2016 ibr women of the year
TRANSCRIPT
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presented by
2016
W omen of the Y ear
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T H E H A W L E Y T R O X E L L W A Y
BRILLIANTAND
BOLD
BOISE / COEUR D’ALENE / IDAHO FALLS / POCATELLO / RENO
Call 208.344.6000 or visit HawleyTroxell.com
We applaud the Idaho Business Review’s Women of the Year nomineesfor their dedication, inspiration, and incredible vision for our lives and
communities. As Idaho’s premier, full-service law firm, we’re proud to offer
sophisticated legal service to game-changers throughout the state. Our
customized approach, The Hawley Troxell Way , uses a team of attorneys or
one-to-one counsel to meet your specific legal needs. And, best of all, our
nationally renowned legal services come with a local address.
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Table of ContentsFor information about othereditorial supplemints to the IBR,
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P.O. Box 8866 | Boise, ID 83707
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PUBLISHER
Bill Cummings
EDITOR
Anne Wallace Allen
SPECIAL SECTIONS EDITOR
Jeanne Huff [email protected]
WOMEN OF THE YEAR WRITERS
Jeanne Huff, Elizabeth Kasper, Sharon Fisher,
Deanna Darr, Carissa Wolf,
Stephanie Schaerr Hansen and
Shannon Paterson.
WOMEN OF THE YEAR PHOTOGRAPHER
Pete Grady (unless otherwise noted)
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR
Cindy Suffa
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
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© 2016 Idaho Business Review Inc. All rights reserved
K AREN A PPELGREN, vice president, director, Business Resource Center, Zions Bank, Boise ...................4RENEE A VRAM , vice president, manager, Twill Falls Canyon Park Financial Center,
Zions Bank, Twin Falls ........................................................................................................................5
CHARLOTTE G. BORST, president, The College of Idaho, Caldwell ......................................................6NORA J. C ARPEN TER, president, CEO, United Way of Treasure Valley Inc., Boise ....................32, 33ERIN C AVE, manager of leadership and digital media, Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce, Boise .....7
C ATHERIN E CHERTUDI, environmental programs manager,Boise City Public Works Department, Boise ......................................................................................8 W INNIE CHRISTENSEN, director, GKFolks Foundation,
Miss Africa Idaho Scholarship Program, Twin Falls ...........................................................................9
K AREN ECHEVERRIA , executive director, Idaho School Boards Association, Boise ..............................10COLLEEN A SUMENDI FILLMORE, state director, USDA Child Nutrition Programs; area chair, Natural Science at University of Phoenix, Boise...............................................................................11
JULIE M. FOGERSON, assistant vice president, Idaho Regional Communications,Wells Fargo Bank, Boise ....................................................................................................................12
A SHLEY FORD-SQUYRES, owner, AF Public Solutions LLC, Boise .......................................................13 J ANICE E. FULKERSON, executive director, Idaho Nonprot Center, Boise .........................................14BRANDIE G ARLI TZ, community liaison, Treasure Valley Hospice, Mountain Home ...........................15ERIN GUERRICABEITIA , executive director, City of Boise, Boise Urban Garden School, Boise ......... 16
JOHANNA (JOEY) C. L. H ALE, internal audit director, J.R. Simplot Company, Boise ..........................17C AROLYN HOLLY, senior anchor, KTVB-TV, Boise ..............................................................................18
BETH INECK , economic development director, City of Nampa, Nampa .............................................20S ARAH (X IAOYE) JIN, senior treasury analyst, Micron Technology Inc., Boise ....................................21K ATHERI NE JOHNSON, communications and marketing director,
Treasure Valley Family YMCA, Boise ...............................................................................................22
A UTUMN K ERSEY, executive director, board chair and co-director,Treasure Valley Children’s Theater LLC/Treasure Valley YOUTH Theater Inc., Meridian .........23
D ANA BOOTHE K IRKHAM, mayor, City of Ammon, Ammon ...............................................................24DIANA L ACHIO NDO, director of community partnerships, City of Boise, Boise ...................................25M ARCIA T. LIEBICH, nonprot volunteer and philanthropist, Hailey ..................................................26BROOKE LINVILLE, CEO, IonVR, Boise ..............................................................................................27B ARBARA Z ANZI G LOCK , director, low income taxpayer clinic and lecturer of tax law,
University of Idaho College of Law, Boise .......................................................................................28
CORINNE (CORI) M ANTLE-BROMLEY, dean, College of Education, University of Idaho, Moscow . 30DENEEN M AY, vice president, manager, Meridian Silverstone Financial Center,
Zions Bank, Meridian .......................................................................................................................31
MOLLY METTLER, senior vice president for Mission, Healthwise, Boise ..............................................34 A MY J. M OLL , dean, College of Engineering, Boise State University, Boise . .......................................35TERRI MUSE, assistant dean for external relations, University of Idaho College of Law, Boise .........36N ANCY K. N APIE R, distinguished professor, Boise State University, Boise ..........................................37M ARY (M.C.) NILAND, president, CEO, Witco Inc., Caldwell ..........................................................38REBECCA L. NOAH C ASPE R, mayor, City of Idaho Falls, Idaho Falls .................................................39P ATRICI A M. OLSSON, partner/shareholder, Moatt Thomas, Boise .................................................40
JULIA RUNDBERG, executive director, City Club of Boise, Boise .........................................................42SE A NNE S AFAII-W AITE , associate professor, University of Idaho, Boise ..............................................43C AROLE SKINNER, president, The Flicks, Boise ....................................................................................44STACIE STATES, president, Keller Williams Realty, Boise ......................................................................45SHANNON STOEGER, senior vice president and branch administrator,
Idaho Independent Bank, Boise ........................................................................................................46
A NN S WANSON , small business development center director, region v,Idaho State University College of Business, Pocatello ......................................................................47
OLGA TIJERINA -MENCHACA , assistant vice president, branch manager IIIdaho Center Branch, Nampa; Overland Branch, Boise; Nampa ....................................................48GLORIA TOTORICAGÜENA , president, Idaho Policy and Consulting LLC,
Transnational Initiatives LLC, Boise .................................................................................................50
JILL SHELTON W AGERS , general dentist, owner, sole practitioner, Jill Shelton Wagers Family Dentistry P.C., Boise ...............................................................................51
SHAWNA W ALZ , founder, executive director, Idaho Diaper Bank Inc., Boise ........................................52 A MANDA W ATSON , senior account executive, Red Sky, Boise ................................................................53C ARRIE W ESTERGARD, executive director, Boise Convention and Visitors Bureau, Boise ...................54
JENNIFER W HEELER, president, WRG Corporate Services; executive director,Idaho Oral Health Alliance, Boise ...................................................................................................56
CHERYL A. W RIGHT, vice president of Finance and Administration,College of Western Idaho, Nampa ...................................................................................................57
M ARY YORK , partner, Holland & Hart LLP, Boise ..............................................................................58 A MERICA YORITA -C ARRIO N, coordinator, Alumni Association,
Idaho Youth Ranch, Boise ................................................................................................................59
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From theEditor
Congratulations – you have in
your hands 50 success stories of 50Idaho women leaders.
You will be inspired, awed, sur-
prised, and tickled. Their stories
will amaze you. You will read about
a woman who climbed the highest
peak in Idaho, struggling through
a foot-and-a-half of snow and ice,
and that’s what she does in her spare
time. In her 9-to-5 job, she is a PR
whiz kid, works in public policy and
is a heathcare expert.
Another is one of 76 Idaho
women dentists – who walk amongthe nearly 1,000 male dentists. A
CFO of a community college –
who, by the way, has also walked
on re, twice. Two are Idaho may-
ors. Another helps train business
people in Vietnam. Another raises
service dog puppies – when she
is not working as the dean of the
College of Engineering at Boise
State University.
I think you can see where I
am going with this – these are all
great women and they all have greatstories.
Read them – and I know that
you will be as proud as I am, to
know that these women are among
us, doing great things.
Also, please note that ve have
been named Women of the Year
before, which puts them in the Circle
of Excellence: Nora J. Carpenter,
Colleen Asumendi Fillmore, 2011;
Ashley Ford-Squyres, 2009; Janice
E. Fulkerson, 2015; and Shawna
Walz, 2015.
