PowWFollowMyLead Program™

Women Leaders

The Koa Club is a builder of women communities within organizations with the emphasis on:

  • Strengthening the leadership, personal and workplace skills of women employees so they can build the confidence to succeed, gain insights on being effective leaders, managers and team members, and be armed with useful tools to navigate commonplace workplace challenges
  • Equipping women employees with strategies to maintain their well-being, especially during these high stress times
  • Helping women employees establish supportive relationships with other women at work, providing them a safe environment to share best practices and informal advice with each other
Registration Options

For best results, attend the Full Program – Phase 1 – Personal Skills Development and Phase 2 – Workplace Skills Development (July – December). Fee to register for Full Program is $750/person.

OR

If you have time to commit to only 3 months at a time, you can choose to attend either Phase 1 – Personal Skills Development (July- September) or Phase 2 – Workplace Skills Development (October – December). Fee to register for Phase 1 or Phase 2 is $400/person.

If you register and pay for this Program before June 15, 2023, you are entitled to a 10% discount off the applicable registration fee for the Program using the discount code: 10offlead

What some of the past participants in our other PowWFollowMyLead Programs have to say:

“Every single session has been full of valuable insights, and I come away from each one feeling inspired and motivated to hone my leadership skills. Not to mention, the enduring friendships I’ve built with my Huddle sisters continue to thrive to this day” – Viola S., founder of MAIKA.

“When I enrolled in PoWW Program, I had taken up a new leadership role and I felt it was necessary to build on my interpersonal and communication skills in order to encourage, influence, and grow my network. I really found the training course to be an enjoyable and valuable experience. It was also an honor to learn from other peers and their collective experiences during our “huddle” sessions. This program was exceptional and I was pleasantly surprised with the organization, assignments/ workshops and the quality of speakers. Thank you to the Koa Club team for executing such a valuable program for women of all career levels” – Nethra M., Principal Pricing & Product Marketing Manager at LeadVenture.

“I was invited by a friend to join POWWFollowMyLead and had no idea what to expect. But I ended up meeting some amazing women doing impressive work in their respective fields and gaining insight on a variety of workplace wellness topics, including how to set healthy boundaries, how to engage difficult conversations, and how to navigate career growth in a challenging environment like Covid. The networking was really valuable for me and our cohort continues to meet monthly over zoom for short check-ins” – Alison M., Financial Advisor at UBS.


The Gender Challenge

  • Even though the number of women in leadership has grown in the past five years, women are still very much underrepresented at every level in key roles in the workplace and in every industry.
  • According to a recent Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) report, Women in Leadership: Unequal Access on the Journey to the Top,  “women experience challenges that men do not when attempting to advance their careers” and “our research not only shows that women continue to face several barriers on their journey to the top, but it also reveals an alarming trend whereby women become increasingly disillusioned about equal access as they move into leadership positions.”
  • Many companies often advocate the criticality of advancing women to higher level roles, but little is usually done within these companies to remove structural barriers and gender bias that contribute to the lack of women in leadership roles, nor to implement effective support for women to help them be prepared to pursue, and to tackle, these higher-level roles.

Women’s Leadership Study Findings

Though women’s confidence in their professional and personal lives have grown significantly in recent years, a number of women surveyed in the 2019 KPMG Women’s Leadership Study stated that not being confident enough was still the leading factor preventing them from taking more risks at their organization and that “overcoming a lack of confidence may therefore be key in creating a cycle in which successful risk- taking fosters the resilience and confidence needed to attempt further risk taking and advancement.” The study also found that 71% of the women responding to the survey think more can be done now by their organizations to encourage risk-taking among women, including the following:

  • 41% asks for more training opportunities
  • 33% believes that their organization should encourage mentorship
  • 28% thinks that there should be more flexibility offered for the women employees to be able to take more risks

