Sylvia Montero is the retired Senior Vice President, Human Resources, Pfizer Inc, where she was responsible for HR policies and practices that reached the company’s 100,000 worldwide employees.  She joined Pfizer in Puerto Rico and developed her career over 28 plus years during which she held HR positions of increasing responsibilities in Manufacturing, Training & Development, International, Corporate Headquarters, the Animal Health Group, and Global Research and Development, culminating in her appointment to the topmost HR position of the company in 2005.

Sylvia was born in Puerto Rico and her parents moved the family to New York City in 1957. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from Barnard College, Columbia University and a Master of Arts from Queens College, City University of New York.

Sylvia is on the Board of The Grand Street Settlement in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. She was recognized by Hispanic Business Magazine in the Top 50 Hispanic Business Women in 2001, 80 Elite Hispanic Women in 2002, and 20 Corporate Elite in 2006.  In 2004, Sylvia was recognized as the “Most Outstanding Hispanic Woman in Business” by the New York State Assembly Hispanic Task Force. In 2005, she was presented the prestigious Orgullo Latino (Latin Pride) award by the 100 Hispanic Women organization.

In 2007 Sylvia turned retirement into an adventure by remarrying after 32 years, building a new home and writing a book, Make It Your Business: Dare to Climb the Ladder of Leadership.

Michele has over 25 years of experience with broad operational knowledge in many areas: manufacturing, supply chain, customer service, and information technology. Currently she is Director of Customer Service and Logistics at the Campbell Soup Company.

She has led several large global organizations and corporate projects. She is known for her ability to navigate and influence across the organization, help organize and drive improvements, with a track record of delivering results. She is passionate about developing and mentoring personnel.

Michele continues her commitment to supporting the development of future female leaders in her volunteer activities. She is part of the steering committee for Women of Campbell’s. She is the Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Alice Paul Institute, a non profit organization dedicated to educating about the life of Alice Paul, author of the Equal Rights Amendment and a lifelong activist for women’s equality, and developing the next generation of leaders. She volunteers on the United Way Women’s Initiative committee, and mentors several middle-school teenagers through that program. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and a master’s degree of Business Administration.

Michele is married to Pete. They have 2 children.

Angela Dowd-Burton is an award winning business professional with over twenty-five years of diverse business experience and outreach within the community. She has a talent for designing, building, and implementing innovative solutions resulting in efficient, high performing organizations. She is skilled at working with teams to distill complex challenges, prioritizing solutions, and executing integrated strategies to achieve extraordinary goals.

In 2010, Angela was appointed by Mayor Michael Nutter to serve as Executive Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity for the City of Philadelphia. She is responsible for leveraging the business services of the Commerce Department to strengthen the capacity of small businesses to successfully contract with the public, private and non-profit sectors.

Dowd-Burton joined Rohm and Haas in 1990 after serving as Deputy Director of Finance and Procurement Commissioner for the City of Philadelphia (1984 – 1990). Prior to working in City government, Angela held financial and strategic planning positions at Sunoco. Angela currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Drexel University LeBow College of Business, Cabrini College Board of Trustees, and is the former co-chair of the Women's Initiative of the United Way. Angela is a founding member and president of the Greater Philadelphia Women's Leadership Forum, connecting corporate leadership networks across the region. She also serves on the Girl Scouts Nominating Committee.

Angela holds an MBA (Finance) and a B.S. degree (Accounting) from Drexel University. She is a frequent speaker on women's leadership initiatives. Angela is married and is the mother of two sons.

Catherine T. “Katie” Hunt is Director, Innovation Sourcing & Sustainable Technologies at The Dow Chemical Company. Dr. Hunt is actively building collaborative teams across Dow with universities, companies, national labs and government agencies (esp., DOE and DOD) focused on accelerating the pace of innovation. Katie began her career as a senior scientist in analytical research at Rohm and Haas in 1984 after completing an NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship at Yale University. During her 25 years at Rohm and Haas, Katie held positions of increasing responsibility and ultimately served as corporate Sustainability Director and Leader for Technology Partnerships.

Katie holds an A.B. in Chemistry (Cum Laude) from Smith College and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Davis. She was the 2007 President of the American Chemical Society where she championed education, collaboration and innovation, especially related to the Sustainability of Energy, Food and Water. Over her professional career, Katie has received numerous awards; she was named one of the “Best 50 Women in Business” in Pennsylvania by Governor Rendell (2007), received the Smith Medal from her alma mater’s Board of Trustees (2008). Dr. Hunt serves on several advisory boards including: Mayor Nutter’s Sustainability Advisory Board, The Global Cool Cities Alliance, and the Rochester Institute of Technology National Technical Institute for the Deaf. She is especially proud of the RetroFIT Philly “Coolest Block” Contest project with the City of Philadelphia, the Energy Coordinating Agency, Dow Chemical and The Dow Foundation. Visit: www.retrofitphilly.com.

Katie enjoys yoga, bicycling with her family, judging science fairs and mentoring students. (Follow KatieChemist.)

Molly D. Shepard is President and Chief Executive Officer of The Leader’s Edge/Leaders By Design, LLC, a company dedicated to the advancement of executive and high-potential women. She has more than twenty five years’ experience in career counseling, leadership development, executive coaching and executive search. Through her leadership as Chairman, President and Co-founder of Manchester Inc., one of the world’s largest career development consulting firms, she helped develop the highest standards of excellence in program design and delivery.

Active in the Philadelphia community, she has been recognized for her efforts by numerous organizations. Most recently, Molly was honored as the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania’s 2008 Woman Caring About What Matters Award for her work and dedication to women’s initiatives.

Molly is an accomplished author. Her most recent publication, Breaking Into the Boys’ Club (M. Evans and Company, Inc., 2009), exposes the roadblocks that women face and offers strategies to overcome these hurdles. Her first book, Stop Whining and Start Winning (Penguin), was published in 2005.

Molly holds a B.A. from Wheaton College, a Masters degree in Psychological Services and Counseling from the University of Pennsylvania, a MSM in Leadership from The American College, and in May 2006 received an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from West Chester University. She is also certified as an Internationally Certified Career Management Fellow (CMF) with ICC International.

Molly, with her husband, Peter Dean, are partners in business. They are parents of four children, two of whom live with them in Philadelphia, PA.

Noelle Walsh is the vice president of manufacturing for the Performance Division of The Dow Chemical Company. She oversees the manufacturing of 35 billion pounds per year production and over 1000 products at 80 locations globally.

Walsh joined Dow in Terneuzen, The Netherlands in 1987, holding a variety of manufacturing and engineering leadership assignments across businesses at that site. In May, 2002, she was named Technology Center Director for the Chlorinated Organics business, transferring to Stade, Germany. In October, 2004, she accepted the business manufacturing leader (BML) role for Propylene Oxide & Propylene Glycol and was a member of the Dow negotiation team for the HPPO plant with BASF. She became BML for Dow Epoxy business in January, 2006, and relocated to Freeport, Texas. Walsh was named to Business Director within the Epoxy business in June 2007. She was named into her present role in February, 2009.

Walsh co-founded the Women’s Innovation Network (WIN) in Terneuzen and is Co-Chair of North America WIN. She received a regional Genesis Award in 2002.

Walsh holds a bachelor’s degree, with honors, in chemical engineering from the University College of Dublin, Ireland. She is presently located in Midland, MI with her family.