Hawley Troxell is Idaho’s largest full-ser-
vice business law rm, and consists of 64 attor-
neys and over 100 full-time employees. Our
19 diverse practice groups include Alternative
Dispute Resolution; Banking; Business;Construction; Creditor Rights and Bankruptcy;
Employment and Labor; Health Care;
Insurance; Intellectual Property and Internet;
Litigation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Patent
and Emerging Technology; Public Finance and
Local Government; Real Estate; Renewable
Energy; Securities; Tax, Estate Planning, and
Employee Benets; Wine, Brew, Spirits.
Our customized approach, The
Hawley Troxell Way uses a team of attor-
neys or one-to-one counsel to meet our
clients’ specic legal needs. With headquar-
ters in Boise, we have additional oces inCoeur d’Alene, Idaho Falls, Pocatello, and
Reno. As a member of Lex Mundi, the
world’s leading association of independent
law rms, we partner with rms around the
globe to provide the most comprehensive
service possible to our clients. And, best of
all, our nationally renowned legal services
come with a local address.
Wells Fargo employs 2,000 team members through-
out Idaho, serving customers from 85 stores and 91
ATMs. A diversied, community-based nancial ser-
vices company, Wells Fargo provides banking, insurance,
investments, mortgage and consumer and commercialnance. Wells Fargo serves one in three households and
ranked No. 30 on Fortune’s 2015 largest corporations.
2 • Women of the Year
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Idaho Business Review • 3
Shannon StoegerWe celebrate our friend and collegue, Shannon,
and all of the 2016 Women of the Year honorees
for their dedication, hard work, and invaluable
contributions to our community.
Senior Vice President & Branch Administrator
TheIdahoBank.com | 800.897.4863
Congratulations from The Idaho Bank ®!
UnitedHeritage.com | 800-657-6351 | Meridian, ID
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Vice President and Director • Business Resource Center • Zions Bank • BoiseBy Elizabeth Kasper
Special to Idaho Business Review
To put it simply, Karen Appelgren just loves to help.
If she had to describe her job in one word, she would proba-
bly have to say “banker,” but what she does goes far beyond writ-
ing loan documents and cashing checks. As director of the downtown
Zions Bank Business Resource Center, Appelgren teaches clients just
about everything they need to know to run a business, soup to nuts.
“It’s a collaborative eort to grow a business,” Appelgren says,
enthusiasm in her voice. “It takes a village to raise a child, and it
takes the eort of a community to build strong economic commu-
nities. I feel like part banker, part teacher. I think I have the best job
in the world.”
Since opening its doors in January 2014, the center has consult-ed with 190 entrepreneurs, trained more than 1,000 business people
though workshops, and provided more than 2,500 mentoring hours.
“We kind of ll in the gaps for people,” Appelgren says. “How
do you know if you can make money? Will there be demand? How
do you nd the resources you need?”
Appelgren was certainly qualied for the job – she had just
come from developing the Women’s Business Center, a division of
the Mountain States Group, where she trained business hopefuls in
business planning, nance, marketing and operations.
Her background as a teacher helped as well. She worked as a
substitute teacher for the Boise School District for 10 years, and then
got to spend one year – “my magical year,” as she calls it – as an
Academic Interventionist at the Boise Language Academy. There,
Appelgren taught three levels of math to a population hosting 20
dierent language groups. Most of the students had had no priorexperience with the English language.
Appelgren cites one moment in particular that stands out. The
school had just opened and she was outside during lunch to monitor
the students, who were from dierent countries and in some cases,
dierent factions of the same country. But they were all playing soc-
cer – sports was “the universal language,” Appelgren says.
“It made me think, what would the world be like if we just saw
each other as people and accepted that we’re all human beings?” she
says. “It was beautiful.”
After a year, the school made budget cuts and Appelgren went
back to the business world. One thing that didn’t change, however,
was her devotion to giving back to the community. She is a founding
member of the United Way Treasure Valley’s Women’s LeadershipCouncil, and as much as she can, she volunteers with Dress for
Success, a company that helps outt economically disadvantaged
women for job interviews and other business events.
Appelgren, an Arizona native, loves Idaho and Boise in particular.
She enjoys walking and riding her bike on the Greenbelt, and she attends
the symphony and the Shakespeare Festival as often as she can. The moth-
er of two grown sons, she also loves to play strategy games with her family.
One day, Appelgren would like to pursue public oce. She is
particularly passionate about strengthening and enhancing Idaho’s
public education system.
But for now, she is enjoying the here and now.
“I love what I’ve done before, and I love what I do (at Zions
Bank),” she says. “Every day, I look forward to coming to work.”
“It’s a collaborativeeffort to grow abusiness. It takes avillage to raise a child,
and it takes the effortof a community tobuild strong economiccommunities.”
Karen Appelgren
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Vice President, Manager • Twin Falls Canyon Park Financial CenterZions Bank • Twin Falls
By Jeanne Huf
Idaho Business Review
As a young girl, Renee Avram was competitive. “I was involved
in sports from 2nd grade on up,” she says. “I played baseball
with the boys until I couldn’t anymore. I made the All-Star
Team.” Later, she played volleyball and was a Junior Olympic hope-
ful until a sprained wrist put the kibosh on those hopes. She was also
competitive in academics and was the spelling bee champion in 7th
and 8th grades.
She says it’s this competitive spirit that has paved her path to
success. “I was up in the a.m. at 5:30, doing weights and working
out.” It instilled in her a hard work ethic and more. “Being part of ateam and working together, that mentorship, that leadership, it made
me early on recognize people’s abilities and skills,” Avram says.
Also, being a leader and taking charge was ingrained. In high
school, wearing a tank top, ip-ops and shorts, she approached
the president of the school’s credit union and said the credit union
was not providing the exposure it could to increase business. “When
you believe in something, you go both feet in and don’t look back. I
was hired on the spot,” Avram says. In six months, she had helped
increase the number of accounts by 50 percent.
Fast forward to today. Avram says she has “worked in just about
every role that exists in banking” since her rst job as a credit union
receptionist and since 2006 serves as vice president and manager of
Zions’ Twin Falls Canyon Park Financial Center. Within seven years
she led her team to increase branch deposits and loans to over $110
million, managed two successful nancial centers, and won presti-
gious awards, including the Rainmaker Award – she increased new
deposits by $29 million. She is “passionate” about economic growth
and development and points to success stories including Chobani
and Clif Bar.
In addition, Avram takes the mantle of mentoring seriously,
another holdover from her background in sports.
“I learned at an early age to identify people’s strengths and
weaknesses and their ability to adapt to them and enable them to
better themselves in their careers and in their lives. It is the mostrewarding thing,” she says. “If more employees feel better they’ll
work harder. I think that’s a win-win.”
Avram also believes in community outreach and has helped
single mothers enter the workforce, was 2015 team captain for Zions
Bank’s Paint-A-Thon, and regularly volunteers for the bank’s Teach
Children to Save program, among others.
A survivor of fourth stage melanoma, Avram and her husband
Brian have two children, Taylor, 14, and Carson, 10. And she cred-
its her mother with teaching her the value of integrity. “My mom
always instilled in me that you cannot have integrity 99 percent of
the time. Either you have it or you don’t.”
“It’s so good when acustomer calls you andsays, ‘I just want youto know that 15 years
ago when you gave methat loan, that changedmy life. You workedwith me and made itpossible to get backon my feet.’”
Renee Avram
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President • College of Idaho • CaldwellBy Elizabeth Kasper
Special to Idaho Business Review
It’s appropriate that Charlotte G. Borst, the College of Idaho’s 13th
president, is a historian, as she is making history herself.
Borst became the college’s rst female president in June 2015,
selected from a eld of more than 130 candidates. Her extensive
administrative experience and strong liberal arts background made
her uniquely qualied for the job.
Growing up in Vermont, Borst was fascinated with biographies
of famous women scientists, her role models – she’d planned on
becoming a physician.
“I spent my young life at the library,” she says with a laugh.
