9th Annual Women in Global Leadership PHX

9th Annual Women in Global Leadership PHX

Thursday, August 7th / 3:00pm PT

At Latham Industries, 2265 W Desert Cove Ave Suite 3, Phoenix, AZ 85029. Free parking.

This event is in-person only, no zoom.

Join in-person August 7th at 3:00pm PT to be connected, informed and inspired at the 9th Annual Global Chamber PHX "Women in Global Leadership". We continue the tradition of this Global Chamber® signature event by covering challenges and opportunities.

We speak with 4 extraordinary leaders - 3 women and one man - to gain their perspectives on success and leadership in today's dynamic and evolving world, including how men and women can work together to create more inclusivity, innovation, impact and success.

Thank you Tracey Latham, President and CEO at Latham Industries for hosting this year's event.

Thanks also to Mayor Kate Gallego who has been a strong supporter of Global Chamber® and this event, and she shared her thoughts on Women in Global Leadership HERE.

Agenda (3-5:30pm)

• Networking/Connecting
• Four Keynote Speakers and Panel Discussion
• Remarks on Economic Development and FDI by Sharon Harper
• Young Global Leader Initiative by Thunderbird & Global Chamber

Opening Remarks on FDI

• Sharon Harper - Chairman and CEO, The Plaza Companies

Moderator

• Carol Colombo - Founder/Managing Member at Fedelta Partners; Chair at Arizona DEC

Keynote Speakers

• Maria Elena Gallego - President and CEO at Collectron
• Mary Rabago - President and CEO at Mary Rabago Productions
• Carolin Gey - German Honorary Consul in Arizona; President Treffpunkt
• Hugh Hallman - Partner at Berry Riddell; Principal at Hallman & Affiliates; past Mayor of Tempe 

Special

• Young Global Leader Initiative / 100 M Learners Global Initiative - Ghazal Khorshidi (Thunderbird School of Global Management) & Doug Bruhnke (Global Chamber®)

Sharon Harper - Chairman & CEO at Plaza Companies

Maria Elena Gallego - President and CEO at Collectron

President and CEO Maria Elena Gallego has been recognized as one of the 100 Most Powerful Women in Business in Mexico by ExpansionMx.

Her visionary leadership has been instrumental in the growth and success of Collectron International Management, facilitating the establishment of over 350 companies in Mexico across key industries such as electronics, aerospace, automotive, and medical devices.

María Elena's unwavering dedication not only drives Collectron’s success but also serves as an inspiration to women leaders over a wide variety of industries.

Introduced by Eduardo Gonzalez - President at 258 Consulting; Exec Dir at Global Chamber

Mary Rábago - President and CEO of Mary Rabago Productions

For over a decade, Mary Rábago has has been President and CEO at Mary Rabago Productions, a Marketing Agency that has garnered national attention for their creative, cross-cultural solutions.    

Mary is a well-known and respected public figure and a multi-award winning journalist. She has a career spanning over 30 years in various media companies nationally and internationally,

Born in Sonora, Mexico, Mary was the main news anchor of Univision Arizona as well as Univision California. Serving as correspondent for national shows such as “Noticiero Univision” and “Primer Impacto”. She is one of the “Top 10” Hispanic women with more media presence on both sides of the United States and Mexico border.

With a long list of regional and national awards for her career, she has displayed great versatility embracing every role from journalist, news anchor, reporter, producer and writer. She has been recognized by Latina Style Magazine as Entrepreneur of the year, Cox Communication as entrepreneur of the year and Outstanding Women in Business by the Phoenix Business Journal in her career as an entrepreneur.

Introduced by Monica Villalobos - President & CEO at Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

Carolin Gey - German Honorary Consul in Arizona, President Treffpunkt, Manager at CGIC, Executive Board Member Diplomatic Corps of Arizona, Board Member Global Chamber Phoenix

Carolin has over 30 years of experience building upon her early work in European health care and wellness. Armed with a working knowledge of how the European community conducts business she located to the United States in 2002. There she has been responsible for the start up of several businesses in the health care/wellness, sports, and manufacturing industries that have international ties. Common to these companies was her success in building business partnerships between the US and non-US companies. Carolin’s focus in each of these enterprises was in company management, US and international distribution, product development, and branding.

