REPORT OF THE NECA WOMEN'S PEER GROUP SUMMIT Thursday, May 13, 2010 Milwaukee, WI. Attendees: Katie Ahern Homestead Electric Company, Ingleside, IL

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1 REPORT OF THE NECA WOMEN'S PEER GROUP SUMMIT Thursday, May 13, 2010 Milwaukee, WI Attendees: Katie Ahern Homestead Electric Company, Ingleside, IL Rachel A. Barber Rex A. Ferry Tricia L. Ferry Maria Granone New Mexico Chapter NECA, Albuquerque, NM Rose M. Haensly Western NY State Chapter NECA, Cheektowaga, NY Laura J. Karow Gunnar Electric Company Inc., Eden Prairie, MN Judy Kroening Roberts Miller Craf-Tron Electric Inc, Delafield, WI Amy Morton LLD Electric Company, Gurnee, IL Wendy N Morton LLD Electric Company, Gurnee, IL Karianne Naughton R E Yates Electric Inc., New Castle, PA Kay Nelson Procom Systems, Rockford, IL Marilyn M Oppedisano Finger Lakes New York Chapter, Liverpool, NY Holli Quebe-South Chapel Electric Co. LLC, Dayton, OH

2 Sonja Rheaume Christenson Electric Inc., Portland, OR Paige Richards Mountain Power, Post Falls, ID Patty Tominovich-Keyser Chesapeake Electrical Systems Inc., Laurel, MD Stacy Wilson Wilson Construction Company, Canby, OR NECA Staff Beth Y. Margulies Director, Public Relations Wanessa Tortolero Registrar/ Administrator, Management Education Institute The first NECA Women's Peer Group (NWPG) Summit convened at 1 p.m., Thursday, May 13 at the Iron Horse Hotel in Milwaukee, WI. NECA president Rex Ferry offered opening remarks, stating that when he first proposed establishing the NWPG, he wanted the participants to shape the group, its organization and goals. Summit co-chairs Tricia Ferry and Rachel Barber welcomed the participants, briefly covered the Summit agenda and introduced Beth Margulies, NWPG national staff liaison. The co-chairs also thanked MilwaukeeWomen inc. for their support in organizing the NWPG Summit. All Summit speakers and discussion leaders are affiliated with MWi, a local organization of women business leaders working to change the face and quality of leadership in Wisconsin through the advancement of women. Jilaine Bauer, Bauer Consulting, deliver the keynote speech, Riding the Third Wave with Rosie the Riveter. Ms. Bauer s remarks covered the history of feminism in the trades, focusing on so-called third wave feminism begun in the 1990s that was oriented towards individual empowerment and understanding that the world is a better place if men and women are working side by side. Full text of Ms. Bauer s remarks is posted on the NWPG Summit webpage. Pat Kandziora, Vice President of M&I Bank s Business Banking, led the first discussion on finance. She covered basic principles like the Five C s of Good Credit, fraud prevention, using the right financing tools and what banks are looking for in succession planning for family businesses. She encouraged the

3 NWPG to work with women in their business needs in order to establish a cross-functional network. Above all, she stressed the need to keep your professional reputation polished within your industry and your community. Additional resources and the discussion transcript will be posted online. Marsha Block, founder of MBA My Business Advisors, built on Ms. Kandziora s recommendations in her discussion about successful networking. She helped the group determine that it was important to organize NECA resources by women-minority owned businesses; the value of getting involved with industry-affiliated groups; and starting your own network of trusted colleagues. Additional resources and the discussion transcript will be posted online. Krista Brookman, senior manager of marketing and communication from Deloitte, led the discussion on work-life balance. Ms. Brookman urged the participants to take personal responsibility to manage the competing demands on their time by recording how they manage time now and what their aspirations are. She also reminded participants that despite the quest for work-life balance, there is no universally accepted definition of the concept. Work-life balance is not going to be the same every day. It's not an equal balance; it s a daily achievement. Additional resources and the discussion transcript will be posted online. Summit participants then moved into a business session to discuss three primary areas of NWPG structure and planning as outlined by President Ferry: leadership, organization/programs and budget. Those discussions and recommendations are included below. RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE NWPG NWPG Leadership Currently, the NWPG Task Force includes six women selected by President Ferry to serve as an initial organizing committee for the group. For future leadership, Summit participants felt that an interest and ability to serve on a NWPG Advisory Committee as opposed to an appointed Task Force was more important that proportional and/or geographic representation of the association. Recommendation for the NWPG Advisory Committee for leadership organization were: 1. The members of the Advisory Committee be selected by the NWPG themselves rather than appointed by chapter, district, regional or national NECA leadership. 2. Female chapter staff should be represented by at least one woman on the Advisory Committee.