“I’d ride my bike there, and my mom would call down and ask the
workers to please send me home.”In her senior year at Boston University, however, she took a class
from a historian of science and found she loved the mix of history
and medicine. She continued her education, earning two master’s
degrees and a doctorate in the history of science, and taught history
at several schools across the country. Borst took her rst administra-
tive position at the University of Birmingham as the executive direc-
tor of historical colleges, and held similar positions at other schools,
most recently as vice president for academic aairs and dean of the
faculty at Whittier College in California, before coming to Idaho.
“My passion is academia and providing access to higher
education,” Borst says. “Coming from (Rutland, Vermont), a
town where people didn’t go to college and the economy suered,
I like to be part of organizations that want that kind of passion.”
Borst is also a published author with two books and numerousarticles and papers to her name. Her research focus is at the nexus
of how race and gender come together, what professionalism is and
how science shapes the whole of it.
“Charlotte has brought an unparalleled passion for everything
she’s involved in,” said Doug Brigham, chair of the school’s Board
of Trustees, in a letter of recommendation for this award, “whether
it’s hosting new students at her home, discussing the role of a liberal
arts education in the 21st century … or serving as an excellent role
model for the college’s 1,100 students – in particular the 51 percent
who are women.”
The new president says she takes “enormous delight” in how well
her students perform, both current students and past. She proudly tells
of how she recently met a College of Idaho alum on a plane who told
her that it was the college that “taught her how to think.”
“My biggest goal is to get us better–known and known national-
ly,” Borst says. “I’ve told my sta we’re not using the word ‘hidden,’
we’re just ‘a gem.’”
Outside of work, Borst loves to read, especially mysteries with
female protagonists and nonction. She and her husband, Richard
Censullo, who works remotely as an information technology director
for Logic Technology, have a son and daughter in California, and
Borst says her “biggest joy” is her new baby granddaughter, Fiona.
The couple also enjoys exploring Idaho’s wilderness, particularly
camping in the Sawtooth Mountains.
“My biggest goal is toget us better-knownand known nationally.I’ve told my staff we’re
not using the word‘hidden,’ we’re
just ‘a gem.’”
Charlotte G. Borst
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Manager of leadership and digital media • Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce • BoiseBy Elizabeth Kasper
Special to Idaho Business Review
If you follow the Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce on Twitter,
most likely the 140-character missives you’re reading were written
by Erin Cave. But that’s not all she does.
Asked to describe herself in one word, Cave chooses “magnet-
ic,” and her personality lends well to her career. Cave began working
at the chamber as an oce assistant, but today, she’s helping run the
show as manager of leadership and digital media. She admits this
sometimes results in being the one others come to with technology
questions, but she’s also helping to groom the future leaders of Boise.
“Working for the Boise Chamber, we are constantly connect-
ing individuals and businesses together,” Cave says. “I love to be a
resource to others, whether it’s for someone that needs an accoun-tant, or (for) a young professional looking for a mentor to further
their career.”
Cave’s main responsibility is to oversee the chamber’s
Leadership Boise, Leadership Boise Academy – for high school
juniors only – and Boise Young Professionals programs, designed to
help local businesses connect with individuals and talk about leader-
ship and work in Boise. The job involves wearing a lot of hats: Cave
does marketing, communications, social media, volunteer liaisons,
community relations, budgeting and raising sponsorships. And that’s
only part of the list.
“It is no coincidence that the chamber’s recent growth and
expanding inuence matches Erin’s expanding responsibilities in the
organization,” says Bill Connors, president and CEO of the cham-ber. “From helping us create a more dynamic social media presence,
to creative program management, to expanding our brand in the
community … Erin Cave is one of our community’s most talented
and likable young business leaders.”
Cave grew up in Eagle and says it “never crossed (her) mind”
to leave the area. She loves the close-knit community, but enjoys the
growth Boise’s experiencing.
“My oce is downtown and I get to see all the cranes going
up across the valley, but we still have that small-town feel,” she says.
In her time away from the oce, Cave gives back to the
community by volunteering with the Boise Public Library, local
schools and the Saint Alphonsus Festival of Trees fashion show,
among others.Her passions include spending time with her daughters, Harper,
5, and Henley, 2, golf and running. Cave says she would like to have
more time for personal reading, but for right now, the books she
reads are mostly those “by Eric Carle and Dr. Seuss.” Cave credits
her mother, Anne Best, and sister, Katie Best, as being the most
inuential women in her life.
In the future, she wants to nish her education – she’d like
to study communications – and make the most of her career, and
she thinks those things will probably happen right here in the
Treasure Valley.
“Boise is a passion of mine,” Cave says simply.
“Boise is a passion of mine.”
Erin Cave
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Environmental programs manager • Boise City Public Works Department • BoiseBy Elizabeth Kasper
Special to Idaho Business Review
Catherine Chertudi says she’s lucky to be doing what she’s
always wanted to do.
“I always knew that I wanted to work in helping protect
and conserve and be a steward of the environment,” she says.
She started at age 12, volunteering at a recycling center in her
hometown of Caldwell, and today, she oversees all the environ-
mental eorts for the Boise Public Works Department. Chertudi
manages the solid waste program, serving 73,000 households, and
Curb It, the city’s curbside recycling and trash collection program.
She is also proud of the household hazardous waste program, which
was a small, once-yearly event when she came to the public works
department and is now a year-round program, diverting more than25 million pounds of hazardous waste in Ada County.
“When I drive down the streets of Boise and I see that we don’t
have litter, I see people recycling, see the hazardous waste truck
picking up thousands of waste products, it makes me feel good,”
Chertudi says. “I know we’re making a dierence.”
Another large project Chertudi is excited about is the cleanup
of contaminated soil at the Esther Simplot Park site. When construc-
tion on the park began in April 2015, workers discovered contami-
nants in 130,000 yards of soil that needed to be excavated and tested.
It’s been quite an ordeal, Chertudi says: the biggest dump truck
available could only haul 20 yards of soil each trip to the testing site.
“It went on for weeks,” Chertudi says with a laugh. “But the
park is going to be phenomenal.”
Chertudi grew up in a family who “lived to be outdoors.” Herfather was the director of tourism for the state, so they spent signif-
icant time camping, hiking and shing. Chertudi even learned to
ice-skate on an Idaho lake. Her love of the Idaho outdoors is partly
what inspires her teaching, as well. Chertudi helped develop the
Idaho Water Awareness Week program, which teaches 8,000 ele-
mentary-age students across Idaho about the importance of water,
and she regularly teaches classes on water, trash and recycling, and
hazardous waste in local high schools and at Boise State University.
She says she is “blown away” by how motivated today’s students are.
“I love giving back and promoting education,” Chertudi says.
“I love seeing students connect with math, science and technology
and how important protecting and conserving the environment is
in their lives.”Since 1990, Chertudi has also judged high school speech and
interview competitions for the Idaho Academic Decathlon, something
she became interested in when her daughter joined the program.
As her son, Matthew, and daughter, Lauren, grew up, she
coached both of them in soccer. She and her husband, Jim, still enjoy
gardening and hiking together. Jim is an assistant vice president at
Washington Federal.
Professionally, Chertudi’s future goals include increasing oppor-
tunities for reducing waste and recycling in Boise. Her work, she
hopes, will ensure that Boise is “truly a sustainable community.”
And, just as she did when she was young, Chertudi says the rst
thing she does when she goes home at night is to go outside.
“When I drive downthe streets of Boiseand I see that we don’thave litter, I see people
recycling, see thehazardous waste truckpicking up thousandsof waste products, itmakes me feel good.I know we’re making a
difference.”
Catherine Chertudi
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Director • GKFolks Foundation • Miss Africa Idaho • Twin FallsBy Elizabeth Kasper
Special to Idaho Business Review
For Winnie Christensen, helping out in the community isn’t just
something she does when she has time: it’s what she makes time for.
“I like giving back because the community’s been so nice to
me,” she says. “And whatever you put in, you get back out.”
And Christensen certainly puts in her all.
Born in Kenya, Christensen split her childhood between her
father’s home in Africa and her mother’s in the United States. She
went to school in both countries, and for that, she counts herself lucky.
