Freeman Means Business' Wonder Women in Business Podcast

Kim Stuart, Founder of Key Group, is a strategic advisor for professional services firms, non-profit organizations and business executives. She has more than 20 years of experience in constructing and advancing business development initiatives and marketing strategies.

 Alycia Sutor, Managing Director 

Alycia Sutor leads the Professional Services team and has more than twenty years’ experience helping lawyers and executives accelerate sales performance and revenue growth. She is particularly passionate about helping individuals create greater impact in how they lead, work, and sell by unlocking strengths and research-based insights to power individual, team and organizational growth. 

Wendy Merrill has had a successful business development career spanning over 23 years. Her strategic and methodical approach to cultivating and leveraging relationships has allowed her to construct a rich network of resourceful professionals, and help others do the same. 

Never a fan of traditional selling or outdated management techniques, Wendy decided early on to approach her career with an eye on the impact she wanted to have with her clients, colleagues and community. Her positioning as a Center of Impact led to great success with her personal and professional relationships. 

Editor, writer, and business development strategist with over 25 years experience on the beat and in the C-Suite. Expertise includes legal industry trends, public relations and marketing, and pithy commentary on the state of affairs in law and tech. Based in San Francisco, with work published in San Francisco Magazine, San Francisco Attorney, The ABA Journal, Forbes ASAP, California Lawyer, and the Daily Journal. My monthly column on Attorney at Work is Content Under Pressure; with additional content on JD Supra. Private clients range from individual professionals to domestic and international law firms with 2 - 1,000+ employees.

Laura Putnam, MA, author of the #1 Amazon Hot New Release in HR & Personnel Management Workplace Wellness That Works (WILEY, 2015), is CEO and founder of Motion Infusion, a leading well-being and learning provider. Her work has been covered by MSNBC, The New York Times, US News & World Report, Entrepreneur, Business Insider, and NPR. She is a former urban public high school teacher, L&D professional, public policy advocate, international community organizer, dancer, gymnast and now a movement-builder in the world of health and well-being. With a mission to get people and organizations “in motion,” Laura is a frequent keynote speaker and has worked with a range of organizations from Fortune 500s to government agencies to academic institutes and nonprofits. She teaches at Stanford University, is the recipient of the American Heart Association's "2020 Impact" award as well as the National Wellness Institute’s “Circle of Leadership” award. A graduate of Brown University and Stanford University, Laura lives in San Francisco with her fiancé. She can be reached at [email protected]. 

After earning her B.S. from Journalism School at the University Kansas, Amy went to work at Lathrop & Gage (now Lathrop Gage) for Katie Hollar Barnard. While there she managed public relations and advertising tactics in local markets and nationwide; she maintained firm social media accounts and website content; she coordinated production of firm marketing materials; and she handled numerous nominations and submissions for legal awards and rankings.

Amy then moved to Garmin International where she married her work life with her personal love of fitness, leading global public relations campaigns for the company’s fitness (running, cycling, multisport and swim) and wellness (activity trackers) products. She left Garmin and went to work on the brand public relations and social media team at Hallmark.

After about two years at Hallmark, Amy reconnected with Katie, joining her at her agency, Firesign, as vice president. At Firesign, she develops strategic communication plans for legal industry clients and coordinates the agency’s marketing and social media efforts.

Amy also coordinate marketing for their amazing educational program, "Ellesquire," and leads weekly coaching sessions with participants. This is something Amy is particularly proud to work on as it was a true passion project of Katie’s and clients love the program.  

Sarah is a Change Management Professional, Recruiter and Behavioral Mapper. She has a MA in Organization Development, is a certified Career Coach from the Baraka Institute and has a certification in Change Management from Prosci with 3000+ hours of Change Management experience. She routinely stays abreast of best practices in order to follow her credo of ‘listen, learn and adapt.’

And since 2005, she's put this knowledge behind her passion for the world of work -- whether it be recruiting, mapping leadership opportunities or facilitating groups through change. Her aim is to build better work environments for everyone. She's worked with burgeoning nonprofits focused on systemic change to exciting tech startups in Silicon Valley, yet is most familiar with the Social Enterprise sector: nonprofits or for profits that benefit the common good.

When she's not working, she's reading ferociously, cooking (Chinese food) or dancing Casino de Rueda, Kizomba and Salsa.

Joni Wickham is all about grit, grace, and getting things done. A native of Raleigh, North Carolina, Joni and her indisputable southern accent arrived in Kansas City almost 10 years ago after leading initiatives within state and federal government as well as advocacy organizations. In her eight years with the mayor’s office—the majority of them spent as Chief of Staff—Joni has proven herself as an accomplished political strategist, communications expert, and organizational leader. She directed public policy initiatives, communications tactics, and administrative decision-making during her tenure, all while promoting women’s leadership and empowerment issues. An artful negotiator, Joni helped steer Sly’s major development projects in Kansas City while raising the city’s profile at the national and international levels. Her front-row seat at City Hall shed light on how local government is still very much a man’s world, and this motivated her to create a first-of-its-kind women’s empowerment initiative, which has been implemented in several major cities. 

Prior to her time at city hall, Joni worked with the American Federation of Teachers, the Missouri Department of Transportation, and in the office of Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan. While a student at Meredith College, where Joni received her Bachelor of Arts in Political Studies, she studied abroad in St. Petersburg, Russia. An accomplished alumnus of University of Missouri where she earned her Masters of Arts in Political Science, Joni was the recipient of the 2019 University of Missouri Truman School of Public Affairs Mel Carnahan Public Service Award.  

Results-driven leader. Team builder. Change driver. Leadership & BD coach. Stroock CMBDO. 2019 LMANE president.

 Marianne Fleischer is a speechwriter and presentations skills coach, based in San Francisco. Enjoy our robust conversation!