Women in Business Impact Lab (WBIL) Podcast

S1E8 - Women in Business Leadership Speaker Series, with Shelly Johnson

In this WBIL Podcast episode, Dr. Kelly Hall (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellyreneehall/) talks with Shelly Johnson as part of the Women in Business Leadership Speaker Series. Shelly Johnson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/shellymjohnson1/) is an executive vice president of operations, risk, and strategy at Zions Bank, with management responsibilities for commercial loan operations, risk, and diversity, equity and inclusion. She brings over25 years of combined finance and risk experience to her current position. Since 2013 she started with the bank in Credit Administration as the Intermountain Regional Credit Executive’s Portfolio Manager and later promoted to Finance in 2016 reporting to the bank’s CFO. Most recently, Johnson and her team were key to the operations of the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) for Zions Bank generating over 22,000 total loans and total loan portfolio in the amount of $2.4B. ZB, N.A. was ranked13th in the nation for number of loans funded. Before her career at Zions, Johnson’s professional experience has been with British Petroleum, Wasatch Energy, and a biofuel start up in credit risk and underwriting, managing counterparty lines of credit, global food and agriculture portfolios, small business portfolios, financial trading, compliance, and company policies. Johnson received a double bachelor’s degree in psychology and communications from Weber State University. She received an MBA degree from Westminster College and is certified in Lean and Six Sigma from the University of Utah as well as women’s leadership. She is a board member for Mountain West Small Business Finance, serves on committees with the Utah Bankers Association (UBA), and serves as the past Salt Lake Chapter president for the Risk Management Association (RMA). Johnson has been listed for several years running in the American Banker magazine as a member of the “Most Powerful Women in Banking” Top Banking Teams. She’s also been a past panelist for American Bankers Association’s, Women Leadership Forum. She and her family live in Bountiful, Utah. Learn more about the WBIL at www.uvu.edu/woodbury/wbil/.

S1E7 - Helping Employers Attract and Retain STEM+ Women, with D Sangeeta

In this WBIL Podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanhwestover/) talks with D Sangeeta about helping employers attract and retain STEM+ women. At 29, Sangeeta (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dsangeeta/) was at the end of her rope, about to quit a STEM career she loved because she couldn't navigate the roadblocks that were being thrown in front of her — as a woman, as an immigrant, as a person of color. Luckily, a mentor reached out, guided her, and she stayed in her career for another two decades, achieving 26 patents and leading global teams of 5,000+ with budgets of more than $200 million. She has mentored other STEM women, but could only help one woman at a time. That's why she is building a scalable, for-profit career advice platform so 30+ million STEM women around the world have access to the advice they need from top professionals to stick with their careers and thrive. Today, she can lead her global company because of the early leadership, business, and life lessons she learned - first as a scientist with GE; then as Director of Marketing and various managerial positions with GE Aviation; then as Global Head of Data Science and Chief Diversity Officer with Nielsen; then as VP of Connections with Amazon - all thanks to her sponsor who reached out in the very beginning. Learn more about the WBIL at www.uvu.edu/woodbury/wbil.

S1E6 - HBR Minute - How to Stop Promoting Incompetent Men

In this "HBR Minute" WBIL Podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanhwestover/) explores the recent HBR video, "How to Stop Promoting Incompetent Men." See the video here: https://youtu.be/5XikR_aN0Hk. Video Overview: "Are there fewer women in management because we can’t discern between confidence and competence? The popular explanations range from women just aren’t capable of being leaders to women just don’t want to be leaders. According to author Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic however, the absence of women in leadership roles has less to do with women themselves and more to do with how we interpret leadership traits. Confidence – a trait more associated with men – is often misinterpreted as competence. As a result, charismatic, but incompetent men have fewer barriers to reach the top than women. Individuals in positions to promote and hire managers should think more critically about what seems like a leadership trait versus what is an actual leadership trait. They will find that arrogance and overconfidence – the characteristics that get men into management positions – are also the characteristics that cause poor performance." Learn more about the WBIL at www.uvu.edu/woodbry.wbil.

S1E5 - Women in Business Leadership Speaker Series, with Jessica Bundy

In this WBIL Podcast episode, Dr. Kelly Hall (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellyreneehall/) talks with Jessica Bundy as part of the Women in Business Leadership Speaker Series. Jessica Bundy (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-bundy-mba-81113749/) is an experienced leader and consumer behavior professional. Currently, sheserves as Manager, Consumer Insight for the Walt Disney Company, specializing in unstructured big dataresearch. Jessica leads a team that analyzes and reports primarily on social media conversations andsurvey responses supporting the Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products segment. She has worked atDisney for nearly ten years and has experience in digital marketing, text analytics, AI/ML, qualitativeresearch, foresight/futures studies, and more. Her expertise in these areas enabled her to provide rapidreporting that guided business decisions on COVID-19 throughout the 2020 pandemic. During her tenure at Disney, Jessica has contributed to many key business initiatives. For example, sheoverhauled a manual survey analysis process using text analytics, creating greater speed to insightwithout losing quality in reporting results. She also co-developed Global Marketing and Sales’ firstmentoring program at Disney Parks and has regularly supported Diversity, Equity & Inclusion initiatives. Jessica is also a frequent contributor to organizational and industry events. She served as a speaker forDisney Parks’ first International Women’s Day Celebration in 2019 and has been a multi-time presenterat the annual Disney Data and Analytics Conference. She has also been featured at the annual NetbaseQuid Live Social Listening Conference. Jessica earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Management from University atBuffalo, and she earned her Master of Business Administration from Stetson University. Learn more about the WBIL at www.uvu.edu/woodbury/wbil.

