Jane sometimes refers to herself (with a smile, of course!) as our Chief Inspiration Instigator!
Throughout her corporate and entrepreneurial careers, Jane has created numerous leadership development programs, some exclusively for women, and has coached hundreds of business leaders to use their heads to manage and their hearts to lead.
Inspired early in life by her Dad’s words, “If you put your heart and mind to it, you can do anything a man can do – and do it even better,” Jane set out to tackle Corporate America and did.
In 15 years as a vice president in Fortune 100 companies, Jane put her MBA to good use, earning her business chops by managing $25 million budgets and thousands of employees, developing and implementing strategy, and negotiating labor contracts. Her passion was (and is) developing leaders and furthering women in business.
Two little words – Aunt Polly – uttered so nonchalantly by a new boss ultimately took her life and career in a new direction. After 20 years of executive leadership, she took off what she now calls her corporate charm bracelet and partnered with Amy to found Braithwaite Innovation Group, a professional development firm.
Jane has co-authored two leadership books Yes You Can! and The Character-based Leader. Her articles on leadership and women in business have been featured on SmartBrief, Insights, and the Charleston, SC Post and Courier newspaper. You’ll find her blogging here, on LeadBIG, Charleston Grit and the Lead Change Group.
Jane actively volunteers for and sits on the Board of Directors for the Charleston, SC Center for Women, the largest women’s skill development center in the state, and created/manages their new Women and Leadership program. Jane is a mentor with the Charleston Young Professionals program and with SHRM. A former Women in Cable Telecommunications Board member, Mentor of the Year, and Betsy Magness Leadership Institute alumna and certified coach and polarity thinking consultant, she has been featured as a leadership and women’s issues expert in newspapers, magazines, radio and television. Jane has presented at numerous conferences including Society of Human Resource Management, the Women in Business Conference, ThinkTEC Innovation Summit, and Women in Cable Telecommunications.
Contact Jane by email or connect with her on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. Read and comment on her thought-provoking, sometimes fun, and always informative leadership blog, LeadBIG.
_____
Amy’s career includes an impressive list of corporate America positions, yet she describes herself first and foremost as an entrepreneur and inventor. The daughter of a prolific inventor (Amy’s father holds over 20 patents, including ground breaking work that allowed for the mass production of Braille), she started inventing at an early age. Her first lemonade stand boasted orange lemonade – a distinctive and tasty combination of lemons and tangerines!
Encouraged by her father to see the world through an inventor’s eyes, Amy views the world with a unique perspective that allows her to see opportunities that others may see as unconventional. When just an undergraduate student herself, she was asked to teach Communication 101 – to her fellow students. This role helped Amy realize that the rest of the world could benefit from an inventor’s mindset.
Amy sees every opportunity as novel, whether it’s learning to climb telephone poles while in her first real job as a management trainee for Ameritech or more recently in creating the international quality program for Vonage. Amy’s open and curious mind enables her to see beyond what is known.
As the founder of A-Squared Consulting, she led numerous successful projects in multiple fields. True to her inventor’s mindset, Amy will skip over the boundaries between distinctly separate occupations, seeing the unique connection that no one else sees or envisions.
Amy has served as a lead training consultant and call center director for Comcast, and a national quality consultant for Adelphia. Amy’s gift is her ability to help others discover new ways of thinking as well as taking materials, processes or tools from one realm and using them as no one else has imagined in a totally different realm. She can’t wait to help you see a new possibility, a new connection or relationship that will spark the next great invention.
Contact Amy by email or connect with her on Twitter or LinkedIn. Read and comment at her thought-stimulating and provocative blog, Start BIG.
