Rockford chamber luncheon honors women in business

By Melissa Westphal

BusinessRockford.com

The laughs and applause heard from the Cliffbreakers banquet room today afternoon were sympathetic responses to stories that connect women — including the more than 650 gathered for a business luncheon.

The Rockford Chamber of Commerce honored female business leaders during its annual Women in Business Expo and Luncheon.

Joy Baldwin, assistant vice president of cash management services at Alpine Bank, took home the Woman Business Leader of Tomorrow award. Baldwin clutched her heavy award, shaped like the state of Illinois, and said she was fortunate to have been surrounded by great women who have mentored and pushed her along the way.

Register Star Executive Editor Linda Grist Cunningham was honored as the Woman Manager of the Year. Cunningham couldn’t attend the ceremony but sent a video message in her place.

“It is an honor to accept this award,” Cunningham said in the video. “The thing about being a manager and being a leader is that it’s all about the people — the people who you work with, the people who you spend time with and the people who you care about ... Being a manager and leader is about being a teacher. And one of the joys of my professional career is finding those young ones who are supertalented, who care and who have the passion and helping them by putting them on the path, teaching them and letting them go on their own.”

Mary Ann Norwood, owner and president of Pathways Employee Assistance Program, won the Woman Business Owner of the Year award. She thanked the crowd for what she called a “truly wonderful honor.”

“I have been very fortunate to have a career where I’ve been able to touch the lives of people and in turn the businesses they are involved with,” Norwood said. “And in the 20 years I’ve lived in Rockford, I’ve been so fortunate to have the love and support of so many wonderful friends.”

Dr. Jerri Nielsen, a former emergency room physician, shared her 1999 story of survival in the South Pole when she diagnosed and treated herself for breast cancer.

“My South Pole support system were my friends,” Nielsen said. “You realize people are incredible, and they can step to the plate and really be there for you when you can’t go on anymore. I had that experience. My family members are incredible people, and they were helpful through e-mail supporting me. And then the whole world came and helped me. And whenever I feel sorry for myself and think, ‘This isn’t fair and I’m going to die young,’ I think about how many people saved me and how beautiful that is.”

Nielsen’s stories of insane Antarctic weather and descriptions of close quarters with other station members garnered frequent laughs from audience members — and a standing ovation. Nielsen, who is originally from Ohio but now lives in Massachusetts, said she was stunned by the reaction to her story across the world.

“I wanted privacy,” Nielsen said. “I didn’t want to be known as the woman with the lump. I had worked so hard for something else, but what I learned is that I could do more for people with my story than I was able to do on a nightly basis making people’s lives better in an emergency room. So it ended up being a beautiful thing for me. And so many of the things that we wouldn’t wish on ourselves once they happen, we can make them into something great.”

Nielsen’s breast cancer returned about three years ago, and she left the medical field last year because treatment was keeping her from doing her best work, she said. She’s working on her second book, a collection of stories from her interesting life.

Staff writer Melissa Westphal can be reached at 815-987-1341 or mwestpha@rrstar.com.