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About this event
Join us for a special session with experts Cora Carmody, Randi Feigin, and Jessica Carps, who will provide a comprehensive overview of Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), discuss the unique dynamics and responsibilities of ESOP boards, and offer strategies for securing board roles within these companies. Gain valuable insights from our speakers' experiences and enhance your board career prospects. Don't miss this opportunity to expand your knowledge and network!
Experts
Jessica Carps Chief Executive Officer & Board Member
Jessica Carps is the CEO and a member of the Board of Directors of Skyline Construction Enterprises, a 100% Employee Owned Commercial Interiors Contractor with offices in California, Washington, and Illinois. She is also a member of the Boards of Directors of Morrison-Maierle and Pavement Recycling Systems. Her expertise lies in scaling businesses, managing risk, and driving profitability. Under her leadership, Skyline has executed multiple M&A transactions, expanded into a multi-state contractor, and increased revenue by 70%.
Randi Feigin Executive and Board Member
Randi is an accomplished Silicon Valley executive with cross-functional experience in public, private, and startup companies, as well as Wall Street. She is highly regarded for her strategic planning, execution, business development, alliances, operations, finance, sales, go-to-market, and merger and acquisition knowledge. She is currently a Partner Sales Leader at Amazon Web Services (AWS), leading partner activities for the Media & Entertainment, Games and Sports division, where she is responsible for partner strategy and day-to-day execution of partner engagements with account teams and large customer stakeholders. Randi currently serves on the board of directors for Pavement Recycling Systems as Audit Chair and on the board of the Pavement Recycling Holdings Foundation. Randi is deeply passionate about helping empower all generations and genders to be great leaders. At AWS she is on the board of Women@AWS Industries, a network of customers, partners, and employees joining together to attract, develop, and empower women in technologies across multiple industry sectors. She is also an AWS Inclusion Ambassador helping to drive a more inclusive culture by speaking about the importance of DEI, promoting DEI programs and events, and interrupting non-inclusive behaviors. Randi is on the board of directors and leadership committee at How Women Lead, a national organization of top executive women focused on activating their individual and collective power to influence the change they want to see in the world through leadership, investment, and philanthropy. Previously, Randi served on the board of directors for Extreme Networks (NASDAQ: EXTR), including the Audit and Strategy committees, SafeToNet Limited, Arx Pax Labs, Saratoga High School Theatre Arts, and the National Investor Relations Institute. In addition, she invests in start-ups that help to improve lives of underrepresented individuals, the planet, and women led initiatives.
Randi attended Stanford Directors’ College, the Beyster Institute’s Corporate Director’s Exchange at UC San Diego, and holds a BS degree in finance from Ithaca College.
Cora Carmody Founder, Chairman
Cora Carmody has served as the Chief Information Officer at Jacobs Engineering, SAIC, Invensys and Litton PRC, significantly improving profitability and supporting growth through innovative IT strategies. She played a key role in transforming SAIC from an ESOP to a publicly traded company and led due diligence and integration efforts for multiple acquisitions at Jacobs. From 2020-2022 she sat on the board of Gresham, Smith & Partners, a private architecture, engineering, and design firm and on the Innovation Advisory Group and Governance Committee. She founded and chairs Technology Goddesses™, a STEM non-profit focused on mentoring across all age groups, and is a Strategic Advisor, Cyber and Technology for DLH Corp. Carmody's board certifications include the NACD CERT Certificate in Cybersecurity Oversight, PDA Private Company Governance Certification, PDA ESOP Governance Certification, PDA Private Equity Portfolio Company Governance and is a NACD Board Governance Fellow.
Hosts
Coco Brown CEO
Coco Brown is the Founder and CEO of Athena Alliance. Athena has helped thousands of leaders build their Portfolio of Impact and grow and advance in their executive careers. The company has also brought almost 500 women to corporate boards from growth stage private companies to name brand public companies. Coco has personally worked with hundreds of top leaders, CEOs and boards to evolve modern leadership. She’s served on ten commercial and non-profit boards and advisory boards, and has led two notable companies (Taos, acquired by IBM, and now Athena). She is part of Nasdaq's Governance Insights Council, and is often called on to share guidance to the evolving focus and breadth of responsibility within the Modern Boardroom. Coco was recently named one of the 100 Most Powerful People of Silicon Valley.
Tue, Sep 17 @ 12:00pm PT (1 hr)
VIRTUAL (Join us remotely! RSVP for link)
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A Look Inside Athena
A Look Inside Athena is held monthly for prospect members to come and understand how Athena works. They will learn more about the backstory of Athena, see a tour of our platform, and have the opportunity to discuss more of what they are interested in and ask questions about joining our community.
Salons
Learn about the most pressing topics facing executives today in an intimate, yet casual, virtual setting. Hosted by board directors and leaders from the world's top brands.
Meetups
Gather with Athena members in your area for a casual, in-person Meetup. These are planned by request and hosted by Athena members in various cities. If you're interested in hosting and/or joining a meetup in the future, reach out to the Member Success Team and let them know.
Peer Groups
We have an incredible community of female leaders at Athena and we want to bring you closer together! Join a Peer Group and build a network of peers you can engage with for guidance, lessons learned and insights around a shared interest. Choose a topic that most interests you or drop in and out of multiple peer groups as it suits you best. You’ll find at least one peer group available to join every week. Each live session goes for one hour, no preparation is needed, just show up as you are. We look forward to seeing you there!
Learning Circles
A Learning Circle is an opportunity to connect with a small group of other Athena members in a focused yet casual setting, creating accountability around targeted learning to assist you in achieving your goals. Over the course of 6 sessions, club members will meet every 2 weeks to participate in an organic, peer-led discussion of the session's "chapters" consisting of 1-2 Athena salons which are to be reviewed on your own prior to the group session. When joining, members are committing to completing all 6 sessions.
Guided Networking
Typically led by one of Athena's coaches, networking events provide members an opportunity to meet one another in a smaller intimate and virtual setting.
Partner Events
These are typically in-person events led by Coco and our partnering companies on topics that are relevant to the industry and audience of our business partners.
Workshops
A workshop is an interactive session for members to actively practice something, such as their pitch. These sessions typically involve breakout rooms, member to member feedback and are not recorded.
Orientations
For members new to Athena looking for ways to engage, these bi-weekly orientations led by an Athena Member Success Manager, provide a live tour of Athena, member success insights, and a chance to get questions answered.
Enterprise Events
Athena customizes virtual learning events with expert business leaders tailored to a unique company’s needs. These events cultivate cross-functional community, development, and learning across the partner organization.
Other
Athena listens and we're always adding new event types and opportunities for members to engage. See what new events we are currently offering members.
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