Women in Business Initiative Members
Executive Committee
Chair of Women in Business Initiative:
Monika Jansen
CEO/Copywriter and Strategist
Jansen Communications
Monika Jansen is head copywriter and strategist at Jansen Communications, a boutique marketing agency that specializes in copywriting and social media marketing. She and her team work with clients to create outstanding content and get it in front of the right people so they can hit their overall business goals. When she is not working with her team or building client relationships, she hangs out with her husband and kids, travels, snowboards, and laughs as much as possible.
Chair Elect of Women in Business Initiative:
Tammy Bjelland
Founder and CEO
Workplaceless
Tammy Bjelland holds a BA and MA from the University of Virginia and is a certified master trainer by the Association for Talent Development. She is the founder and president of Learning in Bloom, a learning experience design company. She lives in Winchester, Virginia with her husband and two dogs.
Secretary and Historian:
Tonia Chagnon
Founder
Delightful Plans
Treasurer and Sponsorship Committee Chair:
Kathy T. Campbell
President
KT Coaching Partners LLC
Member at Large:
Cindy Miley '96, Member Outreach and Nominations
’17 Prominent Patriot
Chief Financial Officer
Melwood
Cindy Miley is a senior finance executive successful in consistently delivering outstanding results in fast paced, high growth environments. She is currently founder and CEO of CFO Solutions LLC. CFO Solutions is a firm that focuses on helping small business owners thrive and navigate their financial business successfully.
She has worked with firms in entrepreneurial growth stages as well as mature companies with revenues ranging from $100 million to $3 billion. Her proven hands-on approach includes building and leading finance teams that act as business partners, working with Board of Directors, auditors, banks, and attorneys. Her experience includes supporting an initial public offering, sell and buy side M&A due diligence, successful sale of company to a strategic partner, Sarbanes Oxley compliance, ERP system conversions, creation of a shared services model for finance, goodwill impairment testing, foreign currency, government contract compliance, and treasury management including hedge accounting.
Miley earned an MBA from the College of William and Mary, and is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in Virginia. As a George Mason University graduate (BS Accounting), she is thrilled to be on the board of the Women in Business Initiative at George Mason.
Theresa White, Awards and Special Projects
Founder
Foresight Financial Group
Board Members:
Carole M. Adolphe
Chief Financial Officer
InfiniSource Consulting Solutions, Inc.
Leyla Alijani
Director, NVFS Ventures
Northern Virginia Family Service
Talmar Anderson
Founder
Boss Actions
Deb Beckworth
Senior Consultant
Decisive Point Consulting Group
Linda Black
Financial Advisor
LifeMark Securities
Dominique Callins
Family Law Section Leader
Simms Showers, LLP
Salma Chaudry '14
Financial Consultant
Florin Group, LLC
Deb Cohen
President
Deb Cohen, LLC
Deb Cohen, Ph.D., is an association executive with more than 25 years of experience advising, speaking and guiding nonprofit, academic, and for-profit entities. Her 2016 book, Developing Proficiency in HR: 7 Self-directed Activities for HR Professionals, focuses on self-development. As a former senior vice president, with the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), Cohen was responsible for a 50-person division covering knowledge services, original research, and the development of a profession-wide competency model. Under her direction, research services were transformed into a significant revenue stream, a curriculum guide for the HR profession was established and a competency model that forms the basis for a world-wide certification credential was created.
Cohen received her Ph.D. in management and human resources and her master's degree in labor and human resources from Ohio State University. She is a certified HR professional with the designation SHRM-SCP. Cohen is the editor-in-chief for the quarterly journal, Employment Relations Today, and is an adjunct professor at George Washington University teaching MBA courses in strategic HR.
Elizabeth Conn, '14
Director of Marketing
Interfolio
Gwendolyn C. Dorsey, EdD
Education Consultant
Gwendolyn Dorsey has more than 30 years of education experience as a high school teacher, mentor, and middle and high school instructional leader. Dr. Dorsey encouraged and increased teacher and student leaders throughout her tenure. Currently, she provides education consulting services and mindfulness workshops. In addition, she is also a member of the GWU Educational Administration Advisory Board.
Cynthia Downes
Consultant
Downes Consulting
Brenda DuVall
Innovative Executive Consultant
STS International, Inc.
