Longwood's College of Business & Economics and Richmond women's business group forge partnership

From left to right: Dr. Earl Gibbons, Claire Guthrie Gastanaga, President Cormier, and Viola Baskerville

Longwood University officials foresee internship, research and
consulting possibilities from a new partnership between the College of
Business & Economics and the Richmond chapter of the National Association
of Women Business Owners (NAWBO).

Major goals include jointly developing and publishing research that
will assist policy makers in understanding the Virginia business climate
for women-owned businesses, jointly developing a women's program in the
undergraduate business program and the potential MBA and Executive
Education programs now under study in the College of Business & Economics,
jointly establishing an executive development and business growth program
for Virginia women whose annual business revenues exceed $1 million, and
workshops for entrepreneurial women at all stages of professional
development.

The partnership, dedicated to "promoting the business interests of
women-owned businesses and promoting economic development," was signed Jan.
22 by Longwood President Patricia Cormier; Claire Guthrie Gastanaga,
president-elect of the Richmond NAWBO chapter; and Dr. Earl Gibbons, dean
of the College of Business & Economics. The ceremony at the General
Assembly Building in Richmond was hosted by Delegate Viola Baskerville, a
NAWBO member and former member of the Longwood Board of Visitors.

"This alliance creates a positive new force for women entrepreneurs
that will enhance their ability to contribute even more substantially to
Virginia's economic future," said Betty Graumlich, president of the
Richmond NAWBO chapter.

This is the chapter's first formal alliance with a college or
university. The chapter, founded in 1981, has "well over 100 members and
represents many of the most influential businesswomen in Richmond, ranging
from million-dollar companies to smaller businesses," said spokeswoman Lou
Ann Ladin.

The partnership already is bearing fruit for Longwood. Ms.
Gastanaga, a former chief deputy attorney general in the Virginia Attorney
General's office who is the principal of CG2 Consulting, spoke to a Human
Resource Management class last November. The expert on sexual harassment
policies and procedures will speak Feb. 18 to an honors course,
Perspectives of Women in Corporate America, being offered this spring for
the first time. Two other NAWBO members - Sparrow Mahoney, president of
Venture Lanes, and Beth Kloke, president of Kloke Transfer - also will
address the class.

"We are very pleased to join this mutually beneficial alliance with
NAWBO," Dr. Cormier said. "Together, we can make a difference in Virginia
and in the lives of women entrepreneurs."

Delegate Baskerville echoed those sentiments. "Women business
owners have an important role to play in rebuilding Virginia's economy, and
this alliance will enhance their ability to do so, while enriching academic
programs and student opportunities at Longwood," she said. "This is a win
for Longwood, a win for women entrepreneurs, and a win for Virginia's
economy."

Dean Gibbons noted that "entrepreneurship is crucial to the
American economy. Women entrepreneurs make up more than 50 percent of all
new business start-ups, and Longwood's College of Business & Economics is
committed to developing programs that will help these entrepreneurs
succeed."

There are nearly 150,000 women-owned firms in Virginia that account
for about 30 percent of all privately owned businesses, among 27,000
women-owned employer businesses that employ more than 250,000 people and
generate over $25 billion in sales. Some 44 percent of the students in
Longwood's College of Business & Economics are female.

Last fall Longwood's College of Business & Economics launched a
partnership with the Virginia Council of CEOs.