A-State’s Women’s Leadership Center names inaugural members of ‘Remarkable Women’ class

A group of women in leadership roles recognized a unique problem more than seven years ago in the Arkansas Delta. Promoting and developing leadership among women was lacking, especially in the business world.

Arkansas State University opened the Women’s Leadership Center in 2016, and began several outreach programs to mentor young women, Dr. Erika Krennerich Chudy told Talk Business & Politics. Some of those initiatives include the formation of the Women’s Leadership Collaborative and yearly awards program, Remarkable Women.

Since the formation of the Women’s Leadership Center, many women’s lives have been impacted, said Executive Director Dr. Patricia Quinn Johnston. Some of the services provided include mentorships, providing opportunities and helping to make business and civic connections.

“Since 2016 hundreds of girls have been influenced by our mentors and services,” Johnston said.

The U.S. Census Bureau reported in October that about 1.3 million businesses are owned by women, but that’s only 22% of total U.S. businesses. Women owned businesses had estimated annual receipts of $2.1 trillion, employed about 10.5 million workers, and generated about $500 billion in payroll each year.

Women still lag behind men when it comes to promotion to leadership positions within companies, but the trend is slowly changing, according to the Pew Research Center. Among Fortune 500 companies, about 10.6% have a woman CEO, while about one out of every three board members are women. Family responsibilities, gender discrimination, and having to do more, are among the reasons why women lag in leadership roles, according to the Pew survey.

It was reported by Hult International Business School that women typically do as well when it comes to negotiating salaries and they tend to be underrepresented in some key areas such as finance and engineering. One of the quickest paths for a woman to become a leader within an organization is to start the business, and women’s entrepreneurship has risen by about one and a half times the national rate during the last 20 years.

Elizabeth Kimble, Gina Gomez, Sari Harlow, Dr. Brenda Randle, Sandy Alstadt, Madelyn Carson, and Dr. Evette Allen Moore were recently selected for the program’s inaugural Remarkable Women class. Chudy, who serves as ASU’s vice chancellor for advancement and director of planned giving, said 53% of college students on the ASU campus are now female.

“This is an important initiative started by the Women’s Center,” Chudy said.

Kimble, an education program specialist with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, was chosen for the Champion of Women award. A Northeast Arkansas native, Kimble uses her platforms to educate the public on conservation and outdoor recreation, focusing those efforts primarily on women and girls.

Alstadt won the Mentor of the Year award. She has spent more than 30 years in corporate and nonprofit positions, and retired from Entergy Services in 2018 after serving in a variety of positions including director of customer communications and public information officer.

Gomez, the executive director of El Centro Hispano, is the first winner of the Leader in Service award. She has led the center for more than 20 years, helping countless families by providing educational, health and social programs. She works with leaders in rural communities to address issues facing minorities.

Randle, director of the Neighborhood Red Wolves Community Engagement Program, won the Leader in Service award. She is a certified leadership consultant who works to help businesses resolve challenges. She is the owner and COO of The Writing Doctor, LLC, which offers services for editing, writing and publishing.

Carson is the assistant director and program coordinator of the Women’s Leadership Center and won the Unsung Hero award winner. She works with women and girls of all ages as part of the “Step up, Reach Back” program. In addition to other efforts, she leads girls and women in service projects and events each year. The “Step Up and Reach Back” mentoring program launched in 2017 in the Griffin College of Business. The initial goal of that program was to provide role models and mentoring for female students to increase their confidence and to increase retention rates. There were more than 50 women who became mentors and more than 200 young women have been program interns.

Moore, an assistant dean for diversity, equity and inclusion at New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine, is one of two winners of the Women to Watch award. She is a highly requested equity consultant. She has more than 12 years of experience in equity work in higher education.

Harlow is the owner of Verb Bookstore and is the second winner of the Women to Watch award. When her mobile bookstore opened in 2020, Harlow achieved a childhood dream. Last year, the brick-and-mortar store opened on Gee Street. To start her business, she sought help through the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center.