Carolin brings a unique diversity of formal education in business management and entrepreneurial ownership in growth driven companies. Her formal education comes from her home country of Germany where she graduated with a master’s degree from the University Erlangen-Nueremberg in business economics. During this time, she received an Erasmus scholarship at the University of Sevilla in Spain and wrote her thesis during that time. She has been engaged in multiple international business cultures and speaks fluently in German, English, and semi fluent Spanish.

In February 2020 Carolin was inaugurated as the Honorary Consul to the Federal Republic in Germany in the state of Arizona. As representative of the German government to the Arizona community her responsibilities are varied and include both a resource to processing required documentation and building an outreach to the German community. 

In October 2020 Carolin along with active German community members created a Non-Profit organization to provide outreach called Treffpunkt (meeting space in German). This is an international German speaking community center located in Scottsdale, AZ.  As the president of the Treffpunkt Carolin is spearheading this organization that provides over 100 events/year (cultural, business, international and educational), organizes fundraisers, a language school, the Arizona German guide, outreach and involvement with the German speaking, European and international communities. Furthermore, Treffpunkt offers traditional German cuisine in its restaurant. Over the last 4.5 years the Treffpunkt developed to be a hub for the German and European communities that fosters mutual understanding across the Atlantic and in the world, strengthens local community initiatives, builds bridges, and ensures that German speakers in the Valley always have a place to call home.

Carolin is member of the Executive Board of the Diplomatic Corps of Arizona as well as a Board Member of Global Chamber Phoenix.

Hugh Hallman - Partner at Berry Riddell; Principal at Hallman & Affiliates; past Mayor of Tempe

Hugh Hallman began his legal career practicing in the fields of domestic and international finance and taxation, intellectual property and anti-trust. He served two consecutive terms as mayor of Tempe, Arizona from 2004 to 2012.

Among his accomplishments was helping to save the former adobe home of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2011, he received the Sandra Day O’Connor Award for Civic Service.

Hugh is a visiting professor and founder of the Kazakh-American Free University (KAFU) in Kazakhstan which serves thousands of students in the fields of business, law, and education. He graduated with a B.A. summa cum laude in Economics and Political Science from Claremont Men’s College in California. He earned his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, graduating with Honors and Order of the Coif.

As a transactions lawyer, Mr. Hallman has practiced across the legal spectrum, but with significant concentration in domestic and international (cross-border) finance and taxation. The breadth of his practice experience provides his business clients with fully integrated legal and financial services that capture efficiencies and synergies otherwise often overlooked.

Introduced by Carol Colombo - Founder/Managing Member at Fedelta Partners

Host

Tracey Latham - Founder/CEO at Latham Industries 

Tracey Latham is founder and CEO of Latham Industries, a perfect example of how innovative thinking can create incredible products. Tracey brought over 25 years of industry experience before forming her own business in 2016. Latham Industries is a woman-owned and operated electronics contract manufacturer based in Phoenix specializing in printed circuit board assembly. Her business supports aerospace, commercial, medical, military... startups to large businesses.

Tracey launched the company from scratch with state-of-the-art equipment recognizing that some area electronic contract manufacturers were losing business because they were running with technology that was more than a decade old. To ensure Latham Industries stays current, Tracey is a member of Global Chamber, Arizona Technology Council and additional leading organizations, and has secured several industry certifications including ISO 9001 and 13485.

In 2022, Tracey participated in ASU’s SMB Lab program which is a first-of-its-kind initiative connecting Arizona’s small and medium sized businesses with ASU’s faculty and students, business leaders and development professionals. She continues working with ASU providing her guidance and expertise as the owner of a successful small business.

Tracey was recognized as the Arizona Small Business Person of the Year in 2022 by the Small Business Administration and is a two-time recipient of the Arizona Womens Education and Employment Faces of Success award.  In her spare time, Tracey gives back to the community in several ways as an active volunteer in a variety of charitable organizations including serving on the boards for Homeless Engagement Lift Partnership (HELP) and the U & Improved Leadership Foundation.

