Jan Davies McDermott

Jan wants to reduce the distance her members have to travel to her meetings.

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Filed under: Ann Arbor, MI | Defining New Markets | Facilitation | Jan Davies McDermott | Twelve Month Goals | Women Presidents Organization

In her final three and a half minute segment (download iPod compatible, 19MB), Jan Davies McDermott reaffirms hear goal of starting a new chapter of the Women Presidents Organization. Currently she has members coming from as far away as Grand Rapids (3 hour drive) and Cadillac (3 hour drive). Members get to know each other intimately. She would like the meetings to be as easy to access as possible to facilitate the interactions.

Jan Davies McDermott describes the multiple levels of peer advice provided to participants in the Women Presidents Organization.

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Filed under: Ann Arbor, MI | Defining New Markets | Facilitation | Jan Davies McDermott | Women Presidents Organization

In this 10 minute segment (download iPod compatible, 51MB), Jan Davies McDermott, describes the different peer groups that can be found in the Women Presidents Organization. Local groups like hers in Southeast Michigan are for companies with between $1 Million and $10 Million in sales. The companies in such groups are diverse allowing for fresh perspectives on hiring, firing, training, and leading during their monthly meetings. The main restriction is that member companies not be competitors.

The platinum group is for companies with between $10 Million and $50 Million and meets four times per year in one of four regions throughout the United States. The zenith group is for companies with sales over $50 Million in sales and meets once per year. In her local group, Jan currently has 3 platinum and one zenith member.

Jan herself also has a peer group that she can and has reached out to over the Internet for advice on maintaining the health of her local group. Facilitators also receive training twice per year, and she recently traveled for training to the Edward Lowe Foundation.

Jan describes her 11 year journey from homemaker to facilitator for the Women Presidents Organization.

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Filed under: Ann Arbor, MI | Defining New Markets | Facilitation | Jan Davies McDermott | Women Presidents Organization

In this seven and a half minute segment (download iPod compatible, 39MB), Jan Davies McDermott chronicles her journey from homemaker to facilitator. Jan lived 30 years working as a homemaker and mom. She then found herself facing a divorce with no job, no education, and no money. Her answer was to turn her house into a bed and breakfast, using the profits to finance a degree in training and development from Concordia University.

Eleven years later in 2005, she found herself being asked to lead the Southeast Michigan Chapter of the Women Presidents Organization. Additionally, she has a consulting practice in OSHA compliance and teaches for the Michigan Small Business and Technology Development Center.

Jan Davies McDermott talks about the Women Presidents Organization and how she founded and grew the Southeast Michigan chapter.

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Filed under: Ann Arbor, MI | Defining New Markets | Facilitation | Jan Davies McDermott | Women Presidents Organization

In this nine minute segment (download iPod compatible, 47MB), Jan Davies McDermott describes how she was chosen to lead the Southeast Michigan Chapter of the Women Presidents Organization. The WPO was founded 10 years ago to provide women-to-women support for female business owners. Some highlights from this segment:

• The WPO is now in 70 US cities with two new non-US branches.
• Initially WPO chapters were located based on market research that indicated concentrations of women business owners.
• Currently, a minimum of 10 paid members are required to start a new chapter.
• Jan started the Ann Arbor chapter in July, 2005 after winning the Athena Award earlier that year.