2018 Conference Programming

View our Detailed Agenda, access related materials, and stay connected with expert speakers from our Washington, DC conference below. Do you have materials to add to a session in which you participated or related questions? Contact brenna@womenlegislators.org.

2018 Annual Conference – Passed Resolutions 

2018 Annual Conference – Share Legislation

  • NE LB685
    • Senator Carol Blood shared legislation she introduced and passed  which provides a funding priority for special-needs military dependents under the Developmental Disabilities Services Act.
  • NJ SB 104
    • Assemblywoman Serena DiMaso shared New Jersey’s passage of the The Diane Allen Equal Pay Act, the equal pay legislation named in honor of NFWL’s Board member,  former Senator of New Jersey, and champion of equal pay initiatives, Diane Allen.
  • LA HB 748 & Act 262
    • Representative Julie Emerson spoke about her work on occupational licensing in Louisiana. She sponsored Act 262, which limits the ability of state occupational licensing authorities to deny otherwise qualified candidates on the basis of a previous criminal conviction, and HB 748 which aims to review all occupational licensing in the state within five years to determine whether they are necessary.
  • VT H603
    • Representative Linda Joy Sullivan shared her work on human trafficking legislation, which offers provisions that protect victims of sexual assault in a variety of ways.  She shared her expertise on the issue with the group as the co-founder and former executive director of Building Empowerment By Stopping Trafficking, which has assisted more than 3,000 victims of human trafficking in 24 states and eight nations.

NFWL Annual Membership & Committee Meetings

Collaboration Benefits the Patient: Plans, Manufacturers and Patients Share Their Thoughts
Connect with speakers to learn more;

  • Sharon Brigner, Deputy Vice President, State Government Affairs, PhRMA | @sharonbrigner @PhRMA  | SBrigner@phrma.org
  • Lida Etemad, Vice President, Pharmacy Management Strategies, United Healthcare Pharmacy | @UHC  | lida_etemad@uhc.com

Occupational Licensing in the Beauty Industry
Connect with the speakers to learn more;

  • Myra Irizarry Reddy, Director, Government Affairs and Industry Relations, Professional Beauty Association | @ProBeautyAssoc | myra@probeauty.org
  • Bridget Sharp, Government Affairs Manager, The Professional Beauty Association | bridget@probeauty.org

Access the session presentation and related materials to learn more;

  • Workshop PowerPoint Presentation
  • 1000 Hour Hairstylist License – All 49 states have esthetic licenses and nail tech licenses (Connecticut does not). Only a few states have hair-only licenses and we believe this should exist in all 50 states (The attached spreadsheet shows which states already have hairstylist licenses under “Stylist.” They will also find a KEY column at the very end of the spreadsheet explaining the N/A, Blanks, and zeros).
  • Pre-Graduate Testing – Allowing cosmetology and barber students to sit for their board exams prior to graduation.
  • Merging State Boards of Cosmetology and Barbering – 30 states have already combined their boards. I have attached a spreadsheet showing which states have separate boards that we would recommend combining.

Rare Disease & Newborn Screening
Connect with the speakers to learn more;

  • Representative Becky Ruth, Missouri State Legislature | @BeckyRuth114 | becky.ruth@house.mo.gov
  • Stephanie Fradette, Associate Medical Director, Clinical Development, Biogen | @biogen stephanie.fradette@biogen.com
  • Jaimie Vickery, Vice President of Policy and Advocacy, Cure SMA | @CureSMA  | jaimie.vickery@curesma.org
  • Jonathan Lasko, Kristin Lasko, Max Lasko, SMA Community Advocates | @MaxStrength4SMA

Access the session presentation and related materials to learn more;

The Importance of Women Owned Businesses & Supplier Diversity Programs
Connect with the speakers to learn more;

  • Elizabeth Gore, President and Chairwoman, Alice (HelloAlice.com) | @HelloAlice
  • Jessica Lozano Williams, Director, Supplier Diversity, Target | @Target  | jessica.lozanowilliams@target.com
  • Binh Tran, North America Regional Leader, Cargill | @Cargill  | binh_tran@cargill.com
  • Jennifer Tsai, Senior Director & Market Supply Officer, Global Procurement North American Nutrition, PepsiCo | @PepsiCo |

Tackling Your State’s Payday Loan Problem: Lessons from Ohio’s Bipartisan Fix
Connect with the speakers to learn more;

  • Abbie Hodgson, Officer, State Strategy Group, The Pew Charitable Trusts | @pewtrusts | ahodgson@pewtrusts.org
  • Michal Marcus, Executive Director of the Hebrew Free Loan Association of NE Ohio | @HFLAofNEO | michal@interestfree.org

Access the session presentation and related materials to learn more;

  • Visit The Pew Charitable Trust’s website for Payday Lending resources

Innovations in Preventive Healthcare
Connect with the speakers to learn more;

  • Debra Geihsler, Principal, Activate Healthcare | @ActivateClinics  | debrageihsler@activatehealthcare.com
  • Pamme Lyons-Taylor, Vice President, Community Connections | @WellCare_Health
  • Sally West, Government Relations, Walgreens | @Walgreens  | sally.west@walgreens.com

