Each November, there is a writing challenge that takes place around the world. The National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) challenges writers to pen a 50,000-word novel within 30 days. During 2017, over 400,000 people participated in the annual event.

Many people like the challenge of writing the novel in one month, but most have no idea what to do with it once it’s done. That’s where an expert writing coach can come into play and help take the novel from a challenge to a published book.

“It’s a huge accomplishment to write an entire novel in a month,” explains Annalisa Parent, writing coach and award winning author. “The last thing you want to do is close the document or tuck it in a drawer and never do anything else with it. You did the hardest part, now all you need to do is take the next steps to take it all the way.”

As an expert writing coach, Parent has helped countless people around the world to finish their novel, edit their manuscript to publishable, work their way through the publishing process, and successfully market their book to the masses. She offers one-on-one chat sessions to provide a customized approach to guiding each writer in the specific areas they need help in.

Parent offers a wide variety of guidance for writers and can help those who are taking part in the NaNoWriMo by:

• Guiding them through the editing process once they have finished their novel.
• Helping them to determine what to do with the book once they have finished the editing process.
• Working with them to target publishers that publish books in their genre.
• Helping them to successfully reach their target market to help sell the book once it has been published.
• Boosting the writer’s confidence so they feel they can meet the demands of the publishing process and come out successful.

“Every November it’s a wonderful opportunity to be a part of something great in the creative world,” adds Parent. “National Novel Writing Month is just the start of something beautiful. But it can go on to be the start of a wonderful writing career if you play your cards right and take those steps to get you there. I’ve helped many people to get their novel published, and it never stops being a wonderful feeling for us both.”

Parent has coached hundreds of writers and has taught over 100 writing courses around the world. She works with fiction authors, as well as entrepreneurs seeking to write their expert book. Her book Storytelling for Pantsers: How to Write and Revise Your Novel without an Outline won the CIPA EVVY Silver Award in Best Business Books, and earned a merit award in the Humor category. She has been a featured speaker on writing-related topics across the globe, and she has been a guest on a variety of television, radio, and podcast shows, sharing her secrets for how to write, publish, and sell your book.

Parent is also currently offering a 2019 Writing Gym in England Retreat. To learn more about the retreat, visit the website at: datewiththemuse.com/retreat. For more information about Annalisa Parent, her book, and her coaching services, visit her site at: datewiththemuse.com. For more information on how to become a published author, download her free e-book TheSix Secrets to go from Struggling Writer to Published Author here: datewiththemuse.com/6secrets.

Women in the Housing & Real Ecosystem (NAWRB) is seeking additional senior executive women to join our exclusive NAWRB Diversity & Inclusion Leadership Council (NDILC). By cultivating and leveraging each other’s resources to advance gender equality and women’s economic growth, we will help more women achieve leadership positions.

About NAWRB NAWRB is a leading voice for women focused on advancing gender equality, raising the utilization of women-owned and small businesses and providing the tools for economic security, stability and sanctuary. We provide one of the most wide-ranging resources in the industry, covering topics and issues affecting women in the housing ecosystem from poverty and homeownership to leadership opportunities and family offices.

NAWRB is one of only 9 organizations listed on the national platform for the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) as a Partner Resource for Women-Owned Businesses.

History of NDILC The housing ecosystem has been critically lacking women in upper management and the utilization of women owned suppliers across their platforms. While Dodd-Frank Section 342 created the Office(s) of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI), the overall act lacks defined regulations for the accountability of the regulated entities.

In 2015, NAWRB introduced our Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Council, dedicated to raising the number of women leaders and growing women’s employment and empowerment at all levels in the housing ecosystem. Our Council, comprised of senior executive women, works diligently toward gender equality and obtaining equal opportunity for women across America.

The leaders on the NDILC work together to achieve their shared goals by leveraging each other’s resources, offering mentorship and education training, sharing opportunities for women’s advancement and highlighting individuals and organizations who are making a difference in achieving gender parity. Council members can focus their efforts in the following sub-committees:

• Communication/Media
• Education/Mentoring
• Women’s Leadership

“We will share, better understand the impacts of, and develop good solutions to assist our industry in promoting diversity for all women. The focus of our Council will be to develop women’s diversity best practices that will be adopted by many leading companies and executed broadly across our industry. These practices will help women at all associate and leadership levels enhance our financial services and real estate businesses in the future.” – Rebecca Steele, President & CEO of National Foundation For Credit Counseling (NFCC)

Continue onto NAWRB to read the complete article.

