Influential women continue professional growth

The award is now in its ninth year, with the 2008 Most Influential Women to be recognized at a Sept. 26 event.

But the women who have been honored in previous years haven’t rested on their laurels. From changing companies to achieving international business growth, Most Influential Women are continuing their upward trajectory.

Getting on board

When Jackie Taylor Johnson received Most Influential Women recognition in 2001, she already was a well-known name in the marketing and sales community.

After founding Springfield’s Best, an organization that markets locally owned businesses in a variety of fields, in 1994, she left to open advertising agency J. Taylor Johnson Advertising LLC.

But in 2006, she changed directions again, opening Fleet Watch Online. The company resells global positioning system equipment for company vehicles, as well as service from Networkcar that allows business owners to track vehicles’ fuel usage, mechanical condition and location.

“That way they can get (a vehicle) repaired before it blows out an engine or something major happens,” Johnson said.

The idea seems to be catching on – Johnson said about 30 companies have signed on for the service, including Meek’s The Builder’s Choice, Federal Protection Inc., St. John’s Health System and MTS Contracting Inc.

While the new venture may seem like a significant change in direction for the experienced marketer, Johnson said the difference is not that pronounced.

“It’s similar in that you make sales calls and deal with customers and customer service,” Johnson said. “But marketing is a very different product – it’s a very intangible thing. This is a more concrete product and service that’s easier to track – (companies) can actually see they’re saving money with this.”

Johnson hopes to continue adding new companies to her client list – and she thinks that the slow economy and gas prices make her product more attractive than ever.

“I just happened to be in the right place at the right time with this company,” she said.

Change of scenery

For 2004 Most Influential Women class member Jerany Jackson, her job is the same, but her surroundings have changed.

One of Springfield’s first licensed landscape architects, Jackson moved to Great River Engineering on Sept. 8 after spending nearly five years as park planner with the Springfield-Greene County Park Board.

The move to the private sector is not new for Jackson – she spent nearly 10 years in landscape architecture for Archer Engineers and later Butler, Rosenbury and Partners Inc. before joining the parks department in 2004.

While her work is similar in the public and private sectors, Jackson said the process is significantly different – and each side has its advantages.

“In the private sector, there were so many different types of things to do, and I had up to that point done nearly everything there was to do,” she said. “So to be able to focus in on one thing (with the Park Board) was really neat.”

Her “one thing” with the parks was planning – Jackson helped create the park planning office for the department, a job that she called “a dream that came true.”

But the disadvantages of the public sector led her back to the private side.

“Things move much slower – they’re so careful in purchasing and reviewing the paperwork that sometimes we missed entire seasons because the paperwork was so slow to turn,” she said.

“When you work in an outside environment, you can’t afford to have eight weeks of inactivity on a project. Sometimes that can make you miss an entire season.”

Despite the slow pace, Jackson – also one of SBJ’s 2003 40 Under 40 – said she enjoyed her time with the parks and hopes to put what she learned there to good use, especially when dealing with municipal clients.

“Having the opportunity to incorporate that understanding into my work with my clients is going to be important, and that’s not something that private sector folks understand going in,” she said. “I can say I’ve lived on both sides.”

Busy women

Johnson and Jackson aren’t the only former recipients making waves. Previous Most Influential Women honorees often pop up on SBJ’s news radar. For example:

Raeanne Presley (2002) made perhaps the most high-profile career move when she was elected mayor of Branson in April 2007. While the co-owner of Presley’s Country Jubilee is the city’s first new mayor since 1995, she already had an impressive community involvement résumé, including 10 years on the Branson Board of Aldermen and six years on the Missouri Tourism Commission, two years as chairwoman. She also served two years as chair of the Springfield-Branson National Airport Board.

Pam Hedgpeth (2005) left her post as superintendent of Republic R-III School District at the end of the 2007–08 school year. She’s not, however, letting her years of administrative experience go to waste. She has since joined the graduate faculty at Southwest Baptist University, where she is teaching courses in being a principal and being a superintendent.

Dr. Carla Garrison (2003) is moving her Garrison Plastic Surgery this winter to 1530 E. Bradford Parkway, from her current location on Independence Street, to accommodate the growing practice. Her new facility, valued at $1 million according to a city building permit, will feature patient and waiting rooms with medical spa amenities as well as a full surgical suite for on-site procedures.

Gail Noggle (2002) has moved from financial services into community assistance.

Noggle closed shop at Gail Noggle Investment Services, where she was an independent adviser for ING Financial Services, in 2006 to take the job of executive director of the Republic Area Chamber of Commerce. She left the chamber in November 2007 to become Republic’s first economic development director. The job, which now also includes oversight of the city’s Planning department, has Noggle meeting with developers to increase interest in Republic, as well as working to update city policies for businesses.

Nancy Bogart (2001) has changed her business name but not her mission.

The company formerly known as Country Bunny Bath & Body changed to Jordan Essentials in 2007. The change, as SBJ reported in September 2007, was an attempt to cater to a more international market. Since SBJ’s last coverage of her business, Bogart has added St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands to her company’s reach, which already included 8,500 sales consultants in 50 states, plus Guam and Puerto Rico. She added that the company hopes to be in Canada and Mexico in the next five years. [[In-content Ad]]