Women's History Month - Celebrating Influential Women

Barbara Armentrout

Mesa Group Consulting

Barbara Armentrout, CAE was on staff at the Direct Marketing Association of Washington and the National Court Reporters Association and was a membership consultant for the Northern Virginia Technology Council. She was at Marketing General Inc. for a decade, where she specialized in membership marketing and non-dues revenue. Barbara is now a consultant providing meaningful connections to association professionals.

Cardice Howard

RESNET

Cardice Howard brings 27 years of operations management experience as an insulation contractor in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas market along with her passion as an insulation Industry advocate to the RESNET team. Cardice has worked as an insulation contractor, developing and maintaining cohesive relationships with builders, code officials, and sales and operations staff. Ms. Howard built teams to support over $2 million in sales per month in the Dallas/Fort Worth market, focusing on business development and strategic planning.

Dr. Carrie Brown

IBPSA-USA

Dr. Carrie Brown contributes expertise in architecture, mechanical engineering, optimization methods, building simulation, and energy-efficient design. She has extensive experience in building science research, project management, and event planning. She specializes in zero-net energy (ZNE) and zero carbon (ZC) research and consulting; energy efficiency consulting for commercial, residential, and multifamily buildings; building simulation; and state and federal energy policy research. Dr. Brown holds a Ph.D. in Building Technology from MIT, an M.S. in Architecture with a concentration in Building Science from UC Berkeley, and a B.S. in Architecture from MIT.

Diedra Nissen

Jefferson High School

Diedra is a Sioux Falls math teacher who is advocating for change in how the public school district manages maternity leave. She has been a high school math teacher in the district for 10 years, first at Roosevelt High School and now at Jefferson. She has three children.

Eryn Carter

ALA

Eryn Carter, CAE, joined the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA) in October 2022 to serve in the role of Executive Director. Carter has more than 25 years of Association leadership experience — most recently as the Senior Director of Global Markets for the Million Dollar Roundtable, which has approximately 85,000 members in 80 countries. Carter is a graduate of Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and anthropology, and she has been a Certified Association Executive (CAE) since 2010. She is also a member of the Association Forum of Chicagoland and is a founding member of Chief Chicago, which is a think tank and network for women executives.

Jeannie Fox

The Fulbright Program

Jeannie has had a long career providing direct services from a detox center, battered women’s shelter, and mental health crisis center, becoming a leading nonprofit public policy advocate for the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, and educator at Hamline University. She has also contributed chapters to numerous national publications and has a role as honorary consul of Iceland to Minnesota and North Dakota.

Jill Bloom

BNP Media

Jill is a media executive, focused on helping clients navigate through a sea of exciting and ever-evolving media options to promote their brands. As Group Publisher for Roofing Contractor, Walls & Ceilings, Building Enclosure, and proud creator of Best of Success, she thrives on connecting people in her industry and sharing their success stories. During her 20 years in roofing, Jill’s built a legacy of helping others foster relationships that strengthen companies, enhance careers and propel the industry forward.

Jill O'Brien

Wild Idea Buffalo

Her love for food started by working at a dairy farm then after learning all facets of the hospitality industry, Jill started a personalized catering service, and owned and managed three restaurants before giving her full attention to Wild Idea Buffalo Company. Jill’s culinary and creative contributions to WIBC include recipe and product development, food and ranch photography, written and visual content for the website, and is a blog contributor. Jill also handles the Cheyenne River Ranch tours, assists on the ranch, and is a volunteer board member of Badlands National Park Conservancy.

Leah Whaley

Sturgis Motorcycle Museum and Hall of Fame

Leah Whaley can’t imagine her life without motorcycles. That passion for motorcycles has brought her to the epicenter of everything motorcycling as the new Executive Director of the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum and Hall of Fame. Whaley, a native of Yankton, moved to Sturgis in 2016 while working as a district manager for Harley-Davidson. She came to her first Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in 1985. She continued to be active in motorcycling with the Harley Owners Group, which she parlayed into a career with the Harley-Davidson Motor Company in 2000. She retired in June after working for Harley-Davidson for 22 years.