 Challenges faced by women in the workplace 

  • Companies have the responsibility to look at how they evaluate and promote female employees and ensure that women are being given a fair shot. Many are now more proactive in finding new ways to address the gender imbalances within their organization, but clearly there is still a lot of work that can be done to reduce, and eventually erase, institutional bias.
  • Beyond institutional bias, there are also other challenges that may hold back women from gaining satisfaction in their jobs. achieving coveted leadership positions or leading effectively:
    • Lacking confidence to ask for what they need, whether it’s for a raise, a more flexible schedule or additional team support
    • Experiencing imposter syndrome or other limiting beliefs
    • Not realizing that doing good work is only part of the puzzle to getting a seat at the table.
    • Not knowing how to find allies and sponsors to champion them
    • Not getting the support they need to be successful for the long term

Program Overview

  • The Program will have two Phases – each Phase has 3 monthly workshops for a total of 6 monthly workshops (Phase 1: July, August and September 2023, and Phase 2: October, November and December 2023.)
  • Each workshop will be held virtually once a month for 2 hours.
  • Structured Mentorship Huddles
  • Empowered Networking for 1st thirty minutes of the workshop.
  • Minimum of 30 paid participants for Program to be held.
  • Full Program fee is $750/person; Fee to attend Phase 1 or Phase 2 only is $400/person.
  • All participants automatically get free membership to The Koa Club general community as the alumni club.
  • Access to workshop materials and recordings in proprietary Workshop Dashboard designed for Program participant’s access and use.
View Workshops Mentorship Huddles

details.

Workshops will be held online and the dial-in details will be provided to the participants once they have registered for the Program.

questions.

For any questions about the Program, please contact us at info@thekoaclub.com

2023 Women Leaders Program overview

The Women Leaders Program is made up of 2 phases:

Phase 1 (Personal Skills Development)

  • 3 monthly workshops specifically designed to provide insights for women leaders on mastering life-changing skills to fight off any self-doubt that creates obstacles to their success, build effective communication skills beyond engaging in legalese and to learn useful strategies to curb decision fatigue and build resiliency.
  • Phase 1 of the Program will be held in July, August and September 2023.
  • Each workshop will be two hours long.

Phase 2 (Workplace Skills Development)

  • 3 workshops focused on providing women leaders with practical strategies for operating effectively within the workplace, including, applying emotional intelligence to help with decision-making process, managing the different levels of relationships in the workplace, and developing their leadership potential.
  • Phase 2 of the Program will be held during October, November and December 2023.
  • Each workshop will be two hours long.

Workshop #1

Phase 1: Personal Development Skills

Wednesday, July 26, 2023
12:00-2pmPT, 1:00pm-3pmMT; 2:00pm-4pmCT; 3pm-5pmET

Eliminate Self-Defeating Beliefs and Enhance Your Self-Confidence

Agenda:

Introduction to Program – Goals and Expectations
Speaker Presentation & Q&A

Description:

Research and studies conducted over the years on the subject of women’s leadership and progression in the workplace have found that many women lack confidence at work on a regular basis and that many women tend to wait until they are 100% confident in themselves before deciding to accept a new position or request a raise. Having a lack of self-confidence can directly affect our productivity and job performance, which in turn affects our professional success. Low self-confidence often shows up in the form of self-defeating beliefs and patterns of behaviors where we may doubt our abilities, believe that somebody else is better than us without any factual basis, or worry that we will soon get “found out” our capabilities are limited. These limiting beliefs are often the culprits obstructing us from going beyond our comfort zone to grow, achieve the successes we deserve, or be effective leaders or teammates. To make progress on self- confidence, it is important to challenge these negative self-narratives and to avoid an onslaught of self-criticism when we encounter failure.

In this workshop, our speaker will discuss how limiting beliefs such as impostor syndrome and self-doubt often manifest in women’s lives, wrecking hard-earned confidence, and what you can do to overcome them. She will bust a few misconceptions about confidence and share a set of tips on how to build and maintain self-confidence. She will also discuss the importance of striking the right balance in developing self-confidence as being overly confident can create its own set of pitfalls. This workshop will provide an actionable list of strategies and tools that can help you make positive changes and strengthen your confidence and courage.