“High school (in the United States) was such a culture shock for
me,” she says, laughing. “But I’m very blessed that I can appreciate
American culture (as well as) African culture.”
After moving to the United States permanently in 2005,Christensen attended Idaho State University and studied political
science and international relations. Upon graduation, she moved to
Twin Falls and started working for SL Start, a social services orga-
nization, helping people with disabilities, but it wasn’t “where my
passion was.” It was then that she started volunteering at the College
of Southern Idaho Refugee Center.
“It was so fullling,” Christensen says of that time. “In one
place, I could help people on an international level and in the local
community. It was meant to be.”
She worked as a volunteer and translator, and in 2014, she
also became a community advisor for the CSI Diversity Council,
a position she still holds. In the same year, she began working
with the GK Folks Foundation’s Miss Africa Idaho Scholarship
Program, and in 2015, she became the program’s director.
“At rst, I thought the scholarship program was so huge that Icouldn’t do it, but the results were so amazing that I felt it was worth
it,” Christensen says.
The program is about education and cultural scholarship – “no
bikinis, no tness competitions” – and bringing the best of Africa to
the stage. Contestants present platforms for research and proposed
cultural change both in the United States and in Africa and display
talents such as dancing, poetry reading or cooking. The program
“gives them an opportunity to show their pride, heritage, goals and
visions for Africa,” Christensen says.
Another project Christensen is undertaking is the creation of
the Refugee Healing Support Alliance, a nonprot she started with
Liyah Babayan, a 2015 Idaho Business Review Women of the Year
honoree, Twin Falls entrepreneur and herself an Armenian politicalrefugee. Their mission is to help refugees heal from traumatic expe-
riences and learn to live and work in the United States. Christensen
says she nds particular joy in helping women through this program.
“My major goal in life is to see more women, children and girls
empowered to voice out their opinion…and make major changes in
the world,” she says.
Christensen is also a proud wife to husband Antone and mother
to son Val Kitavi, 3 (Kitavi means “warrior” in Swahili). She loves
cooking and recently mastered Chicken Cordon Bleu, and she also
enjoys singing, shopping and making new friends.
In all she does, Christensen strives to live by her personal philos-
ophy: always give back to the community and be conscious of how
you make people feel, “because life is a chain reaction.”
“My major goal in life is tosee more women, children
and girls empowered tovoice out their opinion …
and make major changesin the world.”
Winnie Christensen Photo by Drew Nash
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Executive Director • Idaho School Boards Association • BoiseBy Sharon Fisher
Special to Idaho Business Review
With the start of the Idaho Legislative session, executive
director of the nonprot Idaho School Boards Association
(ISBA) Karen Echeverria is wondering what it’s going to
be like.
“I think it’ll be a little slower year,” Echeverria says. “Of course,
I say that every year.”
Much of it boils down to money. Echeverria is hoping that,
with the improved economy, education will see less controversy. “We
work every year for increased funding for students,” she says. “We
know that every dollar we get that goes back to the district will have
a positive impact on students.”
Echeverria had served as deputy director for the Idaho StateBoard of Education in policy and government aairs, when former
ISBA chair Cli Green reached out to her about working in govern-
ment aairs at the association. She started working for the ISBA in
2007. When he left, she was named as interim, and then ocially
named to the position a few months later.
“When you’re at a state agency, you can’t really lobby,”
Echeverria explains. “You can advise legislators, but I felt like I
would have a bigger inuence if I could lobby them about specic
initiatives. Moving to a nonprot would provide me with more exi-
bility to support things that were near and dear to my heart.”
Passing legislation with an impact on education in Idahothat will lter down to kids is the most rewarding part of her job,
Echeverria says. For example, the organization recently worked on
legislation to develop an alternative school for sixth grade, which
could eventually help thousands of Idaho schoolchildren. “We want-
ed to have an alternative to get kids into special needs or smaller class
sizes, where they’re going to do better,” she explains.
Especially during the legislative session, Echeverria’s job is
time-consuming. “This job takes a lot of hours,” she says. “I couldn’t
do the job I do and have a young family. There’s too much evening
and weekend time.” Her counterparts around the nation are typical-
ly more men than women, and the women are either single or older.
When Echeverria was a young mother herself, she worked as an
administrative assistant before earning her paralegal certicate, afterrealizing she hadn’t been able to pursue some jobs due to a lack of
education. “I swore that if I ever got to a place when I was a manag-
er, I would remember what it was like to not be a manager, and make
sure everyone had equal opportunities and equal chances,” she says.
It’s still several years before Echeverria is looking to retire – she’s
hoping to “snowbird” by living in Arizona part of the year – but
she’s planning to stay involved. “I can do training in Arizona, and
training here for school board members,” she says. “I would like to
stay at that level.”
“I swore that if I evergot to a place when Iwas a manager, I wouldremember what it was
like to not be a manager,and make sure everyonehad equal opportunitiesand equal chances.”
Karen Echeverria
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State director • USDA Child Nutrition Programs • BoiseBy Elizabeth Kasper
Special to Idaho Business Review
You might say Colleen Asumendi Fillmore is
a living link: a link between the future and
the past.
For her 9 to 5 job, Fillmore works as the state
director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s
Child Nutrition Program, making sure Idaho’s kids
are nding healthy options for school lunches. She is
also the area chair of the natural science department for
the University of Phoenix.
Her other passion, however, is celebrating and highlight-
ing her heritage.
Fillmore, who was raised in Boise, grew up with an Irish mother
and Basque father, and the Basque culture was central to the family’s life.Even her name suggests it: “Asumendi” is a Basque name. It was “just the
environment (she) was in” – the family would often attend festivals, and
Basque food was a staple. Fillmore says her favorite dish was tripe, which
comes from the stomach walls of a cow. She and her sister participated
in Basque dancing, though she admits they both giggled in the back row
most of the time.
Today, Fillmore leads tours of the Basque Block in downtown
Boise, and she helps with Jaialdi, a Basque festival that takes place every
ve years in Boise. She even authored a book about Basque dietary cul-
ture and tradition.
“The Basques are a positive, festive, proud people,” she says. “(I
believe that) without a connection to something bigger than ourselves,
we are nothing.”
On the business side, Fillmore’s responsibilities are mainly nancial
these days, but she loves contributing positively to the growth
of Idaho’s future leaders.“I truly believe it’s one of the best jobs you can have,”
Fillmore says of being a dietitian. “Children bring such
a spark to life … I am very fortunate to get to do that.”
As director of the program, Fillmore manages
the $90 million budgeted for Idaho and makes sure
the USDA’s requirements are followed. The guide-
lines often change, so she travels across the country to
learn what’s new in the eld. She also oversees wellness
programs, garden grants and farm-to-school programs
throughout the state.
At the University of Phoenix, Fillmore lends her expertise
as the chair of the natural sciences department through teaching and
being a liaison between the teachers and administration. Additionally,
Fillmore volunteers her time with groups such as Nourishing Idaho’sChildren, Feed the Gap, the National Farm-to-School Network and the
Hunger Summit Coalition.
“I see myself more as a mentor to the under-privileged than anything
else,” Fillmore says. “I love to take the energy of people around me and
channel it to the next step for the combined development in our lives.”
Outside of work, family is paramount for Fillmore. She and her
husband, Je, who were high school sweethearts, have been married
for 37 years and have two sons, 35 and 33. They enjoy being outside
together – “I would love to say I’m out in the garden as much as he is
these days!” – and Fillmore tries to walk 12,000 steps every day. She also
enjoys reading, particularly spiritual books and mysteries.
“I feel my personal philosophy is still being shaped on a daily basis,”
Fillmore says. “I believe it is a person’s responsibility to learn from every
experience and grow in a positive way.”
“I feel my personalphilosophy is still beingshaped on a dailybasis. I believe it is a
person’s responsibilityto learn from everyexperience and growin a positive way.”
Colleen Asumendi Fillmore
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Assistant Vice President • Idaho Regional Communications • Wells Fargo Bank • BoiseBy Deanna Darr
Special to Idaho Business Review
When Julie Fogerson chose communications as her college major,
she thought it would let her try things out to see what she liked.
