On behalf of the Florida Commission on the Status of Women, we thank you for attending the 2022 LEAD Summit held on September 14, 2022, at the University of North Florida. We sincerely hope that you found the conference informative and worthwhile. Your presence helped to make this event a great success and your enthusiasm and positive spirit helped make our time together productive and fun.
To view photos from the event, please click here.
We hope that you will join us next year!
Mary Baer — Mary Baer has been proud to call Jacksonville home for the past quarter of a century. She came to Jacksonville in 1992, after working as a news anchor and reporter in Columbus, Ohio. She started her television career as an anchor and reporter at KTVL in her hometown of Medford, Oregon. As co-anchor of News4Jax at 5, 6, and 10 p.m., she is active in news gathering, handling interviews, representing the news station in the community, and emceeing a number of charitable events in the Jacksonville area.
Nancy Hogshead-Makar, J.D. — Nancy Hogshead-Makar, J.D., is an American swimmer who represented the United States at the 1984 Summer Olympics, where she won three gold medals and one silver medal. She is a life-long advocate for access and equality in athletics, an internationally recognized legal expert on sports issues, a scholar, and an author. As one of the foremost exponents for gender equity, she advocates for access and equality in sports participation.
Barbara Jo Palmer — Barbara Jo Palmer is an American sports advocate who has been nationally recognized for her efforts to establish equity in sports for women. In 1977, Palmer became Florida State University’s Director of Women’s Intercollegiate Athletics. Florida State University’s women won five national championships and 226 All-American awards under her leadership. She was inducted into the Florida Women’s Hall of Fame in 1982 because of her lobbying work on Title IX, a 1972 federal mandate to ensure equitable treatment of girls and women in school athletic programs.
Marlynn R. Jones, Esquire — Marlynn R. Jones, Esquire, is an advocate for diversity and inclusion and currently serves the University of North Florida as the Director of Equal Opportunity and Inclusion and Title IX Coordinator. In addition, she teaches in the sports management program and serves on several university committees. She is a member of Jacksonville Women Lawyers Association and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She has worked for seven NCAA Division 1 schools.
Donna Orender, Keynote Speaker — Donna Geils Orender is a sports executive and former collegiate and professional basketball player. She was formerly president of the Women’s National Basketball Association and senior vice president of the PGA. She is the Founder & CEO of Orender Unlimited and Generation W. Recognized as a leader of growth and innovation in several high-profile companies, her ability to pivot as a former professional basketball athlete has served her well. She has been recognized as one of the top 10 Most Powerful Women in sports and one of Newsweek`’s100 most Influential people in the business of sports.
Elizabeth Goldsmith, Ph.D. — Dr. Elizabeth B. Goldsmith (Liz) is Professor Emerita in the College of Health and Human Sciences at Florida State University and former Domestic Policy Advisor on Women and Girls’ Economic Education during the Clinton Administration. She was a consultant to the U.S. Dept. of Justice on Bankruptcy Education and is the featured speaker on Voice of America‘s YouTube documentary “The President’s House.” She is a Fulbright Scholar and awarded grants at the Smithsonian, Duke and Stanford Universities.
Marilyn Stephens — In November 2016, Marilyn Stephens was promoted to Assistant Regional Census Manager for the 2020 Census for the Atlanta Region. In this capacity, she manages the community engagement and partnership program throughout the region. Moreover, she serves as the agency’s liaison to the region’s seven governors. Recently she held the position of Data Dissemination Specialist, Media Lead, and Congressional Liaison for the United States Census Bureau. She is one of the most requested Census Bureau speakers, having facilitated more than 800 workshops and presentations.
