About Us

The Leadership Foundation for Women (LF4W) is a non-profit organization, formed in 2018, whose ultimate mission is to equip women to succeed. LF4W will fulfill this purpose by providing professional development and educational opportunities for women. Specifically, LF4W seeks to:

educate women about leadership and opportunities for personal growth;
foster professionalism and integrity in women;
encourage networking and professional relationship building among women;
provide a forum for professional development of women.

Board of Directors

Jana K. Law

Chair

Jana K. Law

Jana K. Law is Senior Counsel in legal regulatory at Entergy Services, LLC in Little Rock, Arkansas. Prior to joining Entergy in 2018, Ms. Law was a partner at the Roberts Law Firm, where she was the director of the firm’s public utility and regulatory practice, as well as practiced in complex litigation.

Barbara Sugg

Barbara Sugg was elected president and CEO of Southwest Power Pool in January 2020. In her current position, she is responsible for ensuring SPP achieves its mission and goals and serves on the board of directors.

Kandi Hughes

Kandi Hughes is Senior Corporate Counsel at MISO (Midcontinent Independent System Operator). MISO, headquartered in Indiana, is an independent, not-for-profit, member-based organization that manages the generation and transmission of high-voltage electricity across 15 U.S. states and the Canadian province of Manitoba.

Nicole Winters

Nicole Winters is Senior Counsel for Windstream Services, LLC a nationwide communications and software company headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas where she is responsible for regulatory compliance including telecommunications and broadband compliance and privacy and cybersecurity compliance.

Madhvi Patel

Dr. Madhvi Patel is a board certified physician and currently works as a hospitalist at St.Vincent Infirmary in Little Rock. She is also the medical director and owner of EveryskinMD skincare clinic and medical spa, also located in Little Rock.

Gwen Ricks

Gwen retired from Southwest Airlines after serving 24 years in Operational Leadership positions in Ground Operations. The last 15 years she served as Southwest Airlines Station Leader at Bill and Hillary Clinton Airport in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Annette Holbert

Annette Holbert is an IT manager at Southwest Power Pool (SPP). She graduated from the University of Central Arkansas with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Computer Science and spent a number of years as a software developer and team leader at Acxiom Corporation before moving to Southwest Power Pool in 2008.

Kelly Carney

Kelly Carney, SPHR is the Vice President, Human Capital and Chief People Officer for Southwest Power Pool, where she oversees the human resources and learning and development teams.

Cindy Boyle

Treasurer

Cindy Boyle

Cindy Boyle leads the national cybersecurity practice at FORVIS, a national accounting and advisory firm. A native Arkansan, Cindy is based in Little Rock but serves clients across the country.

Abtin Mehdizadegan

Abtin Mehdizadegan is a law partner with Hall Booth Smith, P.C. in its Little Rock, Arkansas office. Abtin represents businesses in traditional labor and employment law matters, commercial disputes, and high-stakes litigation.

Broderick Daniels

Broderick Daniels is the Director of Human Resources for Southern Bancorp, where he is responsible for managing the HR Business Partner and HR Operations functions.

Detrich Wiley

Detrich Wiley directs the work of an innovative team that is driving a digital transformation at Arkansas Blue Cross & Blue Shield.

Past Board Members

We thank our past board members for their time and contributions to the mission of LF4W.

Debi Lowtharp

Debi Lowtharp serves as Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer of Delta Dental of Arkansas.

David Avery

David Avery oversees internal and external communications and corporate philanthropy. He joined Windstream in 2006 as director of corporate communications and previously served as staff manager of corporate communications at Alltel Corp.

Catherine Bays, CFRE

Catherine currently serves as the Chief Development Officer for the Museum of Discovery. She is a strong supporter of the arts and advocacy for children and women leadership platforms.

Sharon Davis

Sharon Davis is the Founder and CEO of Strategic Technologies Corporation ( 1993) and Strategic Continuity Services (2005). As a native of Jonesboro, Arkansas, she attended Arkansas State University and the University of Mississippi with degrees in journalism.

Charles Blake

Charles Blake is a political scientist, strategist, civil servant, and skilled communicator.