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10 Hartford Business Journal | March 22, 2021 | Women In Business N ouh is a seasoned marketer with a bachelor's degree in pharmacy and a master's in healthcare administration. Over the past 11 years, she has led the healthcare practice at Adams & Knight — one of Connecticut's largest marketing agencies. Prior to joining Adams & Knight, Nouh worked at other leading agencies and served as a product specialist for Novartis. At Adams & Knight, she leads a team of integrated marketing specialists that help clients build their brands and promote their services. She also has extensive experience in employee engagement campaigns and speaks frequently on this topic around the country. What's been your biggest professional accomplishment so far? I've had the privilege of working with amazing clients and my talented Adams & Knight team to help build the Hartford HealthCare brand. I love building brands, but when you can be part of making life- saving care more accessible to more people, that's truly rewarding. What's the next big goal you want to accomplish professionally? My next big goal professionally is to use my voice to help more organizations with diversity and inclusion strategies and initiatives. As a Muslim woman of Egyptian descent in a leadership role, I want to use my experience and my position to help organizations create real change. What's one of the biggest professional challenges you've overcome? In 2001, I was the first and only woman at J. Walter Thompson in Saudi Arabia — at a time when women couldn't drive and typically only worked with other females. Blazing a new trail wasn't easy, but it was rewarding. And it's great knowing that at least half of that office is now women! How has the COVID-19 pandemic forced you to adapt as a leader? I love interacting with others in person. But I focused on finding new ways to lead effective online brainstorming sessions, to keep teams connected and productive, to present work virtually to clients in new engaging ways, even to produce lots of new TV spots/videos while observing all safety protocols. What are your keys to maintaining business success? The keys to success is to always H.E.L.P. Honesty: Always tell the truth — even when you screw up. Empathy: Always put yourself in their shoes — whether that's the shoes of your target audiences, your teammates or your clients. Learning: Always be hungry to learn new things. Passion: Always let your passion show! It's contagious. Reem Nouh Employer: Adams & Knight Title: Senior Vice President Women In Business Awards 2021 C hristine O'Rourke is the chief network and program officer at Foodshare/ Connecticut Food Bank, a statewide organization recently formed by the two Feeding America food banks in Connecticut. In this role, she provides support and assistance to a network of over 700 partner programs. O'Rourke started her career at Foodshare over 30 years ago and has served in a variety of roles, most recently as chief operating officer. During her tenure at Foodshare, the organization grew from five to over 50 employees and in 2020 provided over 19 million meals in the Greater Hartford community, an increase of 73% over the previous year. What's been your biggest professional accomplishment so far? Helping to guide the growth and strategic direction of Foodshare over the last 30 years is something I am very proud of. Our organization helps thousands of food insecure people every year, so I know my work has had an important impact on people's lives. What's the next big goal you want to accomplish professionally? In my new role, I am leading a team that will have the opportunity to improve how food insecure people across Connecticut access the food they need. We will share and encourage best practices and form new partnerships, with the goal of making the process less fragmented and more customer focused. What's one of the biggest professional challenges you've overcome? This last year has been a big challenge. The food bank's work is essential to the community, so we couldn't close down while we figured things out. Instead, we had to respond to an unprecedented demand for food while making sure our 50 employees and thousands of volunteers remained safe. How has the COVID-19 pandemic forced you to adapt as a leader? It became even more important to refocus on leadership fundamentals, especially communication, compassion and customer service. The pandemic also reinforced how important it is to develop and maintain solid relationships with other community organizations before a disaster strikes. Without these relationships in place, we would not have been able to respond as effectively. Who has been your most important mentor and why? Gloria McAdam, longtime CEO of Foodshare. Gloria ran a non-profit business, but never had a "charity" mindset. She taught me early on that to run any business well, you have to attract talented people, give them the tools they need, set high expectations and have a clear mission that drives what you do every day. Christine O'Rourke Employer: Foodshare/Connecticut Food Bank Title: Chief Network & Program Officer K ate Pendergast is vice president of Institutional Advancement at the University of Hartford, where she is responsible for leading all aspects of the university's development and engagement efforts, including major scholarship and capital campaigns, annual and planned giving programs and alumni and corporate relations initiatives. Prior to joining the university in 2010, Pendergast served as executive director of the American Heart Association's New Hampshire Chapter. She holds a BA in English/journalism from the University of Delaware, where she was also a four-year member of the Women's Soccer Team, and a master's in sport management from the University of Connecticut. What's been your biggest professional accomplishment so far? Recruitment, retention and elevation of colleagues on my team. Each time we are able to promote someone internally, or create a new opportunity for growth, I am overwhelmed with a sense of accomplishment that comes with having been part of that person's development and professional journey in some way. What's the next big goal you want to accomplish professionally? My big goal is to get my team through this pandemic even better positioned for future success. We are learning so much about our work and reconsidering things that have always been best practices. It's exciting to embrace some of this change and to implement new ideas and approaches. What's one of the biggest professional challenges you've overcome? The unwinnable balancing act that comes with the effort of advancing a career while simultaneously raising a young family. I knew I wanted a career and a family, but experienced tremendous guilt, exhaustion, stress and anxiety as I often questioned if I was doing the right thing. How has the COVID-19 pandemic forced you to adapt as a leader? The pandemic has forced me to become more comfortable with delegating work. The remote environment has encouraged me to step back and make space for my colleagues to work more autonomously. The pandemic has also reminded me to lead with heightened levels of empathy and flexibility. What are your keys to maintaining business success? My success is greatly linked to my ability to hire great people and to understand what makes them feel motivated and valued. In my industry, top performers have limitless opportunities to work elsewhere. I spend time thinking about that daily. It helps guide discussions around office culture, retention, work-life balance, etc. Kate Pendergast Employer: University of Hartford Title: Vice President of Institutional Advancement Congratulations to Anthem's Christine Cappiello Winner of Hartford Business Journal's Women in Business Award Winner of the Hartford Business Journal's Women in Business Award Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is the trade name of Anthem Health Plans, Inc. Independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Anthem is a registered trademark of Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc. 1031604CTCENABS 02/21 Senior Director of Government Affairs, Christine Cappiello Thank you, Christine, for your dedication to improving lives and healthcare in our communities. We are proud of the work you do for the people of Connecticut.