Speaker:

Confidence & leadership expert Micha Goebig is a public speaker, certified coach and published author as well as a member of Forbes Coaches Council and the lead coach on the speaker team for TEDxSeattle. The founder & CEO of GO BIG COACHING, she helps women in tech, mobility and other male-dominated industries lead with confidence and unlearn what holds them back, including but not limited to impostor syndrome, perfectionism, and people-pleasing.

Before training as a coach, she founded, and still owns, GO BIG COMMUNICATIONS – a boutique agency that specializes in corporate communications for the German luxury car and supplier industries, a field in which she has 20 years of experience as a communications expert, intercultural trainer and workshop host. Micha holds a master’s degree from the University of Munich, taught at several colleges in the USA and Germany, has published extensively in both German and English (including a novel with RandomHouse), and trained with Monika Scheddin in Germany as well as Rich Litvin and others in the USA. In all she does, she follows a German-style approach: efficient, pragmatic, solution-driven, direct.

Workshop #2

Phase 1: Personal Development Skills

Wednesday, August 16, 2023
12:00-2pmPT, 1:00pm-3pmMT; 2:00pm-4pmCT; 3pm-5pmET

Essential Communication Skills to Boost Presence and Productivity

Agenda:

Empowered Networking – What’s Your Personal Brand Statement?
Speaker Presentation & Q&A

Description:

Even if we are experts in our fields, maintain leadership roles within our organization, or always have innovative ideas or viable solutions to issues, if we are not able to convey our thoughts, ideas, expertise or requirements in a meaningful way to others, our influence will be greatly limited.

If we want to show others that we have qualities of a leader who can inspire, motivate and persuade those around us to act, or to help us achieve our goals (which may sometimes be known as “executive presence”), we certainly need to be able to communicate clearly and effectively with others whom we interact with to build trust and credibility. According to G. Riley Mills, co-founder of Pinnacle Performance Co. in Chicago and author of The Bullseye Principle (Wiley, 2018), “[t]he ability to communicate with clarity and purpose is the key to personal and professional success.”

In this workshop, our speaker will share strategies on how you can communicate in a way that will strengthen your professional relationships, boost teamwork, and help you to become more productive. Our speaker will also guide you on how to avoid communication failures that can cause misunderstanding, mistakes, and reduction in productivity at work. Lastly, our speaker will discuss how you can continue to maintain good communication skills where you have to resort to new forms of communication due to remote working in our new normal.

Speaker:

Andrew McMaster, Founder of ImprovMindset, is an actor, director and entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience in the arts. He was a founder of Jet City Improv, a non-profit theater that he managed for 25 years, and worked for multiple Fortune 500 companies to provide presentation support and messaging as well as team building and communications trainings.

Andrew is dedicated to experiential learning, providing opportunities for self-discovery and driving innovation in our everyday lives. His exercises are designed to develop leaders who can communicate on all levels (focusing on emotional intelligence) and have your team practicing key relationship-building skills. Participants will leave with practical tools and lessons to apply at all stages of their work, even in crisis.

Workshop #3

Phase 1: Personal Development Skills

Wednesday, Sept 20, 2023
12:00-2pmPT, 1:00pm-3pmMT; 2:00pm-4pmCT; 3pm-5pmET

Enhancing Your Leadership Skills

Agenda:

Empowered Networking – Identifying Your Leadership Identity

Speaker Presentation & Q&A

Description:

Being a leader is more than a title, it’s important to know how to lead others effectively, get the work done, deal with conflict, solve problems, and inspire others to follow.

Our speaker in this workshop will help you to:

  • Gain an understanding of the various leadership styles and develop behaviors supporting the specific styles
  • Recognize and amplify your leadership skills and strengths
  • Build your personal board of advisors
  • Learn the importance of crafting a compelling vision
  • How to demonstrate commitment, courage, and flexibility

Our speaker will also explore workplace challenges that are uniquely faced by women leaders and share key strategies on how to overcome these challenges.