Diversity Employment Day Career Fairs provide recruiters access to the United States’ largest pool of diverse, multi-cultural, and qualified professionals. It is the only career fair that targets and delivers candidates from ALL classes covered under the TitleVII Civil Rights Act of 1964*. This includes Women, People of Color, Seniors, LGBTQ and People with Disabilities. Our award-winning staff has over 15 years experience in diversity recruitment. The Diversity Career Fairs are held Annually in most major cities where the Mayor and/or Governor proclaim “Diversity Employment Day”. We have over 1,000 satisfied corporate, government and non-profit clients. The Federal Government selected us as a preferred vendor to host its largest Diversity Career Fair ever!

Our Mission/Vision Statement:

To be the world’s best career fair producer offering the highest value, most efficient means for recruiting quality candidates while offering the most passionate customer satisfaction guaranteed.

To read more about these dates in detail, please visit: citycareerfair.com

WBEC-Pacific holds events throughout the year in its six-state region: Alaska, Northern California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. To build a diverse network of customers, it is important to attend events held throughout the region. Depending on the locale, different corporations, agencies, and WBEs will be present, creating more relationship-building and contracting opportunities.

WBEC-Pacific taps into its state Leadership Forums to identify issues and topics of interest to member WBEs and offers programme aimed at those needs. To help with program topics and speaker ideas, or to volunteer, contact state leaders.

• Regional Economic Development Summits
• State Leadership Networking Event
• Supplier Diversity Best Practices Conference
• Annual Holiday Awards Gala
• Industry Group Events
• Webinars: Supplier Development Series
• Webinars: Benefits of Certification

For more information and to register for these event please visit: wbec-pacific.org/events

The Best of Small Business Awards ™ is America’s most prestigious honor that recognizes and celebrates the BEST Small to Mid-Sized Business Visionaries. With over twenty-five notable “Best of Small Business” categories to choose from, The Best of Small Business Awards ™ is the largest Annual Business Recognition Program in the US.

The Best of Small Business Awards ™ is presented by Small Business Expo (celebrating its 10 Year Anniversary with nearly 100 Successful Business Shows Produced), the Nation’s BIGGEST and most attended Business-to-Business Networking Event, Trade Show & Conference, hosted in 15 major US cities. Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs attend our nation-wide events to attend cutting-edge business-critical workshops, shop for vendors that can help their business grow & network with thousands of attendees.
See below for the benefits of winning an award and to find out more information about the small business expos.
Benefits of Winning an Award Category:

• National Recognition as one of the TOP Small Businesses in the US.
• This Award is a great differentiator for your Product or Service
• Instant credibility for new and existing clients
• Give your sales a boost and show your new & old customers your company’s achievements
• Great positive exposure for your business
• Leverage your award recognition to gain more media exposure for your company

For more information and/or to make a nomination, visit: thesmallbusinessexpo.com/small-business-award

Talent Dimensions is pleased to announce the acquisition of the diversity and inclusion firm PRISM International, Inc. Headquartered in Sanford, FL, PRISM is a global provider of systemic diversity and inclusion (D&I) performance solutions focusing on optimizing the opportunities and complexities of the workforce, workplace and marketplace.

“We know the retention of talent is complex and requires a dynamic set of strategies to engage individual contributors who are critical to the success of any organization,” said Cile Johnson, Chief Business Officer for Talent Dimensions. “By expanding our portfolio of offerings to include diversity and inclusion, Talent Dimensions is poised to help organizations propel to new levels of performance through all their people.”

PRISM, founded by D&I thought leader Linda Stokes, offers training and consulting in the areas of Leveraging Diversity and Inclusion; Addressing Unconscious Bias; Managing Talent; Increasing Cultural Competencies; Preventing Harassing and Discriminatory Behaviors; and Creating More Effective Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and Diversity Councils. PRISM is also the parent organization of the Association of ERGs & Councils and the innovator of the annual ERG & Council Conference and Honors Award.

In support of the transition, co-author of Leading in Black and White and Dear White Boss Ancella Livers has joined the team as President of PRISM. Previously, Livers managed the African American and Women’s Leadership Programs at the Center for Creative Leadership® Also during her tenure at CCL, she led their largest global business unit and later consulted and developed tailored solutions for their Fortune 500 client base. In addition, Livers led the Institute for Leadership Development and Research at the Executive Leadership Council.

