Women's Times Publisher Honored by Bay Path
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The induction was made at the college's 14th annual Women's Professional Development Conference on Thursday, May 14. The 21st Century Women Business Leaders Hall of Fame was established in 2004 to celebrate and share the spirit of women in business. Each year, the college selects area leaders who have had an impact on businesses in Western Massachusetts.
In addition to Sills, the Hall of Fame honored MicroTek Chief Executive Officer Anne Paradis and the founders of The Women's Fund of Western Massachusetts Dianne Doherty, Sally Livingston and Martha Richards.
To be inducted into the Hall of Fame, women business leaders must demonstrate the ability to take risks, assume responsibilities, have an entrepreneurial spirit, foster teamwork as well as individual excellence, incorporate integrity and a strong sense of ethics, adhere to a collaborative management style, value education, and serve as a mentor as well as an activist.
Eugenie Sills
Founder and publisher of the regional magazine The Women's Times, Sills is an entrepreneur, a community activist and an advocate for women's issues. A resident of Ghent, N.Y, she operates the monthly publication from its offices in Great Barrington. In just over 15 years, she has taken it from six issues to 12 a year with a combined, monthly circulation of 32,000. The magazine twice has been the recipient of the New England-wide American Cancer Society Sword of Hope Award for excellence in print journalism relating to cancer.
Sills has been honored with Woman of Achievement awards from the Berkshire and Springfield chapters of Business and Professional Women and was named Entrepreneur of the Decade by Berkshire Enterprises and the Commonwealth Corp. for Business, Work and Learning. She has dedicated herself to local communities as founding member of the Women's Fund of Western Massachusetts board of directors and the Berkshire Creative Economy Council. She is a corporator for Lee Bank and a member of the Berkshire Chamber of Commerce's board of directors. Sills is often called upon to provide mentorship to aspiring entrepreneurs and young women embarking on new careers.
Anne Paradis
Paradis was selected for her strong leadership and ideals, and that people are the backbone of Chicopee-based MicroTek's achievements. For more than 20 years, Paradis has been a successful CEO in the male-dominated industry of computer hardware. She has succeeded in positioning the multimillion dollar, international manufacturer of custom cables and wire harnesses as a highly competitive, first-rate manufacturer known for its customer service and attentiveness to employees.
Her concentration on providing a strong foundation for employees — especially those with disabilities — to be successful has translated into a corporate culture in which individual differences and diversity are recognized, valued and supported. Under her leadership, MicroTek has started a new initiative partnering with other area businesses to expand the number of work opportunities for people with disabilities. President of the Women's Fund's board of directors, Paradis is also an active member of the Women Presidents Organization, the Social Enterprise Alliance and the Human Rights Campaign.
Dianne Doherty, Sally Livingston and Martha Richards
In 1995, Doherty, Livingston and Richards attended the United Nation's 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing. When they returned, they joined forces, forever changing philanthropy in Western Massachusetts with the creation of the Women's Fund of Western Massachusetts. Since 1997, the organization has awarded more than $1.2 million in grants to nearly 100 programs that have helped at-risk girls enroll in and graduate from college, allowing them to step into leadership roles in schools, communities and homes. Women have also benefited from grant-funded programs that have enabled them to purchase their first homes, design and implement new or additional community service programs, and transition families into safe and secure housing.
Doherty oversees free and confidential business advisory services, training programs and information and referral to small businesses in the region as the Western Mass. regional director of the Massachusetts Small Business Development Center Network. Active in civic affairs in the greater Springfield area, she serves on the boards of the Pioneer Valley Plan for Progress, Bay Path College, the Community Foundation of Western Mass. and the Regional Technology Corp. Doherty is also a board member of Digital Divide Data, a U.S.-based company offering employment and education to disadvantaged youth in Cambodia and Laos.
Livingston remains a perfect example of a risk-taker, and has held an array of roles in her professional life over the course of 30-plus years. She has been an assistant professor of cultural history at Hampshire College, a fundraising consultant in New York and has established her own investment firm. At age 61, she obtained her doctorate from Harvard University and, today, she is a lecturer of history and literature there.
Richards has founded and currently serves as executive director of the Fund for Women Artists. She has more than 30 years of combined experience as an arts administrator and a lifelong commitment to women's issues and women artists. She has been a business adviser to many women artists and women-led arts organizations throughout her career. Richards has been honored as one of the "founding mothers" of the Women's Fund and, in April 2007, was nominated along with Wynton Marsalis and Quincy Jones for the international Montblanc de la Culture Award.
Throughout their respective careers and service, the 2009 inductees have encouraged and empowered women and girls along their individual paths to reach their full potential. The entire 21st Century Women Business Leaders Hall of Fame can viewed www.baypath.edu.
