantastic year. 2014 was a foundational period for us. In 2013, we were in a constant state of learning, and in 2014, our processes and leadership solidified in an amazing way, allowing us to build upon our first year’s momentum and achieve even greater things, including the launch of our mentoring program and establishing our ‘segments’ to facilitate additional ways for our members to connect with each other.

While we heard from our members that they loved the 10 formal events and numerous informal connections the CLUB facilitated this year, much of the work and innovation that happened this year was behind the scenes – so we wanted to make sure you were aware of who has worked so hard to help make the CLUB what it is today. We are excited for what this leadership structure and growth will position us to achieve in 2015!

One of our initiatives for 2015 is to communicate more often with the full membership. While one or more of our Board members have attended every event this year, we do not always have the opportunity to talk with everyone. We would like to ensure that our members have insight into all the great events and opportunities offered by the CLUB, so please keep an eye out for a quarterly newsletter to keep you up to date.

In 2015 we are also excited to expand our mentoring program with the addition of Mentoring Circles, and also launch our Incubator and Community Advocacy programs. Keep reading for additional details.

Thank you to our 2014 Leaders, and welcome to our 2015 Leaders

Board

Our Board in 2014 began with three of our original founding Board members – Annie Rogaski, Kristiane Koontz and Julie Stephenson – and two new members who joined us in late 2013 – Karen Catlin and Diana Olin. After three years of service, Julie decided to step down, to focus efforts on a law firm she started with two other CLUB members (Annie and Judith Szepesi). Thank you, Julie, for your long-term contribution to building and leading the CLUB. In 2015, the CLUB will welcome Laraine McKinnon as the 5^th member of the Board. We know the CLUB will continue to flourish with Laraine’s ideas and talents contributing to our Board. Welcome, Laraine.

Advisory Board

We continue to have a high-profile, amazing set of Advisory Board members. Two of our original Advisory Board members, Mona Sabet and Erin Rand, continue to provide us with fantastic strategic insights. In 2014, we added two other Advisory Board members – Angie Chang and Kim Le. Our Advisory Board provides laser-focused feedback that keeps us strategically on track and moving towards even greater things. Thank you, Mona, Erin, Angie, and Kim.

You can read more about our Board and Advisory Board here.

Programming Committee

By far our busiest committee, our Programming Committee created and planned monthly events throughout the year, building a playbook in the process to make future events much simpler to put on. They implemented a quarterly topic format that enabled members to dig deeply into each quarterly topic, but in a different way each month. Each quarter had a quarterly chair who ensured each month of the quarter built on the prior one. Each event had an event chair as well as volunteers to help plan the event and to pitch in at the event. Thank you to each of the Programming Committee members who worked incredibly hard to bring us high quality events and content. Thank you specifically to:

Mindy Morton and Laraine McKinnon for their leadership of the committee
Mindy Morton, Julia Cowles, and Judith Szepesi for their leadership as quarterly event chairs
Kate Wilson, Beth Roemer, Holly Hogan, Laurie Charrington, Marina Feehan, Jennifer Lotz, Michelle Gillette, Mindy Morton, and Laraine McKinnon for their leadership as monthly event chairs
Christine Pham for supporting our event marketing and online registration

We look forward to continuing our Programming excellence under the 2015 leadership of Kate Wilson and Jennifer Lotz. Kate and Jennifer have been active in the Programming Committee and have become veterans in executing events. Thank you Kate and Jennifer for taking on this important role.

Membership Committee

One of the most fun things about building the CLUB has been to read the applications of prospective members. Not only do we see an impressive group of leaders applying, but it is abundantly clear from each application how passionately we all care about finding a community of women to help us and whom we can help. The mission of the CLUB shines through in our members’ applications and we are so fortunate to continue to grow our membership with quality professionals who contribute to the vitality of our community. The membership committee is responsible for member acceptance, administration, recruiting and recognition. In 2014 we saw further growth in the size, engagement and diversity of our membership, across industries and career progression. Thank you specifically to:

Joselle Deocampo for stepping up to lead the committee in 2014
Joselle Deocampo and Pam Fulmer for leading our member recognition team and publishing 7 member spotlights in 2014
Libby Moulton for leading our new member acceptance process twice per month
Bing Xie for serving as our Membership Liaison for supporting our member administration and recruiting efforts

The membership committee has ambitious goals for 2015 under the continued leadership of Joselle Deocampo. Bing Xie will continue in 2015 as our Membership Liaison and Shannon Dahl will join the committee leadership as the Director of Member Recognition. Please email membership@theclubsv.org if you are interested in supporting the work of this important committee.

Real Estate / CLUBhouse Committee

In 2014, our Real Estate Committee took on a couple roles. In addition to helping to secure locations for monthly events, this committee explored the possibility of establishing the CLUBhouse. Thank you to Laura Majerus, Sarah Lambersky, and Hillary Barnhart for their great efforts researching the real estate issues, creating a survey to gather member input, and analyzing that input to help direct our 2015 efforts.

In 2015, we will structure our real estate tasks a bit differently. We will move the function of locating event space into the Programming Committee and we will create a new CLUBhouse Committee to help us establish our first CLUBhouse. Please email annie@theclubsv.org if you would like to join or lead our 2015 CLUBhouse Committee, which will help us make CLUB history.

Sponsorship Committee

One of our key 2015 initiatives – establishing our CLUBhouse – will depend heavily on sponsorship funding. Our 2014 leadership, Risa Beckwith and Katherine Maraschin, built a great foundation for sponsorship asks, by analyzing our value proposition so that we can more effectively show the value the CLUB brings to our sponsors. We’d like to express our gratitude to Box, Jones Day, Synopsys, Fenwick & West, Morgan Lewis and Google for hosting our events, and ServiceRocket, Wilmerhale, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), and Procopio as well as several anonymous donors for contributions that enable us to serve our members. Thank you, Risa and Katherine, for creating the framework for our 2015 Sponsorship team.

