WIT's Women of the Year 2008 Nomination Form

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Women of the Year Judges

2008 Judges

2007 Judges

2006 Judges

2005 Judges

WIT's Women of the Year candidates for each of the three categories are nominated during the "Call For Nominations" process.  A Nominations Committee, which takes on an account management role, manages this process.

• Nomination Acceptance
  
  All properly completed applications are reviewed by the nominations committee. This is to ensure the nominee meets the minimum qualifications for the award.

• Selection of Finalists
  
  A WOTY Selection Committee comprised of former finalists, technology executives, and representatives of WIT narrows the field of nominees to three finalists in each of the three categories, based on the merits of their applications.

• Judging
  
  Finalists participate in an interview conducted by an independent panel of judges comprised of distinguished executives from a variety of business sectors. Judges then deliberate and select the winner in each category based on the merit of their applications and the strength of their interviews.  Note: Sponsor organizations do not participate as judges or in the finalist selection process and are excluded from having members of their respective organizations as nominees.

2008 Judges

Judges for WIT's Women of Year Awards include the top technology and business leaders in Georgia and the nation.

 

 

Joan Herbig
Chief Executive Officer
ControlScan 

Joan Herbig has over 20 years experience in the high-tech world. She has served in many roles throughout her career and has managed her teams to consistently successful outcomes. Named CEO of ControlScan in September 2007, Joan is responsible for business operations and is focused on growing the company's revenues and expanding its position as a leader in the PCI compliance market.

From January of 2005 until its acquisition by nCircle Network Security in May of 2007, Joan was CEO of Cambia Security, Inc., a leader in the configuration auditing space. Prior to Cambia, Joan was CEO of XcelleNet, Inc., an industry leader in wireless systems management, which was acquired by Sybase in May 2004. Before joining XcelleNet, Joan was with Digital Communications Associates (DCA) from 1987 to 1995, where she served as Senior Product Line Manager responsible for marketing and product management of DCA's software product lines.

Joan is also active in the Georgia technology community. She was named the 2001 Woman of the Year in Technology by the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG). She serves on the Board of Directors for the Technology Association of Georgia, and will serve as its Chairman in 2008. She earned a B.A. in French from the University of Louisville and a M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Kentucky.

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Jim Huling
CEO
The Jim Huling Group  

Jim Huling is the founder and CEO of The Jim Huling Group, a consulting organization that enables leaders and teams to create extraordinary results. Jim’s career spans three decades of leadership ranging from FORTUNE 500 organizations to privately-held companies, including being CEO of an award-winning company recognized four times as one of the “25 Best Small Companies to Work for in America.”   Through The Jim Huling Group, Jim and his team now offer the benefit of their experience to companies who want to reach and sustain the highest levels of personal, organizational, and execution excellence.

Jim is a nationally-recognized keynote speaker and the author of Choose Your Life! - a powerful, proven method for creating the life you want, as well as a monthly column, “The Business of Life,” published in SmartBusiness magazines around the country.  Jim is also a past winner of the Turknett Leadership Character Award, recognizing CEOs who demonstrate the highest standard of ethics and integrity.

Jim is most proud of his wonderful marriage of 30 years, being Dad to two phenomenal young adults and “Papa” to his grandkids.  He is also an avid backpacker and white water rafter, and a 3rd Degree Black Belt in Taekwondo.

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Helene Gassen Lollis 
Partner and President
Pathbuilders 

Helene Lollis is the President of PATHBUILDERS, Inc., an organization focused on helping companies shape the future with high-performing women.  PATHBUILDERS works with clients to increase the gender-diversity of their senior leadership teams and focuses on the development of high-potential women at four key stages in their careers.   Since 1995, the organization has worked with over 300 organizations and has impacted the career success of nearly 2500 Atlanta-area women.

Prior to being with PATHBUILDERS, Helene spent 12 years with Amoco and then BP Corporations in a wide range of responsibilities in the commodity plastics arena.  Helene is frequently invited to speak the topics of mentoring, women in the workplace, and career planning, both inside client companies (e.g., BellSouth, LeasePlan USA, Coca-Cola Enterprises, etc.) and for other organizations (e.g., Georgia Tech’s Alumni Mentoring Program, The International Alliance for Women, Research Triangle Institute, Piedmont Healthcare, etc.)

