Acxiom, Women’s Foundation of Arkansas form new partnership to promote Girls of Promise STEM initiative

by Talk Business & Politics staff ([email protected]) 792 views 

The Women’s Foundation of Arkansas (WFA) announced a new partnership with Acxiom on Thursday (Feb. 14) in an event on the Acxiom campus in Conway. The partnership will involve a two-year sponsorship by Acxiom of the WFA’s Girls of Promise initiative, which is celebrating its 20th year and encourages girls to continue pursuing higher-level science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses and careers in those fields.

“The Women’s Foundation of Arkansas is excited to continue our partnership with Acxiom in this way as we celebrate 20 years of Girls of Promise,” said Anna Beth Gorman, Women’s Foundation of Arkansas executive director. “Acxiom’s dedication to girls in STEM will continue to encourage girls in our state to truly explore their options and pursue dreams.”

The Girls of Promise conference will take place April 11-12, 2019 in Little Rock. Barbara Sugg, Vice President of IT and Chief Security Officer at Southwest Power Pool, will be the conference’s keynote speaker.

“Acxiom is proud to support the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas and this unique program,” said Janet Cinfio, Acxiom Chief Information Officer. “We believe diversity sparks innovation. We are proud of our inclusive and supportive workplace environment, where employees feel empowered and encouraged to put their unique experiences and talents to work every day. Supporting girls in STEM takes Acxiom’s values into the community and helps nurture bright future leaders, which will benefit our industry and our state.”

The Women’s Foundation of Arkansas’ (WFA) mission is to promote and foster programs, activities and opportunities that expand and strengthen the roles of women and girls in Arkansas. It is the only statewide foundation that focuses solely on improving their academic, economic and social well-being.

In addition to the Girls of Promise Conference, WFA regularly organizes coding summits for middle school and high school girls, film screenings, speaker series and panels that highlight issues important to advancing the status of women.

WFA also conducts and publishes research in areas such as educational attainment, socio-economic circumstances, health, workforce participation, careers and barriers to success.