We also measured the impact The CLUB is having on our members via a survey at our 2^nd Anniversary Party. You can read about the impressive results in “The CLUB Effect.”

We are working on the 2015 leadership. Robin Patin will chair our technology industry sponsorship efforts and we are looking for chairs to lead our initiatives with other industries. If you are interested in joining the sponsorship committee or taking a leadership role, please email annie@theclubsv.org. Someone from the committee may reach out to you in 2015 to help explore sponsorship by your company. This is a HARD job – please be receptive to their asks and collectively we can make our CLUBhouse a reality.

Philanthropy Committee

Many of our members have expressed an interest in giving back. Our Philanthropy Committee has worked throughout 2014 to identify opportunities of interest to our members. While some exciting opportunities were identified, they also were quite labor intensive to get off the ground. In 2015, we will look to identify simpler opportunities that will have a local impact while giving CLUB members the chance to give back together – building our CLUB Community as well as helping to improve the communities we live in. Keep an eye out for opportunities posted on our Members-only website in 2015.

Thank you for our 2014 leadership – Sangeeta Tiwari and Bettina Weiss – and welcome to our 2015 leadership – Bettina Weiss and Rachael Meny.

New Chair of Community

We are excited to announce a new leadership role – Chair of Community – which will be filled in 2015 by Mindy Morton. This important role was created to facilitate communication, ideas, and coordination across committees, segments, affiliate organizations, and the Board. We are thrilled to have Mindy step into this role with her depth of experience with the Programming Committee and her participation in CLUB Segments.

Affiliates

Thank you to Laurie Charrington, our Affiliate Chair in 2014, who developed our Affiliate database and set the foundation for coordinating our efforts with those of our affiliates. If anyone is interested in continuing this work in 2015, please email info@theclubsv.org.

Segments

One of the most exciting initiatives we started in 2014 was creating segments (geographic, experience levels, and industries) that enabled smaller gatherings to explore issues of interest to that segment. Gatherings included walk and talks in SF and at the Stanford Dish, various breakfasts, lunches, a women in tech panel, an “art of the ask” speaker, a Breast Cancer Awareness walk, “Big Idea” brunches, and more. Thanks to our 2014 Segment Leaders for working with no roadmap and creating something amazing:

Geographic
- SF/North Bay: Holly Hogan and Jaime Kitano
- Peninsula: Pam Colbert, Kimberly Culp, Mary Fuller
- South Bay: Marina Gruber and Karen Kaufman
- Industry
  - Marketing: Laurie Kretchmar
  - Finance: Laraine McKinnon
  - Tech: Laura Fechete and Risa Beckwith
  - Legal: Mindy Morton
  - Experience Levels
    - <10 years: Marina Gruber and Karen Kaufman
    - 20+ years: Julia Cowles

In 2015, our segments will be known as “Communities” and will be led by Mindy Morton, in her role as Chair of Community. Thanks to the following members who will take on (or continue) these leadership roles:

Geographic
- SF/North Bay: Holly Hogan, Jaime Kitano and Kathleen Bost
- Peninsula: TBD
- South Bay: Marina Gruber and Karen Kaufman
- East Bay: Krista Baughman
- Industry
  - Tech: Laura Fechete
  - Legal: Krista Baughman
  - Marketing: TBD
  - Finance: TBD
  - Experience Levels
    - Aspiring leaders (typically <10 years): Marina Gruber and Karen Kaufman
    - Emerging leaders (typically 10-20 years): TBD
    - Established leaders (typically 20+ years): TBD

If you are interested in leading any of the segments with TBD, please email info@theclubsv.org. This is a great, easy way to get some leadership experience.

Mentoring

In 2014, we launched The CLUB’s mentoring program. We held a kick-off event in March where we heard about the benefits and best practices of mentoring, and we’ve had monthly forum posts about mentoring discussion topics.

Moving into 2015, we’re excited to add to our mentoring options with the launch of a “Mentoring Circles” pilot for 8 members to meet monthly to jointly work on their career goals and how to best meet them.

Many thanks to the Mentoring Committee for their work to launch and expand this important program: Holly Hogan (chair), Michelle Garrison, Karen Kaufman, Katherine Maraschin, and Katherine Mendonca.

Incubator Program

In 2015, we are launching a new Incubator program – created by Laraine McKinnon – that will help members who have already established themselves as leaders create a more visible external profile as a leader. Thanks to our 2015 leaders of this program: Laraine McKinnon, Mindy Morton, and Kristi Royse.

Community Advocacy Program

In 2015, we are also launching an outward facing program, which will be driven by CLUB members and non-members, to identify best practices for building thriving work cultures, and highlighting companies who successfully do so. We have a great group of thought leaders already forming, who will be led by our 2015 Chair of Workplace Best Practices, Sally Applin. We have one open leadership position, for Quarterly Company Spotlight Chair. If you are interested in the future of work, and helping to recast our workplace cultures to be more inclusive of women leaders, and would like to join us, please email annie@theclubsv.org.

It’s not too late…

If you are not yet signed up to lead or participate in the above committees, please reach out to the 2015 leaders identified above, or fill out a survey here. Committee participation is a great way to get to know other CLUB members, build leadership skills, and get the most out of the CLUB.

We look forward to an exciting CLUB experience in 2015 – thank you all for being a part of our community!

