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For Immediate Release: July 25, 2016
Contact: Roger Noyes (518) 275-6961 (cell); (518) 810-0665 (office)
SARATOGA SPRINGS – Top-tier, nationally recognized women thought-leaders, communications experts, researchers, authors and popular-media voices will share their wisdom and skills as part of the inaugural Women in Healthcare Leadership Summit on September 28 and 29 in Saratoga Springs.
The summit is sponsored by the Home Care Association of New York State (HCA) – but this conference is not just for home health representatives. It offers universal skills and insights to empower women executives in all healthcare subsectors: business and finance; lobbying; government policymaking; strategy consulting; law; and other areas where women leaders aspire to enhance their talents, skills and leadership potential within healthcare. To register, download a brochure, learn more about the summit or become a sponsor at the summit, please visit https://hca-nys.org/general-news/hcas-first-ever-women-in-healthcare-leadership-summit-sept-28-29-in-saratoga.
“New York State has some of the most prominent women leaders in healthcare, but the reality is that women are vastly underrepresented in executive-level healthcare positions here and throughout the United States,” said HCA President Joanne Cunningham. “This summit addresses an unmet need for skill-development, networking and self-empowerment.”
The Summit is a first for HCA, whose conferences, policy development, and advocacy work almost exclusively surround issues affecting the home and community-based care sector.
“For this program, we’re opening up a bigger tent but also very precisely targeting our objectives to women leaders in healthcare, no matter what specific market or career field they occupy. The skills and connections women will make at this summit are universal and transferable within health care, whether it’s how to become a better negotiator, communicate with purpose, learn the benefits of sponsorship and mentoring opportunities, or overcome obstacles that traditionally inhibit women’s career advancement,” Cunningham added.
“Research strongly suggests that a higher representation of women on corporate boards and on leadership teams helps enhance an organization’s overall performance, which is critical in a health care business and policy environment that rewards outcomes first and foremost,” Cunningham said. “When women gain the tools to achieve their personal career goals, not only do they benefit, but so do the organizations they lead.”
Among the speakers at the September 28-29 Summit are:
- Nancy Miriam Hawley, founder of the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, Inc., which was responsible for writing the best-seller Our Bodies, Ourselves, a classic text whichshifted the national and international dialogue about women’s health, sexuality and power. She’ll offer insights about the timeless and essential ingredients to leadership growth, success and collectively cracking the glass ceiling in the healthcare industry and beyond.
- Karen Friedman, an international communications expert, former television news anchor, writer, and author of the best-selling book Shut Up and Say Something (Praeger Publishing). Her expertise drew the attention of former Secretary of State (and Presidential candidate) Hillary Rodham Clinton who tapped Friedman to provide media and political training for women in South and Central America. She’ll offer the same sort of training at the Leadership Summit, showing women leaders how to best tap their unique perspectives as women to contribute and communicate with maximum impact across diverse audiences.
- Bethany Gilboard, CEO of Innovative Health Alliance of New York and Alliance for Better Healthcare, LLC, a successful veteran of health care industry strategy and one of the state’s most prominent women health care leaders, who will share her unique perspective on tackling tough professional and personal challenges and dilemmas.
- Vicky Hines, a home care leader who has risen through the ranks to become Chief Operating Officer of the University of Rochester Medical Faculty Group. A leading policy voice in healthcare, she will offer tips for professional development that can lead to the best career choices.
- Dr. Jacqueline Hornor Plumez, author of The Bitch in Your Head: How to Finally Squash Your Inner Critic, who will present tools and techniques to combat negative thinking – a perspective that has invited her for appearances on The Today Show and Good Morning America, as well as articles in Ladies’ Home Journal and The New York Times Magazine.
- Rachel Soares of the Catalyst Research Center for Equity in Business Leadership, who directs research to identify the global gender leadership gap, investigate myths that restrain women’s advancement into corporate leadership, and explore how diversity, leadership and performance intersect. Her session will acquaint attendees with the principles of sponsorship through concrete strategies to get sponsored and be a sponsor.
The program will also include a women’s mini-expo of vendors, networking receptions, and a chance for women to obtain a free executive headshot for their C.V. or professional networking platforms.