Helene is extremely active in the Atlanta community and is a proud graduate of the Leadership Atlanta Class of 2008.  She serves on the Board of Directors of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, where she co-chairs the Regional Education Policy Committee.  She serves on the Boards of Junior Achievement of Georgia and the Possible Woman Foundation International. Helene was selected as a finalist for the Metro Atlanta Chamber’s Small Business Person of the Year Award in 2005 and in 2007 was recognized by the Executive Women of Goizueta as the Guiding Star Award Winner.

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Tino Mantello
President
Technology Association of Georgia

Tino Mantella joined TAG in September, 2004 as the organization's new President.

Mantella, prior to joining TAG, had amassed over 20 years of related experience leading two of the nations more prestigious volunteer-driven organizations - National Arthritis Foundation and YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago.

As President and CEO of two multifaceted and complex charities, he spearheaded agendas that led to the development of innovative new services, resulting in the facilitation of significant membership growth. In addition, Mantella’s track record reflects impressive results in fund raising, advocacy, and economic development. Since coming to TAG, Mantella has worked with a team of dedicated volunteers and staff to: build a prestigious board made up of 48 technology stakeholders; grow membership by more than 20%; and add a series of program and services that support TAG’s vision of educating, informing and uniting the technology community.

Mantella is a long-standing member of the Northwestern Universities’ Kellogg Board; the Young Presidents Organization (YPO); and the board of Catholic Social Services of Atlanta.

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Elisabeth Marchant
Publisher
Atlanta Woman Magazine

Elisabeth Marchant is the Publisher of Atlanta Woman. Marchant is known throughout the region as a top publishing executive with more than a decade of experience as an industry leader. Most recently Marchant served as Executive Director of Multicast Media, a broadband technology company specializing in delivering on demand and live content on the Internet. Prior to that, she was the President and CEO of The Leader Publishing Group, and was the first publisher of Atlanta Woman magazine, and Publisher of Business to Business magazine.
Marchant is involved in the Atlanta community, served on numerous boards including The Atlanta Community Food Bank, Henry W. Grady Hospital Foundation, and many others.
Marchant has received numerous awards including:

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Wendy Reed 
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
InfoMentis

As the Founder and CEO of InfoMentis, Wendy uses her entrepreneurial drive to help clients change the way they interact with customers and prospects and continues to be a catalyst for InfoMentis' leadership within the consulting and performance improvement space.

Starting her career in Information Technology with Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting), Wendy went on to hold sales, marketing and sales management positions with organizations such as MSA (which later became Dun & Bradstreet Software), Viasoft and Clarus, as well as acquiring valuable customer experience during her time with Hayes Microcomputer products. Wendy has been instrumental in managing and mentoring some of the industry's top sales professionals.

As a prominent industry speaker, Wendy is regularly asked to speak at events such as Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference, Oracle's Worldwide Leadership Forum, and is a regular speaker at ATDC's Brown Bag Lunches, Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals Events, Technology Executive Round Table Events, TAG's Entrepreneurial Forums, WIT Events, IHRIM, Global Executive Woman and High Tech CEO Council.

Additionally, Wendy continues to be recognized by organizations such as American Business Women’s Association Express Network as a 2008 Phenomenal Woman, Ernst & Young as the 2006 Entrepreneur of the Year, WIT (Women In Technology) as the 2006 Woman of the Year, in Catalyst Magazine - Top 50 Entrepreneur in 2004, 2005 and 2006, TAG (Technology Association of Georgia) - Excalibur Award Finalist in 2005, Metro Atlanta's Chamber of Commerce - 2004 Small Business Person of Year Award Finalist, Georgia Trend Magazine - 40 Under 40 Georgia's Brightest Stars in 2002 and Clarkson University - Entrepreneurial Success in 2001.

Wendy received a bachelor's degree in computer-based management with a minor in communications from Clarkson University in 1984.

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Karen Robinson
President
Prime Point Media

As President of Prime Point Media, Karen is responsible for the overall strategic direction and management of the company. She joined Prime Point Media in 2001 when the company was still in the planning stages and has been instrumental in the successful commercialization of the business.