“We see this partnership as an opportunity to align Talent Dimension’s engagement, retention and career development efforts with PRISM’s work for the powerful outcome of strategic retention and ultimate workforce, workplace and marketplace satisfaction,” shared Lynn Cowart, Chief Operating Officer for Talent Dimensions. “There is already great synergy between our organizations and we look forward to bringing expanded offerings to all our clients.”

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About Talent Dimensions Talent Dimensions is a global provider of innovative, practical and application-rich solutions in the areas of employee engagement, career development, leadership development, diversity and inclusion, and the identification and development of key roles inside organizations for the strategic retention of its most critical talent. www.talent-dimensions.com and www.prismdiversity.com

Expectations have never been higher for women’s advancement in the workplace. The 2018 Accounting MOVE Project, released today, showcases innovations that propel women to success and that inform firm leaders about related strategies for overall diversity initiatives. Approaches outlined in the report ensure that the profession’s much-needed emphasis on diversity and inclusion also furthers momentum for women.

Today, the Accounting and Financial Women’s Alliance releases the Best CPA Firms for Women list and the Best Firms for Equity Leadership List, based on the 2018 Accounting MOVE Project report.

“The national conversation about diversity is taking many of its cues from what is proven to work to advance women. The Accounting MOVE Project equips accounting firms with proven strategies that deliver what everybody wants: more opportunities for women and more growth for firms,” said Joanne Cleaver, President of Wilson-Taylor Associates, Inc., the content strategy firm that manages the MOVE Project.

“This year’s MOVE theme highlights how complex it can be for women to advance to the highest levels within an organization,” said Jennifer Wyne, executive director of human resources for Moss Adams, founding sponsor of the Accounting MOVE Project. “Many factors influence the trajectory of a woman’s career. To be successful and to see continued progress, we need to be intentional and systematic on our approach to developing and advancing women.”

“The challenge for firms lies outside our comfort zone of the spreadsheet. It’s really in how we define success—past success and future success,” said Risa Lavine, CohnReznick principal and chief of staff. “This year’s Accounting MOVE Project Report identifies how we can expand ‘success’ to truly include all, within our firms and within our communities.” CohnReznick is the national sponsor of the Accounting MOVE Project.

The 2018 Accounting MOVE Project found that women comprise 25% of the management committees at participating firms—a huge advance from the 19% reported in the 2014 report. Still, progress is incremental overall, with women remaining at 24% of partners and principals at CPA firms.

“As with anything in business, we must evaluate, adapt, and evolve to ensure continued success. This holds true for women’s initiatives. This year’s Accounting MOVE Project demonstrates how far women have come in the industry, but also expresses the need to keep pushing forward,” said Cindy Stanley, executive director for the Accounting & Financial Women’s Alliance (AFWA). “And while the report takes a look specifically inside accounting firms, the practices discussed are relevant for any organization who values the advancement of women, including AFWA.”

Insights from the report include:

• A philosophy of aligning wins for women with wins for leaders and for firms overall creates common ground for shared wins.
• Firm aspirations are set by top leaders but middle managers actually convert to culture change
• Men add invaluable insight as women’s initiatives sharpen their focus on barriers unique to women.
• When men ask that programs designed for women be opened to them, too, firms have a chance to reinforce the unique value of women’s programs and to explore what the women’s programs are doing that overall training programs are not.
• Women’s initiatives inform umbrella diversity and inclusion initiatives with proven logistical models and by illustrating the lasting importance of personal stories that inspire and inform rising women.

2018 Best CPA Firms for Women

The Best CPA Firms for Women list, sponsored by AFWA, is based on each year’s MOVE results. The 12 firms named to the Best Accounting Firms for Women list demonstrate three characteristics:

• Consistent, measurable progress in advancing women to leadership.
• Proven and continually evolving programs that retain and advance women.
• Clear and compelling integration of the business case for advancing women with business results.

BPM (San Francisco)
The firm’s diverse women partners realize and capitalize on their abilities to bring in new clients, which has resulted in a burst of revenue from its recently promoted women.