She never expected she would use her degree, but she was right
about it letting her explore her passions, whether it is making movies, living
in Antarctica, traveling the world, learning multiple languages or working
toward a doctorate in leadership.
“It’s ironic I ended up using my actual degree,” she says with a laugh.
But that degree led her from college at the Hawaii Pacic University
to jobs in public relations in Seattle and New York City. It was while living
in the Big Apple that she went back to school as part of a program oered
by her employer, earning her master’s degree in negotiation and dispute
resolution at Creighton University.
As with many things in Fogerson’s life, she may not have planned onpursing mediation, but she followed an interest that became a passion.
“Dispute resolution techniques help us in our daily lives,” she says.
“As a society, I feel we’ve become so sue happy, and there’s an alternative.”
Her lifelong desire to learn and study led this Northwestern native
who grew up largely in Ontario, Ore., and Pocatello, to set out to travel the
world – literally.
“I had a goal to hit every single continent and Antarctica is the hardest
one,” she says of her wanderlust and eventual job on the bottom of the
world. (She checked o her nal continent last year with a trip to Colombia.)
She had toyed with the idea for years, since learning of programs to
work there from a college friend. When her life in New York City reached
a changing point, she entered the extremely competitive pool for one of a
handful of oce jobs at McMurdo Station.
As she waited to see if she was hired, she visited her family in Idaho. It wasduring that trip that she started a conversation with the brother of her sister’s
husband, and the two hit it o. She got the job and headed south for a summer
season, doing scheduling in the vehicle maintenance facility.
After that rst season, she and her now-husband, Adam Chitwood,
got married, and this time both of them were able to spend another season
in Antarctica.
For Fogerson, it was about more than adventure. “Antarctica made
me think about what I like to do in a way I hadn’t been able to in a long
time,” she says.
And what she loves are what she calls her passion areas, and she stays
involved by volunteering with theater groups and joining the Idaho Writers’
Guild. They are pursuits she doesn’t take for granted. “Experience has
taught me to really think about what I love and hold that present.”
It’s this approach that earned her honors as diverse as having a shortlm screened at the Seattle Film Festival, to receiving an Antarctic Service
Medal from the National Science Foundation, to now working on her doc-
torate in leadership from Creighton University.
Her new eld of study falls in line with her job with Wells Fargo Bank.
It’s a job she never expected, but one she has jumped into with every-
thing she has. “It’s the most amazing thing I never would have anticipat-
ed. It’s the best crew all in one place that I’ve ever gotten to work with,”
Fogerson said. “I’m in awe of how it all came together.”
While her daily life is in Boise with her husband and stepson, Taylor,
14, she’s always looking for where opportunity will take her.
“I loved Choose Your Own Adventure books as a kid. I think of my
life like that,” she says.
“I’m never going to leavea possible opportunityuntouched.”
Julie Fogerson
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Owner• AF Public Solutions LLC • BoiseBy Sharon Fisher
Special to Idaho Business Review
This is actually Ashley Ford-Squyres’ second
time as one of IBR’s Women of the Year.
“I got this award in 2009,” she says. “One
of the things the story said was that I wanted to
be on the City Council by the time I was 40, and
mayor of Boise by the time I was 52. People have
remembered that.”
But in the meantime, life intervened. Ford-Squyres
was working at Red Sky Public Relations at that time, and
now has her own rm. “When I left Red Sky, I kind of got o
that bus,” she says. “I want to be me as a person for a while. I’ve
always believed that I am meant to do something big. And I alwaysthought it was mayor of Boise. I don’t think that any more, but at my
core I believe I’m meant to do something big, and I need to gure
out what that is.”
Ford-Squyres’ primary role is administrator for the Meridian
Development Corp. Meridian’s urban renewal agency. After securing
that contract her rst year at Red Sky, she went out on her own to
better satisfy the needs of MDC. “The skills I was going to learn
would come better through working as an administrator for an urban
renewal district rather than a private agency,” she says.
With MDC, Ford-Squyres has worked on developments such as
The Village, focusing on entitlements and approvals with the various
city and county agencies. To do that, she worked with a team from the
law rm of Givens Pursley. “It was a huge project, with lots
of legal maneuvering.”The urban renewal agency also encompasses
downtown, which some Meridianites call Old Town
– from City Hall to Pine Ave., and from Meridian
Road to east Third, Ford-Squyres describes. Right
now, she’s working on a three-prong project for
downtown that would include a multipurpose con-
ference center, hotel, and performing arts facility.
“There’s a lack of meeting space in Meridian, espe-
cially compared with the Nampa Civic Center, Idaho
Center, and Boise Centre On the Grove,” she explains.
MDC is performing a feasibility study to gure out what
such a project would look like, and whether it would be supported by
the community. “It will require some level of public nancing, as wellas the creation of an auditorium district and probably a community
infrastructure district as well,” Ford-Squyres says. “If we only have
40 percent support, we’re never going to get to 66 2/3 percent,”
which is the level required to pass a bond. “As much as I would love
to believe that someone would come and give me $70 million, that’s
not going to happen.”
Ford-Squyres is also re-engaging in volunteering, working on
last fall’s “I love Boise” campaign for more open space, and getting
involved with Wine, Women & Shoes, beneting the Idaho Youth
Ranch. “I’m trying to nd a balance of organizations that need
someone like me that are fun and speak to something in my life that
may be missing as well,” she says.
“At my core, I believe I’mmeant to do something big,and I need to fgure outwhat that is.”
Ashley Ford-Squyres
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Executive Director • Idaho Nonprofit Center • BoiseBy Jeanne Huf
Idaho Business Review
To Janice Fulkerson, the importance of the
phrase “feelings matter” is represented by a
painting created by her son Brian that hangs
on her oce wall. In college, during an evening
Art Therapy class with her then 10-year-old son in
tow with the instructor’s permission, she watched
as Brian quietly painted colorful uy shapes. Other
students also brought children, “dozens who were not
so quiet,” Fulkerson says. And after the instructor yelled at
the “children of Janice Fulkerson” to “shut up,” Brian’s painting
abruptly changed.
Feeling the instructor’s anger, his painting turned dark andmessy. And, “he went from a happy face to a frowny face,” Fulkerson
says. “This was one of those really big visuals – how we treat people
and the feelings behind it matters. I’ve put that painting up in every
oce I move in to.”
It’s part of the thread that runs through her life. Fulkerson was in
4th grade when smallpox was eradicated and she remembers because
she became alarmed when her brother was not vaccinated as she and
her sister had been. “I wrote a letter to the editor worried that my
little brother would die if he didn’t get a vaccination,” she says. The
letter brought a lot of attention to the issue and Fulkerson, heady from
the experience, thought she wanted to be a writer when she grew up
“because I could change the world,” she says with a laugh.
It was also the moment she decided that whatever she did do,
she wanted to be sure the end result was in helping others.
Fulkerson did not become a writer, but in everyendeavor since that day, she has stayed true to help-
ing others. She’s worked in the CASA program
where she served in an advocacy role for children
and is proud that she “did not turn away any cases
during my term.”
She’s also been a board member for Meals-on-
Wheels, has mentored a “little” in Big Brothers Big
Sisters since 2012, has served in “many roles” for Boise
State Public Radio, was recently appointed on the board
of Your Health Idaho, and has been active in Rotary Club of
Boise Metro since 2007 and is serving this year as the president.
And, in her day job, Fulkerson has a number of milestones
of which to be proud. She led the Idaho Gives team increasing the
results from $578,000 in year one to $1.1 million in year three, and
increased the number of participating nonprots from 500 to 675.
Married to her high school sweetheart for 32 years, Fulkerson
took up road biking in 2013, and has upped her mileage to over 60
miles per ride. She is an accomplished seamstress and as of January
9, is proud grandmother to Theron Newt. And, if she’s listening to
rock and roll, and she’s alone, she’s probably dancing. “I’m a secret
dancer,” Fulkerson says, with a laugh. “I love to dance but I’m really
bad at it so I only do it by myself.”
Her advice to others: “Be brave, be curious, and be safe.