The CLUB Board

Annie, Kristiane, Karen, Diana and Laraine

2015 Baseline - Women In Business

Sun, 11 Jan 2015 02:23:12 GMT

To kick off 2015, Catalyst published statistics of women in business at various levels of leadership

Source: Catalyst Knowledge Center

Laraine McKinnon Joins The CLUB's Board of Directors

Tue, 06 Jan 2015 02:24:52 GMT

The CLUB is thrilled to announce that Laraine McKinnon, a Managing Director at BlackRock, has joined its board of directors. Laraine has been an active member of the CLUB since 2012 and in 2014 served as the Vice Chair to the Programming Committee. She also spearheaded and launched the CLUB Incubator, a women’s leadership advocacy program for the CLUB. She will co-direct the pilot of this program for The CLUB in 2015.

Laraine is an influencer and problem solver who thrives on changing the status quo through methodical multi-level action steps. Her passions include helping women reach their full potential and helping Americans save for their future, which she does in a consultative role with major American employers, designing employee financial benefits programs to help deliver better outcomes. Laraine is a thought leader and frequent speaker on both topics.

She is a graduate of Wellesley College and lives in Silicon Valley with her husband and two children where they enjoy hiking in the local hills and racing their sailboats on San Francisco Bay.

Please join us in welcoming Laraine to our board!

Announcing CLUB Mentoring Circles

Mon, 01 Dec 2014 02:26:37 GMT

The CLUB is excited to announce the launch of the second of two new programs in January 2015 that will accelerate the careers of members at the mid and senior career levels.

The new Mentoring Circles program pilot offers thought partnership and support to solidify participants’ personal brands, career and networking plans. Through this eight-session program, participants will be challenged to explore their values, strengths, purpose and goals to generate these outcomes.

Mentoring Circles provide an environment for busy women leaders to interact with like-minded peers in a safe and confidential environment. We believe that making the time to explore our interests, desires and goals within a community of our peers is a significant benefit in reaching our professional and personal goals. This program is designed for members with eight or more years of professional experience. Ideal candidates are ambitious, accomplished and value thought partnership and input from their peers to develop their personal brands and networking strategies to meet their goals.

Should I apply for the Incubator Program or Mentoring Circles?

The Mentoring Circles Program, along with the Incubator are two pilot programs launching in 2015 that support the CLUB’s mission to incubate women leaders. The Incubator Program is an advocacy program designed for members with 12 years or more of experience who are looking to get public recognition for their expertise and leadership to boost their careers to the next level (e.g., press, speaking engagement, board seats). The Mentoring Circles Program is designed for members with eight or more years of experience who want to define their personal brands and career plans through self-exploration and reflection, thought partnership and continuous growth. Participants will exit the program with solidified personal brands and networking strategies to meet their career goals.

How to apply:

Please click here for more details about the program and how to apply. Applications for the 2015 Mentoring Circles pilot program are due Friday, December 19, 2014.

Announcing the Incubator Program

Thu, 20 Nov 2014 02:27:16 GMT

The CLUB is proud to announce the launch of CLUB Incubator - a new women's leadership program. The Incubator advocates for a select group of CLUB members each year to help propel their career growth and personal potential.

The Incubator provides a laser focus on actionable ways to improve and promote public profile, enhance personal brand, expand networks and confirm board readiness. Unlike a mentoring program or coaching program, the Incubator will take action to enable Incubees to gain recognition for their expertise and leadership skills.

The Incubator also focuses on career development and community, to inspire women to take their leadership to the next level and give back within the CLUB community and beyond. Click here to learn more about the program.

The application period for the Incubator 2015 pilot program opens in November. Applications are due December 2, 2014. Ideal candidates will have developed expertise in their field, 12+ years of experience, and be eager to share their expertise more broadly. Current CLUB members interested in applying can contact incubator@theclubsv.org for an application.

“Incubator learnings will be shared with the CLUB membership too” says Incubator founder Laraine McKinnon. “Our goal is to strengthen our pipeline of women leaders. In women’s leadership, a rising tide lifts all boats.”

The Incubator program adds to The CLUB's existing programs around mentorship, networking, and leadership and soft skills development workshops and will be an important part of extending The CLUB's impact in 2015 and beyond.

2015 Committee Participation and Leadership Drive

Fri, 14 Nov 2014 02:28:03 GMT

CLUB Members,

You joined us to accelerate your leadership paths and help other women on their paths. Now you have the opportunity to join the ranks of our leadership team and/or committees and help further the CLUB’s mission! At the same time, you'll get to know more CLUB members and deepen the connections you have already made. We are launching our 2015 committee participation and leadership drive to find the next leaders and supporters for many of our committees and non-committee teams.

To apply to leadership positions or to choose a committee to participate on in 2015, please fill out this survey by Wednesday, November 26th.

As a CLUB leader, you will be given the opportunity to lead or co-lead teams, with guidance and feedback from other CLUB leaders and/or the Board. Please note that some committee leadership positions have already been filled based on 2014 committee performance. We will contact applicants for leadership positions to set up interviews later this year. Please be sure that your members-only site profile is up to date so we can use that for reference as we evaluate candidates.

We look forward to an exciting and inspiring 2015!

Best Regards,

The CLUB Board of Directors

The CLUB Effect

Tue, 28 Oct 2014 01:28:51 GMT

As we wrapped up our 2nd year, the Board of Directors wanted to understand the impact The CLUB was having across our community of members. Specifically, we wanted to know how we were doing at helping each other accelerate our leadership journeys.

To measure our impact, we looked to Catalyst, the leading nonprofit organization with a goal of expanding opportunities for women and business. In their report, The Myth of the Ideal Worker: Does Doing All The Right Things Really Get Women Ahead?, they found that "For women, making their achievements known and gaining access to powerful others had the greatest impact on career advancement."