Brown Smith Wallace (St. Louis)
The firm assigns performance managers to work with younger employees to craft personalized career advancement strategies that provide guidance during early career decisions and their ramifications.
Clark Nuber PS (Bellevue, Wash.)
With 47.5% women shareholders as proof of its success, the firm’s monthly feedback meetings emphasize accomplishments in real time, not just annually, so employees see immediate results of and from their actions.

CohnReznick LLP (New York)

The established success of the firm’s WomenCAN efforts are being leveraged to mentor leaders of its new diversity and inclusion councils.
Kerkering, Barberio & Co. (Sarasota, Fla.)
Flexibility is a core part of the firm’s culture with 23% of employees on a flexible work arrangement, ranging from reduced hours, flexible hours or remote work.

Lurie LLP (Minneapolis)
Even as the firm builds on programs that help millennials envision themselves as firm owners, Lurie is continually examining drivers of success so it can define advancement in terms broader than titles.

MCM CPAs and Advisors (Louisville)
The firm’s upcoming all-firm women’s conference adds to its commitment to women’s growth within the firm by creating opportunities to network, learn, and spend time with one another; MCM is also focused on allying with other women’s business groups as part of its new-market strategy as it expands regionally.

Moss Adams (Seattle)
Detecting and resolving small barriers to women’s advancement adds up to accelerated retention and promotions, and delivers on this firm’s “long game” vision for advancing women internally and in its community.

Novogradac & Company LLP (San Francisco)
Success here is driven by metrics…and metrics are driven by experiments with career paths, flexibility, and business development; Novogradac doesn’t shy away from setting precedents with alternative career paths.

Plante Moran (Southfield, Mich.)
Persistence is paying off as the firm’s long-established Women In Leadership (WIL) program is raising its profile with major events as well as integrating learnings and concepts into the firm’s core training programs.

Rehmann (Troy, Mich.)
Business development is about more than golf and other traditionally male-focused activities, and the women’s initiative catalyzes conversations that directly drive new approaches by women for business development.
The Bonadio Group (Pittsford, NY)

With 38% female partners and principals and 50% of the new 2018 partners female, the firm continues to focus on a strong pipeline by including senior level employees in its leadership development training program.

2018 Best CPA Firms for Equity Leadership

The Accounting MOVE Project also recognizes firms with at least 50 employees, where women comprise at least 31% of partners and principals.

The Best CPA Firms for Equity Leadership list is also based on MOVE survey results and recognizes firms with at least 33% women partners and principals, as 33% is widely recognized as the tipping point for members of any identity group to have individual impact. The Equity Leadership list recognizes firms that have achieve that milestone through any combination of culture, programs or initiatives.

Raffa, P.C. (Washington D.C.) 63.2% women partners and principals

With over 70% of its entire staff comprised of diverse employees, Raffa stokes the momentum with integrated flexibility and development programs, including an option for staff to mentor rising women leaders in other countries.

Kerkering, Barberio & Co. (Sarasota, Fla.) *Also a Best CPA Firm for Women, 60% women partners and principals

KWC CPAs (Alexandria, VA) 60% women partners and principals

To continue helping support women in their careers, the firm’s newly formed women’s initiative plans to include many networking opportunities with local women owned business to help younger women in the firm learn business development skills while also bringing new clients to the firm.

HBE LLP (Lincoln, Neb.) 50% women partners and principals

Every Fall, employees prepare for the coming year by committing to planned hours and an ideal schedule for them, which means every employee has the opportunity for flexibility; This has helped lead HBE to a 50% female partner rate and new fathers and mothers setting up second workstations at home in preparation for busy season.

Johanson & Yau (San Jose, Calif.) 50% women partners and principals
The firm designs innovative HR practices to attract and embrace all of the diversity that’s found in Silicon Valley to create a unique culture that has resulted in 50% female partners.

Clark Nuber PS (Bellevue, Wash.) *Also a Best CPA Firm for Women, 47.5% women shareholders

Hood & Strong LLP (San Francisco) 40% women partners and principals
Hood & Strong crafts remote work arrangements, especially in its growing tech practice, to attract and retain employees, both on the accounting side as well as hard-to-find tech talent.

MCM CPAs and Advisors (Louisville) *Also a Best CPA Firm for Women, 39.7% women partners and principals

Frazier & Deeter (Atlanta) 38% women partners

By having lower charge hour expectations for professionals, Frazier & Deeter encourages our people to balance all aspects of their lives while still growing the firm.

