20-first – Women. Men. This century leadership.

Avivah Wittenberg-Cox is CEO of 20-first. Based in Paris, she is a consultant, coach and author, working with progressive companies interested in both halves of the talent pool and both halves of the market – the female and male halves. She helps companies develop more inclusive leadership styles, promote more gender-balanced management teams and review processes and policies to better respond to women – both as employees and consumers. She is the co-author of the highly impactful Why Women Mean Business: Understanding the Emergence of Our Next Economic Revolution, Wiley & Sons, 2008 with Alison Maitland She is also the Founder and Honorary President of the European Professional Women’s Network (www.EuropeanPWN.net), a certified executive coach and spent five years as a Visiting Coach at INSEAD. She has spoken on leadership and growth opportunities across Europe and has had articles, reviews and interviews published in publications such as the International Herald Tribune, The Times, the Financial Times and Management Today. Canadian, French and Swiss, Avivah has a BA from the University of Toronto, an MBA from INSEAD and completed the Women’s Leadership Program at Harvard. ELLE Magazine recently recognised her as one of the TOP 40 Women Leading Change.

For more, see www.AvivahWittenbergCox.com
or www.WhyWomenMeanBusiness.com

Gilly Weinstein is 20-first’s Brussels-based consultant. She brings her multi-cultural and multilingual background to bear on building bridges across cultural divides. Before joining 20-first as a consultant and coach, Gilly ran her own communications consulting firm, working with multinationals across all industries, with an emphasis on internal and B2B communications. Her fascination with the business impact of interpersonal dynamics – especially in multicultural and international organisations – naturally led her to coaching. An American who grew up in France; Gilly has lived and worked in New York, Jerusalem, Paris, and Brussels. She is a certified coach and a member of the International Coaching Federation. Gilly earned her MS in Mass Communications from Boston University and has a BA in English Literature from Hebrew University.

Joanne Thomas Yaccato, based in Toronto, is known as Corporate Canada’s Gender Lens™. She specializes in helping companies apply the unique concept of gender intelligence by casting a wide-angle gender lens over their practices and processes. Audits ensure that sales training content, market research methodology, product development, advertising and marketing programs include and meet women’s consumer needs. She also offers sales and marketing training and consulting services that create an authentic and long-term connection between companies and powerful consumers — women. Royal Bank Financial Group, Imperial Oil, Scotiabank, IKEA, Home Depot, The B.C. Government and Toyota Canada are but a few that have reaped great reward from their work with this innovative company. She is the author of The 80% Minority: Reaching the Real World of Women Consumers a book that proves the connection between getting it right with women and getting it right with everyone else. She has been nominated for the Governor General’s award, and has received two nominations each for the Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award and the YWCA’s National Women of Distinction Award.

Sabine is an inspiring and successful business coach and a recognized expert in diversity, leading edge management and transcultural executive coaching. She intervenes in three languages for 20-first, building on her expertise in coaching women leaders and transcultural management to bring creative and innovative approaches to our concept of bilingual leadership. She is co-founder of the innovative concept of Tandem Coaching™ where two coaches (a man and woman of different nationalities) combine their insights for each client. Sabine has a PhD in law, is a former practicing attorney and has a prior business experiences as Legal Director and Director for Top Executives and Diversity in a global automobile company. She is the French partner of the European Institute for Managing Diversity, and a member of EPWN (European Professional Women’s Network). She is co-author of the book “Coaching des organisations” (Paris, May 2008). She a Master Certified Coach (International Coaching Federation) and intervenes for European Business Schools such as ESCP-EAP and HEC where she trains future coaches. She is also a Visiting Coach at INSEAD.

Romain is our internet generation representative. He works on our websites, including the upcoming launch of an ambitious new global project. His years of gaming, Facebook and MSN help keep the older member of the team attuned to what the 21st century will really look like. He is, like the rest of the team, a true internationalist having already lived and worked in many different countries (Belgium, Finland, Spain and more recently China as a member of the marketing team of Sperian Protection). Also a photographer, his skills in design will help enhance the many visual aids used by 20-first.