March 13th - Marcia Brixley, Author The Money Therapist: A Woman's Guide to Creating a Healthy Financial Life

Please join us on the 13th to hear Marcia.

During her 26 years working for the Social Security Administration, Marcia Brixey met thousands of women who experienced financial difficulties resulting from a personal crisis - husband's death, divorce, illness or loss of a job. Five years ago she founded Money Wise Women™ Educational Services to ensure that every woman be financially articulate, confident, secure and independent. Today she hosts Money Wi$e Women™ conferences throughout the Western United States.

Marcia is the author of Money Therapist: A Woman's Guide to Creating a Healthy Financial Life (Seal Press). Her enthusiasm, passion and down-to-earth approach inspire her audiences to take action. Marcia has been the featured speaker at numerous conferences, workshops and organizational meetings (Click here to learn more). Marcia is a member of the National Speaker's Association.

Marcia is a columnist for the Glow Project magazine and a former columnist for The Kitsap Sun newspaper, which serves the Kitsap Peninsula in Western Washington. Her media appearances include both television and radio (Click here to learn more). Marcia is a mentor for the Department of Labor Women's Bureau Wi$e Up Women program. In 2006 Marcia received the YWCA Woman of Achievement award.

She holds a B.S. in Business Administration from California State University, Hayward.

SPECIAL EGG WORKSHOP March 11th - Andrea Sittig-Rolf The Blitz Master

This Wednesday afternoon from 4-5pm ET, Andrea Sittig-Rolf of Sittig Inc. will be conducting a special workshop on her BLITZ Experience™ for sales and marketing professionals.

The workshop is free for Charter EGG members and is $25 for those that are not members.

RSVP to Chicke Fitzgerald egg@solutionz.com

Job Posting - AOL Product Manager

EGG member Beth Caufield asked that we post this position. AOL is growing and is in need of good people!


Senior Product Manager, AOL Travel


Position Description:
Drives product strategy for AOL Travel which includes defining the consumer, business and platform requirements to create best-of-class offerings. Assesses industry developments to keep ahead of the competition and build innovative and differentiating experiences that synthesize user and business requirements. Position is based in Dulles, VA.

Duties/Responsibilities:
• Works closely with business owners to originate and develop product strategies and user experiences that achieve business goals
• Prioritizes product initiatives into an executable roadmap and sequences initiatives based on channel strategy, business impact and user experience
• Interacts with the business, sales and marketing to define product requirements
• Documents and defines product requirements and interactions
• Collaborates with teams across the organization and directs interaction with Development, QA and Operations teams to ensure smooth execution against product plans
• Monitors competitive trends and tracks feature/functionality of competitive set
• Uses analytical tools, consumer feedback and iterative optimization testing to refine offerings and drive new features/functionality
• Drives improvements in the product development process
• Manages relationships with data and content partners

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
• Minimum 8-10 years experience in bringing new products to market
• 5+ years of travel industry experience and strong knowledge of online travel consumer trends and buying habits
• Detailed understanding of how to execute best of breed consumer experience for AOL Travel to establish a competitive market position
• Ability to drive product strategy based on consumer needs and business goals
• Ability to document user requirements and interactions
• Strong technical background and deep understanding of Web technologies
• Previous experience working in a fast-paced iterative development cycle with global development teams
• Previous experience working with publishing and reporting tools/analytics
• Previous experience working in organizations where matrix inter-dependence is required, navigating cross-functional relationships collaboratively and efficiently
• Excellent communication skills, written and verbal
• MBA a plus

Audio now available for Joan Walsh - author Blazing your own trail

Audio recordings are free for Charter members and $10 for all others. Please pay online by selecting the Vignette Recording item under Executive Girlfriends' Group section.

JOB Opportunity - AOL Programming Director

Programming Director, AOL Travel

Position Description:
Develop and manage the strategic vision and editorial voice for AOL Travel original content. Enhance consumer experience via original features and serial programming. Manage and cultivate freelance writing staff to perform day-to-day editorial and programming activities. Manage and identify partner content sources and negotiate agreements. Monitor effectiveness and optimize content to meet core business goals of experience and revenue.

