Chicago Financial Women in the News

Carla Carstens was a 2007 Nominee for the Chicago Athena International Women's

Leadership Award.

Carla is an accomplished business woman known for resolving business issues and building consensus for successful solution implementations. Carla led the BP/Amoco merger integration by developing an operating framework to integrate the downstream businesses and shared service groups under BP's governance.

Carla is a Trustee and Audit Committee Chairman of the Lou Holland Trust, a publicly traded mutual fund. She conducts the board of directors' financial fiduciary responsibilities training for the Boardroom Bound® Pipeline Seminars. Her involvement with Boardroom Bound is a result of her strong belief that corporations will make better strategic business decisions when there is diverse thought starting at the top and cascading throughout the organization.

Currently, Carla is President of Carstens Associates, a management consulting firm providing business operating process and strategic planning services. She is affiliated with the DeerPark Group Inc. to provide her clients' a wider range of expertise particularly for IT initiatives.

Carla serves as Trustee and Chairman of Board Recruiting and Governance for the Abraham Lincoln Centre, a 100+ year old non-profit social service agency serving Chicago's Bronzeville and south-side communities. She a board member and officer of two professional women's associations, Chicago Financial Women and Tempo International, and member of the Executive Club of Chicago and its Finance Committee.

For more information on the Athena Foundation, please visit their website: www.athenafoundation.org

Do you know of a fellow Chicago Financial Women Member who should be recognized?

We'd love to hear more!

Please send us a note at info@chicagofw.org

The Chicago Financial Women's organization is proud to announce the sponsorship of finance oriented educational courses conducted by the non-profit group, Junior Achievement. The classes, "Finance Park" and "Economics for Success", were chosen because they help to provide

middle school children with a practical foundation of financial education. The courses emphasize the economic benefits of staying in school. These programs align with the Chicago Financial Women's goal to positively

impact the community through philanthropic programs.

The Finance Park course helps students build a foundation for making intelligent, lifelong, personal financial decisions through hands-on, realistic site based experiences. Concepts discussed include budgets, careers, investments, money and taxes. The course offers in-school, teacher led activities and post on site experiences.

The Economics for Success course explores personal finance and students' education and career options based on their skills, interests and values. Topics explored include credit, insurance, decision making, risk, and self knowledge. The course entails six required, volunteer led activities.

Chicago Financial Women is very proud to be sponsoring such an important organization.