Board of Directors

Linda Popky, President

Linda Popky is a senior marketing professional with over 20 years of proven performance in technology and B2B marketing, including extensive experience with Sun Microsystems and Cisco Systems. She is the President of L2M Associates, Inc., a strategic marketing company that helps organizations from startups and small businesses to Fortune 100 companies improve their return on marketing programs, processes and people.

Linda's expertise includes strategic marketing, communications and messaging, marketing team development, facilitation, sales training and support, channel/field marketing, marketing operations, industry /market development and product marketing. She has architected leading edge customer loyalty and retention programs with a focus on improved business efficiency, customer advocacy and quality, and she has a reputation for strong leadership and team management, as well as strategic program development and delivery skills.

Linda served as a charter member of the Conference Board Council on Customer Strategy, and was a member of the Council on E-Business Strategy. She has an MBA and a BS in Communications from Boston University. Her work with business process improvement includes a study mission to Japan on Employee/Customer Loyalty.

Linda serves a mentor for the Women's Technology Cluster business incubator, and was the lead coach for one of the handful of startups chosen to present to a blue ribbon panel of venture capitalists at the recent WTC Entrepreneurial Venture Conference. She is in demand as a speaker for both corporate and non-profit presentations, as well as for professional associations, and her marketing and business-related articles have been published in a number of online and print publications. In 2006, she was the liaison between WIC and the Society for the Advancement of Consulting (SAC). linda@L2Massociates.com, 650-281-4854

Jennifer Berkley, Vice President
Jennifer Berkley, owner and founder of The Insight Advantage, has a thorough understanding of the impact of customer insight on the many processes that are essential to all organizations. The Insight Advantage, founded in 2000, works across a variety of industries providing companies with the means to gather customer input via telephone interviewing, web or print surveys, and focus groups.

Jennifer has extensive experience in successfully implementing business strategies across organizational functions, integrating the voice of the customer into all functions, streamlining and documenting processes to increase efficiencies and improve quality, developing and implementing product strategies for both new and existing products, and monitoring customer satisfaction levels.

This wide span of experience is extremely applicable whether working directly with organizations to conduct a variety of customer research or partnering with strategic consultants who need to integrate a research element into one of their own customer projects.

Throughout all of her work, Jennifer brings a strong commitment to helping organizations realize the link between increased profits and a commitment to making key business decisions with customers’ current and emerging needs in mind. jberkley@theinsightadvantage.com, 408-358-0700

Jan Richards, Secretary

Jan Richards, principal of J. G. Richards Consulting, helps Bay Area companies clarify their vision, goals and priorities, create strategic and action plans, and implement strong and effective process management. Client results include higher revenues, lower business costs and complexity.

For clients focused on achieving world-class excellence, Jan provides assessment and business improvement leadership based on the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award criteria. She also works with firms growing or changing more rapidly than they were prepared to. For these clients, Jan simplifies their operations so they can focus resources of time, money, talent and attention on their key short- and longer-term plans and challenges.

Jan has consulted for more than 10 years with clients in the high tech, biotech, financial services and Internet arenas. She has an MBA from UC Berkeley and a BS in journalism from Iowa State. She was a national Baldrige Award examiner for five years and a member of three site visit teams that evaluated finalists for the Baldrige Award.

Prior to starting her consulting business, Jan worked seven years at Apple Computer evaluating, recommending and implementing improvements in key business processes in product development, manufacturing, distribution, finance and administration, and sales and marketing. jan@jgrichardsresults.com, 408-528-7138

Melissa Stacey, Treasurer
Melissa Stacey, Owner and Founder of Feeling Organized, specializes in organization for homes, offices and small businesses. She works with each client to create a unique organizing system that is geared toward their specific needs, lifestyle and/or work style. Some of Melissa’s expertise includes filing systems, paper management, closet spaces, offices and workflow. Melissa also conducts workshops in the Bay Area on how to Bring Professionalism to Your Home Office.

Before starting Feeling Organized, Melissa worked in non-profit for 3 years and in the recruitment industry for 6 years. She graduated from Southwest Texas State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Family and Consumer Sciences.

Along with serving as Treasurer of Women in Consulting (WIC), Melissa is also a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and Women’s Networking Alliance (WNA). Melissa volunteers with the Ronald McDonald House, as a Chairperson for the Denim to Diamonds event and is very involved with the San Jose Museum of Art as a Canvas coordinator/member. Melissa@feelingorganized.com, (408) 993-2237.

Avery Horzewski, Director of Marketing
Avery began her career as a marketing writer at Hitachi Data Systems, where she wrote everything from executive-level brochures to white papers to flyers to gift and product catalogs. Before leaving Hitachi to consult full time, Avery advanced to the position of Director, Web Content and Design. In this role, she was responsible for setting the creative direction, planning overall site strategy, and managing the day-to-day responsibilities of the corporate Website.

As a consultant, Avery works with companies of all sizes, helping them develop collateral and Websites that are easy to understand, persuasive, and most importantly, effective.

As the project lead in each AVE engagement, Avery utilizes her expertise in navigation/information architecture, project management, usability analysis, Website creative direction, Website strategy development, and writing—both print and Web. avery@aveconsulting.com, 408-528-7138

Deborah Plumley, Director of Membership

Deborah Plumley, principal of The Plumley Group, helps sole practitioners and corporate enterprises (such as Hewlett-Packard, Genentech, and Sofia-Aventis Pharmaceutical) accelerate their results and improve their business practices.

