Honorees & Finalists
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
CUSTOM CONTENT OCTOBER 26, 2020 HONOREES & FINALISTS On October 15th, the Los Angeles Business Journal hosted a virtual private champagne reception to introduce this year’s awards finalists. DIAMOND SPONSOR PLATINUM SPONSORS GOLD SPONSORS Bank of America | Camden Capital | KPMG | L.A. Care Health Plan | Miller Barondess LLP Montage Insurance Solutions | UCPLA | Union Bank | Union Station Homeless Services | Vida Ventures, LLC 029-44__WLS_Winners.indd 29 10/22/20 10:21 AM 30 LOS ANGELES BUSINESS JOURNAL – CUSTOM CONTENT OCTOBER 26, 2020 Letter from the Publisher his year’s three-part Women’s Leadership Series culminated with the 2020 Women’s Leadership Awards. This year’s event – staged virtually – was a tremendous success. Taking place on Wednesday, October 21st, it was truly a privilege to honor the terrific women leaders within the Los Angeles business community. The awards program was jump-started by a powerful keynote discussion between UBS Wealth Management’s Jane TSchwartzberg and Jennifer Povlitz. After having a chance to listen to their important message on “Owning Your Worth”, we moved into the celebration. With more than 350 nominations this year, our judges were faced with a lot of difficult decisions. In the end, we narrowed this impressive field down to five Finalists, and ultimately, one Honoree in each of six award categories: Entrepreneur of the Year, CEO of the Year, Executive of the Year, Community Impact Advocate of the Year, Rising Star of the Year, and Volunteer of the Year. Many thanks to our sponsors, who helped to reimagine what this event could look like. We took the event from an in-person half-day forum and completely transitioned it into a three-part all-digital series which included a total of six panels, a private champagne toast, a keynote conversation and awards ceremony. Congratulations to all of this year’s honorees, finalists and nominees who lead by example. They are successful in blending effective business vision with a passionate commitment to positively making a difference, both in the world of business and in the communities they serve. Best regards, Josh Schimmels Publisher & CEO L.A. Care Health Plan L.A. Care is proud to support the 2020 Women’s Leadership Series & Awards and the Los Angeles Business Journal 1.888.4LA-CARE lacare.org 029-44__WLS_Winners.indd 30 10/22/20 10:21 AM OCTOBER 26, 2020 CUSTOM CONTENT – LOS ANGELES BUSINESS JOURNAL 31 Powerful together Mally Burton Jennifer Povlitz Lauren Gorsche Tiffany Brain Leslie H. Chang Salma Zahr Assistant Market Head Division Director Complex Director Branch Manager Branch Manager Branch Manager Let’s join forces to empower women more than ever. We know the value that you bring to your clients. And like you, UBS also knows the importance of ensuring that all women take their rightful seat at the financial table. Join us. Let’s talk about the opportunities for you, and your clients. Contact any of these managers directly or e-mail us at [email protected]. Proud sponsor of the Los Angeles Business Journal’s Women’s Leadership Series & Awards 2020 UBS Financial Services Inc. 515 S. Flower Street, Suite 50, Los Angeles, CA 90071, 213-972-1561 ubs.com/women As a firm providing wealth management services to clients, UBS Financial Services Inc. offers investment advisory services in its capacity as an SEC-registered investment adviser and brokerage services in its capacity as an SEC-registered broker-dealer. Investment advisory services and brokerage services are separate and distinct, differ in material ways and are governed by different laws and separate arrangements. It is important that clients understand the ways in which we conduct business, that they carefully read the agreements and disclosures that we provide to them about the products or services we offer. For more information, please review the PDF document atubs.com/relationshipsummary . © UBS 2020. All rights reserved. UBS Financial Services Inc. is a subsidiary of UBS AG. Member FINRA/SIPC. Expiration: 10/31/2021. Approval date: 10/16/2020. Review Code: IS2006253. 