Recent News and Events

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Business and Professional Women (BPW)/St. Petersburg-Pinellas
www.bpwstpetepinellas.org

HIGHEST-RANKING FEMALE EXECUTIVE AT RAYMOND JAMES WILL KEYNOTE 2-DAY LEADERSHIP SEMINAR PRESENTED BY ST. PETE BUSINESSWOMEN

[ST. PETERSBURG, FL – July 22, 2008] – Angela Biever, Raymond James Financial's chief administrative office and highest-ranking female executive, will give the keynote address at the annual "Stepping Stones to Personal & Professional Success," a 2-day leadership seminar presented by members of Business and Professional Women (BPW) / St. Petersburg-Pinellas. BPW's primary focus is to improve the professional, personal, economic and educational outlook for working women.

"Stepping Stones to Personal & Professional Success" is based on BPW/USA's Individual Development Program seminar series for personal and professional leadership development. This program will be offered locally on Saturday, August 16 and Sunday, August 17, 2008, at the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council (4000 Gateway Centre Blvd., Suite 100, Pinellas Park).

Seminar hours: Saturday, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.; Sunday: 8:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. The cost is $60 for BPW members, $75 for non-BPW members and includes the cost of lunch. Individual registration is available for Saturday's 12:00 lunch program featuring Angela Biever (BPW Members, $15; Non-BPW Members, $20).

FOR MORE INFORMATION or to download a registration form for the "Stepping Stones" seminar, visit: http://www.bpwstpetepinellas.org/cIDProgram.html

QUESTIONS? Contact Kitty Pelster Rawson, Individual Development Program Chair for Business and Professional Women (BPW)/St. Petersburg-Pinellas at 727-501-3653 or IDProgram@bpwstpetepinellas.org

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"Stepping Stones to Personal & Professional Success" will assist women in meeting their personal and professional goals, as well as their goals for community action and change. Presentations will be led by over a dozen regional and Tampa Bay area women business leaders. Seminar presenters include:

- NANCY HURLBERT, National Policy Director at the U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce and past National President of Business & Professional Women/USA;

- NYDA BITTMANN-NEVILLE, President and Founder of TNB Consulting Group, Inc., a global organization specializing in focused innovative marketing, communications and image solutions;

- LINDSEY NICKEL-DE LA O, Public Relations Director for Spark, a branding agency in Tampa.

"Stepping Stones" participants will learn how to:
- Manage the fine art of negotiation;
- Deal with communications differences;
- Become an effective lobbyist and grassroots organizer;
- Connect with members of the media;
- Hone your public speaking efforts;
- Strengthen your interviewee prowess;
- Polish up your business etiquette;
- Create more effective presentations.

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CONTACT:
Kitty Pelster Rawson, Individual Development Program Chair
Business and Professional Women (BPW)/St. Petersburg-Pinellas
IDProgram@bpwstpetepinellas.org , 727-501-3653

BPW USA National Convention Speakers

Uniting Our Voices Plenary & Presidential Candidate Forum

As the first female mayor and the first African American woman to serve as mayor of a major southern city Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin has broken many barriers. Mayor Franklin kicks off this plenary about women taking action - in the workplace and at the ballot box! The presidential election is heating up and representatives from both presidential campaigns will be participating in the BPW/USA Presidential Candidate Forum on Workingwomen’s Issues. Come hear what they have to say and make your voice heard!

Claudia Kennedy, Lieutenant General , US Army, Retired
Obama Campaign Representative
Claudia J. Kennedy is the first woman to achieve the rank of three-star general in the United States Army, taking her from the Women’s Army Corps in the late 1960’s to the position of Deputy Chief of Staff for Army Intelligence in 1997-2000.

Carly Fiorina
McCain Campaign Representative
Carly Fiorina is the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard and the first and, to date, only woman to lead a Fortune 20 company. In March 2008, Fiorina was appointed Victory '08 Chairman for the Republican National Committee. In this role, she is the primary advocate for John McCain and the Republican Party.

Don’t miss your chance…Join Business and Professional Women/USA for the dynamic 2008 National Conference and make sure that your Local is actively represented at the conference. This National Conference is packed with outstanding speakers, professional development sessions, and networking opportunities. Meet with fellow BPW/USA members at this event in Atlanta on July 23-26 to learn about the new and exciting things that are happening with BPW/USA. You won't want to miss the plenary sessions led by Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, resilience expert Anne Barab, and a dynamic panel of working women led by Global Summit of Women President, Irene Natividad. Featured workshops include sessions with Lilly Ledbetter whose Supreme Court case has become the new front in the fight for equal pay, and U.S. Representative Carolyn Maloney.

