Newest Honorees to be Inducted into Big Sisters of Rhode Island’s “Magical Circle”

Rhode Island Women We Admire Honored at Big Sisters Abracadabra Ball

 February 29, 2009

CRANSTON, R.I., -- Rhode Island residents Kimball Hall, Beverly Ledbetter, Kati Machtley, Anne Szostak, and O. Rogeriee Thompson will be honored as the newest members of Big Sisters of Rhode Island’s “Magical Circle” during the agency’s Abracadabra Ball. The Ball, co-chaired by Lt. Governor Elizabeth Roberts and Cheryl W. Snead, President and CEO of Banneker Industries, will be held on Saturday, March 21 at the Westin Hotel in Providence.

Kimball Hall is Vice President and General Manager of Amgen, Inc.’s Rhode Island Operations. She is responsible for all of Amgen’s operations on the 75-acre West Greenwich site as well as managing more than 1,100 workers. Her previous role at Amgen was as the Quality Site Head where she was responsible for worldwide quality of Enbrel, the rheumatoid arthritis medicine.

Hall credits Amgen’s culture with supporting her rise through the ranks at the company. Because of this, she is determined to help those women following in her footsteps succeed as she has. Hall is a part of the Amgen Women Interaction Network and is always looking for ways to engage businesswomen and help them succeed.

In addition to her role at Amgen, she is also a member of both the board of the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council and the board of the quasi-public R.I. Economic Development Corporation. She was also appointed to the R.I. Science and Technology Advisory Council by Governor Donald L. Carcieri in October 2006. Hall came to Rhode Island in 2002 from Amgen’s corporate headquarters in California with Amgen’s acquisition of Immunex.

Beverly Ledbetter is Vice President and General Counsel for Brown University. She is also on the faculty of the management development program at Harvard University and has been an adjunct professor at Harvard as well as at the University of Oklahoma College of Law and at the Center for Higher Education, College of Education prior to Brown University. She frequently lectures on higher education issues including employment, civil rights, sexual and racial harassment, and federal regulatory compliance and is regarded as an expert in the field of high education law.

Ledbetter is an active participant in Rhode Island’s community. She was previously a member of the Review Group of the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse and Violence Prevention, and of the U.S. Department of Education as well as many other organizations. She currently serves on many committees and is the chairperson of the Rhode Island Rhodes Scholarship Selection Committee.

Ledbetter has received numerous awards for her expertise in higher education law. Some of these awards include the Education Leadership Award from the Urban League of Rhode Island, YWCA Outstanding Woman in Business and the Professions, and the Minority Counsel Award from the American Bar Association.

Kati Machtley has been the Chair/Director of the Women’s Summit at Bryant University for the past 11 years. This conference has enabled thousands of women and men from Southeastern New England to come to Bryant University for a day long conference of professional and personal development. With 3 keynote speakers each year and now up to 19 workshops per day to choose from, the Women’s Summit has become one of the most sought after conferences in New England. It is a great opportunity for educational enrichment and networking for women.

With a career in higher education that spans from 1974 to present, Kati is at home on the Bryant University campus. Her teaching experience includes positions as a nursing faculty member at 3 different universities. Kati was a Nursing Educator at Salve Regina University, The University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, and George Mason University in Fairfax, VA in the area of Parent Child Health Nursing, and Physical Assessment. She has also worked as a School Nurse Teacher at various public schools in the state of Rhode Island, including a Preschool Special Needs Classroom in Middletown, RI. While working at Bryant she was also a substitute School Nurse Teacher in the Smithfield and North Smithfield Elementary Schools until 2000.

Machtley also chairs Bryant University’s Interfaith Prayer Breakfast and the Angel Tree Project, a prison fellowship ministry that provides holiday gifts for children of inmates. Along with her husband, Bryant President Ronald Machtley, she teaches a Foundations for Learning course for first-year students and has led two groups of students on a trip to Italy as part of the Sophomore International Experience program at Bryant University.

Anne Szostak has been the president and chief executive officer of Szostak Partners, LLC, a consulting firm that advises businesses on strategic and human resource issues, since 2004. Previous to this work, Szostak held several executive positions with Fleet Bank during her 31-year career with Fleet, contributing to the development of the bank into the seventh largest holding company in the United States. She served as executive vice president of FleetBoston Financial, director of Human Resources and Diversity of Fleet as well as serving as chairperson and chief executive officer of Fleet Bank-Rhode Island.

During Szostak’s leadership as the director of Human Resources and Diversity, Fleet Bank was recognized as an Employer of Choice by Working Mother, Computer World, and Latina Style as well as being named one of the top 50 companies for its support of diversity.

Not only has Szostak contributed to the community through her work at Fleet and Szostak Partners, but she also serves the community through her work on several different boards. She serves as the chair of Women & Infants Hospital in Providence and is Governor emeritus of the Boys and Girls Club of America. She is also a member of the board of directors of The Rhode Island Foundation, Women & Infants Hospital Foundation, and Care New England.

O. Rogeriee Thompson was named Associate Justice for the Rhode Island Superior Court in 1997, becoming the first African American woman to serve in this position. Prior to her appointment as Associate Justice in the Superior Court, Thompson served as an Associate Judge with the Rhode Island District Court for nine years, becoming the first African American woman in this position as well.

Growing up in the segregated south in South Carolina, Thompson was able to overcome the inequality of the south by first earning her undergraduate degree at Brown University and then her Juris Doctorate from the Boston University School of Law. She also holds honorary degrees from the University of Rhode Island and Bryant University.

In addition to Thompson’s work in the courts, she serves on several committees and boards including the Nelli Mae Education Foundation, the R.I. Children’s Crusade for Higher Education, and Dorcas Place. Because of her dedication to improving the community around her, Thompson has received many awards recognizing this effort. She was recently honored by the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society with the William A. Heathman Award for Law and Justice and by the Providence Branch of the NAACP with the Thurgood Marshall Award.

Big Sisters of Rhode Island’s Abracadabra Ball: Big Sisters of Rhode Island will induct five women into their “Magical Circle” at the agency’s Abracadabra Ball, a black-tie-optional gala on Saturday, March 21 starting at 6:30 p.m. at the Westin Hotel in downtown Providence. Registration for the event is requested in advance and tickets are $125 a person. Go to www.bigsistersri.org or call Emily at 921-2434 x 102.

The Abracadabra Ball will feature a silent and live auction, dinner and music by John Allmark’s East Side Horns as well as a special appearance by one of America’s premier female illusionist Lyn Dillies. The event will also highlight a keynote address by Gwen Andrade a former Little Sister

Founded in 1967, Big Sisters of Rhode Island is the state’s only mentoring program exclusively for girls. The agency matches caring women with girls between the ages of 7 to 15 in one-on-one mentoring friendships. It also operates school-based mentoring, pairing high-school girls with younger girls, and offers Life Choices workshops to groups of girls in elementary or middle school. For more information about Big Sisters’ programs or to volunteer as a Big Sister mentor, go to www.bigsistersri.org or call (401)-921-2434.

The Big Sisters mentoring agency established the Big Sisters Donation Center in 1997 to augment the agency’s fundraising income. The Donation Center sells clothing and other items of cloth by weight to the local Savers thrift stores. Proceeds provide a major portion of the Big Sisters agency funding. For more information about the Big Sisters Donation Center click “Donations,” at the left, or call 401-464-6500.