2020-309214 005-84_labj_fullpages.indd 31 10/19/20 11:15 AM 32 LOS ANGELES BUSINESS JOURNAL – CUSTOM CONTENT OCTOBER 26, 2020 ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR WINNER GAIL BECKER CAULIPOWER AULIPOWER was born on a Pinterest fail. Really. As the mom of two boys with Celiac - an autoimmune disease leaving their bodies unable to process gluten – Gail Becker tried desperately to find nutritious, gluten-free options that weren’t filled with fat, sugar, salt and calories. Frustrated, she turned to a like-minded community of healthy hackers and stumbled Cupon recipes (lots of them) for cauliflower crust pizza. Becker’s creation tasted just fine, but it looked awful, her kitchen was a disaster and she had spent 90 minutes she didn’t have making a pizza crust! Becker figured she probably wasn’t alone and in 2016 left her job as President of Edelman to take the entrepreneurial dive and create CAULIPOWER. Under Becker’s stewardship, CAULIPOWER is on a mission to reinvent our most favorite foods, one healthy meal hack at a time. CAULIPOWER’s first meal hack, cauliflower crust pizza, created a white-hot category right out of the gate. Today, CAULIPOWER is America’s favorite cauliflower crust pizza, the #1 better- for-you pizza, #1 gluten-free pizza, and fastest-growing frozen pizza brand in the U.S. In addition to cauliflower crust pizzas, the CAULIPOWER family of vegetable-forward meal hacks now includes baked not fried chicken tenders, flavored riced cauliflower, cauliflower tortillas, and sweet potato toast. With the CAULIPOWER brand, Becker is innovating the frozen food aisle – in more than 25,000 retail stores – and it remains her mission to eliminate the need for consumers to choose between taste, convenience, and health. Plus, every CAULIPOWER purchase benefits the American Heart Association Teaching Gardens Network, a program installing edible teaching gardens in underserved public schools. ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR FINALIST FINALIST FINALIST FINALIST SAMANTHA ETTUS COOPER HARRIS LAURA HERTZ MELANIE STRICKLAN Park Place Payments Klickly Gifts for Good Slingshot Aerospace s a dedicated champion of women, Sam ooper Harris is the founder and CEO aura Hertz believes in the use of business elanie Stricklan’s passion for aerospace Ettus has devoted her career to advocat- of Klickly, an A.I. impulse-payments as a force for good. That is why she technology has driven her since Aing and supporting women in the pursuit Cplatform at the nexus of payments, com- Lfounded Gifts for Good, an organization Mshe was a young girl in rural West of their dreams. Thousands of women from merce, and big-data. Emerging as a pivotal that is reinventing the $100 billion U.S. Texas. In 2016, she combined her military C-level leaders to administrative assistants figure in the Los Angeles tech scene, Cooper corporate gifting industry as the first source experience and indomitable spirit to to moms returning to the workforce have has been nominated for Google’s “Young for business gifts with a social impact. As co-found Slingshot Aerospace, an analytics benefitted from her unique guidance. In Innovator” award and L’Oreal’s “Digital a B2B marketplace, Gifts for Good sells company that uses observations from her quest to help women achieve financial Woman of the Year” award. life-changing products made by over 40 satellites and other sensors to help people independence, she launched Park Place, a Harris invented a payments layer that nonprofits and social enterprises to businesses make better, more informed decisions. company fundamentally changing the lives leverages machine-learning to make purchas- purchasing employee and client gifts in bulk. As Chief Strategy Officer, Stricklan of people seeking opportunities to reenter the ing directly within digital UIs possible. This The platform helps companies send is responsible for the company’s strategic workforce and revolutionizing the payment innovation creates a huge efficiency in the more meaningful gifts, while providing vision and growth strategy. Having proudly processing industry at the same time. market – the platform’s machine-learning the B2B marketing team these cause- served in the United States Air Force for Since earning her undergraduate and identifies payment situations and uses sophis- based organizations need to better sustain 21 years, she possesses a unique blend of MBA degrees from Harvard, Ettus has ticated cross-origin calls to facilitate the themselves and grow their reach and impact. leadership and technical expertise that she become a best-selling author of five books, transaction. She has been invited to share Gifts for Good’s clients include National uses to create and execute winning business a renowned speaker, host of a nationally insights at international summits including Geographic, Facebook, Amazon, The Special and product strategies. During her Air syndicated call-in radio show, and founder the United Nations, CES, Cannes Lions, Olympics, Madison Square Garden, Redbull, Force career, she logged over 1500 flight of the premier personal branding agency SXSW, ShopTalk, Sundance, Los Angeles NPR, American Express, Dell, Google, and hours onboard ground surveillance aircraft, called Experts Media. She is co-host of an I TechWeek, London Technology Conference, A-List celebrities like Kate Hudson. Since commanded experimental spacecraft Heart Media podcast with Amy Nelson, and and Jason Calacanis’