RESCHEDULED TILL MAY 17th!

$20 Members/$35 Non-Members

New Manager 101:

Congratulations on Your Promotion…Now What Do You Do?

Many new managers receive very little leadership training prior to their first leadership role. This can result in a rocky transition into management, filled with self-doubt and even friction on the team. While new leaders may have had experience leading projects or may have excelled in their work as an individual contributor, the transition to people leader requires a fundamental shift in the skills used on a day to day basis.

Are you a newly promoted manager or striving to become one? You don’t have to figure it out yourself! Joining our New Manager 101 Panel Discussion on February 15th at 12:00 – 1:00 to learn:
· Identifying and Bridging Skills Gaps
· Managing Higher Management and Their Expectations
· Accountability: Keeping Direct Reports Accountable for their Responsibilities
· Taking a Fresh Perspective at your Managerial Role, Seeing Opportunities beyond what the role has been in the past
· Assessing (and building) the level of trust within your team.

The panelists will discuss their career paths and the challenges and successes they experienced when first becoming managers. They will share tips and tricks for leading a team while you are still learning yourself.

Some of you may remember the event that POWER presented on this topic in 2022. Don’t worry! You do not need to have attended that program to join this one, and it is not a repeat of the same material. We have engaged different speakers to emphasize different challenges of being a new time manager.

Speakers:

• Jennifer Taylor – Director of Contracts, UHS
• Lauren Blevins – Manager of Strategic Marketing Projects, Effectv
• Freya Huffman – Global Diversity & Inclusion Leader, Quaker Houghton
• Moderator – Lauren Scherwin – Regional Account Manager, Disney

Jennifer Taylor:
Jennifer Taylor is the Director of Contracts with over 11 years of sourcing and contracting experience. Prior to joining UHS, Jennifer was a contract manager at the Philadelphia Housing Authority located in Philadelphia, PA where she focused on overseeing contracts for purchased services, design and construction along with vendor management. Jennifer joined UHS in 2016 where she started as a Senior Contract Specialist. Her main responsibilities were running sourcing events and contract compliance, she also took the initiative to develop an internship program for the Supply Chain department. The program now in its 5th year of implementation, we will have our largest cohort yet and have transitioned multiple interns to full time hires.

Jennifer has a Business Management degree from Penn State University and a Master of Arts in Bilingual Bicultural Studies and a Master’s in Business Administration both from LaSalle University. She also completed, “The Power of Professional Women Mentoring Circle” as a mentee in 2019-2020. Power is a Greater Philadelphia-based forum that builds up and puts to work its collective power to promote professionalism, interests, career development, leadership skills, and community involvement.

Freya Huffman:
Freya Huffman is a native of Waynesboro, GA. She started her official DEI journey back in 2007 at ADP where she was an inaugural member of the first Diversity Council. She is a graduate of Claflin University and attended college on a basketball scholarship. She has a background in Information Technology, Virtual Training, Operations Management, Learning and Development, and Diversity and Inclusion. She has been employed in the following industries: manufacturing, payroll, insurance, and higher education. She has developed global onboarding programs for India during her tenure at ADP and co-led a global IT implementation in Italy. She has been in leadership for nearly 15 years.

She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and Computer Science, an MBA with a concentration in Information Technology, and has completed All but Dissertation (ABD) in Education with a focus in Training and Performance Improvement. She is currently completing a PhD in Adult and Post-Secondary Education. Because of her diverse educational background, she had the opportunity to teach courses in Mathematics, Business, HR, IT, Communications, and Sales in higher education. She has over ten years of higher education experience as a Faculty and Higher Education Leader.

For fun she likes traveling, watching action movies, going to sporting events, journaling, motivational speaking, and reading books by James Patterson and John Grisham.

She is a currently the Global Diversity & Inclusion Leader at Quaker Houghton.

Lauren Blevins:
Lauren Blevins has worked in several roles across the company since joining Effectv (Formerly Comcast Spotlight) in 2009. In her current role as Manager of Strategic Marketing Projects, she is responsible for the integration and adoption of Effectv Media, Advertising services, grant distribution and other resources tied to the DE&I Customer Pillar. This includes but is not limited to managing a team of seven specialists and working with counterparts in the larger Effectv HQ to develop and measure KPI’s, understand issues, resource requirements and performance gaps in support of the Comcast RISE program. Originally from New Jersey, Lauren relocated to the Philadelphia area to attend Temple University where she obtained her Bachelors of Business Administration in Marketing. She later received her Masters of Business Administration in Business Management from Amberton University.

An active member of The WICT Network since 2012, Lauren has attended and volunteered at many events prior to joining the board in 2017 as Membership Director. She has also held roles as Sponsorship Director, DE&I Director and in her latest role serves as General Programming Chair. Outside of The WICT Network, Lauren is an active Comcast ERG member, and also serves on the board of The Wardrobe (Formerly Career Wardrobe) and the Center For Millennial Engagement (CME).

Currently residing in Philadelphia, in her spare time Lauren enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with friends and family.

Moderator: Lauren Scherwin, Regional Account Manager, Disney

Lauren’s Bio:
As a Regional Account Manager for The Walt Disney Company, Lauren works for a division of Disney Signature Experiences supporting business development and strategy for Disney Institute and National Geographic LIVE! As the leader of the northeast region for Disney Institute, Lauren will focus on working with senior level executives in various industries to help solve complex challenges to transformation an organizations culture, employee and customer experiences.

Prior to returning to The Walt Disney Company, Lauren worked for Duke CE as a Client Director in North America. Lauren worked with clients to address their strategic business and leadership challenges through the design and delivery of immersive learning experiences. Prior to Duke CE, Lauren spent her previous eight years in leadership, consulting, business development, sales and operations for The Walt Disney Company.

Lauren’s core strengths include strategic planning, cross-functional collaboration and operational effectiveness to cultivate new and established revenue. Possess global awareness and confidence to adapt to an ever-changing business climate. She has been recognized for consultative sales, team building and mentorship in purpose-driven cultures.