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WPO International Office 155
East 55th Street, Suite 4-H Marsha
Firestone, Ph.D. - President and Founder
President and Founder Dr. Firestone is founder and president of the Women Presidents' Organization for women whose businesses annually gross over two million dollars. The Women Presidents' Organization is currently operating 80 chapters nationwide and in Canada. Dr. Firestone was previously Vice President of Women Incorporated and of Training and Counseling at the American Woman's Economic Development Corporation (AWED). Prior to her involvement in women's economic development, she oversaw all operations and established educational direction as president of a for-profit educational institution. Her career also includes positions as National Executive Director of the Women's American ORT, a volunteer organization with a membership of over 150,000; a full-time faculty member of the American Management Association Competency-Based Management Development Program; and a faculty member at the City University of New York and Adelphi University. Dr. Firestone has published research on adult learning theory, nonverbal communication and managerial competency appearing in both business and educational journals, and The Busy Woman's Guide to Successful Self-Employment, an interactive, easy to read resource. A frequent guest speaker, her most recent presentations have been at Tulane University, Women's Jewelry Association, University of Syracuse, The Center for Women's Business Research Roundtable, and Unicul International in Tokyo, Japan. She is the recipient of a special achievement award from Woman, Inc. of Jamaica, the Applause Award for breaking down barriers for women in business from Women's Business Enterprise National Council, The Hall of Fame Award from Enterprising Women, the Outstanding Alumna Award 2003 from Sophie Newcomb College of Tulane University, and the 2004 WMBE Outreach Award from the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, and the Women Empowering Women Award from the Ohio WPO. From March 2003-2006, Dr. Firestone served on the National Women's Business Council, which reports to the President and Congress on issues of importance to women in business and was part of the official delegation to the Overseas Economic Development Council in Istanbul, Turkey. She earned a Master's degree in Communication from
Teacher's College of New York, as well as a Ph.D. in Communication
from Columbia University, where Margaret Mead sat on her dissertation
committee. Dr. Firestone is also involved in numerous community
activities including New York Women's Agenda, the Board of Advisors
of the Women's Leadership Initiative at Harvard's Kennedy School,
the Board of the Women's Business Enterprise National Council, the
Merrill Lynch Diversity Advisory Council, the American Express Open
Network Advisory Council, Women's Jewelry Association's Advisory
Board and the advisory councils of Women's Financial Network, the
International Women's Forum and Enterprising Women. In 1998, Dr.
Firestone was Executive Director of The Women's Economic Summit
whose work resulted in a master plan for accelerating the growth
of women's business and was presented to Congress and the public
in March 1999.
Vice President of Facilitation and Chief Learning Officer
Susan Ujifusa Diamond is a highly experienced Executive Coach and Career Consultant. She has a solid reputation for helping clients in Fortune 500s develop "executive presence," particularly in high potentials or individual contributors and technical professionals whose next promotions require managerial finesse and leadership skills. Susan has been retained by The Conference Board to be program director for seminars and conferences on Executive Coaching. She selects the faculty for the “Learning from Legends” series held twice a year. She has also been a presenter on Executive Coaching for The Conference Board to the HR Council of India and at the Conference on Strategic e-HR. Mrs. Diamond has had extensive experience in original creation, design, delivery and management of career services, including for Mobil Corporation’s R & D facility. Because of the groundbreaking nature of this Center, Susan was selected to be a presenter at a Department of Defense Symposium on Best Civilian Outplacement Practices at the prestigious National Academy of Sciences, with proceedings published by the National Academy Press. She created content for the online Talent Alliance, a consortium of 15 major corporations. Susan recently designed a unique virtual and live Career and Executive Coaching service for the 80,000 member and 100,000 candidate Chartered Financial Analysts Institute (formerly AIMR). Susan is an affiliate of Prism LLC and The Alexcel Group. She holds multiple certifications in psychological instruments, and is an instructor for granting certification to independent coaches and internal HR staff in behavioral coaching. She also teaches line managers coaching skills, and assists senior leaders to develop positive work team cultures. She sharpens oral and written presentation skills. Her approach identifies behaviors that align with corporate goals and leads individuals to greater personal satisfaction. Known for warmth, humor and enthusiasm, Susan encourages clients to clarify personal values and to realistically assess work-life balance or diversity issues. Susan won a Westchester County Volunteer of the Year award for producing “Welcome to School in America,” to explain the unwritten nuances of school life for foreign-born children and parents, published by Hitachi America. During a successful 10-year career as an editor in a multimedia publishing company, and she was also President of the Junior League of Westchester-on-Hudson, a pioneer community service organization for young women. Born and raised in Wyoming, Susan holds an undergraduate degree from Wellesley College and a Master’s in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University.
