Former NWACC boss launching women’s empowerment program

When Dr. Becky Paneitz walked away in 2013 from her 10 years as president of NorthWest Arkansas Community College, she had no long-term plans for what she would tackle next. She wasn’t without challenges. Her husband is in the latter stages of Alzheimer’s and she is raising her nine-year-old granddaughter, Isabella. 

“Life happens,” Paneitz said. “Because I have had challenges in my personal life, I realize that I can help others who are dealing with their own issues. No one is exempt from adversity and hardships in this life. It is how we deal with them and ultimately grow from experiencing those hardships that matters.”

Paneitz believes reaching out to assist others helps her.

“I could easily spend all of my time worrying about things that I have no control over. I want my granddaughter to grow up to be a strong, compassionate woman. What better way than to model that behavior for her now?” she said.

In the months that followed Paneitz’s retirement she spent a lot of time networking, mulling over her own passions and trying to figure out how she might use any talent she had to help others.

“I also spent a great deal of time in coffee houses, meeting new people, and listening to them. … It was the first time I could interact with people as ‘Becky,’ instead of ‘Dr. Paneitz, NWACC President,’” she said.

One of the things she kept coming back to was the number of relationships she had honed over the years and the lack of a connected professional women’s agenda that would cross generational, ethnic and socio-economic lines. After attending several women’s events and hearing issues and challenges facing women, Paneitz felt compelled to address the issue of women’s empowerment.

“I also began to coach several women who were facing a challenge or exploring a new opportunity. It became clear that I had a passion for helping women — using my own experiences as a professional woman to coach and teach others,” Paneitz said.

MENTORING SUPPORT
While Paneitz is a supporter of women mentoring other women she said it has not always been in vogue.

“The interesting thing about coming of age and entering into the workplace in the 1970's was that there were very few women who had been successful and who were available and willing to mentor. Instead of supporting others, the few of us who were growing our careers were competing against each other, or had the idea that other women would have to scratch their way to the top just as we were,” Paneitz recalled.

She called out two mentors from her professional and personal life that did have a profound impact on her career and personal achievements. The first was a vice president in the first college Paneitz worked at in Colorado. 

“She was a petite French woman who could kill anyone with kindness, but who could make the tough decisions,” Paneitz said. “She asked me how I wanted to be remembered after I am gone. That took a great deal of soul-searching at the time.” 

Paneitz remembers the mentor as someone who modeled professional leadership but equally important, lived her life gracefully. Paneitz also said the mentor was politically savvy.

“If we were in a meeting, whether it be with community leaders, legislators, or college faculty/staff, she always listened to what people were saying, getting a sense of what agendas were out there and thinking about what her message should be. She did not immediately join in the discussion until she had a good read of the dynamics in the room. This taught me two things – patience and how to establish credibility. They have served me well over the years,” Paneitz said.

She also is grateful for a cousin whom she grew up with in south Arkansas. 

“Over the years, she has been an accountability partner and my truth teller. She is the finest example of a good woman who lives her life helping others. She is also not afraid to suggest to me that I may be making a bad decision,” Paneitz said.

NATIONAL LEADERSHIP
Paneitz recently accepted the role as a national spokeswoman for the “Authentic Women – Partnering to Make a Difference” initiative, under the broader umbrella of Future Achievement International (FAI), an organization devoted to character-based leadership. Future Achievement co-founders in California offer a curricula and platform that Paneitz is comfortable teaching and sharing with women in Northwest Arkansas.

“I have invested in my own personal certification process and have chosen to align my company, Inseitz Group, with FAI, knowing that my desire to impact women can be met at at a much great level than I initially envisioned,” Paneitz said.

In this role, Paneitz hopes to connect a broad range of other women’s initiatives that already exist in pockets across the region.

“Our mission is to complete, not to compete, with the efforts already underway,” Paneitz said.

NWA PILLARS
She is wasting no time in creating pillars for her vision of a more connected professional women’s network across Northwest Arkansas.

“I am in the process of identifying a team of professional women at various stages of life who have the passion and desire to be certified using this platform,” she said. “As we prepare these women who come on board and who are ready to be the trainers/coaches, we will also begin to identify cohorts of women who would like to participate in the program. It is envisioned that we could begin our first cohort program in early spring 2016.” 

She also plans a social responsibility initiative to help provide financial support for select non-profit organizations with the desire and ability to establish, develop and sustain a “Personal Leadership Effectiveness” culture.

Paneitz said she’s not worried about hurdles along this journey. Before she joined the FAI team and was exploring the women’s empowerment mission on her own, she realized that the seeds of passion were already firmly planted.

“I had the relationships, the passion and the energy to devote to the cause. What I did not have was the platform (the PLE curricula including the web-based training). The PLE program has been validated and used in over 50 countries. When I discovered it, everything just fell into place. So now we are ready to launch,” she said.

Paneitz has already identified a number of professional and personal colleagues who are interested in learning more about how they can impact and transform the cultures of their organizations.

“We will be inviting women to come to briefings to learn more about the initiative in the near future.”

ACADEMIC AND BUSINESS PARTNERS
Paneitz said reaching out to academic partners is a no-brainer. This past spring Paneitz was delighted when Bumpers College at the University of Arkansas used the FAI curriculum. She said the introductory course was well attended and valuable enough that it has been now been made part of the College’s regular course offerings.

She has also spoken to the Soderquist Center at John Brown University, which is interested in hearing more about the program. Paneitz said she will reach out to area chambers of commerce for possible opportunities to teach the curriculum on professional development for women.

Lastly, she plans to approach corporate human resource directors and other corporate leadership about offering professional leadership coursework internally.

“Since we have the social responsibility initiative rolling out soon, we will be in the process of identifying philanthropic entities as well as governmental agencies that are interested in partnering with us to help defray costs. We want to give women from all walks of life the opportunity to participate in the professional leadership effectiveness platform.”