Dawn Everett Amend is the owner of Runza® Restaurants, a Midwestern quick-service food chain with 90+ locations. She is past president and board member of the Nebraska Restaurant Association, and is current a Nebraska chapter board member of the the Alzheimer’s Association. She is also house board president of the Kappa Kappa Gamma Sigma Chapter at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Amend holds a degree in marketing from University of Nebraska – Lincoln. She is married to Shawn and has three children, Ashley, Chelsea, and Stephanie, and two grandchildren, Crew and Dylan.
Javacia Harris Bowser is an award-winning freelance journalist and essayist and the founder and CEO of See Jane Write, a website, community and coaching service for women who write. She’s also the author of the essay collection Find Your Way Back: How to Write Your Way Through Anything. Once named one of Birmingham’s Top 40 Under 40, Javacia was included in Southern Living magazine’s list of Innovators Changing the South, alongside household names like Dolly Parton and Reese Witherspoon. And she is a recipient of the 2022 Alabama State Council on the Arts Fellowship. With a focus on women’s lifestyle, wealth, and wellness, Javacia has written for a number of local, regional and national media outlets including USA Today, Business Insider, HerMoney.com, Good Housekeeping, Shondaland.com, Good Grit magazine, and The Birmingham Times. In 2020, her column for Birmingham magazine was awarded Best Magazine Column by the Alabama Press Association Javacia is a proud graduate of the journalism programs at the University of Alabama and the University of California at Berkeley. When she isn’t writing, you can find Javacia working out, eating tacos, listening to Beyoncé or spending time with her husband Edward.
Ann Damon Haas is a Senior Advisor at 1919 Investment Counsel, LLC in the Birmingham office. Ann’s primary responsibility is the continuing development and oversight of the client service delivery platform as well as ongoing relationship management for investment and family office clients. Ann entered the Financial Services industry in banking in 1980 upon graduating from the University of Alabama with a B.S. in Accounting. She joined the investment management field in 1986 upon completion of her Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Business School. Ann joined 1919 Investment Counsel in 2015 and Sterne Agee Trust in 2011. Prior to joining Sterne Agee, Ann served in investment advisory and planning roles with an independent Registered Investment Advisor, a single family office as well as a multi family office.
Debbie Hughes is IBM’s Vice President of Financial Service Market for DXC Technology Worldwide and USAA Insurance Market. She leads DXC technology, which is a $18 B company and a staff of over 2,000. Her team is responsible for working with the business partner community around the world to drive the sale of services which represents a significant market opportunity. These services include Infrastructure, Cloud and Managed Services, Security, Business Resiliency and Consulting Services and Maintenance.
Debbie represents IBM in the leadership relationship with USSA Insurance. Her leadership portfolio includes membership on IBM’s Global Executive and Global Integrators & Computer Services.
During her 38-year tenure at IBM, Debbie has had extensive experience working around the globe as a sales executive and senior advisor on many top accounts and executives. Debbie is an accomplished sales and consulting executive currently serving as the Global Vice President for Financial Service Market in North America. Industry focuses include Communication, E&U, Automotive, Banking, Insurance, Sports & Entertainment and Travel and Transportation.
As a Vice President, Debbie provides day to day leadership to a team of highly skilled professional sellers, consultants and technologist who are changing the way our clients do business and serve their own clients. She holds solution expertise in the areas of digital reinvention, cognitive enterprise, automation and platform as a serve.
Debbie has spent the last three years leading a cross brand team supporting DXC Technology which has become one of the largest Global System Integrators in the world. Debbie’s previous jobs have been in Global Technology Services (GTS) Vice President Channels and Midmarket, Global Business Services (GBS) Software, Hardware and IBM Channels. She has filled business development, marketing, CRM, consulting and sales roles.
In 2014 thru 2018 Debbie was honored by Computer Reseller News (CRN) as one of the Women of the Channel who are deserving of recognition for their expertise and vision.