Speaker:

Sharon Podobnik Peterson, Founder of The Center for Conscious Leadership

Sharon Podobnik Peterson supports exceptional leaders in visioning and realizing a future that others cannot yet see. As an educator, serial entrepreneur, and coach, Sharon is a master at evoking possibility in people, ideas, and organizations, and catalyzing ideas into action. She believes that lasting transformation requires deep reflection, calm power, courageous action, and a willingness to experiment with tiny shifts in being that create dramatic results in our outer world. She works with clients to bring to light their most powerful and authentic leadership identities, and cultivate an embodied, effortless leadership presence that increases confidence, clarity, and the ability to be joyfully and intentionally disruptive. 

Sharon most enjoys working with highly accomplished individuals and teams who are moved to combat systemic inequality and envision a more just, peaceful, and equitable world. Sharon is a graduate of the Georgetown School of Continuing Studies Leadership Coaching Certificate program and holds ICF ACC credentials.

Workshop #4

Phase 2: Workplace Improvement Skills

Wednesday October 18, 2023
12:00-2pmPT, 1:00pm-3pmMT; 2:00pm-4pmCT; 3pm-5pmET

Improving Emotional Quotient for Workplace Success

Agenda:

Empowered Networking – An Emotional Intelligence Game
Speaker Presentation & Q&A

Description:

Emotional Quotient (EQ), also known as Emotional Intelligence (EI) or Emotional Intelligence Quotient (EIQ), is generally defined as a person’s ability to recognize, understand, manage, and reason with her own emotions as well as the emotions of others. Having higher EQ results in greater success in the workplace, as it can help with decision-making process, improve work relationships, minimize conflicts, and increase empathy towards others in different situations. TalentSmart conducted a survey which found that “90% of the top performers were high in emotional intelligence, with a higher average income per year” and that “emotional intelligence also accounted for up to 60% of the job performance for supervisors through CEOs.”

In this workshop, our speaker will discuss the five key components of emotional intelligence at work:

  • Self-Awareness: The capability to recognize personal emotions, emotional triggers, and limitations which allows us to better understand how others might perceive our emotions
  • Self-Regulation: The ability to control and adjust emotions so they do not have a negative effect
  • Intrinsic Motivation: Having the inner drive to pursue goals for personal reasons, rather than for a reward
  • Empathy: The ability to identify and understand the emotions of another person which allows us to handle workplace situations more effectively
  • Social Skills: The ability to interact and negotiate with other people in order for us to listen, speak, and resolve conflicts more effectively and to find the best way to meet the needs of each person.

Speaker:

Becca Bartholomew, MS ACC

A sought-after coach, strategist, and facilitator grounded in diversity, equity, and inclusion, Becca has extensive experience working with groups and individuals to cultivate organizational cultures where humans thrive and their work excels.

A skilled facilitator and public speaker, Becca approaches her work with a systems orientation and specializes in emotional and embodied intelligence. She is known for her clear communication, innate ability to foster trust and firm, yet gentle approach to helping others improve their emotional intelligence (EQ), recognize their blind spots, and implement specific tools to improve their efficacy. With over 20 years of experience in project management, policy, research, intervention design and delivery, facilitation, and coaching, Becca works with public and private sector as well as non-profit organizations and consults across multiple functions, departments, and organizational boundaries.

Becca is a life-long learner focused on skills and methods for improving interpersonal communication and team dynamics. In 2019, she completed the TTTG advanced facilitation program through NTL Institute and Beyond Diversity 101: RACE through Beyond Diversity 101™. She was elected to professional membership in the NTL Institute for Applied Behavioral Science in 2017 and is also a member of the national Organization Development Network and the Mid-Atlantic Facilitators Network. Ms. Bartholomew holds certifications in the DISC, MBTI, EQi-2.0 and EQ 360 (two instruments that measure emotional intelligence). She was a student and then teaching assistant in the Triple Impact Practitioners program, a 10-month course in organization development and emotional intelligence skills led by two of the OD field’s leading experts, Edith Whitfield Seashore and Michael Broom.