S1E4 - Empowering Women to Go After What They Want and to Dream Big, with Genecia Alluora

In this WBIL Podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Genecia Alluora about empowering women to go after what they want and to dream big. Genecia Alluora (https://www.linkedin.com/in/genecia/) is a former beauty queen and the Founder of Soul Rich Woman, South East Asia's leading network for female entrepreneurs connecting 12,000+ women and 200,000 subscribers across the region.  The network helps women to build their brand recognition and online reputation as a leader, for more customers, confidence and credibility - while making a positive impact in the world. Including Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia. Prior, she was an owner of a cafe retail chain with a presence in 3 countries, and successfully exited to a public listed company just recently. Learn more about the WBIL at www.uvu.edu/woodbury/wbil.

S1E3 - Inspiring TED Talks - Why We Have Too Few Women Leaders, with Sheryl Sandberg

In this "Inspiring TED Talks" WBIL Podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanhwestover/) explores Sheryl Sandberg's famous 2010 TED Talk, "Why We Have Too Few Women Leaders". See the full video and all of the details here: https://www.ted.com/talks/sheryl_sandberg_why_we_have_too_few_women_leaders. "Why aren’t there more women in leadership? In this TED Talk, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg looks at why a smaller percentage of women than men reach the top of their professions. Watch the video to hear three powerful pieces of advice for women aiming for the C-suite in their industry." Sheryl Kara Sandberg (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheryl-sandberg-5126652/) is the chief operating officer (COO) of Facebook, the founder of LeanIn.Org, and a philanthropis. In June 2012, she was elected to Facebook's board of directors, becoming the first woman to serve on its board. Before she joined Facebook as its COO, Sandberg was vice president of global online sales and operations at Google, and was involved in its philanthropic arm Google.org. Before that, Sandberg served as chief of staff for United States Secretary of the Treasury, Lawrence Summers. Learn more about the WBIL at www.uvu.edu/woodbury/wbil.

S1E2 - Women in Business Leadership Speaker Series, with Nikki Walker

In this WBIL Podcast episode, Dr. Kelly Hall (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellyreneehall/) talks with Nikki Walker as part of the Women in Business Leadership Speaker Series. Nikki Walker (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikkiwalkerpr/) is a consummate public relations professional with cross category experiences in the fields of beauty, fashion,celebrity and lifestyle. Specialties include media relations and press placement, celebrity seeding and wrangling, press and red-carpet event development and activation, consumer engagement and launch strategies. Ms. Walker has carved for herself a uniqueniche in the industry with her ability to bring ethnic brands into the mass consciousness and create opportunities for mainstreambrands to authentically penetrate diverse markets. While interning with the Public Relations equivalent of a modern-day Henry Higgings, she was thrusted into that world and quicklylearned the importance of well-maintained relationships, media strategies and effective crisis management. Transitioning to andrising through the ranks at a well-known mid-sized NY beauty public relations firm, Walker created an ethnic beauty division oncehome to Black Opal, Crème of Nature, Luster hair Care and other ethnic brands seeking mainstream media coverage. The award-winning publicist (Silver Anvil/Publicist of the Year) has worked with brands like Coca Cola, SONY, Universal Record, PETA and Carol'sDaughter and secured national coverage for clients on cable and network television, morning talk shows, national radio and generalmarket magazines such as Vogue, Elle, Glamour, In Style and others. In Walker’s former role as Global Brand Awareness Director for Young Living Essential Oils, Nikki led domestic communityengagement, global media outreach, strategic brand partnerships, civic and government relationships and corporate socialresponsibility and philanthropic efforts. Her team developed and executed all consumer facing activations and regularly engaged withmedia to share Young Living’s message of whole life wellness with communities both home and abroad. As the Director of Community Engagement and DEI for Domo, Nikki works with a team of professionals to elevate and amplify thebrand by creating and driving PR programs and initiatives focused on diversity and inclusion, workplace equity and belonging,community engagement and Domo for Good. In her role as DEI Director, Walker leads Domo’s newly formed DEI leadership council,which represents multiple voices from around the organization to bring a more contextual application of DEI best practices andoutcomes across the entire business. In addition to helping advance a culture of belonging, Walker also focuses on creatingemployment pipelines and supporting student leadership programs that help build and nurture a more diverse pool of qualified talentfor the tech industry. Nikki currently serves on the board of directors for Encircle and The Children’s Center and the Utah Tech Leads PAC, the FoundationBoard and President’s Cabinet of Salt Lake Community College, the KUED Advisory Board, Utah Valley Chamber DEI Advisory Boardand is an active member of the NAACP, the Utah Black Chamber and the Junior League of Salt Lake City. She is the 2020 DiamondAward for excellence in civic engagement and business and the 2021 winner of the Women Tech Council Change Catalyst award. Learn more about the Women in Business Impact Lab at www.uvu.edu/woodbury/wbil/.

S1E1 - Inaugural Episode - Flexibility As a Key to Women Succeeding in the Workplace, with Christina Brun Petersen

In this inaugural episode of the WBIL Podcast, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanhwestover/) talks with Christina Brun Petersen about flexibility as a key to women succeeding in the workplace. Christina Brun Petersen (https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-brun-petersen-7192554/) co-founded Worksome in 2016. Today she leads the flexible revolution as Worksome’s Chief People Officer. Her focus is on creating and delivering both a flexible, supportive, and inclusive environment for employees and a best in class hiring experience for candidates. As a thought leader and changemaker for the global HR community, Christina is passionate about making the future of work a reality. To do so she believes in supporting four fundamental initiatives at work: A people-first company culture that is inclusive, authentic and sustainable; trust and strength based leadership; a flexible workplace that fosters agility and autonomy; and innovation driven by diversity and inclusion. Learn more about the WBIL at www.uvu.edu/woodbury/wbil/.

Women in Business Impact Lab (WBIL) Podcast (Trailer)