Kelly Landry Mehrtens is the Executive Director of The Trust (Powered by the NFLPA). The Trust’s mission is to support NFL players as they live their purpose beyond football. Mehrtens is responsible for managing and marketing a wealth of services organized as pillars. She works with a dedicated staff and world class providers to connect players to these top-notch services. Mehrtens and her team continue to create hugely successful engagement events to further build upon an unrivaled holistic approach with members of The Trust. Prior to her ascent, she served as Managing Director, a position she assumed in 2016. Before joining The Trust, Mehrtens was the Deputy Director of Athletics/COO at the University of Maryland where she was a member of the executive leadership team. During her time at Maryland she had various responsibilities, including leading the day-to-day operations, oversight of an $80 million budget and serving as the primary administrator for football. Mehrtens also helped oversee the transition of the University from the ACC to the Big Ten Conference. Mehrtens’ experience in sports administration, budget development, marketing, branding and fundraising has also touched the athletic programs at Northeastern University, The University of Miami, The University of Illinois, The University of Kansas and The University of North Carolina Wilmington, where she was Director of Athletics. Further, her leadership has led to positions on several NCAA and Power 5 Conference Committees. Mehrtens serves on the board of directors for USA Football, the sport’s national governing body and a member of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee. As a board member, she helps guide and help the independent non-profit establish important standards and programs to advance, unify and grow the sport for the good of youth, high school, and adult amateur players. A native of Panama City, Florida, Mehrtens received her B.S. in Accounting from The University of Alabama where she was an All-American discus thrower and member of the track team. She culminated her throwing career with a 4th place finish in the 1992 Olympic Trials. Her graduate degree in Higher Education hails from the University of Illinois.
Dr. Maura Mills is an Associate Professor of Management at Culverhouse College of Business. Her research addresses positive organizational behavior, including the employee experience, work-family interface, and gender. Dr. Mills has published over 40 peer-reviewed articles, in addition to various book chapters and industry publications, and her 2015 edited book, Gender and the Work-Family Experience: An Intersection of Two Domains, which was met with wide praise. Dr. Mills is an active member in various professional organizations, including the Academy of Management, the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, the Scholars Strategy Network, and the Work and Family Researchers’ Network, and is Co-Founder of the WFRN Special Interest Group ‘Work-Family and Gender.’
Debra Nelson is President of Elevate Communications, a professional development and communication services firm that provides customized training and communication solutions in diversity, equity, and inclusion, leadership and organizational development, and program and performance management. Prior to founding Elevate, Debra held executive corporate positions in industries spanning media, higher education, automotive manufacturing, and gaming and hospitality.
Debra consults, designs and facilitates services for large and small organizations. She is a certified personal development coach authorized by Korn Ferry to administer and analyze the Emotional Social Competency Inventory (ESCI-360 assessment tool). Additionally, Debra is a certified facilitator and coach in The Four Stages of Psychological Safety™ training delivery and survey administration. While a regular contributor to Pivot magazine, she authored articles about corporate and professional development matters.
As a former vice president at MGM Resorts International, Debra is credited with steering the diversity initiative to national prominence and helping increase revenue and profitability. She has held executive appointments at DaimlerChrysler, Mercedes-Benz companies, The University of Alabama System, and in radio and television. Debra is the former Director and Head of Communication at Brasfield & Gorrie, a leading construction company based in Birmingham, Alabama.
As board chair of the Urban Chamber of Commerce in Las Vegas, Nevada, Debra led negotiations that resulted in a partnership with the City of Las Vegas for the operations of a multi-million-dollar business incubator. She created the Diversity Professionals Network as a platform for sharing and promoting DEI best practices in the gaming industry. Additionally, she founded the Women’s Leadership Conference in Nevada, an annual national event that promotes the personal and professional development of women leaders.
