Valeri Bocage
President & Chief Executive Officer

Valeri has been assisting people in living their dreams for over 25 years. She has inspired hundreds of people  to fulfill on their life's mission. She has consulted with authors, entrepreneurs, parents, families, public speakers and artists to expand their vision for what was possible in their professional and personal lives. 

Valeri was born and raised in New Orleans, LA.  As a result of Hurricane Katrina, she  lost EVERYTHING, except her indomitable spirit and true passion for life. She took the loss as an opportunity to start a whole new life. She moved to San Francisco to fulfill on her dream of  "EMPOWERING WOMEN TO IMPACT THE WORLD." Powerful Women International is doing just that.
valeri@pwiconnections.com

Carrie A. Nikitin
Chief Business Strategist

As Business Strategist for small and large businesses that are geared to making a difference, Carrie is currently CEO of Avatekh, Inc., a Lawrence, Kansas high tech start-up developing and monetizing Intellectual property in noise suppression, mitigation and analysis with applications in military, medical devices, consumer electronics, telecommunications, power management, data over power lines, navigational, sensors and biometrics. 

Her interest in business began when starting her first company (import/export in partnerships with companies in Japan and South Korea) at the young age of 18. With over 30 years of experience in business building, development, strategies, modeling and funding in both start-ups and existing companies, she has worked at the executive level in various areas including alternative energies, medical and the technology industry.  She has gained much experience in:

- Working with companies in various stages, such as start-up mode, expansion, downsizing, turnaround, branding and re-branding phases.

- The development, structure and negotiation of joint ventures, collaborative development and licensing agreements as well as mergers and acquisitions.

- Working with Universities in development of prototyping; grant writing and technology transfer and industry partnerships.

Carrie has strong skills in constructing, and negotiating licensing agreements, joint ventures, mergers, acquisitions and both collaborative development and research agreements in both domestic and foreign markets in various industry, academic and government
sectors.

Her experience in this arena includes building revenue growth within new and existing competitive markets; her work with several start-up companies, she has acquired a great knowledge of business strategies, models, monetizing and managing deal-flow and leveraging both monetary and human assets to create sustainable environments within a company to capitalize in it’s given market or business sector; diversification from working in multiple industries such as telecommunications, consumer electronics, toys, cosmetics, sports science, medical, education, banking, energy (nuclear and alternative), materials and commercial real estate; and experience as a grant writer at state and local levels (economic development and training), and federal level (SBIR-NSF-NIH). 

carrie@pwiconnections.com

Pam Terry
Chief Operating Officer

Pam is CEO and Founder of NOWW Media, providing public speaking coaching and marketing strategies that make a difference in people's lives and communities.  Pam is a savvy marketing strategist with more than 30 years' experience in public speaking, marketing, public relations, sales, and systems development.  She is a leader for social change that makes the world better for all.  Her moniker, NOWW, stands for Network Of What's Working. 

A writer, trainer, interviewer, and newscaster, Pam works with conscious entrepreneurs and corporate teams.  She is a columnist on public speaking for Small Business Today magazine, a frequent keynote speaker, a conscious community leader, and, formerly, the Executive Director and President of the Galleria Chamber of Commerce in Houston.  Pam is currently developing a humanitarian news and TV programming service, NOWW News and NOWW TV, to connect activists of social change and provide resources to expand social change projects.
www.pamterry.com 
www.theindemandspeaker.com

Alice Davidchack
Chief Financial Officer

Alice has always loved numbers because they tell the truth about a business.  Even at university, she turned down a place on the MBA program to study accounting.  Over the last 15 years, she have helped business owners and managers to grow and improve their businesses by understanding the stories behind the numbers.

Alice is a founder and managing director of Business Engine Room.  She earned a BA in Business and Masters in Accounting and Information Systems from the University of Kansas and qualified as a Certified Public Accountant in the USA in 1999.  Having worked through university as a part-time accountant for a number of small businesses, Alice started her post-graduate career with Deloitte. Having moved to the UK, Alice qualified as a management accountant (ACMA) with the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and worked in senior roles across a range of sectors, including higher education, voluntary sector and local government.

Having worked as the Finance Director of a national charity which trebled its turnover during her time with them, she wanted to learn more about bringing the best out of people:  She took a job managing a 65-strong finance team and completed a post-graduate degree in counseling.   Over the last few years, her focus has been on supporting public services to improve efficiency, reduce cost and deliver more for less.

Being a successful FD focuses around 4 things:

1) Getting the basics of finance right
2) Acting as a business partner and adding value to the business;
3) Finding and developing talented people
4) Improving efficiency.  

Alice worked hard throughout her career to develop in all four areas.  She is currently looking for an opportunity to partner an ambitious CEO and their management team to help take their business to the next level.
alice@pwiconnections.com