10th Annual Wahine Forum

October 3, 2017

Hawaii Business Staff,

The Wahine Forum is Hawaii’s largest leadership and career development conference for women. The conference is attended by Hawaii’s top female executives, entrepreneurs, up-and-coming leaders and others intent on advancing their careers.

This year’s theme is WORK TOGETHER, RISE TOGETHER, focusing on the importance of effective partnerships and collaboration in the workplace. Connect with like-minded individuals and cultivate relationships at this full-day event featuring national speakers and local leaders.

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AGENDA

Registration, Networking Expo and Continental Breakfast: 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m
MORNING GENERAL SESSION: 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

PAY IT FORWARD: WOMEN HELPING WOMEN

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Miriam Hernandez-Kakol, KPMG
Miriam Hernandez-Kakol has achieved a great deal on her way to becoming U.S. service line leader for KPMG’s Customer and Operations consulting practice. Her accomplishments include leading teams that automated many telecom services we take for granted today, and being a founding leader of KPMG’s Technology Enablement consulting business that fueled triple-digit growth within five years for the Management Consulting group at KPMG. Miriam is particularly proud of the work she has done to break though glass ceilings and blaze a trail for younger women. Miriam was recognized by the Association of Latino Professionals for America (ALPFA) and Fortune Magazine as one of the Fifty Most Powerful Latinas in U.S. business in 2017. Miriam will discuss the importance of women mentoring women, and offer specific steps businesswomen can take today to ensure the future is even brighter for the next generation of women leaders.

MORNING WORKSHOP SESSIONS: 10:15 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

HANDLING DIFFICULT CONVERSATIONS & MAKING DIFFICULT DECISIONS

At every stage of your career, you must be able to handle difficult conversations and decisions if you want to succeed. We will discuss asking for a raise or promotion, closing a sale, allocating scarce resources, giving a tough employee review and firing an employee.

SPEAKERS:

Sunshine Topping, Vice President of Human Resources, Hawaiian Telcom
Dr. Kim-Anh Nguyen, President & CEO, Blood Bank Hawaii
Susan Yamada, Director, University of Hawaii Ventures
Terri Funakoshi, Director, Patsy T. Mink Center for Business and Leadership, YWCA
Moderator: Unyong Nakata, Executive Director of Development, UH Foundation – Shidler College of Business

Read about this session’s speakers

WE STARTED AT THE BOTTOM, NOW WE’RE HERE

Local female business owners share the victories and failures they experienced on the path to local, national and global success.

SPEAKERS:

Jana Lam, Owner, Jana Lam
Maile Meyer, Founder, Native Books/Na Mea Hawaii
Bliss Lau, Owner, Bliss Lau
Moderator: Malia Kaaihue, President, DTL Hawaii

Read about this session’s speakers

DESIGN THINKING

Today’s successful women are learning to expand their scope and perspective to include ‘Design Thinking,’ a methodology that employs a repeatable problem-solving technique that any team or business can use to get extraordinary results. Join Renée McKaskle, SVP and CIO of Hitachi Vantara as she shares how she uses Design Thinking to uncover the hidden, collaborate with teams and achieve deeper understanding that results in overall success and profitability.