Doctors in Distress: Avoiding Healthcare Provider Shortages
Connect with the speakers to learn more;

  • Michael Barnes, Chairman, Center for U.S. Policy (CUSP) | @USPolicyCenter
  • Shannon Ginnan, MD, Director, Medical Affairs, Aimed Alliance| @aimedalliance
  • Shruti R. Kulkarni, Attorney, DCBA Law & Policy | @dcbalaw

Roundtables:
Connect with the speakers to learn more;

  • How do we inspire more Americans to be public servants?
    • Keri Lowry, Director, Government Affairs & Public Engagement, National Commission on Service | @inspire2serveUS
    • Mary Reding , Lead, External Affairs, National Commission on Service| @inspire2serveUS
  • How Can Policy Makers Help Reduce Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities?
    • Christine Calpin, Managing Director- Public Policy, Casey Family Programs| @CaseyPrograms
  • Navigating Free Speech Issues on Today’s Campus
    • Joe Cohen, Director, Legislative and Policy Director, FIRE | @TheFIREorg, @JoeatFIRE

Focus on Infrastructure
Connect with the speakers to learn more;

  • Jennifer Jura, Director, External Affairs, Edison Electric Institute| @Edison_Electric
  • Suzanne LeMieux, Midstream Manager, American Petroleum Institute | @APIenergy
  • Elizabeth Olds, Manager, Outreach and Regulatory Affairs, American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers | @AFPMonline

Innovation in Telecommunications
Connect with the speakers to learn more;

  • Deborah Collier, Director of Technology and Telecommunications Policy, Citizens Against Government Waste | @GovWaste
  • Shonte Eldridge, Deputy Chief of Operations, Baltimore City, MD | @ShonteEldridge
  • Melissa Tye, Vice President, Public Policy, Verizon | @Verizon

Cannabinoid Therapeutics
Connect with the speakers to learn more;

  • Representative Lois Landgraf, Colorado State Legislature, NFWL State Director | @landgrafforjobs | loislandgraf@gmail.com
  • Angelique Lee-Rowley, U.S. General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer, Greenwich Biosciences | @GreenwichBio | aleerowley@greenwichbiosciences.com
  • Kelly Simontacchi, Senior Advisor, Epilepsy Program and Strategy, Greenwich Biosciences | @GreenwichBio
  • Jessica Wolfe, Senior Director, State Government Reimbursement and Policy, Greenwich Biosciences | @GreenwichBio  | jwolfe@greenwichbiosciences.com

Expanding Educational Opportunities Can Transform Lives: Fresh look on policy approaches in K-12 education
Connect with the speakers to learn more;

  • Keri Hunter, Vice President of Training and Outreach, EdChoice | @KeriJoHunter
  • Randan Steinhauser, Partner, Steinhauser Strategies | @RandanMarie | randan@Steinhauserstrategies.com
  • Jessica Koehn, Manager Communications Marketing, Koch Industries | @Koch_Industries  | jessica.koehn@kochps.com

Tobacco Harm Reduction
Connect with the speakers to learn more;

  • Jennifer Mann, Jennifer Mann Consulting, LLC  |  jlm@jlmannconsulting.com
  • Paul Blair, Director, Strategic of Initiatives, Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) | @taxreformer | pblair@atr.org
  • Michael Madden, Former CMO, Gateway Health MCO in Pennsylvania  | gateway2times@live.com
  • Carrie L. Wade, Director, Harm Reduction Policy, R Street Institute | @RSI | cwade@rstreet.org

Workforce Development
Connect with the speakers to learn more;

  • Deborah Herron, Director of Public Affairs and Government Relations, Walmart | @Walmart
  • Marianne Merola, Education Strategies, McDonald’s | @McDonalds | marianne.merola@us.mcd.com

Energy and Grid Resilience
Connect with the speakers to learn more;

  • Christine Csizmadia, Senior Manager, State Outreach, Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) | @NEI | cmc@nei.org
  • Pam Silberstein, Senior Director, Regulatory Counsel, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) | @NRECANews

What’s Driving the Automotive Revolution?
Connect with the speakers to learn more;

  • Ember Brillhart, Manager, State Relations, Honda North America, Inc. | @HondaInAmerica | ember_brillhart@hna.honda.com
  • Craig Orlan, Senior State Relations Specialist, Honda North America, Inc. | @HondaInAmerica | craig_orlan@hna.honda.com
  • Basim Motiwala, Legislative Analyst, Honda North America, Inc. | @HondaInAmerica | basim_motiwala@hna.honda.com

Human Trafficking: Shared Hope International Report Release – Protected Innocence Challenge
Connect with the speakers to learn more;

  • Sarah Bendtsen Diedhiou, Policy Counsel, Shared Hope International | @SharedHope | sarah@sharedhope.org
  • Congresswoman Linda Smith, Founder and President, Shared Hope International | @SharedHope | linda@sharedhope.org

Keynote

  • Melissa Fitzgerald, Address Director, Advancing Justice, National Association of Drug Court Professionals| @Maffyfitz