“Appreciate every day. Find the little victories. Find that little
something to celebrate everyday.”
“Appreciate every day.Find the little victories.Find that little somethingto celebrate everyday.”
Janice E. Fulkerson
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Community Liaison • Treasure Valley Hospice • Mountain HomeBy Carissa Wolf
Special to Idaho Business Review
Brandie Garlitz just wanted to ex her business muscles. She
didn’t ever think a business hunch would turn into a daily
meditation on what really matters in life.
“I looked around the community and I saw a need that we have.
We have an elderly population and no one around to really help them.”
That very practical thinking inspired her to open One Solution LCC an
at home health care and recovery service. It had Garlitz doing every-
thing from the business’s books and marketing to checking in on elderly
patients and doing their grocery shopping.
She networked as CEO of One Solution and when an oer
came along to seque her experience into a community relation spe-
cialist role at Treasure Valley Hospice, she already knew she had ahuge capacity to care. But she didn’t jump at the new job prospect.
At least, not at rst.
“I didn’t know I could do hospice,” she recalls. “My heart
strings were already pulled going into people’s homes.”
Garlitz said “yes” to Treasure Valley Hospice where she
launched a branch, manages public relations, oversees administra-
tive operations and keeps a close connection with clients through
elderly health education duties.
“When crisis hits you and you don’t have information, it can be
overwhelming,” she says.“It’s a very intimate time. There’s nality. A lot of people want
to and need to leave a legacy and hospice can help with that,” she
says of her work with the dying.
In addition, Garlitz works with youth through 4-H and is assis-
tant program manager and instructor for the Young Entrepreneur’s
Academy. The latter is for 6th to 12th graders “with the end means
sparking young, private enterprise,” she says.
Garlitz lists as major inuences in her life her mother, “the rst
person who taught me about giving and how to really love people
unconditionally;” Honey Goodman, one of the 2013 Women of the
Year and “a professional mentor who has shown me how to be bold
and humble; and Bobbie Spencer who has “taught me the meaning
of seless service and what a true hero is.”The Air Force veteran says 10 years in the military prepared her
for life but says it’s her clients that teach her how to live life.
“I’ve learned that every moment is precious. Everyone needs
love and aection and everyone deserves dignity,” she says.
“If we knew the end was soon, what would we do dierently?
You think about what’s really important. Family is important. Kids
are important. The chip in the window is not important. Problems
will pass.”
“Every moment is precious.Everyone needs love andaffection and everyonedeserves dignity.”
Brandie Garlitz
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Executive Director • City of Boise • Boise Urban Garden School • BoiseBy Carissa Wolf
Special to Idaho Business Review
Growth plays a reoccurring theme in Erin Guerricabeitia’s
life.
She tends Boise Urban Garden School as its executive
director where she’s seen the garden’s programs and reach grow. She
volunteers to help women realize their own potential through per-
sonal growth and she’s known as “mom.” And anyone who answers
to “mom” knows how everyday days center around directing growth
in the right direction.
It’s Guerricabeitia’s mom job that landed her in her current job
thanks to some questions about a dierent kind of growth.
“My 3 year old asked, ‘Where does broccoli come from?”
The question set the mother of three on a new path thatinstilled a determination to grow something tangible that she could
feed her 3 year-old daughter.
While a simple question about food inspired Guerricabeitia to dig
up some dirt, she saw a larger problem behind her toddler’s question.
She saw a disconnect between what we eat and where it comes from.
“I decided that the real lesson for my children was learning the
origins of our food, that food doesn’t come on a shelf or in a box,
and that these lessons can be taught in our own backyard.”
The Idaho Business Review Accomplished Under 40 honoree
and former Boise Young Professionals Young Leader of the Year
knew her way around nonprots, so when BUGS needed a new lead-
er in 2011, Guerricabeitia saw an opportunity to grow a multitudeof dreams at once.
“I was excited to work with an organization that shared my
passion for education, the environment, promoting healthy eating,
and reducing childhood obesity,” she says.
But those early days weren’t easy. Guerricabeitia says she inher-
ited a good foundation but money was tight and a lot of people still
didn’t know much about the school.
“I wanted to change that conversation,” she says. “That rst
year, I talked to anyone who was interested in unban gardening.”
Those early conversations fertilized BUGS mission and put the
garden on a path toward rapid growth. Last year BUGS expanded
its growth by partnering with the City of Boise Parks and Recreation
department. And networks with community donors helped raise thefunds needed to build a new 1,500-square-foot education center and
create an education garden at Comba Park in west Boise.
The garden space, education center and city partnership plant-
ed the seeds BUGS needed to grow and now the garden’s reach that
targets low-income kids includes expanded school support, youth
and community gardens, classes, camps, and workshops.
The BUGS gardens feed families, provide community members
with low-cost, healthy produce, and serve as a laboratory to teach the
skills necessary to live active healthy lives.
“We’re changing lives,” she says.
“We’re changing lives.”
Erin Guerricabeitia
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Internal Audit Director • J.R. Simplot Company • BoiseBy Carissa Wolf
Special to Idaho Business Review
Joey Hale’s kids might nd out who really runs the show at Zoo
Boise someday.
“They think I own the zoo. They think I work there,” the
mother of three kids under the age of 6 says.
“The zoo for them is just like going to the parks,” she says. “They’re
going to gure out that I don’t work there but I volunteer there because
it’s important.”
The Hale children’s conclusion makes sense. She’s at the zoo a lot.
Her years of volunteer service and board work all started with a simple
question. The Hale kids kept asking where they kept the lions.
There were no lions when the lion question surfaced so Hale got to
work so that she could answer her kids’ question with a trip to Zoo Boise.
That launched Hale’s fundraising and volunteer eorts, and, thanks in partto Hale, Boiseans can visit a bit of Africa when they visit their local zoo.
“It’s pretty special to have something like this in a community this
size,” Hale says of the lions that now sun themselves under Boise rays.
The Hale kids understand the work their mom does at Zoo Boise
but it might take a little more time to wrap their heads around what she
does 9 to 5.
“There’s no better way to shut down a conversation on a plane than
to say I’m an auditor,” she jokes.
Hale has found herself in an airplane passenger seat plenty of times
as director of internal audits with the J.R. Simplot Company.
“I just wanted a position that would allow a broad perspective on
things,” she says.
She’s gained that broad perspective at the J.R. Simplot Company
and a broad worldview to go with it. Her position enables her to see what’s
happening across the entire company and across the globe thanks to occa-
sional business trips to places like Beijing, Shanghai and Australia. WhileHale digs deep into internal operations at Simplot, she keeps her focus on
the kids that inspired her to help bring lions to Boise.
“The hardest thing is striking a balance, especially since my oldest
started school,” she says. “It comes down to team work. It’s about having
that support system and having a balance.”
Hales strikes that balance while keeping her eye on what’s import-
ant – something that she says isn’t easy for anyone in our ever-more-con-
nected world.
“As connected as we are now with social media, it’s really hard to
not compare yourself to others,” she says. “There’s this fear of not mea-
suring up. We really can’t fall into that trap.”
Hale measures her successes by what kind of world she’ll leave for
her children. It’s a standard she learned from her late parents.
“They just gave and gave of themselves and never expected any-thing in return,” she says of her mother and father who passed away in
2012 and 2010. The couple, who still stole kisses from each other in the
kitchen until the very end, raised their brood in Northern Idaho and
taught their kids about nature and conservation.
“We liked to call them the original environmentalists,” Hale says.
“We planted thousands of trees.”
Hale’s parents instilled in her a love for all things wild – from trees
to lions – and taught her the importance of leaving the world better
than she found it. Hale echoes her father’s motto when she talks about
the why behind her countless hours of volunteer work at Zoo Boise and
local schools.
“If you live in this world, you need to leave it better than you found it.”
It’s a motto Hale now passes down to her children with every visit
to Boise’s own lions.
“If you live in thisworld, you needto leave it betterthan you found it.”
Johanna (Joey) C. L. Hale
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Senior Anchor • KTVB-TV • BoiseBy Carissa Wolf
Special to Idaho Business Review
Carolyn Holly needs no introduction.
