2012 Conference Speakers

Michele Ruiz, South Bay Conference for Women Host

Michele Ruiz, former News Anchor KNBC-TV Channel 4 and Entrepreneur, joins the 14th Annual South Bay Conference for Women as a Speaker and Emcee. Michele Ruiz is well known for her long-standing career as an award winning broadcast journalist. Michele received 16 Emmy nominations during her news broadcasting career, 5 Emmy’s, 4 Golden Mikes as well as LA Press Club Awards. Additionally, she has received numerous commendations for her leadership and service to the community in a variety of roles. Michele is also known for her charity work and has volunteered her time with numerous organizations. She served on the Board of Directors for the non-profit agency Para Los Ninos for over a decade. She has also served on the Cal State Fullerton College of Communications’ Dean’s Advisory Board.

In 2006, Michele decided to become an entrepreneur and founded SaberHacer.com, a bilingual expert-based “how-to” educational broadband site for U.S. Hispanics online. She launched the video on demand site to provide quality and culturally relevant content for U.S. Hispanics when she determined there was a void of culturally relevant content for Hispanics. Her mission has always been – do what she can to help people and change lives. Read more »

Kathy Harren RN, MHA, MSNc

Kathy Harren RN, MHA, MSNc

Kathy Harren RN, MHA, MSNc speaks on the Sexual Assault Response Team at Providence Little Company of Mary

Kathy Harren RN, MHA, MSNc is currently the Regional Director for the Nursing Institute of Providence Health and Services California. She has held many nursing leadership roles and Board positions throughout California, and has received state and national recognition and awards based on her work to advance care of women and victims of sexual violence. She has been named Women of the Year by the Switzer Center for her  work with the Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) and the Collaborative Against Violence and Abuse (CAVA), 2011 Life Time Achievement award from the Catholic Health Care Association, and the National Community Partnership Award from the American Organization of Nurse Executives. She has served as a  Nurse Leader for 38 years and in the Greater South Bay since 1977. She is proud to be one of the founding members of the South Bay and Harbor Regions Sexual Assault Response Teams and Domestic Violence Collaborative since 1998 where over 2800 victims have been compassionately cared for.

Susan Sweet, President & General Manager of Neutrogena Co

Susan Sweet, President & General Manager of Neutrogena Corporation

Susan C. Sweet is currently President & General Manager of Neutrogena Corporation with offices in both Los Angeles and New York City.  She is responsible for delivering profit and sales commitments, developing the strategic vision and operating plan, creating marketing and advertising strategies that build market share and strengthen brand equity, creating and executing new product innovation strategies to drive growth, and developing talent and the organizational culture.

Susan has been with Neutrogena’s parent company, Johnson & Johnson, over 16 years. In 2007 just prior to joining Neutrogena, Susan served as Vice President of Beauty Care Marketing for Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products Co., leading a broad portfolio that included AVEENO®, CLEAN & CLEAR®,, RoC®, LUBRIDERM®, and  several other brands.  

In 2005, Susan was named Vice President of Marketing for Johnson & Johnson Canada, headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. In this capacity, she led consumer marketing, prestige marketing and sales and the Rx professional marketing and sales teams. She was responsible for the profit and sales across the entire portfolio of all Johnson & Johnson consumer brands in the Canadian market, and also led the marketing integration planning team for the J&J acquisition of Pfizer Consumer Healthcare in Canada.  Read more »

Kim Williams, Chief Operating Officer of NFL Network

Kim Williams, Chief Operating Officer of NFL Network

Kim Williams currently serves as Chief Operating Officer of NFL Network, responsible for the day-to-day management of the National Football League’s cable television assets. In addition, Williams played an integral role in the launch of the NFL Network-produced NFL RedZonechannelin the fall of 2009, which earned a Sports Emmy nomination in the Outstanding New Approaches Sports Event Coverage category in its debut season. Her responsibilities also include overall administrative oversight of the NFL’s facilities and studios in Culver City, CA, operational home to NFL Network, NFL RedZone and NFL.com.

Prior to her current position, Williams served as Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer for the NFL, responsible for the League’s overall financial activities including financial reporting and analysis, financial routines and controls, and long-range strategic planning.

Preceding her time at the NFL, Williams served as Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer for NBC West Coast. In that role, Williams worked at NBC’s Burbank, CA, offices and was responsible for all financial aspects of NBC West Coast operations, including NBC’s Entertainment, Studios & Enterprises divisions. Read more »

Meredith Locher, MA, CH

Meredith Locher, MA, CH is a Life Coach and Master Hypnotherapist in private practice in Los Angeles and has been dedicated to helping people overcome their challenges for the past 16 years. She has a diverse career history including Medical Association Management, Social Worker for patients with Alzheimers, Schizophrenia, and Bipolar Disorder, and Eating Disorder Specialist in Residential Treatment. Called to more cutting edge modes of intervention, Meredith trained in Hypnosis under the world-renowned Calvin D. Banyan at the Banyan Hypnosis Center becoming certified by the National Guild of Hypnotists (NGH). Unusual in the field of hypnosis, Meredith was specially selected to do 5 months of internship training supervised by Cal Banyan himself.

Meredith is now a generalist resolving issues such as: fears, phobias, self-destructive habits, substance abuse, eating disorders, illness, relationship problems, emotional imbalances such as depression, anger, guilt, grief, and many more. Read more »