Debra was recognized as one of the nation’s leading diversity and inclusion practitioners by Black Enterprise, DiversityInc, Savoy, Global Gaming Business and Profiles in Diversity magazines. Automotive journalists named her “Woman of the Year” for impacting diversity and inclusion in the automotive industry. She is an inductee of the Nevada Women’s Chamber of Commerce Hall of Fame, where she holds its highest honor, the Athena Award for Leadership. Among many other accolades, she received the “Woman of Distinction” award from the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), Las Vegas Chapter. In 2020, she became the first woman and first African American to receive the Leadership Award from the Engineering Council of Birmingham. Also, she was named an Outstanding Alumna of the College of Communication and Information Sciences at The University of Alabama (UA). She is recipient of the Telly Award for Dreams of Hope, an acclaimed television documentary that has been broadcast throughout the world. In 2021, The Birmingham Business Journal named her among the “Top Birmingham Women.”
Debra currently serves on the boards of Noland Health Services, Inc., WBHM Public Radio, and the Board of Visitors for the College of Communication and Information Sciences at UA, where she is a former board chairperson. She is also a member of the President’s Cabinet at UA. Previously, she served on the boards of the College of Southern Nevada Foundation, Boys & Girls Club of Las Vegas, William Patterson University Foundation, and the Las Vegas Urban League. She is a former member of the Executive Leadership Council (ELC). Today Debra is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated and the Birmingham (AL) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated, where she is a former vice president. She is a graduate of Leadership Las Vegas and Leadership Birmingham.
Gina Simpson is a native of Alabama and a multiple graduate of The University of Alabama, earning a B.S. in Management with a concentration in Small Company Management and Entrepreneurship and a M.S. in Marketing. She has spent her career as a serial entrepreneur founding, managing and growing several companies. Mrs. Simpson, a certified professional coach, enjoys using her entrepreneurial experience to grow and foster businesses and students. Mrs. Simpson has taught in Culverhouse College of Business in various roles for 20 years. Currently, she is a Clinical Instructor in entrepreneurship. Her passion is to help students realize their innate capabilities and empower them to action. Outside of the classroom, Mrs. Simpson is a mom to 2 fantastic daughters, ages 14 and 5. In her spare time, she is the President of Regina Holdings, LLC, a consulting and investment firm, and Soluna Strategies, a professional coaching firm.
Mrs. Simpson has received numerous awards throughout her career including The Rising Star Entrepreneurship Award by the West Alabama Chamber of Commerce, the Soroptimist Woman of Distinction, the Roots and Wings Award by the Women in Business Council and is a two time recipient of the Steve Woodward Outstanding Faculty Award. She is very active in the community serving on several boards.
TK Smith is a Compliance professional with over 17 years’ experience in the financial services industry; with a specialization in Compliance Risk Management, Regulatory Compliance, Program Governance and Management, and Portfolio Management and has been with Citigroup for nine years.
TK has held a number of roles at Citi and is currently a Director and the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) for the Global Diversity & Talent Management (GDTM) function; a taxonomy within Citigroup’s Global Human Resources function. GDTM is responsible for setting and driving Citigroup’s agenda on talent planning, succession planning and leadership development while strengthening our diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) work across the enterprise with new ideas and approaches to challenge us and help us grow. In TK’s role as CAO, she is responsible for enabling a sustainable operating model and structure in GDTM by implementing appropriate processes, risk & control frameworks, and governance routines to drive the execution of the GDTM strategy. Additionally, TK has oversight of GDTM’s financial management and performance, vendor management, internal and external exam management, issue management, and communications strategy.
Fun fact – In addition to being a staunch follower of her collegiate sports teams (Roll Tide) and professional sports teams, TK is a self-professed amateur sunset chaser and has captured over 500 sunset photos from four continents.