So, we created a brief survey to measure if The CLUB has helped members do those two best practices. And we added a few other topics we wanted to explore. We ran the survey at our 2nd Anniversary Party on October 21, 2014.

The survey results tell us that while we're clearly making an impact, our work is not yet done. We found that, because of The CLUB,

100% of our members are inspired to grow their career,
93% are more likely to make their achievements known,
87% do more networking,
67% are less likely to drop out of their career, and
53% believe they are more visible within their organization.

Moving forward, as you think about your leadership journey and advancing your career, consider how you can leverage The CLUB. How can The CLUB help and inspire you to make your achievements known? What can you do to grow your visibility? How can you gain access to powerful people in your organization or in your field?

If you have ideas for events or ways that The CLUB can help you, let us know. We look forward to hearing from you on Facebook or LinkedIn.

--Karen Catlin, Member of the Board of Directors
October 2014

CLUBbie Winners Announced!

Thu, 23 Oct 2014 01:29:18 GMT

At its 2^nd Anniversary party at the Quadrus Conference Center in Menlo Park, CA on October 21^st 2014, The CLUB awarded three CLUBie awards to current CLUB members making a significant impact to the organization.

The Driver: Mindy Morton

This award recognizes an individual for extraordinary contributions for driving CLUB initiatives. Mindy Morton, Senior Counsel at Procopio makes things happen for the CLUB’s programming Committee! Having initiated the quarterly themes and Co-Chaired the Programming Committee, she is recognized for her exceptional dedication and creation of a CLUB community through the engaging and empowering events.

The Evangelist: Christine Sublett

This award is given for extraordinary contributions to growing the CLUB’s membership and reach. As COO of analytics software company BeyondCore and president of her own consulting company, Christine Sublett has been an amazing promoter of The CLUB and the ways we can all tap into this community of inspiring women.

The New Initiative Groundbreaker: Holly Hogan

This award recognizes an individual for developing and implementing an impactful new initiative for the CLUB. Most CLUB members have indicated an interest in being a mentor for another CLUB member, or tapping into mentors within The CLUB. During our first year, we didn't have a formal program in place for mentoring, until Holly Hogan, partner at K&L Gates, stepped up to define and lead a small but mighty committee to deliver it.

The winners were announced at the CLUB’s second anniversary event, which was dedicated to celebrating and inspiring women’s leadership. Keynote speaker Joanna Bloor encouraged the audience of over 100 senior women business leaders to ‘be brave’ and ‘be curious’ in tackling their career opportunities. The event was sponsored by WilmerHale, ServiceRocket, Procopio, and PwC, with in-kind contributions from Montemaggiore winery and Sincerely, San Francisco.

CLUB Announces 2 Additions to Advisory Board

Wed, 03 Sep 2014 01:33:01 GMT

The CLUB is excited to announce Angie Chang and Kim Le as the newest additions to the CLUB’s Advisory Board. Their appointment will further support the growth of the CLUB’s network of female leaders and offer valuable direction for the organization.

Angie Chang is the Director of Growth at Hackbright Academy, which runs a 10-week accelerated engineering fellowship exclusively for women in San Francisco. In 2008, she started Bay Area Girl Geek Dinners to network women in technology. Dinners are sponsored by companies including Google, Facebook, Yahoo!, Box and Intel. Prior to that, she co-founded Women 2.0, a media company which promotes women in high-growth, high-tech entrepreneurship. She was named in Fast Company's 2010 "Most Influential Women in Technology" and more recently Business Insider named her one of "30 Most Important Women Under 30 In Tech."

Angie has held positions in product management and web/UI production at various Silicon Valley startups. She holds a B.A. in English and Social Welfare from UC Berkeley. Follow her on Twitter at @thisgirlangie.

Kim Le is the CEO and Founder of A2Q2. She has over 18 years of accounting, auditing, and consulting experience and is a self-taught software developer on the Force.com platform. She invented and trademarked SoxRox®, a web-based software-as-a-service application used to efficiently plan, document, test, and report SOX compliance efforts. Kim has led financial statement audits, internal audits, special accounting and process re-engineering projects, SOX compliance initiatives, SEC reporting projects, and merger and acquisition and integration.

Despite humble beginnings, Kim persevered with determination to support herself through college and to propel herself professionally to later emerge with such recognitions as 2013 Silicon Valley’s 100 Influential Women by Business Journal and the 2010 Asian Business Woman of the Year by the National Council of Asian American Business Association. Follow her on Twitter at @KimLe_A2Q2.

Angie and Kim join existing Advisory Board members Erin Rand, Chief Operating Officer of ServiceRocket, and Mona Sabet, Founder and President of VIBLIO.

Announcing The CLUBies!

Sat, 30 Aug 2014 01:35:11 GMT

At our 2^nd Anniversary party at the Quadrus Conference Center in Menlo Park, CA on October 21^st 2014, The CLUB will award an Advancing Women in Leadership CLUBie to a person, male or female, who is moving the needle for women leaders in their organization, industry, or community in the San Francisco Bay Area. Nominees for this award have:

Increased the impact of women in business, academia, or politics through their leadership, or
Undertaken work or mentorship that has covered new ground in women’s leadership or advancement, or
Increased women’s impact, representation, and effectiveness in leadership positions

The CLUB wants your nominations for this prestigious award! Please nominate individuals by September 30^th.

^{^{Click here to submit your nomination!}}

In addition, The CLUB will award three CLUBies to current CLUB members making a significant impact to the organization: The Driver, The Groundbreaker, and The Evangelist.

Driver – Recognized for extraordinary contributions for driving CLUB programs. This woman makes things happen and gets things done well.