Lisa Bennett

BLAC

An entrepreneur at heart, with a passion for the highest level of customer service, Lisa has owned and operated multiple successful businesses but found her true calling in residential real estate. Launching her career in real estate on the finance side as the founder of Dana Capital, a net branch located in Buckhead, she specialized in residential and commercial mortgages. Lisa consistently exceeds expectations. Selling high-value luxury properties for Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby's International Realty since 2008, Lisa is uniquely qualified to assist investors in the purchase of foreclosures and negotiating short sales. Lisa is a marketing specialist and a member of the Atlanta Board of REALTORS®, the National Board of REALTORS®, and the Multi-Million Dollar Sales Club.

Marla Calico

IAFE

Ms. Calico joined the IAFE in 2006 as director of education and has served as chief operating officer since 2014. Prior to joining the IAFE professional staff, she served as general manager of the Ozark Empire Fair in Springfield, Mo. She earned her Certified Fair Executive designation in 1988 and in 2003 she served as chair of the IAFE. She was inducted into the IAFE Hall of Fame in 2012.

Michelle Mason

ASAE

Michelle is passionate about the advancement of the professional practice of association management. She currently serves on Destinations International Foundation, and Tourism Diversity Matters (TDM). Michelle is a Chicago Business Journal Women of Influence Honoree 2019, Chicago Defender Women of Excellence Honoree 2019, and the CEO Update Professional Society CEO of the Year 2020. Michelle is a certified association executive (CAE), Fellow of the American Society for Association Executives (FASAE) and a Certified Quality Improvement Associate (CQIA).

Molly Lopez

Bâton Global

Molly is a business development leader who assists organizations in defining the challenges they face and puts them on track for success. Prior to joining BG in 2020, she retired from a 30-year career in association management. Molly owned an accredited association management company, specializing in organization transformation of trade associations and professional societies. As president, she ensured client retention and empowered high-functioning teams. Molly was an executive director, strategist, member advocate, and events professional for national and state associations. She is a Certified Association Executive (CAE) and earned her M.S. and B.A. from Iowa State University.

Nancy Bakeman

EEBA

Nancy is the Executive Vice President of EEBA, the Energy & Environmental Building Alliance, a community of over 50,000 members whose goal is to help high-performance builders thrive and drive the transformation of sustainable building across North America. She has been with EEBA for over 16 years and has played several different roles and adapted to lots of changes in the industry over those years. In her past life, she spent many years in the legal profession and made the leap to the non-profit world in 2005 and never looked back.

Linwood Wesleyan Mission Sewing Group

The ladies of Linwood Wesleyan Mission Sewing Group had a goal to hand make and collect items for 100 hygiene bags to give to women attending a conference in Nepal. The bags included toiletries like soap and toothpaste and hand-sewn washable sanitary napkins. They got together on Saturdays at their church and made their goal a reality.

Soon-Young Yoon

International Alliance of Women

Soon-Young Yoon is the Chair of the Board at the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), UN Representative for the International Alliance of Women, the Immediate Past Chair of the NGO Committee on the Status of Women in New York, and the first Vice-President of the Conference of NGOs in consultative relationship with the UN. In those capacities, she helps to organize the world’s women in support of CEDAW and the Beijing Platform for Action. In 1995, she served as the UN Liaison for the NGO Forum held in parallel with the UN Fourth World Conference on Women, an event that hosted more than 30,000 NGO participants. Ms. Yoon is a Board Member of the Global Advisory Council at the Harvard AIDS Initiative and the International Foundation for Ewha Womans University. A former columnist for the EarthTimes newspaper, she works as a senior advisor/consultant for the World Health Organization.

Sue Pine

Bloch & Reed Association Advisors

Sue is an association visionary and international speaker. Sue has worked closely with a variety of associations and professional societies managed by association management companies during her 40-year career. Sue is a frequent speaker at ASAE, AMC Institute, and a variety of ASAE State Society meetings. Sue is an ASAE trained facilitator of the ASAE Certificate in Association Management. She is a subject matter expert on Environmental Scanning, Trends Monitoring, & AMC Accreditation.

Tina Wehmeir

AMC Institute

As the AMCI CEO, Tina applies her executive leadership experience to the strategic growth, marketing, and fostering of key industry relationships. She is focused on product and service delivery approaches that streamline efficiencies and provide effective membership retention and enhancement, including strategic partnership opportunities, international market development, and the expansion of revenue streams. Tina is also an active leader in a host of association organizations, including the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE): The Center for Association Leadership, and PCMA. She is currently the Chair of the Board for Events Industry Council (EIC) and on the Board of US Travel.

Women’s History Month – Celebrating Influential Women

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