For immediate release
Contact:
Bill Frederick
St. Petersburg College
727-341-3076
Frederick.bill@spcollege.edu


Professional women's organization partners with St. Petersburg
College to build scholarship housing for women students

ST. PETERSURG, Fla. (March __, 2008) – The Education Foundation of the Florida Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs, Inc. will partner with St. Petersburg College and the St. Petersburg College Foundation to build a house for deserving female students, it was announced jointly today. It will be the first residential housing in SPC's history.
The building will house 16 women who cannot afford the burden of paying both tuition and housing. While the exact location has not yet been determined, the building is expected to be located close to either SPC's St. Petersburg/ Gibbs campus or its Downtown Center. A search for a suitable site is now under way.

"We are very excited about the prospect of being able to provide quality housing for women students who can't afford the cost of housing while going to school," said SPC President Carl M. Kuttler. "This will be the first housing that SPC has been able to provide to students since the college was founded in 1927. We're delighted to be able to partner in this project with the Education Foundation of the Florida Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs."

Since the site has not yet been selected as yet, a completion date for the home has not been determined. The Education Foundation and the college aim to have the first residents ready to move in sometime in 2009.

The Education Foundation of the Florida Federation of BPW Clubs, Inc. began its mission to provide college housing for deserving women in 1965 with its first venture at Florida State University in Tallahassee. That first facility offered housing to 21 women who possessed outstanding academic records and who demonstrated financial need.

From that beginning more than 40 years ago, the Education Foundation of the Florida Federation of BPW Clubs, Inc., has worked toward its goal of providing a "scholarship house" to serve female students at every state-supported college and university in Florida. The women experience a cooperative living/learning environment. Students living in the scholarship houses pay nominal charges for housing and share such living expenses as food, housekeeping and utilities.

In addition, students in the Education Foundation scholarship houses have opportunities to meet members of local supporting BPW clubs. These members, who are business executives, entrepreneurs or consultants, provide mentoring and networking opportunities to the student residents. In the past, the students' association with the women has resulted in internships and employment after graduation.

"We recognized many years ago that there are many women in Florida who could excel in college if they simply had a good, safe, affordable place to live on or near campus," said Education Foundation president Christine Weigle, who is also a member of one of St. Petersburg's two BPW local organizations. "It has been the dream of our members to provide that assistance in a true women-helping-women spirit."

Over the years, almost all money for construction has come from within the membership of the BPW clubs that support the Education Foundation, Weigle noted. Part of that fundraising effort involves a tradition known as "Hawg Callin'." At each regular meeting, BPW groups pass around a piggy bank to which individuals contribute money toward the scholarship houses. At the Education Foundation's annual conference, members enthusiastically surrender their organization's piggy banks when the conference chairwoman "calls in the hawgs."

The Education Foundation has also specified that the SPC scholarship house be built according to environmentally friendly or "green" standards and be accessible to individuals at all levels of physical ability, fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The St. Petersburg College Foundation, which raises funds to help make a college education possible for those who need financial assistance, also is partnering to help make the house a reality. SPC Foundation Director Paul Hanna said the house would be a major step forward in making higher education a reality for deserving women.

"The foundation is delighted to be able to partner with BPW and to help make this house a reality," Hanna said.

The SPC residential house will be the fourth such facility to be funded and built by the Education Foundation of the Florida Federation of BPW Clubs, Inc. Besides the original house in Tallahassee, there are residences at the University of Central Florida in Orlando and at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.

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ABOUT ST. PETERSBURG COLLEGE:
St. Petersburg College was founded in 1927 as a two-year institution of higher learning. Known then as St. Petersburg Junior College, it provided high-quality, fully-accredited programs with credits that were fully transferable to four-year institutions. In 2001, the Florida Legislature passed legislation allowing the college to offer four-year degrees. In response, the college dropped the word "junior" from its name and became St. Petersburg College. Today, St. Petersburg College offers programs at learning sites in St. Petersburg, Seminole, Clearwater, Tarpon Springs and elsewhere. It also offers courses and degree programs online.

ABOUT THE EDUCATION FOUNDATION OF THE FLORIDA FEDERATION OF BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL WOMEN'S CLUBS, INC.:
The Education Foundation of the Florida Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs, Inc., is a 501 (c)(3) corporation chartered under Florida statues, whose mission is to build at least one scholarship house on the campus of every state-supported college or university in Florida to provide housing for female students. The Florida Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs formed the Education Foundation as an independent entity, supported by funds raised by members of the Federation as well as from outside corporate and individual contributions. The first scholarship house was built in 1965.