Before joining Prime Point, Karen was chair and CEO of Enrev Corporation, a battery management technology company. At Enrev, she led the company's development of a licensing model for its proprietary technology, which included more than a dozen patents worldwide; established a notable roster of private stockholders and raised more than $41 million of capital. Prior to Enrev, she was president and CEO of Electronic Power Technology, Inc. From 1991 until 1993, she served as vice president of sales and marketing for telecommunications company Amnex, where she doubled sales in less than two years and led the company to rank second in its category in INC. magazine's fastest growing publicly-held companies. Prior to that, Karen served as vice president of sales and marketing for National Data Corporation, a $900 million publicly-traded company. She has also held leadership positions at AT&T and the May Company where, at 23, she was the youngest divisional sales manager in the company's history.

Karen holds a BA in economics and political science from the University of Redlands. She is the outgoing president of the Technology Executive Round Table, and a protégé in the Committee of 200, the premier Women's National Professional Organization. In 2000 she was honored as the Georgia Technology Woman of the Year and Wireless Weekly named her one of the top 20 women in the wireless industry. She is a frequent speaker at both the regional and national levels, and has most recently spoken at MIT, Georgia Tech, Harvard and Emory Universities.

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Carolyn N. (Lyn) Turknett
President
Turknett Leadership Group

Carolyn Turknett is co-founder and President of Turknett Leadership Group, an Atlanta-based consulting firm providing leadership and organization development services to companies in a variety of industries. She has more than twenty years experience in management and leadership consulting. The focus of her work is character in leadership, organization assessment and change, executive team development, and leadership in turbulent times.

Ms. Turknett’s consulting engagements have included leadership and executive team development, cultural assessment and change, mergers, and individual feedback and coaching. She is particularly interested in helping teams at all levels improve effectiveness and working relationships, and in helping organizations maximize intellectual capital and create cultures that support flexibility and initiative.

Ms. Turknett received her B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Georgia, where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She received her M.A. in Sociology, with special emphasis in organizational sociology, from the University of Georgia.

Current research interests include leadership and Constructive Developmental Theory and gender differences in leadership style. In presentations at national and local conferences and in publications, Ms. Turknett has addressed such topics as leadership character, leadership in the information age, trends in executive development, executive coaching, retention, organizational culture, women in leadership, and revitalization after downsizing.

Lyn, along with business and life partner Bob, recently published a book about their work together entitled, Decent People, Decent Company: How to Lead with Character at Work and in Life. The book is based on the Turknett Leadership Character Model, a model that describes the kind of character all of us need to lead wherever we are.

Ms. Turknett is a member of numerous professional organizations, including the Academy of Management, the Organization Development Network, the Society for Human Resource Management, and the Organization Change Alliance.

Lyn has long been an active United Way supporter. She has chaired the United Way in DeKalb campaign, and is serving currently on the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta Board of Directors. She has recently serviced with her husband, Bob, as co-chair of the United Way Cole Society for Leadership Giving. She is also an elder in the Presbyterian Church.

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John C. Yates
Chair, Technology Group
Morris, Manning & Martin LLP 

Mr. Yates is chair of the Technology Group of the Atlanta-based law firm, Morris, Manning & Martin LLP.  He has been practicing exclusively in this area for over 25 years and is internationally recognized in the software, ecommerce and internet law fields.  His firm represents technology companies in all stages of growth and is a leader in venture capital and private equity deals, IPOs and mergers and acquisitions.  Mr. Yates has held numerous leadership positions in technology associations and has served on the Board of Advisors of many technology companies in the U.S. and abroad.  He co-founded several non-profit associations, including the Southeastern Software Association, the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG), the CEO Council, and the Southeastern Medical Device Association (SEMDA).  Mr. Yates is Chair of the Technology Marketing Council of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and also serves on the Chamber’s Board and Executive Committee.  In addition to being a frequent speaker at major technology organizations, Mr. Yates has authored hundreds of articles and was cited by the U.S. Supreme Court in Kodak vs. Image Technical Services. Mr. Yates is frequently quoted in business publications, including The  Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and the Atlanta Business Chronicle.  He received his B.A., magna cum laude, and his J.D. from Duke University.

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