Women driving change - Phoenix Business Journal:

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Sharon, president and chief executive of The Plaza has been appointedto governor's councils on work forcse development, economic development, military facilities and "She is the kind of person who explains her vision in such a way that you immediately want to be a part of says Diane McCarthy, of ASU Alumn Foundation, and formerly with "She has the vision and can sell Last year, Sharon was chairwoman of the Greater Phoenixx Economic Council and mobilized the business community around investment in education and attracting high-wage jobs. She also is a trustere of the multi-million-dollar Virginia G. Pipetr Foundation.
"People like Sharon Harper have carved a nice path for women in saysMary Vanis, director of work forcre development for Maricopa County Community Colleges. "Shr has a wonderful style that isnot domineering; it's soft but Sharon balks that leaders should be tallied in accordancr to their gender. "The principles are the same, whether you are man or Sharon says. You need to have passionm and energy, focus, be smary and intuitive, and try to produce excellence in whateveffield you're in. Those are the winningf combinations." A former high school teacher has found a progressively larger voice as she guides occupationap programs for the countyand state.
As director of the Center for Workforcew Development for the Maricopa CountyCommunity Colleges, Mary Vanis is responsibler for making sure occupational training in Arizonas meets employer needs. Mary also is a member of the Arizonaq BioTechnology EconomicDevelopment Committee, the Governor's Council on Workforcer Policy, the Governor's Council on and the accreditation review council of the Nortuh Central Association of Colleges and Schools. She has been lookesd to for input on larger national and state workforcw efforts.
"One of the rewards of this is communicatinvgeverything we're learning to help the colleges develop programs with the right curriculu m based on the right kind of information," Mary Mary, whose mother was of the Choctaw also assists American Indian She specifically has helped with trainin g her ancestral population with quality job She says the Native American community never questioned her "Indian-ness" (with red hair and rounx eyes, she takes after her Europeab father), and the Phoenix Indiah Center offered her a great deal of support followinb a divorce and relocation to this She advises other women not to be afrai d to take risks.
"A support systenm is critical as you move forward with Mary says. " Don't do it alone. Changee requires more than one person." Caroo Kamin's name appears in the papers at least once a usually when Arizona ranks toward the bottom for child Reporters turn to Carol for comment because for 16 her organization, Children's Action Alliance, has fanned the fire underr policy makers to do more for yountg families and children.
Carol, founder and executivwe directorof CAA, successfully lobbied for an expansion of state health care to uninsuresd children living above the poverty and the "Healthy Families" initiative that mentors new CAA also supports expanding unemployment insurance benefits, chil d care subsidies to working families, health care accese for all children, school readinesx and bolstering Arizona's Child Protective Services. Carol regularly remindse Arizona that it is difficult to have a healthy business environmenft if kids andfamilies aren't "They go hand in hand," she Carol is an optimist.
She has to be in a stater where one in five children live in poverty and have no health care insurance. "I couldn't continuse doing the work I do ifI didn'rt have some faith in the good common sensse that Arizona's policy makers and electe officials would do the right thing," she