In the Company of Women: Women Leaders in American Business
Moderator:
Patricia Sloane-White
Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of Delaware
Patricia Sloane-White is an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology specializing in Southeast Asian Islam, corporate culture, gender, and capitalism. After a decade of senior-level business experience on Wall Street, she earned a doctorate in Social Anthropology from the University of Oxford. She has conducted extensive fieldwork on social and economic change, entrepreneurship and Islamic capitalism in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She has written numerous articles and a book, Islam, Modernity and Entrepreneurship among the Malays.
Speakers:
Michele Rollins
Chairman, Rollins Jamaica
Michele Metrinko Rollins graduated from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and Law Center, earning a B.S.F.S. in 1965, a J.D. in 1968, and an LL.M in Taxation in 1970. After receiving her J.D. from Georgetown University, she served in numerous positions for the federal government, including the SEC Division of Corporate Regulation, the Tax Division of the Justice Department. She later served as special assistant to two administrators of the EPA. Following a brief detail to the Federal Energy Office in 1974, she became the first female “Associate Solicitor for Conservation and Wildlife” at the Department of Interior from 1974 to 1977. From 1977 to 1980, she was Sun Company’s Associate Counsel and Corporate Secretary.
Ms. Rollins is currently Chairman of Rollins Jamaica, Ltd., the holding company for Rose Hall, Ltd. Rose Hall includes the Ritz-Carlton Golf and Spa Resort, the Rose Hall Great House, an 18th century authentic architectural restoration depicting plantation life under the famed “White Witch of Rose Hall,” Annee Palmer, and the Cinnamon Hill Great House, home of famed country music legends John and June Carter Cash. She serves on numerous boards, including the Advisory Board of the University of Delaware’s School of Hotel Restaurant and Institutional Management, of which she is Chairman. Ms. Rollins’ background in public relations includes extensive media experience in radio and television. As Miss USA, she represented the United States in the Miss USA-World contest in London in 1964.
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Claire Dematteis
Partner-in-Charge and Co-Chair, Government and Public Affairs Practice Group, Stradley Ronon Attorneys at Law
As a partner at Stradley Ronon and co-chair of the firm's Government & Public Affairs Practice Group, Claire DeMatteis focuses her practice on government affairs in Delaware and Washington, D.C., specializing in legislative and regulatory lobbying, as well as business development representing Fortune 500 companies, universities, medical centers, nonprofit associations and privately held firms. Ms. DeMatteis serves as partner-in-charge of Stradley Ronon's Delaware office, and is chair of the firm's Gaming Practice Group.
Prior to joining Stradley Ronon, Ms. DeMatteis served as senior counsel to U.S. Sen. Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Among her primary legislative responsibilities were coordinating all grants and appropriations for Delaware, and implementing nationwide Sen. Biden’s landmark 1994 Crime Law and Violence Against Women Act. She also served on the staff of Mike Castle during his term as Governor of Delaware and as Congressman. She is an adjunct professor at the University of Delaware, teaching constitutional law, and at Widener University School of Law, where she wrote, researched and teaches a seminar on the “Intersection of Law and Politics.” She is a former television reporter and weekend anchor for WBOC-TV, a CBS-affiliate in Salisbury, Md., and Dover, Del. Ms. DeMatteis is a registered lobbyist in Delaware and Washington, D.C. She formerly served on the executive committee of the Delaware State Bar Association, is the immediate past-chair of the Bar Association’s Women and the Law Section, and past-president of Delaware’s Terry-Carey Inn of Court.
Linda J. Myrick
Vice President and General Manager
Air Liquide Healthcare America Corporation – Scott Medical Products
Linda joined Scott in October, 2004 with extensive experience in strategic planning, marketing, and general management. She began her career with Procter & Gamble as a product development engineer. She spent 20 years with FMC Corporation, a diversified chemicals and machinery company in positions of increasing responsibility including General Manager of FMC BioPolymer Pharmaceuticals, a global pharmaceutical ingredients business. In 2001, Linda joined Rhodia, Inc., a specialty chemicals company headquartered in France, as Vice President and General Manager of Specialty Phosphates, North America and later was named Vice President and General Manager of Home, Personal Care and Industrial Ingredients, North America. Linda holds a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware (’77) where she continues to be active as a Director of the Alumni Association and a member of the Chemical Engineering Advisory Council. She received her Masters in Business Administration from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (’81). She is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Innophos, Inc., a publicly-traded specialty phosphates business, and has previously served on the Board of Directors for Berwind Pharmaceutical Services, a global film coating and services company. She resides in Flourtown, PA with her husband, Dr. Steven Myrick (UD’77), and two sons, Steven (UD ’11) and Gregory.
Sue M. Sears
Vice President of Global Market Development, Kimberly-Clark Corporation
In 2006, Ms. Sears was appointed Vice President of Global Market Development the Kimberly-Clark Corporation. She is responsible for driving global growth through the development of customer management strategies for a $2.5 billion division of the corporation. She is one of 10 women officers in the corporation of more than 60,000 employees. She recently served as President of the Global Do-It-Yourself Business, an entrepreneurial retail arm of Kimberly-Clark located in Philadelphia. Ms. Sears served as Vice President of Marketing for Unisource Worldwide, Inc, one of the leading distributors of printing and imaging products, packaging systems, and sanitary maintenance supplies in North America, with sales of $7 billion. Prior to joining Unisource in 1999, Ms. Sears was Director of Worldwide Product Development in the Business-to-Business Market with Scott Paper Company, a $2 billion business. Her responsibilities included developing new products, new technologies, licenses, and joint ventures worldwide. In 1995, during the merger of Scott Paper and Kimberly-Clark, Sears served as Director of Merger Integration. Sears is currently an executive sponsor of the Women's Integrated Network at Kimberly-Clark in Roswell, Georgia. She is also a member of the Multi-Corporation Women's Network in Atlanta Georgia and is a strong advocate of workplace diversity. She is a member of the National Women in Hardware association, and is a corporate sponsor of the Media, PA Pathways Group, an organization devoted to improving the life skills of battered women and children. She also served on the board of the Media Youth Center, in Media. She recently served on the Executive Board of the Alumni Association at the University of Delaware and is past co-President of the University of Delaware Parents' Board. Ms. Sears is a member of the American Marketing Institute and the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), from whom she received an award as outstanding business woman in the Philadelphia area. Sears earned her B.A. degree from the University of Delaware ('77) and her Global Marketing certification from the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Phoenix, Arizona. Ms. Sears and her husband, Jim, (UD '70) and their three boys, Jay, Chris (UD '99) and Andrew currently reside in Media, Pennsylvania.