New Initiative Groundbreaker – Recognized for developing and implementing an impactful new initiative for The CLUB.

Evangelist – Recognized for extraordinary contributions in cultivating and actively growing the CLUB’s community and reach.

Our 2^nd anniversary party will be an evening of celebration – of all that women have accomplished in the Bay Area – and inspiration – for all we can accomplish in the future! We look forward to seeing you at the event and recognizing our winners! We are also grateful to all of our members and supporters who have helped us make it to Year 3!

The CLUB Announces 2 New Board Members!

Wed, 04 Dec 2013 02:36:11 GMT

The CLUB is thrilled to announce Karen Catlin, CEO of Athentica, and Diana Olin, Global Program Manager & Lawyer at Adobe, as the newest additions to the CLUB’s Board of Directors.

Prior to joining Athentica as its CEO, Karen was a vice president in the CTO’s office at Adobe Systems and a leadership coach for women in the tech industry. Karen writes "Use Your Inside Voice", a blog about the intersection of leadership and parenting, and she frequently publishes about leadership on Femgineer, Women 2.0, and other tech leadership blogs.

In her role as the Global Program Manager for Adobe’s Worldwide License Management leadership team, Diana uses an interdisciplinary approach and relationship-based mindset to build connections across functions and catalyze projects towards the end goal.

“The CLUB is a self-selecting group of engaged, genuine women leading proactive lives and dedicating the energy to establish such a mutually reinforcing environment. Member driven, it’s about creating a space for women to grow into themselves and help others do the same…. As we approach 2014, may we each have the courage to dedicate the time to pause and invest. Pause to appreciate where we are and who’s helped to get us here. Invest in ourselves to self-reflect and proactively engage with life and others,” Diana commented in a recent article.

Existing board members and founders of the CLUB are Annie Rogaski, a Partner at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP in the intellectual property practice, Kristiane Koontz, a management consultant with PwC’s Financial Services Advisory group, and Julie Stephenson, a specialist in intellectual property strategy and risk management.

The CLUB also thanks outgoing board members Kesa Yorozu and Lynn Koh. Over the past two years, Kesa and Lynn served on the founding CLUB Board, where they helped to create the CLUB, launch the CLUB and grow our membership to over 200 members! Please join us in thanking Kesa and Lynn for their fantastic and tireless efforts making the CLUB a success!

Thank YOU for a Teriffic First Year

Sat, 19 Oct 2013 01:36:47 GMT

Last week over 100 of you joined us at the Quadrus Conference Center in Menlo Park to celebrate our one year anniversary. You heard our President, Annie Rogaski, reflect on our collective successes over the past year – the seminars, networking events, business referrals and job placements, and preview our exciting programming plans for 2014.

Since our founding in October of 2012, The CLUB's membership has grown to nearly 200 members and generated over $100,000 in funding including corporate sponsorships and in-kind donations. We launched our members-only website and collaboration platform, and put on over 7 seminars on leadership skills from experts in the field, 12 general and industry networking events, and provided access to over 10 affiliate events. Our plans for 2014 are no less ambitious.

Reflecting on the first year of the CLUB, member Diana Olin from Adobe commented: "when I think of The CLUB, I think of the shared moments of introspection - the space to safely question and challenge who we are, what we want, and how to get there. I'm grateful that I bet on The Club and its vision, because in doing so, I bet on myself and fellow members."

Thank you to our dedicated volunteers, speakers Lise Edwards and Rickey Trombetta, and sponsors PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) and Trombetta Family Wines for helping to make this event possible. Please click here to view additional photos of the event.

Give Us Your Feedback

We are always looking to improve our programming. If you attended our Anniversary Event, please click here to complete a brief 9 question survey.

Help Us Expand Our Membership

Do you know a woman who would be a great fit for the CLUB? Invite her to apply! We’ve created an easy 1 page membership guide (download here) to share with prospective members.

Our members are established and emerging women leaders who hail from top Silicon Valley and San Francisco companies and reflect a wide spectrum of experience, professions and industries. Through the CLUB, members leverage the expertise and networks of guest experts and other members to build strong leadership skills that they take back to provide more effective leadership at their companies.

Our membership application can be found here: http://theclubsv.org/membership-application/

Renew Your Membership

Is your CLUB membership coming up for renewal soon? Please click here to renew your membership by credit card or PayPal.

Best Regards,

The CLUB Board of Directors

CLUB President Named Among Top 50 "Women Leaders in Tech Law"

Tue, 17 Sep 2013 01:37:21 GMT

The Recorder recently named CLUB President and co-founder Annie Rogaski as one of the top 50 "Women Leaders in Tech Law" as a pat of their third annual Women Leaders event.

"These are the lawyers who get the call for that first, crucial funding round, the patent dispute only scientists can understand, the licensing-as-lifeline deal, the long-sought liquidity event," said Recorder Editor in Chief Greg Mitchell.

Annie is a trial lawyer and partner with Kilpatrick Townsend where she leads teams in bringing to life complex technical concepts for judges and juries. In her work she draws upon her education in chemistry and 17 years of litigating and trying intellectual property cases.

A full list of the women recognized can be found here.

Updated Member Summary

Wed, 04 Sep 2013 01:38:01 GMT

We are frequently asked by our members about their peers. Hot off the press, here is the most recent summary of our membership base, which can also be downloaded here:

August CLUB Challenge

Mon, 19 Aug 2013 01:38:52 GMT

Sometimes I am amazed at how thoroughly and viciously I can beat myself up. Not physically, but I can really take myself to task for any and every mistake I make, no matter how minor. “How could you be so stupid?" I ask myself. Unsatisfied, I observe, “what a horrible mistake!” Then, I envision a parade of horribles of how whatever project I was working on will soon spiral into destruction – all because of my mistake.