You’ve turned to her during times of uncertainty. You’ve
looked to her to set the facts straight. She’s cheered many of you
on. And some of us grew up with her.
When Holly started at KTVB she had a year-long stint as a reporter
at KIFI-TV in Idaho Falls and newly minted degree in broadcasting
from Oregon State University under her belt.
“I walked through those doors in 1982 as a single, young girl right
out of college,” she says.
She’s since added a husband, six kids and 15 grandkids to her life.
Along the way, she’s picked up Idaho Press Club honors, an Edward R.
Murrow award and an Emmy for her work as a reporter and anchor
at KTVB.She’s also taken viewers on tours around the world from Japan to
Vancouver, British Colombia covering everything from trade missions
to the Olympic Games. Between assignments she’s learned to trust her
gut, cheered her kids on in youth sports and found time to give to her
community behind the scenes and in some very visible ways.
It seems natural for a woman who came from a family that put a
premium value on giving back to the community. Holly remembers her
dad volunteering with youth sports and found her adopted hometown of
Boise an easy place in which to give.
“I love this community,” she says. “Boise is such a unique place to
do volunteer work.”
Holly found that Boiseans love to give and she’s no dierent.
Perhaps you saw her urging the public not to text and drive or
cheering runners to reach their potential as emcee of the FitOne run.
It sounds like a lot to balance in an ever more competitive eld.
“I always put my family rst, and I earned the right to do that,” shesays. “I’m a mother rst and a TV anchor second.”
But Holly always wears the cheerleader hat in both jobs.
“I love to help other people discover their strengths,” she says.
And Holly steps up to cheer for everyone – from the mom crossing
the nish line to the young reporters who enter the KTVB newsroom
much as she did 33 years ago.
“What people don’t see during the nightly news is her commitment
to mentoring young journalists, many of whom go on to become leaders
within our community,” wrote KTVB News Group Executive News
Director Kate Morris.
A lot the cheerleading that’s behind Holly’s service helped dene
the newsroom culture at KTVB and the career paths of many
up-and-coming journalists. Ask any journalist what working in the news
industry is like. They often speak of intense competition. Holly prefersto work with cooperation and crafted a moto with fellow anchor Dee
Sarton that helps push everyone forward.
“We don’t compete, we consolidate,” she and Sarton say.
And that’s so important in the business world where intense competi-
tion between women can stand in the way of everyone succeeding, she says.
“You can accomplish so much more as a team than an individ-
ual,” she says. “Treat everyone as though they are an important part
of your team.”
Holly is leaving the newsroom behind to embark on a new career.
She will be joining a new team at Saint Alphonsus Health System as vice
president of public relations, community relations and marketing. In a
letter to her viewers, Holly wrote: “I look forward to working on projects
and partnerships to better all of us.”
Of her work at KTVB she says she’s “cherished every moment.”
“I am a cheerleader …I love to help other peoplediscover their strengths.”
Carolyn Holly
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Idaho Business Review • 19
There is nothing more powerful than determined women.
They inspire. They teach. They bring us together. That’s
why Saint Alphonsus congratulates all of IBR’s Women
of the Year honorees. Including Carolyn Holly, who has
touched the lives of so many in the Treasure Valley.
We’re thrilled to see Carolyn in such good company
as we welcome her to the Saint Alphonsus team.
We celebrate, along with all of Idaho, how our community
is made stronger by the leadership, determination and
vision of these great women. Congratulations.
Saint Alphonsus is proud
to welcome Carolyn Holly,
Vice President of Marketing,
Communications and
Public Relations
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2016 IDAHO BUSINESS REVIEW’S WOMEN OF THE YEAR HONOREES
Celebrating women of vision.
(208) 367-DOCS SaintAlphonsus.org
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Economic Development Director • City of Nampa • NampaBy Sharon Fisher
Special to Idaho Business Review
When Nampa’s old Mercy Hospital burned down recently,
economic development director Beth Ineck literally saw
three years’ worth of work go up in smoke.
“That was disappointing,” Ineck says. “That’s a project I’ve
been somewhat involved with since I started with the city, guring
out what to do with that building. Seeing it destroyed by re was real-
ly disheartening.” But she moved on, continuing to talk with three
potential partners who were still interested in the location.
Ineck’s primary focus, when she joined the city, was downtown
redevelopment, including security property for Nampa’s new public
safety building and library. More recently, she’s focused on existing
businesses, particularly on supporting entrepreneurial developmentin Nampa. “The work is very dierent from ve years ago,” she says.
“As the political environment changes in the community, what the
mayor’s oce wants to see in the community, we pivot and use our
skills in a dierent way. Ultimately, we’re still making the community
a better place.”
Economic development was a natural career path. “My mom’s
an economist and my dad’s a social worker,” Ineck explains.
“Combine those two, and you get an economic development direc-
tor.” She was particularly interested in rural economic development,
which was a newer eld in the state, so she went to the University of
Idaho for a master’s degree in agricultural economics after earning
her bachelor’s from the University of Tennessee in economics.It’s been interesting to Ineck to see the changes in the economic
development profession, which she says is now attracting a younger,
more minority, and more female applicant. “A lot of economic devel-
opment is just marketing, which has traditionally been a strength for
women,” she says. When she started working for the Department of
Commerce at 25, many of the economic development sta had had
previous careers, took that business experience, and had gone into
economic development as a retirement job. “As it becomes more
known what economic developers do, people look at it as a rst
career,” she says.
Ineck’s volunteer work with organizations such as the Idaho
Economic Development Association and serving as Idaho Alliance
co-chair with the International Council of Shopping Centers hasalso helped with her job. “With a greater association with the devel-
opment community, I can better pitch what Nampa has to oer for
retail development,” she says.
“It’s like gardening,” Ineck explains. “You plant the seed, watch
it grow, and see the fruit at the end of the day.” She particularly
likes bringing in new employers. “When we brought in Heartland
RV and they had their job fair, I was watching hundreds of people
ll out applications, knowing they’d hire 400-500 people,” she says.
“That’s really rewarding, to know of the impact on the daily lives of
the people who’d get that job.”
“My mom’s an economistand my dad’s a social
worker. Combine those two,and you get an economic
development director.”
Beth Ineck
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Senior Treasury Analyst • Forex and Risk Management • Micron Technology Inc. • BoiseBy Carissa Wolf
Special to Idaho Business Review
Sarah Xiaoye Jin discovered the path to her American dream
through an Idahoan in a cowboy hat.
As an assistant in the Idaho Commerce Department
Shanghai Trade oce Jin found herself developing relationships
between China and Idaho trade delegates, organizing trade mis-
sions, and, among other things, serving as an interpreter for Idaho
Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter. It was on one of those trade missions that
Jin met the governor who would inspire her to chase an American
dream on Idaho soil.
“I was so nervous,” Jin says of meeting Otter at a Shanghai air-
port nearly 8 years ago. “I’d never seen him before. He was wearing
a cowboy hat, so that was helpful.” Jin trailed Otter throughout his China trade mission and saw
opportunity in the connections he forged. So when an opportunity
opened for Jin to work and study in the United States, she jumped
at the opportunity to kiss Shanghai goodbye and transplant herself
on Idaho soil.
“It took a lot of courage because I didn’t know many people,”
Jin remembers. “When I stepped out of the airport, I felt like I
was reborn.”
Jin’s rebirth included earning a master’s in education and
in business administration on full scholarship from Boise State
University, and a quick climb up the ranks of Micron where she nowhedges over $1 billion in monthly currency exposures, and, among
other things, analyzes nancial forecasts and results.
She says she has been inuenced by Elizabeth Holmes, a
successful businesswoman who became a billionaire before the age
of 30. “She started a blood testing company when she was 19 as a
freshman at Stanford University with the goal to save lives … she
now has a company with over 500 employees and has been valued
at more than $9 billion in 2014.” From that story, Jin says, “I can see
that everything is possible if you believe in your own dream and have
the courage to follow and execute it.”
While Jin lives the dream, she keeps her eye on a dream to help
others realize dreams of their own.
“You have to follow your heart and follow your dreams. And you have to have the guts to do it,” she says.