The Bonadio Group (Pittsford, NY) *Also a Best CPA Firm for Women, 37.6% women partners and principals

Brown Smith Wallace (St. Louis) *Also a Best CPA Firm for Women, 36.2% women partners and principals

BeachFleischman (Tucson) 33.3% women partners and principals

Rising women can pursue career-enhancing community leadership at a wide range of regional nonprofits thanks to the firm’s sponsorship of women’s business groups.

Lurie LLP (Minneapolis) *Also a Best CPA Firm for Women, 33.3% women partners and principals

OUM (San Francisco) 33% women partners only

Formalizing the firms flexible work policy, adopting unlimited PTO and starting a women’s initiative keep OUM with a strong pipeline of women at all levels.

Registration for the 2019 Accounting MOVE Project will open in August. Additional details are at www.wilson-taylorassoc.com. Firms of all sizes are invited and encouraged to participate.

ABOUT THE ACCOUNTING MOVE PROJECT

The Accounting MOVE Project is based on the MOVE methodology, developed by research partner Wilson-Taylor Associates, Inc., which investigates the factors proven to be essential to women’s career success:

M – Money: fair pay practices;

O – Opportunity: advancement and leadership development;

V – Vital supports: work-life programs that remove barriers;

E – Entrepreneurship: operating experience for managing or business ownership

Since 2010, the Accounting MOVE Project has measured and supported the advancement of women at accounting and consulting firms. MOVE is the only annual benchmarking project that both counts and advocates for women in the profession.

The MOVE Project advisory board includes leaders from association partner the Accounting and Financial Women’s Alliance; founding sponsor Moss Adams; and national sponsor CohnReznick.

MOVE is made possible by support from its sponsors and by administrative fees paid by participating firms. Firms receive benchmarking reports based on the MOVE Project.

2018 Accounting MOVE results are based on surveys and interviews with 45 participating firms that consist of 31,533 employees, conducted from November 2017 to March 2018.

For more information about the Accounting MOVE Project and see prior years’ results, please visit the Accounting MOVE Project web page.

ABOUT THE ACCOUNTING/MOVE PROJECT PARTNERS
Founding Sponsor Moss Adams is a fully integrated professional services firm dedicated to assisting clients with growing, managing, and protecting prosperity. With more than 2,900 professionals and staff across more than 25 locations in the West and beyond, we provide the world’s most innovative companies with specialized accounting, consulting, and wealth management services to help them embrace emerging opportunity. Our strength in the middle market enables us to advise clients at all intervals of development—from start-up, to rapid growth and expansion, to transition.

National Sponsor CohnReznick LLP is one of the top advisory, assurance, and tax firms in the United States, combining the deep resources of
a national firm with the hands-on, agile approach that today’s dynamic business environment demands. With diverse industry expertise, the Firm provides companies with the insight and experience to help them break through and seize growth opportunities. The Firm, with origins dating back to 1919, is headquartered in New York, NY with 2,700 employees in offices nationwide. CohnReznick is a member of Nexia International, a global net- work of independent accountancy, tax, and business advisors. For more information, visit www.cohnreznick.com.

The Accounting & Financial Women’s Alliance (AFWA) promotes the professional growth of women in all facets of accounting and finance. Members increase their career potential by connecting with colleagues, receiving education and mentorship to advance their careers, and developing leadership skills. Members have the availability to tap into a network of successful, motivated, and influential professionals who understand the unique position of being a woman in the industry and who, together, contribute to the future development of their profession. Visit AFWA.org for more information.

Strategic communication firm Wilson-Taylor Associates, Inc., has been designing and managing national research projects that measure the progress of women in the workplace since 1998. Its methodology pivots on factors proven to remove barriers so that women can fully participate in driving business results. Led by veteran business journalist Joanne Cleaver, its current and past clients include Women in Cable Telecommunications, the Women’s Transportation Seminar, the Alliance for Workplace Excellence, SitterCity, Ebyline.com, and many others. Please see Wilson-Taylor’s portfolio of work at www.wilson-taylorassoc.com.

