St. Louis Program

	Brenda D. Newberry Founder, Chairman & CEO, The Newberry Group, Inc. Founded in 1996, today, The Newberry Group is a global IT consultancy with more than 140 employees. The company has distinguished itself as a leading, award winning technology services firm. Background: Undergraduate & graduate degrees-Business Management. Six years-U.S. Air Force; chosen as one of twelve outstanding airmen-1978. Prior employment- major defense contractor. Major credit card company, where she rose to VP managing a P&L business unit. Newberry serves on the board of directors of two publicly-held companies: The Laclede Group, Inc. (NYSE) & Enterprise Financial Services Corporation (NASDAQ). Awards include: 2007 Webster University School of Business & Technology Alumni of the Year; 2007 Distinguished Entrepreneur Award; 2006 IT Firm of the Year Midwest Region; 2006 Scott AFB Chapter AFCEAN of the Year; Regional Top 50 Award (RCGA and Deloitte) 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008; Deloitte & Touche Regional Technology Fast 50 (3rd in 2001, 11th in 2002, 2nd in 2003); Deloitte & Touche National Technology Fast 500 (175th in 2001, 210th in 2003, 144th in 2004, 225th in 2005, 275th in 2006); Inc. 500/5,000 America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies (269th in 2004, 275th in 2005; 4,533rd in 2006); 2005 SBA Missouri Small Business Person of the Year; 2002 Missouri Small Business of the Year (Governor’s Award) Boards include: Focus St. Louis, Innovate St. Louis, Matthews-Dickey Boy’s & Girl’s Club, Missouri Small Business Development Centers Statewide Advisory Board, RCGA, Regional Business Council, SSM Health Care, St. Louis Forum, United Services for the Handicap, Inc., United Way of Greater St. Louis, Veteran’s Resource Center, Webster University Ms. Newberry and her husband, Maurice, have been married since 1972. They have two adult daughters, Yasmin and Cherie.
	Susan Engel Retired Chair & CEO, Lenox Group Inc Susan has spent her entire working life with consumer goods and retail companies. She started at the JCPenney Company after graduating from Cornell University in the Human Resources Department (the called Personnel) because she was told she had to show she was serious about working before she would be allowed to enter the buyer or store management trainee programs. Believing she needed an escape route she decided to get her MBA after a friend convinced her she was never going to law school. Upon graduation from Harvard she returned to JCP in marketing for one year and then joined Booz Allen and Hamilton as a consultant primarily focusing on retailers and consumer goods clients helping them with strategy, organization development and operations. After 14 years and becoming a bit burned out Susan joined a client, the Sara Lee Corporation, as president and CEO of Champion Products a marketer of authentic athletic apparel. Three years later Susan joined Department 56 in Minneapolis. The company was well known for its Christmas products and in particular its collectible lighted porcelain villages. She retired in 2007 and has been spending her time doing some consulting for small companies as well as working with the non-profit, private company and public company boards on which she sits. Susan’s board experience is broad. Currently, she is on the Wells Fargo and SuperValu boards, both very exciting with the recent acquisition of Wachovia by Wells and Supervalu’s acquisition of Albertson’s a few years ago. She also sits on two private company boards, Coolibar a high end maker of sun protective clothing and GalerieUSA a designer of gift products filled with candy. In the not for profit world she has recently joined the board of Allina Health Systems the largest hospital system in Minnesota; she is on the Planned Parenthood (of Minnesota and North and South Dakota) Board and Executive Committee; and she has served as president and Chair of the Guthrie theater in Minneapolis where she continues to be a board member. Previously she has served on five other public company boards, both large and small. Three were sold, one was taken over in a proxy fight and from one she resigned to spend more time at Department 56.
	Gayle Jackson President, Energy Global Gayle Jackson has over 30 years of international energy industry experience spanning fuels production, trading, marketing, energy efficiency, advising early-stage companies, private equity investing, public policy formulation and consulting for international development institutions. She is currently President/CEO of Energy Global Inc. Her prior responsibilities at two Fortune 500 companies range from investment analysis to corporate strategic planning and export marketing and sales. An expert on global fossil fuels markets, while president/CEO of her own consulting firm, Dr. Jackson served ten years as chief of staff to the Coal Industry Advisory Board, part of the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA). Following the breakup of the former Soviet Union, her firm was retained by the IEA, the World Bank and the U.S. Agency for International Development to help accelerate energy market reforms in Russia and Ukraine. As managing director of a private equity investment firm that invested in energy services companies in global emerging markets, she led the firm’s pioneering efforts to convert the CO2 emission reductions generated by the firm’s investments into tradable carbon credits. She has spoken widely in international financial and environmental forums on market-based approaches to sustainable private equity investing. Dr. Jackson was also appointed to a Federal executive position in the U.S. Department of Commerce by the Ford and Carter Administrations. She currently sits on the boards of Ameren Corp (NYSE: AEE), where she chairs the Public Policy Committee and serves on the Nuclear Oversight Committee and of Atlas Pipeline Partners LP (NYSE: APL), serving on the Audit and Conflicts Committees. She chairs the Research Corporation board (www.rescorp.org) and is a former Deputy Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. She has served on numerous other non-profit boards. She holds a B.A. degree cum laude from Smith College, and pursued graduate studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, and at Washington University in St. Louis, where she received her M.A. and Ph.D in political science.
	Panel Facilitator Kathy Gardner Senior Vice President, United Way Kathy Gardner is the senior vice president of Community Investment for the United Way of Greater St. Louis. Kathy manages the investment of financial, material and people resources entrusted to United Way through financial contributions to their annual campaign, grants for specialized initiatives, material contributions donated by companies, and individuals volunteering their time. She is responsible for the oversight and direction of the distribution of more than $67 million to nearly 200 health and human service organizations in a 16-county region. In addition to the allocation of funds, Kathy is responsible for management of the Volunteer Center, special initiatives focused on early learning, financial stability and independence and faith community mobilization, and the administration of other fund distribution programs such as Dollar More and 100 Neediest Cases program. She is a member of FOCUS St. Louis, Junior League of St. Louis, Regional Health Commission task force, and CORO – Women in Leadership Advisory Board.