Her dreams include opening a language institute where she can
help ll in some of the second language education gaps that plague
American schools and oer individual tutoring and language lessons
to people who want to sharpen their own second language skills.
She sees a second language as a pathway to success and knows if
she didn’t have the advantage of English and Mandarin uency, she
would have never been able to greet that governor in a cowboy hat.
“Language can change your life.”
“Language canchange your life.”
Sarah (Xiaoye) Jin
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Communications and Marketing Director • Treasure Valley Family YMCA • BoiseBy Carissa Wolf
Special to Idaho Business Review
Katherine Johnson knows there’s a story behind every success.
Her story includes chapters that unfold in Moscow, Idaho
(where Johnson went to college), Denver, Colorado (where
Johnson learned what not to do as a boss), and in waiting rooms at the
Women’s and Children’s Alliance (where Johnson nds her inspiration).
But Johnson would much rather tell you about other people’s stories.
“What happens every day at the YMCA is worth sharing. But
we didn’t have a megaphone to share those stories,” Johnson says.
The YMCA of Boise marketing and communication director
gured that if a megaphone didn’t exist, she’d just construct one. So
that’s what she did, and along the way she built a loyal team that now
heralds the stories written by every day triumphs at the Y.And she always speaks of those successes in terms of “we,” even
when she leads them.
“We did a lot of foundational things to give the Y a voice,”
she says, referring to the public awareness campaigns that included
attention to tiny technical details and eyeball-grabbing Web and
social media launches.
“We have numbers to show our growth, but now people are
seeing it,” she says.
People see that growth and the triumphs that spill from Y
programs in the stories that Johnson and her team tell through theTweets, posts and clicks that are part of the external communication
and marketing plan Johnson launched and developed. And those
stories have become part of Johnson’s own narrative.
“I am extremely drawn to any story that involves young children
and education,” she says.
Johnson tells the story of a young boy who wasn’t heading
toward a happy ending.
“His story could have determined his life. But he went into (a
YMCA) program and had teachers who believed in him,” Johnson says.
“Now, he’s over the roof smart,” she says. “We’ll keep an eye
on him.”
Those kinds of stories also keep Johnson coming back to the
WCA where the former Idaho Business Review AccomplishedUnder 40 honoree has volunteered since 2010.
“They can’t get rid of me,” she laughs.
Inside the waiting rooms of the WCA she sometimes hears
the stories. She hears women tell them behind a smile on their face.
She hears epic stories of survival and of non-ction plots marked
by triumph.
“These are the underdogs,” Johnson says. “They need our
help.”
“What happens every day atthe YMCA is worth sharing.”
Katherine Johnson
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Executive Director, Board Chair and Co-Director • Treasure Valley Children’sTheater LLC/Treasure Valley YOUTH Theater Inc. • Meridian
By Sharon Fisher
Special to Idaho Business Review
While Autumn Kersey’s rst theater production was when she was
4 years old, she was on stage even earlier: Her mother was in a
play while pregnant with her.
As the only child of a single mother with three jobs, community theater
became Kersey’s second home. “I fell in love with it,” she says. “Not only
because it gave me a place to feel comfortable and explore, it became my
family. Theater was my place to gure out what life was all about and what
it could be.”
Now, Kersey brings that same opportunity to Treasure Valley children
through two production companies: a professional adult company that
produces theater for youth, and a nonprot that provides education and
leadership for youth.
Kersey studied theater for two years and then took a year o to become
a professional actor. “I stopped having fun, I stopped enjoying it, and I
became critical and unhappy,” she recalls. She switched gears and earned a
communications degree at Boise State, minoring in theater.
Kersey then ran theater programs for kids through Boise Parks and
Recreation Department and Boise Little Theater. “I was good at it, and it
made me feel really good,” she says. “It made me feel like whatever environ-
mental or spiritual being exists in the world was working through me, and
set me on this trajectory.”
Perhaps, Kersey thought, she should go into education. “I got my
master’s, but I determined pretty quickly that the public school environ-
ment was not where I would excel.” Instead, she worked in fundraising
for Planned Parenthood, and then in advertising sales for the Idaho Business
Review, all while keeping her toes in community theater, acting, directing
and producing.
“I acknowledged what I had within myself: Passion, talent, and now
contacts and the technical understanding of how to create a business,” she
says. “Any time I reect on my crazy weird life it surprises me how everything
I’ve ever done in my life has led me to this moment.”
In 2012, parents in the youth summer theater program Kersey was
directing told her, “’Autumn, you are so good at this. How can we get you
to oer this to our kids all the time?’” she recalls. “It was time to really take
this seriously. I was coming up on my 40th birthday.” First, she formed the
professional company and then, a year later, the nonprot. And she stepped
away slowly from her sales job, working part-time for nearly a year. “It was
really baby steps the rst year,” she says.
Why Meridian? “In 2012, as I was looking around the valley at where
the gaps were, Meridian was the only community that wasn’t being served
by any theater group,” Kersey explains. In talking to business groups,
as well as Meridian’s mayor, she realized Meridian was the place to be.
“Families are moving here, and there’s more students per capita than any
area in the state.”
And so far, so great. But Kersey does not take success for granted, nor
does she take all the credit. “I do not do any of this by myself,” Kersey notes.
“It’s my dream, but you can’t build it without a lot of support. I’m really
grateful to all (who have been there for me) for buying in on the crazy idea
of making a living out of art.”
“I do not do any of this bymyself. It’s my dream, butyou can’t build it without
a lot of support. I’m really
grateful to all (who havebeen there for me) for
buying in on the crazy ideaof making a living
out of art.”
Autumn Kersey
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Mayor • City of Ammon • AmmonBy Carissa Wolf
Special to Idaho Business Review
Dana Boothe Kirkham just wanted to x a few things in her
neighborhood. The next thing she knew, she held the title of
mayor for the City of Ammon and had a major overhaul of
a water and ber optic systems under her belt.
“You start trying to x those (neighborhood) issues and next
thing you know, you’re the president of the homeowners association
and the next thing you know, you run for city council and you win.
Then your vision broadens and you see that there’s other things that
need attention so you work on those. Then, you’re mayor,” Boothe
Kirkham says with a hint of humor that speaks to her motto: Leave
things better than you found them.
The former Boise State University Women Making Historyhonoree takes that motto to city council meetings and into the
classroom where she serves as an adjunct professor in political
science at Brigham Young University - Idaho. And it’s her typical
fashion to deect credit for making history and insist that she gets
more out of what she gives – both to her students and the citizens
of Ammon.
“I’m one of those people that could have been a career student,”
she says. “Nothing makes me happier than being in the classroom.”
Boothe Kirkham’s love of learning remains apparent in howshe governs. She stood as a young 34-year-old when she took an oath
of oce as a city council member in 2004 and she says she keeps
learning in her role as civil servant.
“I have a lot more wisdom (now),” she says. “I realized how little
I knew (in 2004). The more I learn, the more I nd out how much
I don’t know.”
Boothe Kirkham has learned some big lessons from her helm
over the city of Ammon. She knows more about ber optics than
she ever planned thanks to a city-wide system she helped implement.
And she can talk about the intricacies of water pressure units as well
as she can lecture on political theory.
She learns her lessons through lenses of empathy that help
guide what she calls a pragmatic approach to governing.“You put yourself in (people’s) shoes. You owe it to them to
get things xed … it’s what you do as part of being a good citizen.”
In addition, Boothe Kirkham lists as her greatest accomplish-
ment “raising two amazing daughters who are productive contrib-
utors to society,” and she is also proud to have nished the grueling
206-mile bicycle race, LoToJa, from Logan, Utah to Jackson Hole,
Wyoming, “a half hour after closing, but still nished!”
“Do the right thing,even if it’s not easy.”
Dana Boothe KirkhamPhoto by Josh Petersen
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Director of Community Partnerships • City of Boise • BoiseBy Stephanie Schaerr Hansen
Special to Idaho Business Review
As director of community partnerships for the City of Boise,
Diana Lachiondo is the mayor’s point person for a variety of
hot-button issues, from refugees to homelessness. But while
others can get bogged down in conicting views and burea