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See the full report here

On Thursday, May 24^th, the 2018 National Minority Supplier Development Council Leadership Awards will recognize the dynamic corporate executives, minority business owners and NMSDC affiliate council presidents for outstanding leadership that has a positive impact on their companies and resonates throughout the NMSDC network. Chuck Nice, television host and comedian, will be Master of Ceremonies. The black-tie gala event at the New York Hilton will begin at 6:30 PM, and will include dinner and a ceremony to present the honorees, with the festivities wrapping up at 10 PM.The NMSDC advances business opportunities for certified MBEs and connects them to corporate members. To meet the growing need for supplier diversity, NMSDC matches its more than 12,000 certified minority-owned businesses to our network of more than 1,750 corporate members who wish to purchase their products, services and solutions. NMSDC, a unique and specialized player in the field of minority business enterprise, is proud of its unwavering commitment to advance Asian, Black, Hispanic and Native American suppliers in a globalized corporate supply chain.

Said President Louis Green of NMSDC, “NMSDC and its 23 affiliate councils around the nation look to vigorous, visionary leaders within our membership and our network. The Leadership Awards identify and recognize those who have set the bar high for our collaborative efforts on behalf of MBEs and corporate partners. We are most grateful to our honorees, who by their example show the way forward, as we advocate for robust minority business enterprises and for greater diversity and richer inclusiveness in corporations — not only in their supply chains, but in their board rooms and executive offices as well.”

This year, the Supplier Diversity Professional of the Year Award winner is Mr. Alex Alvarez, Jr., of Apple Inc., where he is Global Supply Manager, Apple Global Supplier Diversity in Corporate Procurement. The award honors a national corporate member with at least 2 years of experience in a corporate supplier diversity role. The seasoned recipient demonstrates exceptional action, engagement and leadership in supplier diversity and in support of NMSDC’s mission. Mr. Alvarez is a recognized thought leader and expert in Supply Chain in areas such as procurement and supplier diversity. He co-led Apple to Best in Class, Billion Dollar Roundtable, and several top awards, including NMSDC Corporation of the Year for Innovation.

The MBE of the Year Award is presented to Leon C. Richardson, Founder, President & CEO of The Chemico Group, one of the largest minority-owned chemical management and distribution companies in the United States. The award goes to the owner of a NMSDC-certified MBE who has been actively engaged within the NMSDC network for a minimum of 2 years. The recipient is a change agent, who has demonstrated exceptional leadership in guiding their company to success and has shared their knowledge and wisdom with peers as a mentor.

The CPO of the Year Award is presented to Mr. Arnold Sowa, Senior Vice President & Chief Procurement Officer, MetLife, Inc. The award goes to an outstanding leader whose vision, passion and integrity have proven impactful within the CPO’s corporation as well as the larger supplier diversity community. Mr. Sowa is responsible for overseeing MetLife’s global procurement, travel, third-party risk management, and supply chain social responsibility programs.

In addition to the above awards, the Vanguard Award is presented to an NMSDC affiliate council president who has exhibited leadership in driving the value proposition for minority supplier development among corporate and MBE constituents throughout the NMSDC network. This year’s recipient is Michelle Sourie Robinson, President and CEO of the Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council (MMSDC), one of NMSDC’s most influential affiliate councils.

The Corporate Co-Chair for the evening is Toyota, and MBE Co-Chair is Rose International.

About NMSDC

The NMSDC advances business opportunities for certified minority business enterprises and connects them to corporate members. One of the country’s leading corporate membership organizations, NMSDC was chartered in 1972 to provide increased procurement and business opportunities for minority businesses of all sizes. The NMSDC Network includes a National Office in New York and 23 affiliate regional councils across the country. The network also includes five international partner organizations located in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, China and South Africa.

To meet the growing need for supplier diversity, NMSDC matches its more than 12,000 certified minority-owned businesses to our network of more than 1,750 corporate members who wish to purchase their products, services and solutions. NMSDC, a unique and specialized player in the field of minority business enterprise, is proud of its unwavering commitment to advance Asian, Black, Hispanic and Native American suppliers in a globalized corporate supply chain. For more information, visit www.NMSDC.org.

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Today, the National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals (NOGLSTP) is proud to announce the winners of its 2018 recognition awards for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) professionals in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). The NOGLSTP Recognition Awards will be presented during the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting in Austin, TX on Feb. 18. NOGLSTP is an affiliate of AAAS and will organize events, including the awards ceremony, to advocate for LGBTQ in STEM at the AAAS Annual Meeting.

