FWIT

NEWSLETTER

In This Issue

2016 Annual Conference

Recap

Article: What Was Your First

Conference Like?

Article: Keep Calm—I’m a

Superwoman

FWIT Group Updates

2016—2017 Conference

Theme

Final Thank You

2016 Annual Conference Recap This year’s conference was a great success. The Association hopes you enjoyed it as much as we did. For those unable to

attend, here’s a brief summary of what you missed. Of course we couldn’t include all of the memories and fun, but visit the

FWIT Association website for more pictures of the event.

I’m Sooooo stressed Out—Stress Management Skills for Professionals presented by

Julie Burch

SuperWoman Workshop presented by Dr. Jamie Kulaga

Finding Balance in a Changing Industry presented by Randall S. James, former Texas

Banking Commissioner

Panel of women leaders on Finding Balance

EQ: The (Not So) Secret to Career Success presented by Cindy Stynchula

Bridging the Generational Divide in the Workplace presented by Sherri Elliott-Yeary

Wonder Woman Doesn’t Live Here Anymore! Presented by Carol Dean

Volume 8, Issue 1—October 2016

What was your first conference like? I attended the 7th Annual FWIT Conference this year and was honored to be a scholarship recipient as a first time attendee.

Our first speaker, Julie Burch, really got the morning off with a bang! Her high energy, bubbly, no holding back presentation style was fun and en-gaging. It was refreshing to learn, or be reminded that some stress is good stress, and it’s up to us to ask ourselves, “Is this worth a piece of my pie?” In other words, one take-away would be to choose only those stresses that give you a good return on your investment, such as your family or friends. Those areas that aren’t worth your pie, perhaps work to change your perception about them. Maybe easier said than done.

Speaking From Experience Randall James, Texas Banking Commissioner 1999-2007 spoke on ‘Finding Balance in a Changing Industry’. When it comes to work life bal-ance, he couldn’t emphasize enough how organization was one of the keys to his success. He also didn’t manage from an ivory tower, to know what’s going on in your organization, you have to walk among your em-ployees and staff. My main take away here was when he said, “You do exactly what you want to do every day”. Don’t let others define it for you.

Networking and Learning The ‘Break Out’ sessions added a time for interactive learning, where participants could select two areas of their own interest. It was good to get up and move around, and have some interaction with members from other groups.

I’d like to thank the Association for all of its thoughtful planning. The hotel was perfect for the event and comfortable, the food was tasty and well presented, and finally the murder mystery dinner was a hoot. The conference was fun and educational, empower-ing and friendly. I’m so pleased to be a part of such an awesome group of women.

-Danielle Reboli, Dallas Group

Is it worth your pie? Julie Burch getting the weekend started

with a very simple question which al-

lows us to prioritize our stressors. It’s

true stress is unavoidable, but selecting

which stressors get more of your time,

attention, emotional response, aka

“pie” helps save the rest of our energy

for what truly matters most in our lives.

Keep Calm—I’m a SuperWoman

This years’ conference t-shirt fea-

tured the Superwoman theme and

followed the concept of finding bal-

ance and the super fulfillment that

bring calm to our lives.

Pictured below are Dr. Jaime Kulaga

and FWIT Association President

Cheryl Linder when Dr. Jaime was

presented with a conference t-shirt at

the end of our super workshop.

SuperWoman Workshop Rocks

FWIT’s programming theme for the year was Finding Balance and our

signature workshop at conference focused on life fulfillment and work-life

balance.

Led by Dr. Jaime Kulaga, author and founder of The SuperWoman’s

Guide to Super Fulfillment, the workshop was specifically designed to

help increase efficiency in both work and life roles, ultimately freeing time

to work toward personal fulfillment and happiness.

Dr. Jaime brought high energy to the morning as she challenged us to

authentically highlight barriers to our success, and methods we can em-

ploy to conquer those barriers and advance toward self-actualization. In-

cluded were real, reasonable techniques that are effective in taking re-

sponsibility for our own actions, identifying what fulfills us and becoming

more efficient in our roles.

The final result? Overall fulfillment makes us happy and when we have

that in both our work and our life we have Super Fulfillment!

GROUP UPDATES

Houston Group The Houston Group is happy to report a suc-

cessful kick-off luncheon! On September 29th, we had over 50 attendees for a presentation

about the Houston city improvements and plans for the Super Bowl 2017! We had Bar-bara McMillen, Association President, perform

the installation of our 2016-2017 officers at the event. Houston’s next lunch will be on October

27th at Ouisie’s Table for a presentation on the Houston Economy. Patrick Jankowski from the

Great Houston Partnership will be speaking on Houston’s economic downtown and what the road for Houston will be like going forward.

Kristi Koncaba, President and COO of Texan Bank, has been awarded the Early Achieve-

ment Award by the University of Houston Clear Lake Alumni Association. Over the course of her career, she has overseen mergers, built

human resource departments from scratch, and led company start-ups. Congrats Kristi!

Shelley Dacus, from Commercial State Bank, has graduated from the Texas Bankers Associ-ation Management Leadership Development Program. She completed the series of four intense and rigorous sessions over nine months to complete the requirements. Her group raised $32,500 for honor flight in the process. Congratulations Shelley!

LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT YEAR’S

CONFERENCE

Too early to start planning? Nonsense—As FWIT Presi-

dent Barbara McMillan points out, life is all “about time”.

“In September, fresh from Conference, I had the opportunity to visit with the Houston group. After installing the 2017 group officers, we heard from the EVP Chief of Staff of the Houston Super Bowl Com-mittee. What a great opportunity for networking for the Houston ladies! I’m grateful for their hospitality as well as some great ideas they shared during my visit.

As you may know, I chose “It’s about Time” for this year’s theme. Time is a precious commodity, a resource that both serves and frustrates us. If I only had more time…, where did the time go…

FWIT is a great way to spend some time; learning new concepts, net-working and making lasting relationships with a wonderful group of dedicated women. With this in mind, consider how you can expand your horizons in FWIT. Might you consider volunteering for your Lo-cal or Association Board? Perhaps a small commitment to chair a committee? FWIT is always looking for leadership for the future at all levels. Together, let’s make this year “our time” to grow and cre-ate opportunities for the future of our Association. I can guarantee, FWIT will be a very good use of your time. “

Maintain Up To Date

The Association would like

to remind readers to visit the

website for upcoming events

and other beneficial infor-

mation. In an effort to help

fellow members, we’ve start-

ed including job postings

and other career and per-

sonal bulletins on our site.

Make sure to send us your

updates and other news.

www.fwitexas.org

A Special Thank You! Finally, the Association would like to thank all members and attendees that helped make this year ’s conference anoth-

er success! It seems we outdo ourselves every year and we expect no less for our 2017 Annual Conference. . No pres-

sure Austin Group!

We would also like to thank those who provided feedback during the conference on future forums and events. We ’d

like to continue to encourage feedback throughout the year as we continue to make the Association an enjoyable expe-

rience for all.