CARROLLTON, Texas (May 12, 2006) -- Recently, Accor North America, one of the largest hotel chain owner and operators in North America, hosted its third annual Women´s Leadership summit entitled: "Define, Design, Achieve Success." The summit featured some of Texas´ most successful business women as speakers who shared valuable career guidance, professional skills development, motivation, and networking with Accor North America corporate employees, employees from each of Accor´s brands nationwide, and select area Human Resources and Diversity leaders.
The women´s summit is just one of many examples of how Accor North America, a company of more than 19,000 employees, supports and encourages diversity. Because gender diversity is so important to Accor North America, the summit was organized to address many important issues faced by women in the corporate workplace.
The day´s sessions were hosted by Carol Kirby, chief marketing officer and executive vice president, and Glenda Shelby, vice president of diversity and corporate people. Many of Accor´s directors and vice presidents also participated in the day´s events.
Dr. Pamela Johnson of Nia Consulting & Development opened the morning by discussing one of the most difficult problems women face in today´s workforce: "The Super Woman Syndrome." The session presented how to better manage the perpetual tug-of-war between personal and professional lives, as well as how to break gender-related stereotypes.
Joanne Hix,senior business analyst at Southwest Airlines followed with "Your Career: Where Do You Want to Be?" Hix addressed the audience´s personal definition of success. Her workshop helped the audience identify their goals and create a plan for achieving them, while recognizing hidden obstacles that often get in the way.
The third speaker, Dr. Paula Ann Hughes, director of Texas Woman´s University School of Management worked with the audience on "Building Key Relationships." This presentation addressed how to effectively network by defining personal goals and identifying who can assist you in achieving them.
Lisa Rowe, president and fashion stylist of The Perfect Image, began her presentation, "Dress to Get Respect," with a fashion show. With Rowe´s help, women from Accor North America modeled different ways to dress professionally and appropriately for today´s business environment.
Finally, the key note speaker was Mignonne Anderson, managing director, Novations Group Inc. with her presentation, "Define, Design, Achieve Success." Anderson encouraged the audience to define their goals by posing the question "When you are a ´grand old person´ looking back on your life, what achievements will fulfill your legacy?"
Patrick Ollivier,executive vice president, Human Resources, Training and Quality, concluded the day by emphasizing the importance of diversity at Accor North America, and how Accor is actively investing in its employees.
About Accor North America
Headquartered in Carrollton, Texas, Accor North America operates more than 1,200 upscale and economy properties including nationwide economy leaders Red Roof Inn, Studio 6 and Motel 6 and the upscale Sofitel and mid-scale Novotel and Ibis hotel locations in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. For more information, visit www.accor-na.com
Accor North America is a division of Accor. With 168,000 people in 140 countries, Accor is the European leader and one of the world's largest groups in travel, tourism and corporate services, with two major international activities:
- Hotels: 4,000 hotels (463,000 rooms) in 90 countries, casinos, travel agencies, and restaurants.
- Services to corporate clients and public institutions: each day, 19 million people in 34 countries use a broad range of services (food vouchers, people care and services, incentive, loyalty programs, events) engineered and managed by Accor. For more information, visit www.accor.com.