Dr. Biswajit “Bish” Paul is NOGLSTP’s 2018 LGBTQ+ Educator of the Year. While completing doctoral research in molecular biology at the University of Washington. Paul invested time and effort to create new opportunities and improve the climate for his fellow undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral researchers. He worked with University of Washington organizations, state government officials and national scientific societies to increase the visibility of under-represented communities. Notably, he spearheaded and secured $300,000 of funding per year from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to fund under-represented minority scientists conducting cancer research. Paul approached this, and all of his work, by combining his scientific talents with his personal identity as a gay, immigrant, scientist of color with a commitment to support his multiple communities. Paul has employed non-traditional avenues of public education throughout his career, including creating documentary films for national festivals and building exhibits on Gene Therapy for the Pacific Science Center. Most recently Paul was a Science Fellow at the California State Legislature sponsored by the California Council on Science & Technology (CCST). As a CCST Fellow, he served as a Policy Analyst in the Assembly’s Elections Committee and helped in the creation of evidence-based policies. “I am an immigrant, from a family that was not allowed to vote. I am a person of color, from a community where

engagement is very low. I can write and study from the lens of communities that are usually left behind in these policies,” Paul said.

Paul plans to continue working on issues of scientific policy and advocacy. His experiences have taught him that scientists can have significant impact on government policy and, therefore, on people’s lives in California and around the world. “The point of educating is to teach people who don’t understand the topic and who might disagree with you,” Paul said.

Dr. Danelle Tanner is NOGLSTP’s 2018 LGBTQ+ Scientist of the Year. Tanner’s research career began at Texas A&M where she was a graduate student at the Cyclotron Institute studying nuclear physics. She then took a position at Sandia National Laboratories to conduct radiation effects testing during underground nuclear weapons tests. She then changed fields, and her next position at Sandia led to career-long, and ongoing, research in reliability physics. “I always want to know why so I have kept my reliability focus on the fundamental, science-based, physics of failure approach,” Tanner said. Tanners work spans multiple fields: microelectronics, Micro-Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS), capacitors, and nuclear weapon components. Tanner’s work has led to recognition by national scientific organizations, requests to be a featured speaker and editorial advisor, and to her appointment as a

Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff at Sandia. When Tanner started college in the 1970s, the two paths she saw presented to women were nursing and teaching. She initially expected to teach math, but her first physics course exposed a pure love of science, a love of understanding the world at a fundamental

level. She now takes advantage of her decades of technical experience at Sandia to train and mentor fellow staff members. Both formally and informally, she educates staff to improve their technical and teaming skills in order to solve complex problems. Tanner is a founding member of Sandia’s LGBT employee networking

group, a role she uses to advocate on behalf of LGBT lab employees for pay and benefits equity. Tanner met her wife through this networking group.

David Taubenheim is NOGLSTP’s 2018 LGBTQ+ Engineer of the Year. Taubenheim’s work in signal processing and radio

communications has led to 15 patented inventions and his current position as the Manager of the National Intelligence Community Program Are at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab (APL). In this role, Taubenheim is responsible for providing technical, financial, and strategic leadership for APL in support of the U.S. Intelligence Community they support. Taubenheim’s work has involved both software and electronic hardware developments, such as application-specific integrated circuits, to advance communications capabilities. Taubenheim is a married, gay man and encourages other people to be out at work. He wants STEM

students and professionals to know that LGBTQ people can advance and succeed in STEM careers. He has found engineers and

technology professionals to be welcoming, more focused on the problems to be solved than anything else. However, Taubenheim’s experience is that technical expertise is only one component to a strong team. “My work involves lots of teams. I’ve seen, first hand, that diversity is not just a tag line. It makes for higher energy, better teams, with better results,” Taubenheim said.

“The Recognition Awards were established in 2005 as a means to document and honor the contributions of outstanding LGBTQ science, engineering and technology professionals and to also honor corporations, academic institutions and businesses that support LGBTQ professionals so that advancements can be made in those fields”, stated Rochelle Diamond, chair of the NOGLSTP Board of Directors. Additional information on past awards are available at http://www.noglstp.org/programs-projects/recognition-awards/.

For more information about the awards, contact the recognition awards chair, TJ Ronningen, at tj.ronningen at NOGLSTP dot org. For more information about NOGLSTP, contact Rochelle Diamond, NOGLSTP chair, at chair at NOGLSTP dot org.