Every now and then, I am able to take a step back and stop the cycle of self-destructive chatter. On those occasions, a lyric from a Pink song resonates in my head,

“Change the voices in your head

Make them like you instead”

- “F**kin’ Perfect”

How profound! How perfect! Think of what we can accomplish if we support ourselves in the same way we support our teams. When our colleagues make a mistake, we don’t (please don’t) say “how could you be so stupid?” So, why do we say it to ourselves? And, how many times has a mistake really resulted in the worst outcome we envisioned? Once we give ourselves a break, allow ourselves to fail once in a while (after all, we are human and we learn and grow from our mistakes), we open up so many more opportunities for success.

Our challenge: make the voices in your head like you instead. Can you change the negative-speak in your head to a positive conversation? When you do, observe how it changes your outlook and your opportunities. Extra credit: can you make that a permanent habit?

-Annie Rogaski, CLUB President

Save the Date - September and October Events Announced

Sun, 04 Aug 2013 01:40:43 GMT

Save the date for our all-members events this fall:

Smart Fashion for Silicon Valley Women
September 11th, 6:00pm - 8:30pm

Join the CLUB and the team of professional stylists at the Palo Alto Nordstrom for tips on successful dressing.

The CLUB Anniversary Party
October 9th, 5:30pm - 8:30pm

Join us as we celebrate our one year mark at the same fantastic venue where we launched on October 4th, 2012.

Please check back soon for details.

July CLUB Challenge

Fri, 19 Jul 2013 01:41:08 GMT

I've been thinking a lot about adventures, for a few reasons: 1) a good friend started a new company centered around providing adventures; 2) I recently was on vacation, enjoying adventures and time to think; and 3) Karen Catlin and Diana Olin got me thinking about work adventures (or, as they termed it, professional bucket lists).

My friend's company, Ethos Adventures (www.ethosadventures.com), is focused on getting people out of their daily routines and outside, to experience an adventure. Though the mission of her company is adventure, the mere fact that she started the company (after retiring from a young career practicing law) was certainly an adventure. She jumped into unchartered waters, without a life vest, and embraced the change, the adventure. What she found was a network of friends, family and colleagues that whole-heartedly supported her. She realized she was not in fact without a life vest. Rather, she had hordes of people cheering her on and offering support.

Her adventure got me thinking about experiencing my own adventures. My husband and I were recently on vacation in the Pacific Northwest. One day, at Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, we rented mopeds (we had never ridden them before, so had to pass the training of riding without swerving, knees tightly pulled in - it took me a while...) and rode to the south part of the island. Though we could not accelerate above about 35 mph, it felt like I was flying, wind blowing in my face, sun shining down and amazing views over the fields and of the ocean. At one point, I realized I was smiling (I only briefly worried about catching flies in my teeth) and felt absolutely exhilarated. The driftwood, red fox that wandered within about 10 feet of us and lighthouse confirmed I was not at the office, and enhanced the vivid experience of living!

My joy made me wonder if adventures were only for evenings, weekends or vacations. First, I had to remind myself that working nights and weekends as I have done most of this year significantly reduced the time for non-working adventures. But then, I recalled a conversation on a recent CLUB Walk and Talk with Karen and Diana. We were talking about bucket lists and the topic of professional bucket lists came up. (See Karen's recent blog on this topic, at http://karencatlin.com/.) I have to admit, that was a new one for me. I have goals and annual plans, as do most lawyers in big firms, but a bucket list? Hadn't crossed my mind. After the exhilaration of my moped adventure, I started to wonder, why can't I have work adventures too? Should I create a bucket list of professional adventures to focus my efforts? How amazing it would be to feel the thrill of adventure at work! Think of the creativity and rejuvenation that would result.

Our challenge: find adventure on the job. Perhaps it requires moving outside our comfort zone and trusting our confidence to succeed. Let's go find joy, satisfaction and the thrill of adventure in our professions!

- Annie Rogaski, CLUB President

June CLUB Challenge

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 01:41:49 GMT

A scene in one of my all-time favorite shows, Sports Night (critically-acclaimed, which I now understand means “doomed after two seasons,” to my great dismay), struck me immediately and has stuck with me for years. The boss, Isaac Jaffe (“Benson,” if you’re a GenX’er) was dispensing a bit of leadership advice. He said, “It's taken me a lot of years, but I've come around to this: If you're dumb, surround yourself with smart people. If you're smart, surround yourself with smart people who disagree with you.”

Think about that. How comfortable are you surrounding yourself with smart people who disagree with you? It takes a pretty confident person to take that step and, even more, to follow through and reap the benefit of it. So often, we feel that we need to be the smartest person in the room. As the leader, shouldn’t we have all the answers? Isaac says, “no.” We can learn from those who have a different viewpoint. We can grow from the challenge of really listening to someone who disagrees with us. What a great insight. How freeing. Why not find the best people? Not just those who think like us -- the best.

Coming from a litigation background, this rings particularly true. There are no right answers in litigation, but there are better answers. You cannot arrive at those answers without discussion. You cannot get there if everyone follows the same train of thought. You never know what will trigger the breaking idea on a case, so you cannot afford to close any doors. Surrounding yourself with those who disagree with you (and creating an environment in which it is acceptable to express that disagreement) means the team as a whole will consider a broader perspective. When that happens, the team will collectively arrive at a better answer.

Our challenge: can we fully hear the viewpoint of someone who disagrees with us? Can we accept his suggestion even if it is contrary to what we put on the table? Can we put aside our own suggestions (and, egos) in favor of someone else's? If it’s the best suggestion on the table, why not embrace it, credit the teammate who suggested it and build our strategy around it?