Her specialties include:

• Maximizing return on investment in learning/ training
• Facilitating transfer of knowledge and best practices
• Prototyping business processes

She serves her clients through a variety of workshop techniques, structured meeting approaches, and proprietary methodologies.

Deborah managed an earlier successful consulting business that created training programs for major banks. Subsequently, she had a 20-year career at Hewlett-Packard as a manager of international programs and as an internal consultant in learning solutions, business processes, and knowledge management.

Deborah has a BA from Smith College and a MA from Harvard University. She has won national awards in three fields. She served Women in Consulting as co-chair of Member Education before joining the board. deborah@plumleygroup.com 650-857-1780

Tresa Eyres, Director of Programs

Founder and creative force behind Eyres Consulting, Tresa designs, develops and implements results-based training programs to improve clients’ productivity and profitability.

She has earned her stripes in industries ranging from trade associations to finance to high-tech. Clients include individuals and teams in mid-size to large corporations. She also assists small business owners, entrepreneurs and non-profits in getting projects off to the right start and getting the right results. As well as projects within the U.S., Tresa has filled management, team and project management roles in Singapore and Turkey. She is co-author of three self-help business books.

Tresa has been an active member of Women in Consulting for the past three years. She co-founded the WIC San Francisco Satellite group, and is active, pro bono, with other organizations that assist individuals in reaching their full potential.

Tresa has an MA in Education from Michigan State University. She is a Development Dimensions International (DDI) certified facilitator. Tresa@EyresConsulting.com, 415.564.5763

Sherry Prescott-Willis, Director of Partnerships & Alliances
Sherry Prescott-Willis has over fifteen years of marketing experience specializing in both consumer and high technology products. Her background includes working with early and mid-stage companies to develop effective product marketing, channel and strategic initiatives that impact the customer and drive revenue. She has a track record of developing successful marketing programs that drive results through strategic marketing plans and goal-setting metrics.

Sherry has held analyst, product marketing and management positions at companies such as L'Oreal, Pfizer, and Computer Associates. In 2000, Sherry founded Prescott Marketing, an independent consulting firm focused on start-up and early-stage companies needing strategic and product marketing program development. She has often stepped in as interim marketing director or manager for clients during critical phases of growth. Clients have included products in networking, storage, wireless software, education software, spa & wellness, security, healthcare, human resource management, and content management software.

She is currently working on an interactive marketing book to help early and mid-stage companies to develop effective marketing strategies and tactics.

For the past four years, Sherry has been an active volunteer and advocate of WIC, most recently serving as WIC Vice President in 2006.
Sherry has a BA in English from UC Berkeley and an MBA from the University of San Francisco. sherpr@comcast.net 650.862.8635

Celeste Bishop, Director of Strategic Audiences
Celeste Bishop is President of Bishop Market Resources, a Competitive Services Agency that offers a range of competitor-related projects and services for businesses, entrepreneurs and professional service firms.

Celeste has extraordinary depth and breadth of experience in the field of competitive intelligence and analysis. She created AT&T's first Consumer Communication Competitive Intelligence Organization, which was noted for its span of strategic and tactical focus as well as innovative approaches that used competitive insight to resolve volatile business challenges.

As an executive whose first accomplishments were made while under competitive siege, Celeste brings the unique perspective of someone who has built a world-class competitive analysis organization while combating daily competitive challenges. Celeste's further skills and expertise were developed through a range of experiences in Fortune 100 companies, corporate joint ventures, early-stage technology ventures and professional service firms.

Celeste's educational background includes a B.S. in Marketing from Rutgers University as well as Executive Education at Columbia and Stanford. She is a strong believer in continuing education and recently was certified in the burgeoning area of search engine marketing. csb@bishopmarketresources.com 415.256.9515

Karilee Wirthlin, Past President

Karilee Wirthlin, managing principal of KL Consulting in Silicon Valley, California, is a leading web site strategy consultant who works with CEOs, VPs of Marketing, and Directors of web sites to shape the vision of their web site and then works with them to shepherd that vision through implementation. She has worked with companies such as Borland, BEA Systems, Business Objects, PeopleSoft, and NVIDIA applying best practices to large-scale, strategic web site efforts and has worked with web content management systems since their emergence in 1998.

In recognition of her accomplishments, Karilee co-authored with business gurus Brian Tracy, Mark Victor Hansen, and Robert G. Allen et al. the bestselling book Create the Business Breakthrough You Want: Secrets and Strategies from the World's Greatest Mentors. This distinctive business book has been endorsed by giants such Ken Blanchard and Dr. Stephen Covey.

In October 2006 Karilee was named to the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal “40 under 40” list, which highlights the best and brightest talent under the age of 40 who are part of the next generation of leadership in Silicon Valley. The business leaders on this list are seen as the “People to Watch” as they position Silicon Valley well for another generation of leadership in innovation.

In addition to her successful consulting practice, Karilee serves as Past President on the board of Women in Consulting (WIC), a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing top-tier consultants to businesses and raising the professional performance of members. She has served on the board of WIC since 2003, in the President’s role from 2006-2007, and has been instrumental in WIC's growth as a premier networking organization in the San Francisco Bay Area. info@klconsulting.com, 650-947-4986