She earned a M.S. from Tufts University and B.A. from Hampshire College.

In 2020, Becca advanced her coaching skills through the Georgetown University’s Executive Leadership Coaching Program. She lives with her husband and son in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

Workshop #5

Phase 2: Workplace Improvement Skills

Wednesday, November 15, 2023
12:00-2pmPT, 1:00pm-3pmMT; 2:00pm-4pmCT; 3pm-5pmET

Becoming a Super Connector

Agenda:

Empowered Networking: Who are Your Sponsors and Mentors?
Speaker Presentation & Q&A

Description:

According to Scott Gerber and Ryan Paugh, authors of Superconnector: Stop Networking and Start Building Business Relationships That Matter, “[s]ocial capital is the most important currency in the world.”  One major misconception about connectors is that people think it is easy to be a connector. In reality, it is often difficult to be an effective connector, or even harder to be a super-connector. To be a super-connector, you will have to understand the needs of the people in your network and know how to be the crucial bridge for connections in your ecosystem.  Each of us have the potential to become a super connector even if we may not have the strongest network at the moment. We can create opportunities and grow our influence by carefully curating our network to strengthen the bonds we already have and to build trusted long-term relationships.

Our speaker in this workshop will discuss what it means to be a super-connector, the key traits they exhibit, how they are able to effectively connect others in a mutually beneficial way and in doing so, how their professional relationships will be valued and sought after.

Speaker:

Ellenore Angelidis, Founder and CEO of L.E.A.D. (Lead, Empower, Activate, Dream) LLC, is focused on empowering high performing, value driven leaders, teams, & organizations to multiple their impact. She is also the Founder and Executive Director of Open Hearts Big Dreams Fund (a 501(3)(c) NGO) which is focused on increasing educational opportunities (literacy, tech and art) for K-12 kids in Ethiopia, her daughter’s birth country. Previously, as a 13+ year employee of Amazon, Ellenore was part of the company’s recent growth; she held senior business, product and legal roles for Amazon in Seattle, Luxembourg, and Paris – and is passionate about bringing change and forward momentum. Prior to Amazon, she received her legal start at the Chicago firm of Baker & McKenzie, then went on to manage complex litigation including regulatory matters, public relations and crisis management, as well as supported strategic sourcing for Sears, in Chicago, Illinois.  Ellenore is also a published writer; on-line magazines (Working Mother, Adoptive Families, InCulture Parent, and Women’s Essence), on LinkedIn and on blogs (Ethiopian Ties and Balancing Career Family). She also published two children’s books, The Loud Prince and Surprise on Lake Tana, with colorful, diverse characters, through Kindle Direct Publishing. She has built teams across a variety of disciplines, companies, and countries which gives her a uniquely broad perspective to share.

At home, Ellenore has a partner of 25+ years and 3 children, ranging in age from college to elementary school, plus a dog, a cat, and a parrot. As a volunteer, Ellenore has held board and fund-raising positions with the not for profits WACAP and Ethiopia Reads.

 

Workshop #6

Phase 2: Workplace Improvement Skills

Wednesday, December 6, 2023
12:00-2pmPT, 1:00pm-3pmMT; 2:00pm-4pmCT; 3pm-5pmET

Productivity Culture – Understanding and Managing (and Avoiding!) Burnout

Agenda:

Empowered Networking – Your Favorite Energy Boosters
Speaker Presentation & Q&A

Description:

According to Gallup’s latest State of the Global Workplace report, which captures how people are feeling about work and life in the past year, U.S. workers are some of the most stressed employees in the world, and another survey by Deloitte’s Women at Work 2022: A Global Outlook found that almost half of the 5,000 women surveyed felt they are experiencing burnout.  Stress levels of working women have been much higher than men, in some cases due to women having to juggle their busy careers with demanding family caregiving and child-care challenges, and in other cases, caused by factors such as feeling isolated from working remotely, reluctance to delegate, always putting others’ needs over their own, inability to say no, feeling the need to always be perfect and working twice as hard to prove themselves. Employees suffering from burnout generally feel cynical and detached from their work, suffer from the beliefs that they are unaccomplished and ineffective in whatever they do, and are constantly overwhelmingly exhausted.