ABOUT THE ST. PETERSBURG COLLEGE FOUNDATION
The St. Petersburg College Foundation is a 501(c)(3) corporation chartered under Florida statutes, which serves as a direct support organization of St. Petersburg College. In support of the vision and mission of SPC, the Foundation accepts and prudently manages gifts of cash, securities, property, bequests and trust or life-income arrangements. It raises funds to meet the needs of a growing number of people seeking to earn their educations at St. Petersburg College. During the 2007-08 school year, the foundation supplied nearly $1.4 million in scholarship aid to students an almost 50 percent increase over the previous year.


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NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Contact: Kristin Guenthardt, 727-551-5225

Women's group plans "Unhappy Hour" to mark Equal Pay Day

[St. Petersburg, Fl.-March 17, 2008] Business & Professional Women/St. Petersburg-Pinellas (BPW) will hold the group's annual "Unhappy Hour" on Tuesday, April 22, 2008, in recognition of Equal Pay Day. The public is invited to attend the event at The Rare Olive, 300 Central Avenue, in St. Petersburg, beginning at 5:30 p.m. There is no cost to attend, however donations will be accepted to benefit the Red Purse Society, a BPW/USA effort to focus on equalizing pay for men and women in equal jobs.

Equal Pay Day, which this year falls on April 22, marks the day the average woman in the United States finally earns the same amount of pay that her male counterpart earned in the previous year. According to the 2007 U.S. Census Bureau report, the average woman is paid 77 cents for every dollar a man is paid. Therefore, if a man were paid $50,000 to perform his job from January 1 through December 31, 2007, it will take a woman in the same position, on average, from January 1, 2007, through April 22, 2008, to earn the same amount.

BPW/St. Petersburg-Pinellas is a local organization of BPW/USA, a national alliance of individuals dedicated to improving the professional, personal, economic and educational outlook for working women. BPW's network across the country includes members of diverse ages, races, occupations and politics. BPW/USA pursues the issues that matter most to women who work including Economic Equity, Health Care and Civil Rights.

If you are unable to attend the April 22nd event at The Rare Olive but wish to support BPW/USA's initiatives to equalize pay, you may send a contribution to the Red Purse Society to P.O. Box 1063, St. Petersburg, Florida 33731

BPW/St. Petersburg-Pinellas meets on the first and third Thursdays of each month at Gratzzi, 2nd Street at 2nd Avenue North, in St. Petersburg's Baywalk complex. For reservations or more information, e-mail RSVP@BPWStPetePinellas.org.

For more information on the April 22nd event, call Kristin Guenthardt at 727-551-5225. For more on BPW/St. Petersburg-Pinellas, check the website at www.BPWStPetePinellas.org.

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NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Contact: Kitty Pelster Rawson, Individual Development Program Chair
727-501-3653 or IDProgram@bpwstpetepinellas.org

St. Petersburg Businesswomen Present National Seminar for Aspiring and Current Leaders

[ST. PETERSBURG, FL - August 28, 2007] - Would you like to take a giant leap on the path to success? If your answer is “Yes,” you’re invited to attend “Stepping Stones to Personal & Professional Success,” a 2-day leadership seminar presented by members of Business and Professional Women (BPW) / St. Petersburg-Pinellas on September 15 & 16.

“Stepping Stones to Personal & Professional Success” is based on BPW/USA’s Individual Development Program seminar series for personal and professional leadership development. This program will be offered locally on Saturday, September 15 and Sunday, September 16 at The Pinellas Realtor Organization's Member Center (4590 Ulmerton Road, Clearwater). Seminar hours: Saturday, 7:45 a.m. - 7 p.m.; Sunday: 9 a.m. - 2 p.m.

The cost is $60 for BPW members, $75 for non-BPW members. Individual registration is available for Saturday’s lunch program (12 Noon) and evening networking reception (5:30 p.m.). Purchase tickets for each event separately: BPW Members, $15; Non-BPW Members, $20. Register online: http://www.bpwstpetepinellas.org/cIDProgram.html.

Saturday's keynote lunch speaker will be Renee Warmack, producer of “Ten at the Top in Tampa Bay,” (http://tenatthetop.com/Home_Page.html) an independent documentary film that celebrates 10 extraordinary women who lead governmental institutions in the Tampa/Hillsborough County region.