- Annie Rogaski, CLUB President

May CLUB Challenge

Sun, 19 May 2013 01:43:10 GMT

Confidence comes from within. No one can give it to us. No one can take it away (unless we let them). But we have to find it, believe in it, nurture it, and draw upon it.

I recently read two very different books that provided different insights on confidence. Gift From The Sea was written in the fifties, and advocated for women to find strength in occasional solitude - basically, to develop confidence when alone that provides strength when challenged in our daily life. Lean In was written more recently and suggests that we fake it till we make it - to act as if we are confident even when we don't feel confident - among other good lessons. Both are important.

The unifying theme is that we need to build (whether real or a temporary facade that leads to reality), and then draw upon, our confidence. How do we do this? I propose, perhaps somewhat paradoxically, that we do it by letting go. Once we let go of others' expectations for us (or our own), what freedom we have to challenge ourselves, to see ourselves in a new light. Why don't we also let go of our perceptions of the experience required for roles we could take on? If we don't require ourselves to be perfectly qualified from the start, can't we be confident that we can do - or learn to do - the job? After all, we've made it this far. And can we let go of the result? Maybe we succeed, maybe we fail, but wasn't the effort the same? Do we have to define our success by the result (or others' perception of the result) or can we simply be confident that we did our best?

Ultimately, as managers and leaders we all feel better about choosing someone who appears confident they can do the job. It helps us sleep at night. So, what comfort do we give to those who might select us? Do they draw comfort from our confident presence? Or do they hold their breath and lose sleep, wondering if they made the right decision? We hold the power to give them comfort and, with that comfort, comes more confidence and more opportunity.

Our challenge: let go. Just, let go. And, see what happens. When we are not bound by our own (often unrealistic) expectations, can we build confidence in our abilities, intelligence, drive, intuition, judgment, decision-making, team-building and other skills? We are talented. No question. Let's embrace it, own it. Be confident. And let others draw comfort from choosing us to get the job done.

- Annie Rogaski, CLUB President

Recap from our first Leveraging Feminine Leadership event

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 01:43:35 GMT

On March 28^th, the CLUB brought members and their male guests together to explore unconscious biases that often hinder women’s advancement to leadership positions. This workshop, led by leadership expert Ida Abbott, was the first in the CLUB’s Leveraging Feminine Leadership^TM series, engaging men and women to explore how to break down barriers and develop solutions that draw upon the feminine leadership qualities (possessed by both men and women) that have been shown to maximize a company’s success. Members and guests alike performed in several vignettes that illustrated certain common, but unconscious, biases, triggering lively table discussions about the biases participants see in their workplaces and solutions they have seen work.

Key ideas that emerged from the discussion included:

Leaders need to ensure inclusion in meetings and encourage participants to voice diverse viewpoints;
It is critical for women to display confidence – whether they feel confident or not – as they move towards and take on leadership positions;
To effect change, we need to be vigilant in challenging assumptions – including our own – based on gender stereotypes.

Look for an invitation later this year for the next Leveraging Feminine Leadership^TM event – you can help expand this conversation by inviting men who can share their great ideas with us, and take our ideas back to their companies.

April CLUB challenge

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 01:44:16 GMT

My office looks out onto the entrance of my firm. I see who comes and goes and often get a friendly wave as someone comes up the walk. Occasionally, I see a group of men heading out to lunch and I think, “why are there no women in that group?” For a split second, I may even feel slighted that I wasn’t invited.

I’m not alone in this. I’ve heard from other women or seen discussions on blogs how women are sometimes excluded from the informal networks that are so important to succeeding in our professions. We cannot control whether we are invited to lunch, but we can control our response. For that split second when I feel slighted, I sometimes remember to ask, “why didn’t I invite them to lunch?” I know that they didn’t intend to exclude me. They work in a different group, they interact more often – it’s natural to just say, “let’s grab lunch” to those around you.

So I decided to try an experiment. I would take the initiative. I would invite others to lunch and not wait for them to invite me. And, you know what? They came. It was fun. We got to know each other better. And, now, they think to invite me to lunch as well. They have even sought me out to help with projects because they now know me better.

But, you say, the guys always want to talk about sports and I’m not interested in that. Do I have to fake my way through a sports conversation just to join key networks at work? Not necessarily. There is always a middle ground – find out what it is. What are your shared interests? Kids? Pets? Food? Wine? Travel? Hiking? The list is endless. We’re women. We’re good at finding out what people are interested in. And there is usually more than just one thing. We can find something in common. It just takes some effort.

Our Challenge: take the initiative. Invite the guys out to lunch. Find out those common interests. And keep inviting them. It will be worth it.

New York Times Covers The CLUB

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 01:46:25 GMT

We were recently featured in an article in The New York Times - "Homegrown Efforts to Recruit Women in Silicon Valley"

March Member Demographic Report

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 02:48:54 GMT

We're at 130+ members and counting! Check out our most recent Member Demographics Summary to learn more about our members.

February CLUB Challenge

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 02:49:22 GMT

Leaders come in all forms. Often we think of leaders as those who lead countries, businesses, teams. Those who have “power.” But that is too narrow a definition. One of my childhood heroines was Harriet Tubman. She was, perhaps, an unusual heroine for an East Bay suburban 10-year-old, but her story moved me. She had absolutely no power as society viewed power. Yet, she helped create the Underground Railroad, led hundreds of slaves to freedom and, in the process, affected history in a dramatic way. She didn’t do it for glory or money, or even to change history. She did it because it was the right thing to do. And, she did it in the face of great danger to herself and those she led.