Duties/Responsibilities:

• Develop yearly editorial calendar responsible for driving advertising and performance revenue
• Create assignments and manage freelance staff in the creation of regular travel content
• Work with 6-8 content partners to license content and integrate into site
• Key category interface with Network, Marketing, Publishing and Development
• Provide programming and content requirements for design and UI for all new products or enhancements
• Develop special travel content packages with sales and advertising manager to drive new revenue opportunities
• Continually optimize content & experience through new editorial and products
• Primary user and expert on publishing platforms for data, editorial and video
• Stay up to date on latest Content Management System upgrades and tools and develops best practices to increase efficiencies and productivity within CMS environment
• Monitor traffic patterns and provide insights related to programming and network promotion
• Cultivate & foster an online community of users, developing an experience that encourages & allows them to produce user submitted content as well as engage in Commerce/Marketplace channels

Please contact Beth Caulfield (beth.caulfield@corp.aol.com ) if you know of anyone who may be a fit for this opportunity!

Vicki Donlan vignette recording now available

For those of you who missed the call Friday, Vicki Donlan provided us with an outline of her book and gave us some astounding statistics about women in the marketplace. She also talked about:

• What is holding women back from true leadership across the board?
• What can women do to be proactive in making the change?
• What's in it for men for more women to take the lead?
• What industries seem to be moving in the right direction?
• Where or what are the biggest obstacles to women taking a larger role in leadership?

For Charter members, the recording for our vignette speakers is free. You will receive the login to the intranet when your Charter Membership has been processed. The audio file is on the Intranet site available for download.

For Complementary EGG members, the recording is available for $10. You can order by sending an email to Live@Solutionz.com and then paying with a credit card on the Solutionz Web Site. The item is Vignette Recording under the EGG section of the payment page.

Chicke Fitzgerald

Wanna work for Richard???

Today, I saw a post from Richard Branson on Twitter. It linked to this page on the web.

Check it out! Live a little!

Boston EGG Social Night - Tuesday February 24th

Calling all Boston Executive Girlfriends' Group members. Valyn and Cecilia are organizing an EGG Social Night!

Watch City Brewing Company, 256 Moody Street, Waltham (www.watchcitybrew.com)
Tuesday February 24 (this coming Tuesday)
6:30pm

RSVP to valyn.perini@opentravel.org

NOTE: Each individual will be responsible for their own check. Thanks!

Anne Loehr Vignette recording now available

Anne Loehr

Coach, Entrepreneur, Author

A Manager's Guide to Coaching

Ann shared her 12 years of experience in Kenya, following graduation from Cornell.

• What led her to Africa
• What did she learn about herself as an American entrepreneur in Kenya
• The obstacles she had to overcome when working in Kenya, including wild animals in the safari camp
• Her biggest accomplishments in Kenya
• Cultural differences that she had to overcome?
• What she would you have done differently
  
• What inspired her to write an award-winning book

If you would like to order the recording of this call, the fee is $10 for non-members.

CLICK HERE to order and select Executive Girlfriend's Group Vignette Recording

Captain Karen Kahn offers to autograph her book for EGG members

If you would like to have Karen Kahn autograph a copy of her book, you can order it directly from her website, instead of from Amazon. Karen was our EGG vignette speaker on January 9th.

Fireproof the Movie DVD is out and breaking bookstore sales records

If you missed the movie at the theatre, it is now out on DVD. In October we had Erin Bethea on as one of our first EGG Vignette speakers.

Bob Rubin, executive vice president for Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, which distributed the DVD at mass-market retail, said, "We are thrilled with the response both at Christian retail and mass-market retailers. This strong sales performance is especially impressive in light of today's economic climate and clearly indicates a broad market for faith-based entertainment. We are delighted that FIREPROOF resonates so well with its audience."

FIREPROOF, marketed by Provident Films and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s Affirm Films, is the story of a fireman, Caleb Holt (Kirk Cameron), who can save strangers but not his own marriage. The Love Dare, a book/plot device in the movie, also a book by Stephen and Alex Kendrick, topped the New York Times Advice Paperback list for 14 weeks at nos. 1 or 2. After 18 weeks, it still ranks no. 5.

Now in time for Valentine’s Day and National Marriage Month, Christian bookstores across the nation are selling the exclusive Christian retail version of the FIREPROOF DVD—The Special Collector’s Edition— which contains all the bonus material sold outside the Christian market plus 32 minutes of CBA-only material: a movie-production video blog, bringing behind-the-scenes to life; “Fun with Mr. Rudolph” (film fans know Caleb Holt’s next door neighbor); additional firehouse commentary from Wayne (Caleb’s fellow fire fighter), and the Casting Crowns video of the movie’s hit song, Slow Fade.