Dr. Theresa M. Welbourne is the Will and Maggie Brooke Professor in Entrepreneurship and Executive Director, Alabama Entrepreneurship Institute, Culverhouse College of Business at The University of Alabama. She works with students, faculty, staff and business leaders to help drive both new venture development and ongoing growth within established firms. Theresa also runs programming at The EDGE, which is Tuscaloosa’s incubator and accelerator. Dr. Welbourne’s expertise is in the areas of entrepreneurship, human capital management and strategic leadership in high growth, entrepreneurial and high change organizations. She is the founder, president, and CEO of eePulse, Inc., a human capital technology and consulting firm. Dr. Welbourne’s research and work have been featured in popular publications such as Inc. Magazine, Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, Business Week, New York Times, and Entrepreneur Magazine, and she is well published in numerous academic journals and books as well as business books. Dr. Welbourne also runs two large-scale research studies, one focused on high-growth companies and initial public offerings (IPOs), and another that is focused on employee resource groups (ERGs) and how they drive innovation and firm-level growth. Theresa was awarded the 2012 Academy of Management Distinguished Executive Award (for contributions in research, teaching and practice), in 2017 she was named a Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) Fellow, and in 2022 she made the Business Alabama list of the top 22 in 22 Women in Tech. Dr. Welbourne also holds an appointment as an affiliated senior research scientist with the Center for Effective Organizations, Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California.
@theresawelbourn
Ashley Wheeler is responsible for organizational development at Hunt Refining Company in Tuscaloosa, AL. She is passionate about helping individuals and organizations transform their thinking and performance from commonplace to extraordinary. Her focus is maximizing potential through training, coaching and consulting around leadership, women’s leadership, process improvement and strategic planning.
She is a frequently requested speaker on topics related to women’s leadership and organizational development and was an international facilitator, executive coach and conference presenter in her past role working for Caterpillar.
She is certified in several assessments and is a Marshall Goldsmith Executive and Team Stakeholder Centered Coaching graduate. She is currently working to obtain certification in coaching, training and speaking through John Maxwell’s Leadership Team.
She holds an undergraduate degree in Education from Auburn University, a Master’s in Education and finished 60/60 hours of PhD coursework from Auburn at 28. She is “ABD” (all but dissertation).
Ashley has been a single mom to two college-age boys for 20 years now and is just recently engaged. She gives back to her community through serving in volunteer work over many years with United Way, Hospice, her church and the Red Cross Board. She is a current member of Leadership Tuscaloosa for 2022 – 2023.
Raychel Wooten joined CGI in 2013 as a software consultant and has moved up the professional ladder to her current position as Director of Consulting Services. Raychel has been integral to CGI’s profitable growth from her initial role as a software developer to her current role acting as a trusted advisor to her clients and coworkers. She has a passion for mentoring young women interested in joining the information technology profession, from guest lecturing at local universities to organizing and participating in STEM camps for underrepresented youth. Her willingness to help build a bridge between CGI and local nonprofit organizations has won her awards at CGI. Raychel is a graduate of the University of Alabama with undergraduate and graduate degrees in Management Information Systems and earned her MBA from UAB.
Jasmine Wright is Senior Analyst Application Support at Protective Life Corporation where she has been responsible for implementing and maintaining technical governance, risk, and compliance initiatives since September 2018. Prior to joining Protective, she previously held roles as an IT Audit Manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers and an Operations Supervisor at ProAssurance. Jasmine has obtained many certifications since graduating from the University of Alabama’s Management Information Systems (MIS) program in 2003, including Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified SCRUM Product Owner (CSPO), and Certified Agile Leader (CAL). She has served in many professional and non-profit leadership roles, most recently as the Volunteer Allocation Team Chair for the 2022 Capital Campaign and Loaned Executive for the 2019 Capital Campaign at the United Way of Central Alabama. Additionally, she helped found the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA) student chapter in 2008 as well as served on the MIS Alumni Advisory Board from 2009-2011 and Accounting Career Awareness Program (ACAP) Board from 2010-2014 at the University of Alabama. Outside of work, Jasmine enjoys spending time with family, watching/attending sporting events and music concerts, servicing her community, and exercising.