Hilary S. Wilkins

Posted on July 6, 2016 by Top Female Executives

Hilary WilkinsTitle: Senior Vice President
Company: Citigroup
Location: Lawrenceville, NJ United States

After working in the pharmaceutical and medical device fields, Hilary Wilkins decided to follow her dream and work on Wall Street. She received a Bachelor of Arts from Rutgers University and has learned the tricks of the trade firsthand while working in finance. Her biggest challenge since moving fields has been adjusting to the cultural differences between the two.  She considers her strengths to be her strategic sourcing and thought process. She can use strategic thinking to solve problems and win people over.

Professionally, Ms. Wilkins’ wants to continue her work in financial services. In particular, she wants to focus on growing a new team from the ground up. In addition, she plans on opening a music therapy center with her daughter, who is a board certified music therapist. The center will be focused on helping children with autism.

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Burge Smith-Lyons

Posted on July 6, 2016 by Top Female Executives

WPN BURGE SMITH-LYONSTitle: CEO
Company: Essence of Being, Inc.
Location: Roswell, GA United States

Burge Smith-Lyons is president and CEO of Essence of Being, Inc. For more than 36 years, she has been involved with the healing, learning and educational environment, and has facilitated workshops for personal growth and corporate seminars since 1980 in the area of self-development, communication techniques, relationships, abundance, team building, and leadership development. Ms. Smith-Lyons specializes in helping people identify their “Bubble Talk” — subconscious negative self-talk that blocks them from achieving what they want in life. Her holistic mind-body-spirit approach includes experiential learning styles and Super Learning, which are accelerated learning techniques that activate both the left and right brain.

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Mary McDermott

Posted on July 6, 2016 by Top Female Executives

Mary McDermottTitle: Special Education Coordinator
Company: Maple Heights School District
Location: Cleveland Heights, Ohio, United States

After working as a speech-language pathologist for several years, Mary McDermott realized she wanted to shift her focus towards education, so she progressed to the Maple Heights School District as a special education coordinator. She prepared for her career by earning a Bachelor’s degree in biology and a Master’s in communicative disorders. She is also certified and licensed by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), and is currently pursuing an education doctorate.

Ms. McDermott has found inspiration through her passion, faith and ability to be a voice for children. She believes that everyone is responsible for the future, and the best way to start is through education. Her strengths include her attention to detail and passion, as well as her love of learning. She hopes to use these strengths to finish her Ed.D. and progress into a director role so that she can continue being a role model for her students.

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Carolynne Whitefeather

Posted on July 6, 2016 by Top Female Executives

Title: Director
Company: Barrett Art Gallery
Location: New York Mills, NY United States

Mentored by Katharine T. Carter and Gwen Rabitial, Carolynne Whitefeather has been the director of the higher education Barrett Art Gallery at Utica College for four years. Art has always made her happy, so a career in the industry was a natural progression for her when she finished school. She has a Master of Fine Arts in printmaking and design, and her areas of expertise include fine art and first people art culture.

As the gallery director with art experience totaling more than fifteen years, Ms. Whitefeather is responsible for maintaining and running the gallery, as well as organizing the International Student Employment for the Arts program. She also serves as the gallery’s artist-in-resident. She attributes her success to her patience and tenacity, and believes that everyone needs both in order to succeed.

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Sandra Smester

Posted on July 6, 2016 by Top Female Executives

Sandra SmesterTitle: Executive Vice President of Programming
Company: Univision Communication, Inc.
Location: Pembroke Pines, FL United States

Sandra Smester began her career in broadcast media with Univision as an intern 20 years ago. She worked for the network’s the head of entertainment and he became a mentor to her, and he eventually hired her as a coordinator. From this position, she has grown to the executive vice president of Univision, where she is responsible for supervising day-to-day scheduling and strategic positioning of all on-air content for the network.

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