Moderator

Carol Colombo - Founder/Managing Member at Fedelta Partners; Chair at Arizona District Export Council

Carol Colombo is a co-founder and co-managing member of Fedelta Partners, an Arizona-based management company that oversees the private investment holdings primarily of its members, with sector specific focus on real estate, secured debt portfolios and operating businesses in the technology, health and energy sectors. She is also the CEO of Alert GPS, a technology company that provides sector-leading safety solutions to the enterprise and consumer markets and provides core-alerting technology to state law enforcement for issuing Amber Alerts.

Ms. Colombo has been an investor in, and officer and director of, numerous entities. She co-founded Colombo & Bonacci, P.C. (1992), a boutique law firm specializing in international business law. She co-founded Pivotal Research Centers and helped build it into one of the largest private clinical research organizations in the US prior to its successful sale to a publicly traded company in 2005. She sits on the board of directors of PYX Health, where she served as board chair from 2017 until 2023.

Ms. Colombo contributes her time to advance international trade and economic development objectives. She is (since 1994) the State of Arizona’s liaison to the United States Trade Representative’s Office (USTR). She has advised many past administrations in Arizona regarding international trade and economic development. Ms. Colombo has lobbied and helped obtain state and federal funding for trade, transportation and economic development initiatives that have been implemented throughout North America. 

She is the current Chair of the Arizona District Export Council, a past-president of the Arizona Mexico Commission, past Co-Chair of the Governor’s CANAMEX Task Force, and past Chair of the National Law Center for International Free Trade. Ms. Colombo served as a member of the Trade and Transportation Corridor Alliance, and in that role completed development of Arizona’s statewide foreign direct investment framework. She received the Outstanding International Business Leader Award for the State of Arizona (United States Department of Commerce 1993) and the Governor’s Award for Outstanding Service (June 2006). She received the Women of M2M Industry Leadership Award (2013) and was awarded the Trilateral Trade Champion award by the City of Phoenix (2021).

Special Projects

Ghazal Khorshidi - Sr Director of Executive Operations and Community Outreach at Thunderbird School of Global Management  

Ghazal Khorshidi is a well know and respected leader in metro Phoenix with all groups that have a global component... as she has been pulling us together for many years as an outstanding beacon of global hope. She's a T-bird alum of 2018 and focuses on partnerships and strategic initiatives, including overseeing the Dean’s Office Operations.

Facilitator / Connector

Doug Bruhnke is founder and CEO of Global Chamber®. He's a global entrepreneur, connector, trade advocate, speaker and author dedicated to advancing the success of Global Chamber® members and of global business overall. He works tirelessly to create the systems and connections that support the global tribe to gain new clients, investors and partners across metros and borders.

Doug is an exporter who held exporting and foreign direct investment leadership roles at two multinationals and multiple joint ventures. He's had two corporate expatriate assignments - in Tokyo and in Singapore - and he has over 38 years of global experience working with clients in nearly every market segment including automotive, aerospace, industrial, healthcare, life sciences, logistics and technology.

Doug's education includes a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Utah, an EMBA from Michigan State University and custom training by Dr. W. Edwards Deming that changed the course of his career toward global business improvement. He has 5 U.S. patents related to chloro-fluorocarbon chemicals that are key intermediates to polymers including TEFLON. 

Doug is a German-Polish American who besides his expatriate assignments in Japan and Singpore has traveled to 65 countries and 49 U.S. states, Doug believes that everyone should have a fair shot to succeed, and that belief carries over into the values of Global Chamber®. He's a speaker on global business and on global culture in business... which is the subject of his upcoming book.

Global Chamber® is a growing and collaborating community of CEOs, executives and leaders in 525 metro regions around the world... connecting member businesses to new opportunities and advancing growth and success. We're the only chamber of commerce in the world operating in hundreds of locations that helps exporting, importing and investing members to connect through warm introductions to clients, partners, projects and resources.

Global Chamber® is a registered trademark of Global Chamber, LLC since 2014.

More about Global Chamber® Phoenix and our regional board here.