Women Who Excel Awards recognize achievement, support of ideals

Smart Business proudly announces the first class of Women Who Excel Awards. The honors were announced at the 12th annual Perspectives: Women Who Excel Conference last month. When the first Perspectives: Women Who Excel Conference was held in 2002, a group of dynamic leading women executives shared their insights on what it takes to redefine and reinvigorate leadership styles in order to move business forward. Each year, the tradition has continued with the opportunity to hear women leaders discuss leadership topics. This year, we added the new component of awards to recognize five leaders and organizations. The Women Who Excel Awards recognize individual women for their professional achievements as well as organizations that support women-based initiatives and foster workplaces where women can thrive. Awards were given in three categories:

Progressive Woman Award

Recognizes female executives or managers who have risen through the ranks in their career and overcome significant challenges along the way.

Buffy Filippell Founder and President TeamWork Online TeamWork Consulting
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Auspicious start: The International Management Group wooed her to Cleveland in 1978 to be its first female executive/agent.
Discovered: No. 3 ranked tennis player Andrea Jaeger and represented her.
Also represented: Tennis legend Ken Rosewall.
Found senior execs: for the NBA, NFL, MLB, NASCAR, PGA Tour, Women’s World Cup and the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
Her clients: Some 780 sports organizations use TeamWork Online exclusively for their recruiting needs.
Other honors: Lifetime Achievement Award from the Sports Management Association; Woman of the Year by Cleveland Women and Sports Events.

 

Jennifer Bell Regional Managing Director – Northeast Region Aon Risk Solutions
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Duties: Bell oversees management of the Philadelphia, Boston, Pittsburgh, Cleveland/Akron, Columbus and Cincinnati offices, which have more than 400 employees.
Board member: Sisters of Charity Foundation, American Heart Association, In Council with Women, United Way of Greater Cleveland.
Graduate: Leadership Cleveland 2008.
Feather in her cap: Chair of the 2010 American Heart Association Go Red for Women Campaign. Together with her leadership team, more than $615,000 was raised, ranking the campaign third in the nation.
Other activities: Judge for EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ 2013, Big Sister in the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program.
Other awards: Greater Cleveland YWCA 2014 Woman of Achievement Award.

Kelly Loebick-Frascella HR Director Main Street Gourmet
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First job with Main Street Gourmet: Entry-level production line position.
Employees, when she started in 1997: about 40.
Employees today: about 125.
Degree: Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Akron. Studying for her master degree in business administration from UA.
Other initiatives at Main Street Gourmet: A leadership development curriculum, an attendance tracking system and full-scope employee safety and wellness programs.
Quotation on her office wall: “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Progressive Organization award

Recognizes organizations that support or promote women-based initiatives, develop specific programs that provide opportunities for advancement or create family-friendly workplaces.

Marc Merklin Managing Partner Brouse McDowell
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Firm founded as: Commins, Brouse, Englebeck & McDowell in January 1919.
Composition: Of the firm’s 75 attorneys, 31 are female — 19 of which are partners. Half of the associates are women.
A new initiative: The Women in Law Program, in which leaders facilitate a women-centric event each quarter.
Honors: 2014 “Best Law Firms” U.S. News and World Report; Metropolitan Tier 1 rankings in Cleveland for Corporate Law; Metropolitan Tier 2 rankings for Environmental Law and Insurance Law; Metropolitan Tier 3 rankings for Commercial Litigation and Litigation — Environmental.

 

Robert Klonk CEO Oswald Cos.
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Firm founded: 1893 in Cleveland.
Groups benefitting from Oswald’s WOOHOO in 2013: The USO, Providence House, Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, Children’s Tumor Foundation, TakeMe2 Animal Rescue and Women’s Recovery Center.
Day of Caring: At least once a year a local charity is the recipient of Oswald employees investing a day of labor, including painting, cleaning or making other on-site improvements. Nearly 40 employees commit personal time and money as trustees or advisers for 70 nonprofit organizations.
Volunteer of the year: Chairman and CEO Marc S. Byrnes was named the 2012 Volunteer of the Year by the United Way of Greater Cleveland. He was also United Way Executive Board member and Donor Relations Committee Chair and co-chaired the 2008 campaign that raised more than $40 million.

Young Entrepreneur award

Recognizes young women entrepreneurs (under the age of 30) who have either founded or co-founded for-profit or nonprofit organizations.

Nichelle McCall Founder and CEO BOLD Guidance
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Education: Baldwin-Wallace University and CUNY Baruch College with honors. She got her start as a college admissions counselor for Baldwin-Wallace University. 
Startups: BOLD Guidance is her third startup in the college prep space over the last 10 years. It provides a mobile app that makes the college application process less stressful. The two others were Minds Matter of Cleveland Inc. and Community Strategies Consulting LLC. 
Recognition: Within its first year, Community Strategies Consulting LLC was selected to organize Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson’s Higher Education Compact Symposium highlighting college access best practices.