News of Interest: Two WPO Chicago Members Inducted Into Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame 2/25/10

We are thrilled to report that not one but two Women Presidents' Organization Chicago members have been inducted into the prestigious Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame (through the Coleman Foundation Entrepreneurship, Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago).

Category: Classic Start-up and Lifetime Entrepreneurs

The new members are:

• Francine Manilow, President (pictured left), Manilow Suites (downtown I member)
• Jennifer Bertoglio, Founder, President & CEO (pictured right), LawyerLink (downtown II member)

Those inducted into the Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame embody the entrepreneurial spirit of Chicago area businesses: a determination to succeed, an unsurpassed commitment to excellence, and the rare ability to meet challenges and recognize opportunities through innovation, proactiveness and risk taking.

The Judges and their world-class sponsors, American Chartered Bank, Grant Thornton, Allscripts, MarketM and Crain's Chicago Business welcomed Francine and Jennifer as members this evening, February 25th, at the Chicago Hilton and Towers.

Of the many thousands of entrepreneurs in the Chicago area, the students, faculty, sponsors, and Judges select very few winners each year so this is quite an accomplishment for Francine and Jennifer.

We are very proud of them; congratulate them on this great achievement and wish them continued success. More importantly, we are very proud that they are WPO Chicago members.

Also note: Crain's Chicago Business, Enterprise City, "UIC adds names to entrepreneurs' Hall of Fame"

Photo credit: Laurel Delaney, WPO Chicago

Articles of Interest: POWER Your Business Out of the Recession

Harvard Business Review Magazine is a good resource to refer to from time to time. And in this case, it might help POWER you and your business out of the recession.

Here is a sampling of complimentary articles for your use.

March 2010

• The Big Idea: Funding Eureka!

  Nathan Myhrvold

• Women in Management: Delusions of Progress

  Nancy M. Carter and Christine Silva

• The Soot Opportunity

  Jessica Seddon Wallack

• Engaging the “Pole Vaulters” on Your Staff

  Katie Truss and Emma Soane

• One Café Chain’s Facebook Experiment

  Utpal M. Dholakia and Emily Durham

• Vision Statement: A Better Approach to China’s Markets

  Max Magni and Yuval Atsmon

• Column: Think Outside the Building

  Rosabeth Moss Kanter

• Column: Who Do These Bankers Think They Are?

  Joseph E. Stiglitz

Event of Interest: Women Presidents' Organization (WPO) 13th Annual Conference April 22-24, 2010

Register now for the Women Presidents' Organization (WPO) 13th Annual Conference in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on April 22nd-24th at the Westin Beach Resort.

To view the Conference schedule, registration (for both members and non-members who qualify), and all Conference information, click here.

This year's theme is:

Thriving in the New Economy

Keynote speakers: Professor Neeli Bendapudi, Ph.D., Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University; Jean Chatzky, Best-Selling Author and Financial Expert; Professor Rebecca Henderson, Harvard Business School; and Frances Hesselbein & Marshall Goldsmith, Chairman and Founding President of the Leader to Leader Institute, former CEO, the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. (1976-1990) and Best-Selling Author and Executive Coach.

There will also be five substantive workshop programs, and our closing session on Saturday is Salsa Away your Stress.

Hope to see you there!

Seeking: 50 Fastest-Growing Woman-Owned or Woman-Led Companies

The Women Presidents' Organization is in search for the 50 Fastest-Growing Women-Owned or Women-Led Companies in North America! Applications are now being accepted through Wednesday, February 10th. Yes, that's right. Only two days left to make your move.

To be eligible, companies must be:

• Privately owned
• Women-owned/led
• Must have generated $500,000 in annual revenues by the first week of 2005
• Must have reached revenues of $2 million by year-end 2009

You do not have to be a WPO member to apply. What are you waiting for?

Click here to access the application form. Any questions can be e-mailed to fastgrowth(at)womenpresidentsorg.com

Article of Interest: 11 Ways to Create Great Online Content

Are you trying to snag new clients for your business with the content you produce on your website, blog, Facebook or Twitter platforms?

Then take a good long look at these magnificent ideas on how to WOW your readers, actively engage them and integrate the material across all online media channels.

Snippet (which begs me to ask you: Are you a silo-buster?):

11. Bust silos. Do you have a print newsletter? Do you produce a regular podcast? Run a version of a print article on the blog, upload the best headlines to Facebook, post transcripts of your podcast online, and chat everything up on Twitter. A lot of the ideas here reinforce the notion that you should not silo your content. Rather, sprinkle it freely across any of your platforms. It's important to think like a publisher, and leverage any publishing platforms you've created.

Read more here.