4 3. District 10 members should be represented by at least one woman on the Advisory Committee. 4. The annual NWPG summit co-chairs should be selected from the Advisory Committee members. 5. The Advisory Committee should include 6-10 members nominated and selected by the NWPG annually. 6. There would not be a term limit for serving on the Advisory Committee. So long as a NWPG member remained employed or affiliated with a NECA member company in good standing with the association and an active contributor to this the NWPG, she would be allowed to serve on the Advisory Committee. 7. However, NWPG Advisory Committee members would serve at the pleasure of the NECA president and executive committee. Should the NWPG determine that an Advisory Committee member should be asked to resign, the Executive Committee would review both sides of the request and determine if the Advisory Committee member should indeed resign for the overall benefit of the organization. NWPG Programs/Organizing The group will continue to use online social media (Facebook and LinkedIn) to recruit new members, as well as set up an group for NWPG members to receive new materials. Summit participants found the half-day, NECA women-only summit meeting format very useful. At this point, partnering the Summit with the Future Leaders meeting is convenient with most participants schedules. Smaller cross-functional women s peer groups could be established on a chapter or district level, but most women felt that it would be difficult to establish a critical mass of local involvement to organize smaller NWPG. The cross-functional women s networking groups described by Ms. Block would be more useful on a local level. NWPG would provide the guidance for helping members set up these local women s networking groups. At a later point when more women were participating (up to 100), this could evolve into a 1-2 day conference similar in format to AEI. It was also pointed out that the Summit could include a social activity and/or location that women would specifically enjoy. As mentioned in the Leadership recommendations, the Summit co-chairs would be selected from the NWPG Advisory Committee. It was recommended that the co-chairs serve a two-year term, with one new co-chair selected annually to allow for some continuity between Summit programs.

5 The NWPG also wants a presence at the NECA Convention. Due to scheduling, the only time slot available at NECA 2010 Boston is one hour immediately prior to the Future Leaders reception. In the future, the NWPG plans to submit proposals for Management Seminars based on the topics and information generated through the Summits, hopefully developing a gender/diversity education track. The NWPG was concerned that the group not be viewed solely as a social organization, but as a forum oriented to the educational and networking needs of women working at NECA member companies and chapters. Hence, they do not want to simply hold a cocktail reception in Boston, but invite a good speaker who can lead the participants through a brief, but valuable, networking exercise. [NECA Premier Sponsor Graybar has a women s affiliate group and has offered to sponsor the NWPG event in Boston, as well as provide Graybar s women in the industry staff liaison to lead the activity.] Other future program needs discussed by Summit participants: 1. Research to determine how many women are affiliated with NECA member companies to understand who the NWPG audience and potential members are. 2. Create a Profile of the Woman Electrical Contractor similar to what ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR magazine publishes bi-annually. [ELECTRI International has indicated it would support a NWPG-submitted research proposal for funding to prepare this data.] 3. Utilize MEI, NECA student chapters and Talent Initiative to establish a woman-to-woman mentoring program. NWPG Budgeting For 2010, costs associated with hosting the NWPG Summit have been absorbed by MEI. Just as NECA Future Leaders are a line item in the NECA budget, the NWPG should have a cost center and the 2011 budget should include the costs for hosting a half-day Summit meeting in conjunction with the Future Leaders Meeting (or possibly AEI, if the schedule is better for NWPG members) and a networking social at the 2011 NECA Convention. By using social media to promote and organize the NWPG, we have kept administrative costs to a minimum that can be easily covered through NECA s overall website budget. The Advisory Committee will need to meet at least six times a year by conference call. These costs will likely be consistent with the 2010 budget for the Future Leaders program.