Show lineup for Solutionz Live for Thursday is on You Tube

Don't forget to listen to the Transition Solutionz Series aired last week on BlogTalkRadio.com

On Thursday of last week, the third and final day of the Transition Solutionz series featured:

• Mark Wayman with the Godfather's Career Guide - what to do when you get whacked.
• Anne Fry - the author of Sixty, Sexy, Sassy and Free talking about reinventing yourself
• Lynne Waymon - the author of Make Your Contacts Count gave practical advice about all kinds of networking
• Lauren Milligan of ResuMAYDAY talked about the importance of the resume and how to get over any bumps in the road in preparing that all important document for your career search

ALL SHOWS FROM THE SERIES ARE AVAILABLE ON DEMAND. SIMPLY CLICK SELECT THE SHOW ON THE BLOGTALKRADIO WIDGET ON THE SIDE BAR

Great lineup for Wednesday's Transition Solutionz series

Thank you to Wednesday's sponsor of the Transition Solutionz series:









We have a great lineup on Wednesday morning. Join us live if you can, either online at www.blogtalkradio.com/cfitzgerald
or by phone 1-646-727-3553



10am Tierza Davis - owner Pura Vida Adventures in Costa Rica - from a dot com bomb in the late 90s to surfing coach for executive women, Tierza has a story you won't want to miss.

1030am Michelle Bersell - psychotherapist and life coach talks about "Weathering the Financial Storm". Whether you are unemployed, self-employed or afraid that you may not be employed for long, you need to hear what Michelle has to say.

11am Eli Davidson - author of Funky to Fabulous - If you are tired of all of the discouraging news in the marketplace, you should put aside whatever you are doing from 11am to noon tomorrow and tune in to Eli. She will make you laugh, make you think and will inspire you to reinvent yourself.

For more information, see www.solutionzlive.blogspot.com

Transition Series begins Tuesday at 10am ET with Libby Gill

Everywhere you look there are companies laying off people. The numbers are staggering.

The Solutionz Group wants to be proactive and help those in our industry struggling with this issue.

The Transition Solutions series will be broadcast on BlogTalkRadio.com/cfitzgerald on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10am ET to Noon ET.

This inaugural show is sponsored by Travelport.

Tuesday's lineup begins from 10am to 11am with Libby Gill, former senior broadcasting and entertainment executive and the branding brains behind the launch of the Dr. Phil Show. For the first 30 minutes of the show, she will talk about creating your own personal brand, and then shift in the second half of her hour to what happens when traditional roles have to shift during troubled times. She has written several books, Traveling Hopefully and Stay at Home Dads. Libby will also be the featured speaker at TravelCom's Executive Women's Forum on March 31st in Atlanta.

From 11am - 1130am ET we will have co-authors, Andrea Waltz and Richard Fenton who wrote "Go for No". From 1130am - noon ET we will have the author of "Give your elevator speech a lift", Lorraine Howell.


The series will include interviews with top authors on various practical topics such as creating your own personal brand, honing your elevator speech, creating a winning resume and more. The series is suitable if you are a job seeker, if you are in a company or an industry where employment is tenuous at best or if you are an HR director or manager that is having to deal with laying off employees.




Join us live on Tuesday for the show (or have the system send you a reminder) or call in to the number provided on the show site. CLICK HERE

We will be posting the speaker schedule on Monday for the Wednesday and Thursday shows.

Please pass the word.

Chicke Fitzgerald

Join us this Friday for Holly Green, author of "More than a Minute"

Holly is currently the CEO and Managing Director of THE HUMAN FACTOR, Inc. Ms. Green has more than 20 years of executive level and operations experience in FORTUNE 100, entrepreneurial, and management consulting organizations.

She was previously President of The Ken Blanchard Companies, a global consulting and training organization as well as LumMed, Inc. a biotech start up. She has a broad background in strategic planning, organization design and development, process improvement, leadership assessment and development, and the integration and alignment of business strategies.

Her current book, More Than a Minute: How to Be an Effective Leader & Manager in Today’s Changing World can be ordered by clicking on this link or on the book cover above.

If you are not a member of EGG, please come back next week to download the audio of the Vignette speaker portion of the call.

Need a helping hand or know a friend who does?

Flo Lugli received this resource from a colleague who used it when a close family friend’s husband died (with 2 small children and one on the way she was overwhelmed dealing with things).

The community kicked in and everyone went to this site to find out what the woman needed (childcare, meals, car pooling, etc.). thought you should all know in case you know of a situation where someone could use this.

Click on the web image to go to the Lotsa Helping Hands site.

Also, for those of you in transition, remember that focusing some of your energy on helping others is a great way to make your transition a really rewarding time. Check out their volunteer opportunities.

Chicke Fitzgerald

Lynne Sarikas vignette recording now available - Advancing your career in funky times

Mark your calendar for Friday's call with Lynn Sarikas, director of the MBA career center at Northeastern University’s College of Business Administration. She will be addressing the issue of advancing your career during these "funky" economic times.

