The Salt Lake Chamber Women’s Business Center will honor four women as Pathfinders a the 35th Annual American Express Women & Business Conference and Wells Fargo Athena Award Luncheon this Wednesday. This is one in a series of posts highlighting our Pathfinder Award honorees.

What is your role in your organization?

I serve as president and CEO of Utah Symphony, Utah Opera, which is the only merged professional opera and orchestra in the United States. The Utah Symphony is one of only seventeen 52 weeks orchestras in the United States.

My role is to set and oversee the strategic direction of the organization, raise awareness, garner support and promote the organization in the community. I also manage the administrative staff and foster relations between the staff, the musicians and a 40 member Board of Trustees.

What is the mission of your organization?

We engage and inspire the community through the performance of great live music.

What is the key to the professional success you have achieved?

The key to my professional success has been having wonderful mentors to help me along the way. I strive to continually seek input, listen and build consensus with key stakeholders while working with conviction towards the goals of the organization. It helps to be in a field that I feel passionately about.  I thrive on building authentic relationships and am motivated to support the artists that I so greatly admire. It also helps to have an incredibly supportive husband and family.

Who is your greatest professional influence?

Connie Linsler Valentine was the Executive Director of the Akron Symphony, which was my first orchestra.  It was a small staff and everyone wore multiple hats.  I had no husband and no family and I worked for peanuts.  But she let me shadow her in everything for two and a half years and that’s where I learned the business.  She remains a very dear friend and someone I call on frequently.  Beyond that, Ronnie Brooks is a consultant that worked for the League of American Orchestras and ran an Executive Leadership Program through the League that I was a part of for two years.  She focuses on leadership development in the nonprofit world and working with her for two years transformed my thinking about leadership and what my role is in the organization.

How did you get into the field you work in?

I was a Piano Performance major at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, but quickly knew that I didn’t want a career as a professional pianist. The competitive nature of the business was not of interest to me, and I had terrible stage fright. I started working in the Summer Programs office of the Conservatory, which hosted eight festivals every summer and I helped to run those for three years while in school.

My last year, I also started working in the PR department of the Conservatory.  Around that time, an alumnus of Oberlin had just become the CEO of the Atlanta Symphony.  At age 35, Allison Vulgamore was the youngest female CEO in the field. I went to visit her in Atlanta to learn more about orchestra management as a career.  She now runs the Philadelphia Orchestra and is a great colleague and friend.

My last year at Oberlin, I received a marketing internship with the Akron Symphony, and that summer I did an internship for the Kent Blossom Chamber Music Festival, as well as continuing my work with the summer festivals at Oberlin.  The Akron Symphony hired me after that summer internship, and the rest is history.

What does it mean to be named a Pathfinder?

I’m incredibly honored, and to receive this recognition is very humbling.  We have only been in Salt Lake for three and a half years, and I began this position with the Utah Symphony | Utah Opera at the beginning of the worst recession in decades, so it has been challenging to say the least.  If not for the wonderful people who support our organization, and the incredibly talented people who work for us, I would not be here.  So I believe this award is really for the entire Utah Symphony | Utah Opera – not just me.

What advice would you give if you could sit down and talk with yourself at age 18?

Keep your doors open, harness your optimism, and whatever it takes make sure to ask for help when you need it. Failure is needed in order to learn and there is no way that the weight of the world should be, nor is it, on your shoulders.  Believing in what your doing is critical in order to succeed, and bringing the right people along with you will help you get there.

The Salt Lake Chamber Women’s Business Center will honor four women as Pathfinders a the 35th Annual American Express Women & Business Conference and Wells Fargo Athena Award Luncheon this Wednesday. This is one in a series of posts highlighting our Pathfinder Award honorees.

What is your role in your organization?

I am a Vice President in the Operations Division of Goldman Sachs, and the Chief of Staff for the Salt Lake City office

What is the mission of your organization?

Goldman Sachs commits people, capital and ideas to help our clients, shareholders and the communities we serve to grow.

What is the key to the professional success you have achieved?

I believe determination, hard work and a keeping a long-term perspective have helped me to achieve my goals.  While of course there have been times in my career where I was discouraged, and if I had given up or switched directions too quickly, I would have missed out on many great opportunities and great leaps in my career.  By striving to do a good job every day and remaining focused, unexpected opportunities have come my way and have made my career very exciting and satisfying over the long term.

Who is your greatest professional influence?

My father is my greatest professional influence, and I have always wanted to be like him, both professionally and personally.  He demonstrated extraordinary talent, intellect, honesty and integrity during his career.   He had the opportunity to influence many, and did so in the best ways.

How did you get into the field you work in?

I always knew that I wanted to work in the Finance industry.  Luckily, I like working with people and find the financial markets to be very intriguing.  It is the perfect fit!

What does it mean to be named a Pathfinder?

I am honored to be recognized as a Pathfinder, and feel that this award represents the great strides that have been made for women in business.  As a recipient, this award demonstrates the commitment that Goldman Sachs has to developing women in the workforce, and I feel great responsibility to help other women in their careers as I’ve been helped in mine.

What advice would you give if you could sit down and talk with yourself at age 18?

First and foremost, I’d advise that education is the key to opportunity.  Second, I’d tell myself to identify my strengths and find opportunities to utilize those strengths.  And, third, it is important to surround yourself with good, bright, talented people who will help challenge you, and help you be better each day.

The Salt Lake Chamber Women’s Business Center will honor four women as Pathfinders a the 35th Annual American Express Women & Business Conference and Wells Fargo Athena Award Luncheon this Wednesday. This is one in a series of posts highlighting our Pathfinder Award honorees.

What is your role in your organization?

I oversee the philanthropic giving and community relations for Smith’s Food & Drug Stores in seven western states including our home base of Utah. My responsibilities also include media relations, serving as the company spokesperson and government relations.

What is the mission of your organization?

We began as a single small grocery store in northern Utah. Today Smith’s is a division of the Kroger Co, the nation’s largest traditional grocery retailer. We strive to earn our customers’ trust in every store by pleasing them beyond their expectations with great products, prices and service.  At the same time, we strive to be an employer of choice to our 13,000 associates. We engage in the community in meaningful ways to customers and associates.

What is the key to the professional success you have achieved?

Learning from others. In my career path I have met many bright, wonderful people who have taught me to respect, to listen and to forgive. Others have taught me practical things like time management, how to be a better parent, and development of my communication skills. Life is grand when each person you meet is a teacher!

Who is your greatest professional influence?

While there are a few I could name, I believe the person who had the most impact on my career was Shelley Thomas, a former local TV anchor who began the public affairs department at Smith’s in 1992 when the Smith family still owned the company. Working with Shelley for seven years challenged me to become better and I learned a lot from her in the public affairs arena.

How did you get into the field you work in?

I had worked for KUTV and KTVX in advertising sales and marketing for about ten years. I had occasion to put a small community program together for Smith’s and work with Shelley Thomas.  That experience eventually led to a phone call from her when she needed additional help at Smith’s in the newly-created public affairs department.

What does it mean to be named a Pathfinder?

I am very honored and grateful to be listed as a Pathfinder among many women I admire in our community. I feel very fortunate to work for a company that places an expectation that we will be an asset within our community and that we will help solve problems by working closely with the nonprofit sector. It is very fulfilling.

What advice would you give if you could sit down and talk with yourself at age 18?

There is no room for self-doubt. Only self- exploration and growth. Seek challenges.