Keynote Speakers
Wind Enterprises is proud to have Marsha Sampson Johnson, Connie Glaser, Celeste Jonson and Jeffery Tobias Halter as keynote speakers for IMAGINE! The 16th Annual Possible Woman® Leadership Conference.
The Honorable Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, Carol Hunstein, will open the conference with her welcoming comments.
Biographies for Marsha, Connie, Celeste Jonson and Jeffery Tobias Halter can be found below.
Please direct all inquiries regarding our keynote speakers to Linda Wind
Marsha Sampson Johnson
KEYNOTE: “Free Your Mind”
Marsha Sampson Johnson is a writer, speaker and advocate dedicated to full inclusion of women and people of color in all work environments. She is known for her keen insights and high-impact presentations on leadership and navigating careers. Her column, Lessons from the Corporate Jungle, appears biweekly in the Birmingham Times. She is also featured in the Empowering Women Leaders series found on YouTube.
Johnson’s experiences in major corporations, non-profit organizations, small business, and local government anchor a body of knowledge and practical framework to which audiences easily connect. She is a retired senior executive with almost 25 years at Fortune 500 Southern Company – most notably Alabama Power Company. She has held executive positions in division operations, customer service and call center operations, talent management, human resources and corporate diversity. The genesis of her business and leadership acumen trace to early years of employment with the City of Jacksonville Florida, Westinghouse Electric Corporation’s Offshore Power Systems, United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta, and Coleman Management Consultants.
Always active in communities where she lives, the Jacksonville, Florida native has held significant community service and economic development positions, including those with chambers of commerce and economic development boards. She is an alumna of Leadership Jacksonville, Leadership Atlanta, Leadership Mobile, Leadership Birmingham, and Leadership Alabama. She is a member of the International Women’s Forum, and serves on the boards of directors of the Atlanta Women’s Foundation, iwfGeorgia, and the Mattie C. Stewart Foundation.
Johnson holds an undergraduate degree in Political Science and Government from Jacksonville University; and is a graduate of Harvard University Graduate School of Business Advanced Management, International Senior Managers Program (AMP 157).
Connie Glaser - Keynote Speaker
KEYNOTE: “GenderTalk Works: Cracking the Gender Code at Work”
Her books have been translated into over a dozen languages and are among the most widely-read and influential books on workplace diversity and women’s leadership.
A frequent media guest, Connie has appeared on The Today Show, FOX News, CNN, and NBC Nightly News. With a Master’s Degree from the University of Michigan, she has also served as a faculty member for the American Institute of Banking and the International Management Council.
As a corporate speaker and consultant to Fortune 500 companies, Connie is recognized for her ability to address challenging workplace issues with humor and insight. Her client list includes FedEx, McKinsey & Co, ESPN, JPMorgan Chase, General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, Deloitte, AT&T, Time Warner, HP, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Forbes, and the U.S. Navy.
Connie’s latest book, GenderTalk Works recently debuted on FOX News Live. Praised by media and corporate executives, the book has been hailed as “an insightful step forward in the ongoing dialogue between men and women as colleagues.”
Connie first gained international acclaim with her breakthrough best-seller, Swim with the Dolphins, which established “a new navigational map for women in business.” Offering an updated role model for women, Dolphins has been ranked among the Top Ten Books on Women in Business. A workplace classic around the world, it has been translated into German, Chinese, Korean, Bulgarian, Japanese, and Hebrew.
Recognized for having her finger on the pulse of today’s workplace, Connie has served as Chair of the Travel Advisory Council for Inter-Continental Hotels. She also serves on the Women’s Advisory Board for Office Depot, and the Advisory Board for Emory University Graduate Women in Business.
Connie’s syndicated column, Winning at Work, appears in the Atlanta Business Chronicle and award-winning business journals around the country. She also is a nationally-featured columnist with bizwomen.com.
Connie was recently honored for her contributions to diversity and workplace excellence by being named Businesswoman of the Year by Office Depot. She has also been honored by being inaugurated into The World Who’s Who of Women.
Celeste Jonson
KEYNOTE: “Dare to Imagine!”
Celeste Jonson is an expert at energizing and inspiring people, particularly leaders, to fully utilize their God-given potential and power to facilitate transformation in themselves and others. The goal is optimal and intentional living and leading. Her expansive experience includes working with multi-national corporations, nonprofits, small business, international leadership development organizations, and launching her own successful business over 14 years ago.