With the nation’s unemployment rate at its highest point in five years, you might be surprised to hear Lynne’s thoughts:

• Many think that a funky economy means it is not a good time to advance your career. While the answer may vary by industry, it can actually be the best time to make a change. More than ever, companies need skilled leaders to help their business address critical issues and challenges.

• Obviously industries that are in the midst of major layoffs are not doing any significant hiring, only pursue opportunities in that industry if you have a very unique, marketable skill set that can add value in turbulent times. Investment industry is hard hit right now with many firms laying off staff. Do you have unique marketing, HR or finance/controller experience in the investment industry that could help them during these troubled times?

• Other industries are actively seeking experienced talent. While most have no problem sourcing entry level positions, it can be more challenging to fill management level positions. Turnover including retirements can create key, strategic openings that must be filled with the right people.

• Especially in this economy, not all positions are posted. It is not likely that senior level job seekers will find their position by searching job posting sites on the web. Use your job search time more strategically.

Audio recordings are free for Charter members and $10 for all others. Please pay online by selecting the Vignette Recording item under Executive Girlfriends' Group section.

Chicke Fitzgerald
Founder - Executive Girlfriend's Group

Monday am 730 ET "Money for Breakfast" on Fox Business - check it out

Chris Dane and I are the experts on Fox's Money for Breakfast tomorrow. The subject is the rivalry between Carnival and RCL and how it has benefited the industry as a whole and consumers in particular.

If you miss it live, they have their shows online as well.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO FOX BUSINESS ARCHIVE

Chicke

Great call with Captain Karen Kahn yesterday - largest participation ever!

Thanks to all who participated in the call yesterday with Continental Captain Karen Kahn. It was great. We had 31 people on the call! Whoo hoo!

Karen's book is available on the EGG Book Club carousel to the right. Just click on it and you can order from Amazon.

Watch for the EGG survey this week. Exciting things coming down the pike and we need your input.

EGG featured on BlogTalk Radio Yesterday

I was interviewed yesterday on BlogTalk Radio. I talked about the Executive Girlfriend's Group, Solutionz Group and some of the companies that we are incubating (LeisureLogix RoadEscapes.com, HotelsbyHospitals, etc.).

I am the second interview on this one hour show hosted by Jason Crouch and Ken Cook.

VIEW THE SEGMENT

Click on the segment on the right that begins with TS Elliott (no, not the dead poet). I got tired of hearing the music from the show each time I opened this blog!

Thanks to all who participated in the Transition Call yesterday

We had 21 on the call yesterday! It was interesting to hear the various perspectives. We had some that have been job hunting for as much as 6 months, to those that just learned before the holidays that their job had been "made redundant", to those that are still employed, but have had to lay off team members and wanted to know how they could be of help.

I will be updating the site today to organize some of the resources that were recommended by various participants on the call.

If you would like to take the transition survey and were not on the call yesterday, please email me.

Chicke Fitzgerald
chicke@solutionz.com

Welcome to 2009! Don't forget the Transition Group call today!

As you get yourself organized on what I suspect is your first full day at work this year, please remember that we have the Transition Group call at 4pm today.

This call is for those that are in transition and those that want to ensure that they are ready with "Plan B". We have had a tremendous response for this call. If you haven't sent your RSVP, please do so now, as there are some preparation materials that I need to send to you.

January Speaker Roster - Executive Girlfriend's Group Calls

Today's call features Jaynie Smith - author of Creating Competitive Advantage.

January 9th - Captain Karen Kahn - author of Flight Guide for Success. Karen is one of the first female pilots.

January 16th - Lyn Sarikas - Advancing your Career during troubled times. Lynn is the
director of the MBA career center at Northeastern University’s College of Business Administration.

January 23rd - Holly Green - author of More than a Minute and former President of the Ken Blanchard Companies (author of One Minute Manager).

January 30th - Mary LoVerde - When you can't keep up - Connect! Mary is the author of three best selling books: "Stop Screaming at the Microwave", "Touching Tomorrow", and "I Used to Have a Handle on Life but It Broke".

As always, you can order their books by clicking on the links above.

Calls are by invitation only and are held at 4pm ET.

Chicke Fitzgerald
chicke@solutionz.com

Job Opening - VP of Hotels, Cars and Cross Selling

Rapidly Expanding Top 3 Travel Company on the East Coast and Top 20 Agency in the US, both on-line and traditional with offices in US and Asia, is seeking to fill the position for VP of Hotels, Cars/Cross Selling Products and Services.

Contact Chicke for the complete description at chicke@solutionz.com.