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NAWBO®-SFBA 25th ANNIVERSARY |
NAWBO®-SFBA’s signature event, the Leaders & Legends Luncheon (LLL), took place at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco on May 15. Over 400 attendees were present, including NAWBO®-SFBA members, other women entrepreneurs, corporate partners and community and business leaders. This year marked the special 25th Silver Anniversary of NAWBO®-SFBA’s signature Women Entrepreneurs of the Year Awards. To celebrate the occasion, past winners were chosen from each decade to present this year’s awards to the honorees. Celeste Perry served as the Mistress of Ceremonies and Karen Behnke (1987 Award Winner), Jenai Lane (1997 Community Advocate), and Kim King (2004 Trailblazer) served as Keynote speakers. Helen Russell, Co-founder and CEO of Equator Estate Coffees & Teas received the Trailblazer Award. Under Helen’s direction, Equator has achieved 10-20% annual growth over the past 12 years and has remained committed to sustainability and social responsibility, enhancing their competitive advantage. Bibby Gignilliat, Founder and President of Parties That Cook®, received the Rising Star Award. Bibby transformed her career in the corporate world to follow her passions of cooking and teaching. Her innovative corporate cooking parties have garnered her media attention from publications such as The New York Times and appearances on the Food Network. Sharon Miller, CEO of Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center, was awarded the Social Entrepreneur award. Through Sharon’s tenure as CEO, Renaissance has transformed the lives of 10,000 very low to moderate income women and men through entrepreneurship and new resources such as the Women’s Business Center, Bayview Business Resource Center, and East Palo Alto’s Start Up. The 2009 NAWBO®-SF Member of the Year went to May Pon of M.Butterfield-Brown & Associates, Ltd. Over the years, May has committed her time and energy to serve and lead NAWBO®-SFBA as Board Treasurer, Vice President, and Chapter President (2005-2007). The crowd was inspired by the winners and energized by the celebration of successful Bay Area women entrepreneurs. Thank you to all that attended this special day and to our Corporate Partners for making this event possible. For more pictures of the Make Me a Match! Procurement Summit and Leaders & Legends Luncheon, please visit http://www.mitchtobias.com/client_access/nawbo_web.
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 Sharon Miller 
Hellen Russell 
Bibby Gignilliat |
NAWBO®-SFBA’s inaugural Make Me a Match! Procurement Summit took place at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco on May 15, hosted in conjunction with Union Bank and PG&E. Almost 200 attendees were present, including NAWBO®-SFBA and Affiliate Partner members, other women entrepreneurs, and community and business leaders.
The goal of the Summit was to provide NAWBO®-SFBA members with as many educational tools and resources available to help them potentially secure procurement opportunities during the current economic downturn. To accomplish this, a unique business assessment was conducted by Sarah Lyu of Sarah Lyu Consulting (www.sarahlyuconsulting.com) of all registrants to directly match women business enterprises (WBEs) with potential subcontracting opportunities so that they could directly meet with Prime Suppliers and Subject Matter Experts in one-on-one appointments the day of the event.
In addition to the one-on-one appointments, Corporate Networking and Roundtables filled the morning to provide attendees with vital information and other business opportunities.
Educational Roundtables were well attended and topics included:
Table 1: Business Growth in the Recession
Table 2: Key Elements of Marketing
Table 3: Expanding Resources to Secure Contracts
Table 4: City, State, and Federal Opportunities
The Networking Roundtables were moderated and set up to specifically provide attendees a place to connect with one another and discuss doing business together. Supplier diversity representatives from Chevron and Blue Shield were also on site to meet with registrants and potentially provide additional opportunities for the attending WBEs. Participants were excited with the educational information they received and matches that were made at this groundbreaking Make Me a Match! Procurement Summit. NAWBO®-SFBA would like to thank Union Bank and PG&E for their generous participation and support.
Follow up events are planned for later this year to ensure that WBEs that registered for the May 15th Procurement Summit have the opportunity to be matched with Prime Suppliers for potential subcontracting opportunities. Information about these events will be communicated to registrants as soon as the details are finalized.
For more pictures of the Make Me a Match! Procurement Summit and Leaders & Legends Luncheon, please visit http://www.mitchtobias.com/client_access/nawbo_web