Reading her biography, I remember thinking, “she could have made one run through the railroad and she would have been free.” But she went back. That surprised me. She must have felt a drive beyond herself, to help those who needed her, those who did not have her strength, her resolve. She was absolutely selfless in the face of unfathomable danger.

How did Ms. Tubman succeed? She was the ultimate networker – connecting with other abolitionists who formed the Underground Railroad as well as with those bound by slavery. Working tirelessly, day and night, she gathered information, ensuring the path she charted was safe for her passengers. She figured out logistics. She inspired – and challenged – her followers. Women and men alike trusted her with their lives. No passengers were lost under her leadership. Amazing. She succeeded with so little and against all odds. She overcame unimaginable barriers. All with no conventional “power.”

Our challenge: overcome our barriers to success. We have more power than Ms. Tubman. We have voices that are heard. We have better tools to network. We have support. We can go where we want. What is stopping us? If Harriet Tubman can make such a difference and be such an effective leader with so little, why can’t we?

-Annie Rogaski, President and Co-Founder

Our January Newsletter is Out!

Sat, 09 Feb 2013 02:49:55 GMT

Click here to read our January newsletter

New Year's Event Photos

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 02:52:46 GMT

Thank you our speaker Wendy Wallbridge and the 90+ women who made our New Year's event a success. The full collection of our photos can be found on our Facebook page.

Women Gain Ground in EU on Corporate Boards

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 02:52:19 GMT

Interesting article in the New York Times this week:

"The proportion of women taking positions on corporate boards in the European Union is rising at the fastest pace in a decade as a push for laws on gender balance gains momentum, the bloc’s top justice official said Thursday."

Holiday Luncheon Photos

Sun, 06 Jan 2013 02:53:14 GMT

Thank you to the 90+ women who attended our holiday luncheon on December 14th, the energy in the room was inspiring!

The full set of photos from the event are now posted on our Facebook page.

Leading Women in Technology Announces its 2012 Holiday Party

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 02:53:57 GMT

Our affiliate, Leading Women in Technology, is celebrating the holidays with Celebration of Women at its Annual 2012 Holiday Party on December 6, 2012 to celebrate the graduates of the 2012 Wilpower and Hipower Career Development Programs and thank its sponsors for their gracious support! This year, LWT is celebrating the achievements of the 2012 LWT Wilpower Career Development Program graduates and their commitment to taking charge of their careers and contributing to the LWT mission of unleashing their own professional potential as well supporting their new friends, mentors and peers.

To help celebrate, they’ve invited a Sommelier, a Concert Pianist and a Chocolatier a to share their talents and accomplishments in their own respective fields.

Welcome to Our First 75 Members

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 02:55:05 GMT

We recently admitted our first 75 members to the CLUB. We were impressed by the caliber of our applicants and are thrilled to have such a talented and motivating group of women comprising our membership base. Here's a summary of our membership to date:

The CLUB Featured in the San Francisco Chronicle

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 01:55:56 GMT

We were recently featured in the San Francisco Chronicle - click here to read the article!

8 Insights from Successful Women Leaders

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 01:58:31 GMT

Thank you to the 100+ women who attended our Launch Party on Thursday, October 4th, and especially to our panelists for sharing insights on their development as women leaders.

Here are eight key takeaways from the discussion:

Doing good work will get you a seat at the table. You have to network and be visible internally so that others are aware of the good work you're doing.

Identify sponsors, and ask for (and be open to) their advice.

Get comfortable with being uncomfortable; seek out stretch assignments.

Its OK to break the rules sometimes.

Its OK to fail – everybody does, and you will learn from it.

Men don't question whether they can handle a promotion; why should women?

Aim HIGH, think bigger.

It gets easier to maintain a work-life balance perspective as you move up in your organization. It gives you more freedom to set your own schedule.

Big THANKS to our panelists:

Kathi Lutton, Principal of Fish & Richardson
Erin Rand, COO of CustomWare Asia Pacific
Catherine Valentine, VP Legal and GC of Logitech

And to our event sponsor, Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP

Please visit our Facebook page to view photos from the event and stay tuned for the next event!

Online membership application open

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 01:59:16 GMT

Our online membership application is live on the site and open to begin receiving applications for membership to the CLUB. Click here to access the application.

Your application will be reviewed by the membership board and you will be notified of your membership decision within 30 days.

Thanks for your interest in joining the CLUB!

Panelists for Oct. 4th Launch Party Announced

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 02:00:12 GMT

We are excited to announce the panelists for our October 4th Launch party. These established local women leaders will share insights into their leadership success and inspire you towards your leadership goals:

Panelists:

Kathi Lutton, Principal of Fish & Richardson

Erin Rand, COO of CustomWare Asia Pacific

Catherine Valentine, VP Legal and GC of Logitech

Moderator:

Annie Rogaski, Partner of Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton

We hope that you are able to attend for this exciting discussion. A networking session and celebration will follow. Please RSVP today to reserve your space.

Join us for our launch party on October 4th!

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 02:02:13 GMT

Join us as we introduce our vision of the future where the selection of a female CEO in Silicon Valley is not front-page news. Learn about the CLUB, a new organization dedicated to helping women accelerate their leadership journeys by providing an environment that inspires and tools that empower.

Each of you is a critical component of our vision. We invite you to join us in making it a reality. Together, we will change the business landscape of Silicon Valley, one woman at a time. It won’t happen overnight but the movement begins October 4^th at the CLUB Launch Party!

Please join us for an exciting evening with a panel of established local women leaders who will share some of the secrets of their leadership success and inspire you towards your leadership goals. (Panelists will be announced soon, stay tuned)