About “Stepping Stones to Personal & Professional Success”

Jump start your leadership skills, your career and your life! The “Stepping Stones” Individual Development Program will assist women in meeting their personal and professional goals, as well as their goals for community action and change. Presentations will be led by over a dozen regional and Tampa Bay area women business leaders. Seminar presenters include:

• Nancy Hurlbert, National Policy Director at the U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce and past National President of Business & Professional Women/USA
• Tami Simms-Powel, Director of Marketing and Concierge Services for The Sharon Simms Team of RE/MAX Metro and past State President of Business & Professional Women/Florida
• Alizza Punzalan-Hall, Director of Community and Media Relations at Eckerd College and former Vice-Chair of the YWCA USA National Coordinating Board

During the 2-day Stepping Stones Leadership Seminar, you will learn how to:

• Manage the fine art of negotiation
• Deal with communications differences
• Become an effective lobbyist and grassroots organizer
• Connect with members of the media
• Hone your public speaking efforts
• Strengthen your interviewee prowess
• Polish up your business etiquette
• Create more effective presentations

Register today: http://www.bpwstpetepinellas.org/cIDProgram.html

Stepping Stones Sponsors
Eckerd College www.eckerd.edu
Kristin Guenthardt, Associate VP of Investments at Raymond James & Associates, Inc. http://www.raymondjames.com/kristin/

For more information about the 2-day Stepping Stones Leadership Seminar on September 15 & 16, contact Kitty Pelster Rawson, Individual Development Program Chair for BPW/St. Petersburg-Pinellas, at 727-501-3653 or IDProgram@bpwstpetepinellas.org.

To download this press release in .pdf format, click here.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 6/19/07
Business and Professional Women/St. Petersburg-Pinellas
Post Office Box 1063, St. Petersburg, FL 33731

INTERNATIONAL TRADE SPECIALIST FROM COMMERCE DEPARTMENT EDUCATES WOMEN'S GROUP ABOUT FEDERAL EXPORT ASSISTANCE

[ST. PETERSBURG, FL, June 18, 2007] Business & Professional Women/St. Petersburg-Pinellas (BPW) will host international trade specialist Sandra Campbell from the U.S. Department of Commerce at its next general membership meeting on Thursday, June 21 at 12 Noon at Gratzzi's Baywalk. Ms. Campbell will speak about Federal Export Assistance, the resources of the federal government to help companies export, and will present a 9-minute video called "Going Beyond Borders."

The General Membership of BPW St. Petersburg Pinellas meets twice each month on the first and third Thursdays at Gratzzi in Baywalk. Networking begins at 11:30 a.m. All may attend by simply making a reservation. The cost is $16 for members, $20 for non-members. Reserve a seat by e-mailing RSVP@BPWStPetePinellas.org.

ABOUT SANDRA CAMPBELL Sandra Campbell has been with the Tampa Bay Export Assistance Center of the U.S. Department of Commerce in Clearwater, Florida since October 1998, where she counsels and develops export strategies for small and medium-sized companies with U.S. products and services. Sandra works with companies in the counties of Manatee, Sarasota, Hardee, DeSoto, Charlotte, Lee, and Collier. She also assists exporters of IT/Telecom and Environmental Technologies for the entire Tampa Bay and Southwest Florida areas. International projects/assignments have included Canada, Poland, Germany, and Italy.

Sandra is a cum laude, honors program graduate from the University ofSouth Florida, with Bachelor of Arts degrees in Marketing and International Business, and a minor in Italian. She also attended Oxford Brookes University in Oxford, England and the Università perStranieri di Perugia in Perugia, Italy. Sandra is an active participant in the Florida District Export Counciland received her certification as a NASBITE Certified Global BusinessProfessional in April 2006.

ABOUT BPW, www.BPWStPetePinellas.org. BPW/St. Petersburg-Pinellas is a local organization of BPW/USA, a national alliance of individuals dedicated to improving the professional, personal, economic and educational outlook for working women. BPW's network across the country includes members of diverse ages, races, occupations and politics. BPW/USA pursues the issues that matter most to women who work including Economic Equity, Health Care and Civil Rights.

BPW/St. Petersburg-Pinellas meets on the first and third Thursdays of each month at Gratzzi, 2nd Street at 2nd Avenue North, in St. Petersburg's Baywalk complex. For reservations, e-mail RSVP@BPWStPetePinellas.org.

For more information on the June 21st meeting, call the chapter president Kris Self at 727-692-7823. For more information on BPW/St.Petersburg-Pinellas, visit the website at www.BPWStPetePinellas.org.


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MEDIA CONTACT
Kris Self, President
Business and Professional Women/St. Petersburg-Pinellas
727-692-7823, krisself1@earthlink.net

April 24, 2007 Women's Group Plans "Unhappy Hour" to mark Equal Pay Day
Business & Professional Women/St. Petersburg - Pinellas (BPW) will hold the group's annual Unhappy Hour on Tuesday, April 24, 2007 in recognition of Equal Pay Day... more.

St. Petersburg City Council Proclamation to be presented

What is Equal Pay Day?

Download the flyer to distribute