Vice President of Development
Melissa
Wahl, CAE is the Vice President of Development for Women Presidents'
Organization and Women Presidents' Educational Organization. Melissa
has demonstrated a strong record for organizational effectiveness,
leading three national women's organizations before joining WPO
and WPEO. Melissa was the National Director of Leadership Development
& Outreach for Women's American ORT, a national fundraising
organization. Prior to that, Melissa served as Executive Director
of the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE), the largest
professional businesswomen's organization in the country as well
as Publisher of Executive Female magazine. Before that, Melissa
was the Director of AMIT Women.
Vice President of Operations As Vice President of Operations for the Women Presidents'
Organization and the Women Presidents' Educational Organization,
Camille Burns manages the national office as well as seminars, events,
marketing, and sponsorship initiatives. In addition, she works closely
with the Platinum I group, for WPO members that generate over $10
million in annual revenues.
Event PlannerSusan Prekel graduated from the University of Michigan
with a B.A. in English. She spent several years working in advertising
and Interactive brand strategy for clients such as Subway, Serta,
United Airlines, and Staples. After planning events for Dartmouth
College’s alumni when she worked in the NYC Regional Development
office, Susan moved to a full-service event planning company, Events
by DANO, where she worked with both corporate and private clients. Communications
ManagerKirsten joins the WPO as a public relations graduate student from Canada. She graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a BA in psychology and sociology of work. Prior to her graduate studies Kirsten has traveled to multiple countries in Africa and has trained as an international athlete most recently in Denmark. Facilitator
Program DirectorSara is a graduate of Boston University with a Bachelor’s degree in Communications, specializing in Advertising. At school Sara was a part of Boston University’s AdLab where she helped with marketing efforts for a local elementary school. She looks forward to working with the local chapters and assisting with their marketing efforts.
Office Manager Prior to her current position, Ms. Strappazon worked with Dr. Firestone at Women Incorporated and The Women's Economic Summit '98. Linda moved to New York City from Michigan in 1969 and started with Hertz Rent A Car as a rental representative, became one of the first female station managers in Manhattan, and ended her long career as Assistant City Manager of Laguardia Airport. She then worked as Evening Office Manager of The Natural Gourmet Institute for Food and Health for seven and a half years. Linda enjoys taking visitors around the city and is a licensed New York City tour guide. Liz
Cullen
Program DirectorAmy Blais is a graduate of Boston College and holds a BA in Psychology and Art History. Amy has always been interested in gender and social issues and worked as a Research Fellow at Boston College. Her research focused on differences in gender communication and inter-group relations. Before joining the WPEO, Amy worked as a Program Coordinator at the Women's Resource Center where she developed programs dedicated to advancing women's personal, educational and professional goals. Erica Kaufman Program
AssistantErica Kaufman joined the Women Presidents' Educational Organization as Program Assistant in 2009. She graduated from Wellesley College, class of 2009, with a B.A. in Political Science and French. At Wellesley, she completed a research assistantship in the Political Science department, lived in the French language house, worked as a French tutor and was involved in the choral program. Additionally, she spent her junior year in Paris studying European politics and history, French literature and art history at the Sorbonne. During her undergraduate summers, she completed internships in the corporate and nonprofit art world and worked for her local congresswoman. She is thrilled to apply the empowering experience of attending a women's college to the "real world" by working for an organization whose main focus is the advancement of women in business.
Crystal
Johnson
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Marsha Firestone, Ph.D. 
Susan
Diamond 
Melissa
Wahl, CAE 
