Pathbuilders Celebrates Graduation of Landmark 30th Achieva® Class
Atlanta-area consulting firm celebrates extensive history of developing high-potential women
ATLANTA, May 16, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Over 80 women from nearly 40 Atlanta-area organizations gathered recently to celebrate their graduation from Pathbuilders Achieva®, a twelve-month program focused on developing the executive leadership potential of high-potential women. The women of the 2018 cohort gathered with their mentors and peers to celebrate their completion of the year-long program, which uniquely incorporates one-on-one mentoring with a senior-executive level mentor, peer networking, and educational developmental workshops.
Formerly known as Georgia 100, Achieva® is Pathbuilders' flagship mentoring program for high-potential women who are making the transition from management to leadership. The graduation of the 2018 class marks the 30th cohort of women to participate in this unique leadership development experience. Since 1995, the Achieva program has positioned nearly 3,000 women to have remarkable impact on their organizations.
"I came to Achieva to understand the value the program would bring to my organization," shared Merritt Henderson, director of human resources at the Kroger Company. "What I found was clarity around what I want out of my career, and I discovered my true passion. Pathbuilders does a great job in creating an environment in which I can be vulnerable with my peers and my mentor. Learning to be vulnerable has made me a better leader. Being a participant in Achieva allowed me to grow in ways I didn't realize were possible, and I look forward to seeing how the women of Kroger will benefit from the Achieva program for years to come."
Pathbuilders understands the importance of celebrating the success of its graduates, and as such, the graduation ceremony was an opportunity for the 80-plus mentees to gather with their mentors to celebrate all they had accomplished throughout the year and reflect upon how Achieva positioned them to do so.
"During the program, I was promoted to a new role with broader responsibility. The program helped me develop the mindset necessary to lead at the enterprise level," said Tish Harrison, head of competitive strategy for Cox Automotive, Inc.
One highlight of graduation is the recognition and celebration of the Outstanding Mentee of the Year, a mentee who took ownership of her career growth, created a vision for the partnership, and fully invested in the mentee-mentor relationship. Pathbuilders asked mentors to nominate mentees who exemplify this criterion as well as a mentee who set goals for herself, established an action plan for those goals and either met or exceeded those goals, and had tangible impact on her organization because of her participation in the program.
Pathbuilders recognized Stephanie Martin, director of logistics analytics and finance at WestRock, as the Outstanding Mentee of the Year. Martin was recognized for stretching herself to take on a greater scope of responsibility while taking full ownership of her growth. By the end of the program, Martin had become a more effective people leader and had substantial positive impact on her organization. As a result of her commitment to the program and successful partnership with her mentor Virginia Means, chief people officer at United Distributors, Martin received two promotions within her organization.
Pathbuilders also recognizes an outstanding mentor who goes above and beyond to help their mentee accomplish her goals, finds unique ways to challenge their mentee, or helps the mentee overcome a particularly challenging hurdle. Pathbuilders asked mentees to nominate mentors who not only exemplify this criterion but to nominate mentors who positively impacted their mentee both personally and professional so much that the mentee became a better leader as a result of their partnership. For the 2018 class, Pathbuilders selected Paul Schur, general manager at Slalom Consulting, as Outstanding Mentor of the Year. His mentee, Kristy Wynn, director of global quality at Solvay Specialty Polymers, highlighted her mentor's willingness to go above and beyond to help her accomplish her goals and his guidance in helping her become a more effective, strategic leader.
The graduation of the 30th class was a landmark achievement for Pathbuilders, an organization that has impacted the careers and lives of hundreds of women since 1995. The graduation ceremony provided an opportunity for Pathbuilders to reflect on reaching this historic milestone.
"We have watched these female leaders move projects and initiatives forward in their organization all year long and saw them stretch themselves in ways we didn't think possible," stated Helene Lollis, president & CEO of Pathbuilders. "I will never be able to express enough gratitude to the 85 mentors who worked with these leaders to support them through this year of growth. Although we enjoyed highlighting the success of our mentees after their 12-month journey, the Pathbuilders team was also celebrating the graduation of our milestone class – the cohort of amazing women making an impact on their organizations. What a day, what a year!"
Achieva is one of Pathbuilders' mentoring program designed for the four key stages in a woman's career. The Pathbuilders series of progressive professional development programs for women includes:
- Pathbuilders Insignia℠: Entry-level women establishing credibility, developing self-awareness, learning to set priorities and gaining insight into how the business works.
- Pathbuilders Percepta®: Emerging leaders learning to think broadly, manage others and make conscious choices – driving their careers and achieving exceptional business results.
- Pathbuilders Achieva®: Mid-level managers with the potential to be senior leaders – learning to navigate politics, building executive presence and moving the company's most critical initiatives forward.
- Pathbuilders Inspiria®: Senior executives positioning themselves to have maximum impact – envisioning and creating cultures where others seek and achieve extraordinary success.
Graduates of the 2018-2019 Achieva program are from organizations that include:
ADP, LLC
Chick-fil-A
Cisco Systems
Citigroup
Colonial Pipeline Company
Comcast
Cox Automotive, Inc.
Cox Business
Cox Communications
Creative Coach Solutions
Cricket Wireless
Cushman & Wakefield
Equifax, Inc.
Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta
Frazier & Deeter, LLC
Gas South, LLC
Genuine Parts Company
Georgia Power Company
Global Payments, Inc.
Kaiser Permanente
Manhattan Associates, Inc.
Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC.
Novelis
OFS Fitel, LLC
Primrose Schools
Printpack, Inc.
Protiviti, Inc.
RaceTrac Petroleum, Inc.
Rollins, Inc.
Solvay Specialty Polymers
SunTrust Bank
Synovus
The Kroger Company
WarnerMedia
WC Bradley Co.
WestRock Company
Woodruff Arts Center
About Pathbuilders Inc.
Pathbuilders transforms top talent into high-impact leaders who move business forward. Through customized programming, Pathbuilders leverages a model that effectively combines mentoring, educational workshops and interactive peer exchange to accelerate the career growth of individuals and directly contribute to the bottom-line success of client organizations. Pathbuilders has worked with over 4,000 professionals from more than 500 client organizations, including Fortune 500 companies, colleges and universities, and government agencies.
SOURCE Pathbuilders
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