Mary S. Edwards
Credit Officer
Burke & Herbert Bank
Sharon Galler
President
STAT Association Management
Madhu Garlanka
CEO
Allwyn Corporation
Handan Gencogluer
Senior Partner
New York Life
Courtney Harden '02
Partner
BrigliaHundley, P.C.
Diane Holland
VP, Financial Services Manager
Atlantic Union Bank
Diane Holland is an assistant vice president and client services manager of the Reston Branch of Access National Bank. At Access National Bank, Holland believes in putting her clients first, and making their financial goals, her goals. What makes Access unique among community banks is their commitment to local business. With a background of more than 20 years in the banking industry, Holland is a trusted source to advise her clients on products and services that best meet their financial goals.
In addition to Mason’s Women in Business Initiative, she currently services on the Board of the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce and the NAWBO Greater DC Board of Directors.
Tina Johnson
President and CEO
JP Events & Consulting
Tina Jordan
Vice President, Membership
AFCEA International
Valerie Kaiser
Financial Adviser
Eldenstreet Financial
Mary Koles
Owner/Director
Academic Pathways, SpiderSmart of Rockville, and Spidersmart of Kensington
Megan Lynch '18
Lead Associate
Booz Allen Hamilton
Namrata Maguire
Founder & Director
FinTal, LLC
Anna McDonald
Commercial Services Officer, AVP
United Bank
Holly Miller
Senior Vice President, Regional Non-profit Practice Leader
USI Insurance Services, LLC
Jan Molino
President & CEO
Aspire Ascend, LLC
Following a dynamic career in executive search, where Jan Molino specialized in placing c-suite and board leadership, her passion led her to form Aspire Ascend, a firm designed and dedicated to enhance the success of executive women in leadership. Because she’s been there, Molino knows and understands the challenges of women in leadership, and brings a wealth of expertise on issues that impact women as leaders in the c-suite and the boardroom. She has become a sought-after speaker and panel member when the subject is workplace gender balance and boardroom diversity, and her articles and blog posts often provide guidance and advice to women on the way up and to those who have already arrived in leadership positions. Molino believe that success in a global economy depends on the presence of women in executive leadership positions.
Amy Riccardi
CEO and Founder
Leadership Evolution Group, LLC
Tracy K. Shen
Managing Partner
Private Client Advisors
Cara Streb '87
Vice President, Public Sector Industry Leader
Infor
Cara Streb has more than 30 years of proven senior-level operations management experience. For the last year, she has served as a vice president for Practice Delivery and Strategy, providing executive level oversight to the Program Management Office (PMO), Practice Areas, and engineers providing cloud computing, mobility, virtualization, IT Managed Service and Enterprise Solutions. She served as a vice president at CACI International Inc. for 14 years. At CACI, she was valued for her operational, teambuilding, and problem solving skills. Streb takes great pride in workforce development and building a culture based on integrity and good character. She holds a BS in information systems and operations management from George Mason University.
Bonnie Taylor
Chief Marketing Strategist
CCS Innovations, LLC
Brigitta Toruño
CEO/Founder
UNO Translations and Communications, LLC
Brigitta Toruño’s love of her native language, Spanish, fueled her desire to work with languages and launch UNO Translations and Communications, LLC (UNO) in 1998. UNO considers itself a linguistic partner to companies, not only offering translation services, face-to-face interpretation, phone interpretation, sign language interpretation, and desktop publishing in more than 200 languages, but also consulting with companies in international cultural business issues. Toruño is a sought-after speaker, sharing her love of Hispanic culture. She has moved audiences with her portrayal of family and her inherited love of music. She also speaks about her expertise in Hispanic outreach, the importance of language translation, cross-cultural competence, cultural awareness and international business etiquette.
Katie Tzitzouris
Vice President, Business Banker
MainStreet Bank
Stephanie Zimmermann '93
Owner, Founder, and Chief Box Engineer
Lend A Box LLC
Stephanie Zimmermann is co-owner and co-founder of Lend A Box LLC. Lend A Box offers one of the most innovative, easy, and smart ways to move in the Washington, D.C., metro area. They aim to make residential, commercial and government moving projects less stressful, offering moving logistics, delivery, and pickup of rental boxes, and concierge based storage solutions. Zimmermann has led her team in building a solid logistics company with plans for expansion.
She is a graduate of George Mason University with a BS in Decision Sciences and Management Information Systems. In 2017, Zimmermann was recognized by Mason Business as a Prominent Patriot.
An active member in her community, she sits on several local advisory boards and volunteers time with the Girl Scouts.