In this workshop, our speaker will discuss the common culprits causing burnout, helps us to recognize the signs of burnout in ourselves (and in others whom we may be managing at work) and will share valuable tools and strategies on how to prevent and recover from burnout in order for us to stay productive and feel re-energized.

Speaker:

Carol Elizabeth Donahoe, Certified Life And Success Coach for High Achieving Women; Founder of Carol Elizabeth Donahoe Coaching

Carol is a personal development and leadership coach for high-achieving women, a yoga instructor and a lifelong fitness professional, but her life did not always look this fun. She has been through her own (sometimes self-inflicted) struggles, and if she has learned anything, it’s this that she shares: “The way that you feel is a direct result of your choices, actions, and behaviors. You want to put yourself and your own needs first, but you’re NOT. Well, that’s exactly why I’m here: to help you create a new behavior: one where you and your needs come first. Actually, I’m here to help you create a myriad of new behaviors, but it all starts with one important choice: YOU.”

mentorship huddles™

Mentorship Huddle Program Overview

As part of the PowWFollowMyLead Program, the women will be assigned to Mentorship Huddle groups made up of 6–8 participants, which will be facilitated by a Huddle Mentor, a peer to the participants. The Huddle Mentor creates a supportive environment for their Huddle team that fosters a feeling of belonging and value as a member of the organization and the program. Huddles typically meet for an hour once a month.

The women in each Huddle will collaborate closely to work through insights and learnings from the workshops and use their Huddle as a safe space to open up and seek needed help and guidance from one another. The women will also be paired up within the Huddles so that they can be accountable to each other for their successful journey through the program.

why mentorship huddles?

  • It encourages the expansion of knowledge pool as women from different organizations can collaborate to learn from one another.
  • It helps to build inter-organizational personal relationships by breaking down silos between organizations, genders, ethnicities and beyond, providing a safe space to discuss things which can sometimes be uncomfortable.
  • It gives participants a place where they can have a voice that matters to build confidence and develop or improve leadership and other skills.
  • It connects people with varying skillsets to tackle challenges or issues raised during a Huddle meeting.
  • It may help open access for the participants to influential peers, future sponsors and senior leadership that they might never have interacted with before.
  • It aims to inspire participants to push themselves to deal with obstacles by understanding that others in the group may be tackling similar issues and helping them to overcome those issues or obstacles.
  • It fosters the building of trust between participants that allows them to come together in support of each other’s goals, while simultaneously seeking to achieve their own.
  • It aims to be more fun than traditional mentorships with group activities, including role play and brainstorming that creates energy and camaraderie.

how does a mentorship huddle work?

  • All participants will be assigned to a Mentorship Huddle, facilitated by a Huddle Mentor.
  • After each workshop, questions and details of that workshop will be shared with the Huddle Mentor who will use the provided information as the base for group discussions at Huddle meetings.
  • Huddle meetings will be scheduled by the Huddle Mentor as appropriate with that specific Huddle group and will be held no less than once a month. Huddle meetings typically last for an hour.

Women Leaders in Law Roundtable – Achieving success in the law firm or as in-house counsel 

 On Thursday April 6, 2023, we invited women leaders in law to join us on for a robust roundtable discussion; to share their stories and lessons learned on their journey to leadership; and provide insights on how women lawyers can thrive and succeed within their organizations. Watch a recording of the roundtable discussion on The Koa Club TV Channel.