For more than two years she worked with internationally known speaker Les Brown as road manager, co-presenter and co-host of a talk radio show in Chicago. She subsequently hosted her own nationally syndicated radio show called Focus on Women, which aired in 70 markets. She has also authored seven books, e-books, and various recordings. This Michigan State University graduate is a two-time New York City Marathon runner. She uses the life lessons learned in those experiences to teach and inspire others, like you, how to successfully go the distance, remain focused, and break through challenging walls to victory.
Jeffery Tobias Halter
KEYNOTE: “Executive Success; What Men Aren’t Telling Women”
Jeffery Tobias Halter is a Consultant, Author, Gender Strategist and the President of YWomen, a Strategic Consulting Company Focused on Helping Men (i.e. Y Chromosomes) and Women to Understand and Unleash the Power of Women in Organizations. Jeffery is the former Director of Diversity Strategy at the Coca-Cola Company where his 26 year career spanned positions in Sales Management, Leadership Development and Diversity Education & Strategy.
Jeffery is also author of the book Selling to Men, Selling to Women. A featured keynote speaker, his work regarding gender differences in the sales process has been used in Tom Peter’s new work Xellence Always. He has been a contributing writer to the Tom Peters Times, Women2Women Link and PINK Magazine.
A passionate advocate in the development of women in leadership, he currently sits on the Simmons Business School’s Business Advisory Board, and has held National Advisory Board positions for Women’s Food Service Forum and The Network of Executive Women.
Carol Hunstein
Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court
Chief Justice Carol W. Hunstein was appointed to the Supreme Court in November 1992 by then Governor Zell Miller. She is the second woman in history to serve as a permanent member of the Court. In 1984 Justice Hunstein won election to the Superior Court of DeKalb County. Prior to serving on the bench, Justice Hunstein was in private practice. She has been a member of the Georgia Bar since 1976.
Justice Hunstein received her Juris Doctor in 1976 from Stetson University College of Law. She received a Bachelor of Science degree from Florida Atlantic University in 1972 and an Associate of Arts degree from Miami-Dade Junior College in 1970.
As a superior court judge, she was active at the county, state and national levels. She chaired many DeKalb County Committees including the Alimony and Support Unit Committee, the Diversion Center Committee, the Probation Committee and the Domestic Violence Task Force. In 1989, then Chief Justice Marshall appointed her to Chair the Georgia Commission on Gender Bias in the Judicial System, which issued its report to the Supreme Court in 1991. She is a former district director of the National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ) and chaired the local host committee for the NAWJ 1995 Annual Conference which was held in Atlanta.
Justice Hunstein was the first woman to serve as President of the Council of Superior Court Judges. By virtue of that office, she was the first person ever to have served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court before becoming a permanent member of the Court. (In 1991, all seven sitting justices recused themselves and designated seven superior court judges to hear and decide a case. Justice Hunstein, as President of the Council, served by designation as Chief Justice.)
Justice Hunstein chaired the 1993, 1998 and 2001 State Commissions on Child Support Guidelines. She has served on the Advisory Board of the Justice Center of Atlanta and the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention. She is a former Rosalynn Carter Honorary Fellow in Public Policy at the Emory University Institute on Women’s Studies.
She is the former chair of the Georgia Commission on Access and Fairness, which was charged with implementing the recommendations of the Commission on Gender Bias and the Commission on Racial and Ethnic Bias. She also chaired the Georgia Commission on Interpreters and the Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee. . She is a member of the American Bar Association’s Public Perceptions Committee, the Bleckley Inn of Court, and has served as liaison to the Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism since 1992.
In the course of her career, she has received many honors including an honorary LLD from Stetson University College of Law, a commendation for outstanding service from the Georgia General Assembly, the Emory University Legal Association for Women Students’ Public Service Award, the DeKalb County Women’s Network “Women Who Have Made a Difference” Award, the Joseph T. Tuggle Professionalism Award and, in 1999, the American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession’s Margaret Brent Award. Florida Atlantic University has inducted her into its Hall of Fame. She recently received the Commitment to Equality Award from the State Bar of Georgia Committee on Women and Minorities in the Profession.
In addition to her judicial duties, Justice Hunstein frequently serves as an adjunct professor at Emory University School of Law. She has three children, John F. Abate, Krista Hunstein and Gabrielle Hunstein, and one grandson, Johnny Abate.
