Women In Defense (WID) - Greater Frederick Chapter ~ Past News & Events

2006 News & Events

December 21, 2006 – Grove Resource Solutions, Inc. becomes 2nd Sponsor of the GFC-WID. President, Debby Grove, has generously provided $1,000 for our sponsorship funding and is now a Duerk Sponsor. For more information on Grove Resource Solutions, go to www.grsi.com. We sincerely appreciate your contribution to the success of our new organization. At the Dec. 5th luncheon, Ms. Grove challenged other GFC-WID members to encourage the companies they work for to become sponsors as well. Sponsorships are one of the main sources of funding that will allow our chapter to give back to the local defense and security community.

December 5, 2006 - WID-GF Networking Luncheon with Speaker, Diana Kurcfeld. We held our first official networking luncheon from 11:30 – 1:30 at the new Hampton Inn near Fort Detrick at 1565 Opossumtown Pike, Frederick, MD 21702. About 30 individuals attended this event which included a delicious buffet lunch in a convenient, attractive setting. Our speaker, Diana Kurcfeld, President, Design to Delivery, Inc., provided us with valuable tips on how to make professional networking more fun and effective.

Luanne Houck, Chapter President, discussed upcoming plans and emphasized her vision that the chapter will make a valuable service contribution to the community. We need more corporate sponsors to make our chapter a success. Karen Dickman, Treasurer and Membership Director, announced that our membership is up to 54 which means we have met our chapter goal of recruiting 50 members by the end of December!! Karen gave out several door prizes, including a gift for Member #50, Jennifer Danieley.

Thank you to everyone who attended this event! It was a pleasure to see everyone!

Jennifer Danieley, Member #50 and Diana Kurcfeld, Speaker.

Click here for more pictures!

Kim Hessong, Stephanie Harvey, and Karen Dickman.

November 14, 2006 - WID Greater Frederick Chapter featured in Frederick Business Week. This article increased our membership by 6 individuals within 2 days. Click here for article.

November 8, 2006 – Chapter Planning Meeting. The chapter officers and directors met today to discuss upcoming events and programs. We are planning a lunch meeting in December, an evening social in the winter, and a larger fund-raising event in the spring.

Greater Frederick Chapter Officers - Dianne Yarnell, Donna Hall, Luanne Houck, Karen Dickman.

November 2, 2006 – Greater Frederick and Ottawa, Ontario Chapter Networking Opportunity. Luanne Houck, Chapter President, had the pleasure of meeting with Women In Defense and Security (WIDS – www.wids.ca) leadership in Ottawa, Ontario during a recent business trip to Canada. She had the opportunity to exchange ideas with Anne Carroll (X-Wave, a division of Bell Aliant), Vice President; Suzanne Belanger (General Dynamics Canada), Director of Events; Wendy Allerton (L-3 Systems Canada), President; and Laurie Mack (IBM Canada), VP Public Affairs.

Anne Carroll, Luanne Houck, Suzanne Belanger, Wendy Allerton, Laurie Mack.

October 31, 2006 – General Dynamics Information Technology becomes the founding sponsor of the Greater Frederick Chapter of WID. As a Hays-Hoisington Sponsor, General Dynamics Information Technology (www.gdit.com) has contributed $5000 towards the start-up of our new chapter. We greatly appreciate this contribution which will go a long way to making our chapter a success.

October 27, 2006 – Greater Frederick Chapter of WID attends SMART PROC ’06 Conference. Luanne Houck, Peggy Thomas, Susan Williams, and Debby Poore volunteered to represent our new chapter at this conference (http://conferences.essworld.net/SMARTproc06/) which was held at the Holiday Inn FSK Mall. SMART, which stands for “Strengthening the Mid-Atlantic Region for Tomorrow”, held this conference in conjunction with Congressman Roscoe G. Bartlett.

October 25, 2006 – Officers attend WID National Conference in Arlington, VA. Luanne Houck, Diane Yarnell, and Karen Dickman attended the full-day National WID Conference at the Army Navy Club in Arlington, VA. The conference featured many interesting, informative, and motivational speakers. Our officers had an opportunity to network with the officers of established WID chapters throughout the country to get ideas and lessons learned.

October 20, 2006 – Virtual Election of Officers Held. An election was held to vote for the chapter officers. Greater Frederick WID Chapter officers are as follows: Luanne Houck, President; Diane Yarnell, Vice President; Karen Dickman, Treasurer; and Donna Hall, Secretary.

October 13, 2006 – Greater Frederick Chapter of WID officially established. The membership requirement of 35+ members has been met and the bylaws were officially signed by Jane Walter, WID National President and Luanne Houck, Chapter President.

September 28, 2006 – Greater Frederick Chapter of WID Kick-off Event. A wine tasting and networking meeting was held at Linganore Winecellars. Despite terrible weather conditions and a traffic-stopping accident on Route 70, the event drew a good number of women interested in forming the local chapter. Luanne Houck, future Chapter President, discussed the push for membership and goals for the chapter. Beth Shepherd, Director of Programs/Events talked about her vision for future programs and asked that anyone with suggestions get in touch with her. Click here for event invitation.

August 15, 2006 – Planning Meeting for Local WID Chapter. A core group of women from General Dynamics and Grove Resources met with Jane Casey, Director of Membership, WID, National Defense Industrial Association to move forward on starting a Greater Frederick Chapter of WID. Officers, director positions, and membership requirements were discussed.

June 28, 2006 – Initial WID Networking and Interest Meeting. Debby Grove, President of Grove Resources Solutions, graciously hosted the meeting at her home. Representatives from the National WID organization and the Capital Chapter discussed the WID organization and how to form a chapter. Exceptional refreshments and appetizers were offered and attendees were given a chance to network with each other.

Diane Yarnell and Danielle Flook.

Kathy Buck and Beth Shepherd.