Panelists

Adriana Sosa, General Counsel at FullStack Labs

Adriana is a dynamic and innovative Legal leader with 20 years of experience in the Information Technology and Business Process Outsourcing sectors, specializing in international transactions, complex contract negotiations, and channel distribution matters. She is passionate about people development, simplification, globalization, and a business-first approach to delivering legal services. Adriana has a strong track record of attracting and developing culturally diverse, high-performing, business-focused, international and domestic teams, and she has held worldwide legal leadership roles for Fortune 200 companies.

Jennifer Handa, Associate General Counsel, Global Compliance & Ethics at Accenture.

Jennifer has overall responsibility for the development, implementation and monitoring of its global compliance programs (anticorruption, anti-money laundering, competition law, confidentiality, data and AI compliance, data privacy, government compliance and trade compliance) and ethics program at Accenture (which includes Accenture’s Code of Business Ethics (COBE), Conduct Counts, policy oversight, required Ethics Compliance training, and more). She works with senior management to ensure Accenture’s 700,000+ employees together with its business intermediaries understand and comply with applicable rules, regulations and company policies and that Accenture’ business conduct conforms to its compliance programs and COBE. In 2007/2008, Jennifer had spent some time in the past traveling all seven continents and even worked at McMurdo Station in Antarctica through a subcontractor for the U.S. Antarctic Program.

Nicole Trudeau, Director, Crypto Legal and Associate General Counsel at Robinhood 

Nicole has been working with the law at the intersection of technology and finance, applying more than a decade of experience as a traditional corporate, financial services and securities regulatory attorney to emerging FinTech, cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Some career highlights include being General Counsel of a global cryptocurrency exchange with more than four million retail users and various B2B and Institutional product offerings, four years as the head of the Legal and Compliance Department for a roughly $7 billion registered investment adviser and broker-dealer with 15 publicly-traded funds and global subsidiaries focusing on deploying environmental, sustainable and governance (ESG) investment strategies, and more than 10 years of financial services regulatory expertise practicing at various international law firms in Washington, DC representing a range of clients before financial services regulators including the SEC. She has launched several actively managed UCITS ETFs in Europe, one with a first of its kind carbon offset feature and obtained no-action relief on behalf of the entire asset management industry from the SEC allowing compliance with international financial regimes (MiFID II).

Dianne Sweeney, Lead Partner of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP Silicon Valley office Litigation team and Managing Partner of Pillsbury Winthrop Silicon Valley office. 

Dianne leads the Silicon Valley Litigation team and is the managing partner of Pillsbury’s Silicon Valley office. A skilled commercial and technology trial lawyer, Dianne represents clients on complex business issues in federal and state courts as well as before administrative panels. Her experience in complex corporate transactions and litigation proceedings encompasses merger, shareholder, joint venture and earnout disputes in California and Delaware; antitrust cases; contested property tax assessments; key executive employment disputes and trade secret claims. Dianne also provides risk management assessment and strategic litigation counsel to emerging businesses, especially clients in the high-tech sector. Among the many awards and honors bestowed on Dianne throughout her career, she was most recently recognized by Best Lawyers (published by BL Rankings LLC), Commercial Litigation (2022 – 2023), and was the recipient of the 2021 Santa Clara County Bar Association Salsman Award.

Siân Skelton, Partner and member of the management board of Taylor Wessing LLP London office.

Siân specializes in all aspects of technology and privacy law. She works with technology companies of all sizes, from startups to global brands, and guides them through contract negotiations, cross-border compliance matters and privacy governance. She’s embedded in London’s tech ecosystem through her work with their Tech City programme and a regular advisor to North American tech startups looking to expand into the UK and Europe. Siân also sits on the UK executive board of Taylor Wessing representing Diversity and Inclusion across the firm. Sian has won numerous awards during her career, including for the Legal 500 UK 2022 for Retail and consumer, Legal 500 UK 2022 for IT and telecoms Next generation partner and The Lawyer Awards 2020 for best talent and inclusion initiative – development and continued implementation of the award’s Gender Plan.