“Community leadership and mentoring of high potential young women needs to begin well before they start their careers.  It is often the things we learn outside formal academic or work environments that have the greatest impact and influence in our lives, which led to the creation of DM&A’s annual Me and My Community_TM event. The program is designed for high school girls with high potential, but limited opportunity for exposure to Central Florida’s female executive leaders.  The premise behind Me and My Community_TM is to expose young women to the importance of community leadership”, says Diane Meiller, President of Diane Meiller and Associates, Inc., a performance excellence consulting firm headquartered in downtown Orlando.

On June 19^th, Diane Meiller and Associates, Inc. hosted the third annual Me and My Community_TM.  This year, the program welcomed outstanding students from nine Orange County high schools to participate in a one-day interactive problem-solving and mentoring event.  Its purpose is to teach high school women the importance of leadership, teamwork, collaboration, professional communication, compromise, and passion in building first class solutions which have the greatest benefit for the holistic success of the community.  In partnership with Junior Achievement of Central Florida, DM&A hosts this all day event for high school women that have been selected by their school administrators based upon academic and leadership potential. The project based format provides participants the opportunity to work with their peers throughout Orange County, while being “mentored” by outstanding female community leaders. This year’s mentors included: Mary Mahoney, Principal at J. Robinson Group; Laura Pooser, Director of Development for the College of Health & Public Affairs at University of Central Florida Foundation; Linda Beach, Senior Publisher at Apartment Finders; Florrie Yee, Senior Consultant at Diane Meiller & Associates, Inc.; and Anne Chinoda, Partner at Strategic Healthcare Solutions.

The day began with a keynote address by Dr. Deborah German, Dean of the College of Medicine at University of Central Florida who described her journey to becoming one of Central Florida’s most influential leaders, and more importantly, the obstacles and failures that shaped her success.  Then, the young women broke into groups to tackle important community issues ranging from unemployment to health care reform to higher education.  Breaking only for a quick lunch donated by Jason’s Deli, the students worked tirelessly to both come up with a solution to their assigned issue and collaborate with other groups to ensure the best outcome for the entire community.  A panel of judges comprised of professional executive women including Judy Holcomb, Professor at the Rosen School of Hospitality at University of Central Florida; Leslie O’Meara-Malfitano, Director of Human Resources at Diane Meiller & Associates, Inc; and Maria Camacho, Vice President of Program Management at Wyndham Vacation Ownership evaluated each team on scorecard criteria including their understanding of the problem, creativity, presentation skills, use of budget, and collaboration with others to select the winning team.

The winning team, a group that focused on the issue of accessible higher education for Central Floridians created a program called S.T.A.R., Soaring Toward Academic Readiness, that offered a seven year curriculum, starting in sixth grade and ending in twelfth, that prepared students for success at a collegiate level.  This group was presented with a monetary reward that they decided to split evenly between the members of the group and a donation to Operation Positive Direction, an Orlando Police Department youth mentoring program.

For mor information about DM&A’s Me and My Community program, click here.

Leslie O’Meara-Malfitano, Director of Human Resources

Diane Meiller and Associates, Incorporated is pleased to welcome Ms. Leslie O’Meara-Malfitano as the Director of Human Resources, where she will have responsibility for managing all aspects of staff augmentation, resource development, and HR policies.  Prior to joining DM&A, Ms. O’Meara-Malfitano held positions in Business and Resource Development for a global Information Technology services and solutions company.  In addition, she spent several years as a Senior Human Resource Generalist for Office Depot, Inc headquartered in Delray Beach, FL where she was responsible for recruiting, staff augmentation, compensation and benefits, employee retention and organizational development for the 400+ employees within the Information Technology division.

Ms. O’Meara-Malfitano earned her undergraduate degree from the Florida State University and her Masters in Human Resource Management from Nova Southeastern University.

Bringing a breadth of skill and experience in staff resource development and retention, Ms. O’Meara-Malfitano is a strong addition to the performance excellence team at Diane Meiller and Associates, Incorporated.

Shannon Brockman, Intern

“Resource Management” presented by Serena Frank, Principal Consultant DM&A, Former IT Leader at Wyndham, Harcourt, Disney, and IBM.

“Cost Management” presented by Donna Lash, Senior Consultant DM&A, Former IT Leader at Wyndham, Cheap Tickets, The Limited. 

“EPK-Tool Demonstration and Example”,  Rich Murphy, Managing Partner, EPK Group

Event will be held at the Citrus Club, 255 South Orange Avenue, 18th Floor, Orlando, FL.  Lunch will be provided and the cost of the event is $30 per person (check payable to Diane Meiller and Associates, Inc.). Please RSVP to cioforum@meillerassociates.com or 407-487-1992 by May 5th, 2010.  Seating is limited. 

Donna Lash, Senior Consultant

Donna Lash joins Diane Meiller and Associates as a Senior Consultant.  Ms. Lash has over 20 years of information technology experiences that includes 10 years in leadership positions complimented by 10 years of practical execution in implementation of large scale technology solutions, establishing project management offices, creating strategic sourcing practices emphasizing the importance of vendor management and procurement procedures and defining technology strategy and organizational vision.

Most recently, she was Vice President of Client and Program Management for Wyndham Vacation Ownership where she led the deployment of PMO processes resulting in double digit percent improvement in on-plan project delivery. In addition, she established the strategic sourcing practice focused on vendor selection, contract negotiations and relationship management which drove significant savings related to vendor consolidation and contract re-negotiations.

Prior to Wyndham, Ms. Lash was Vice President of Technology for Cheaptickets.com.  There, she led a team of over 90 software engineers, project managers, business analysts, quality assurance analysts and architects in delivery of online travel distribution and marketing solutions.  In addition, she worked on several merger and acquisitions in the travel distribution industry, establishing repeatable processes for due diligence including creation of business models to estimate and later execute the integration of merging companies.

Bringing a breadth of experience in repeatable, on-plan delivery of complex business solutions in the hospitality, travel distribution, retail, telecom and financial industries, Ms. Lash is a strong addition to the performance excellence team at Diane Meiller and Associates, Incorporated.

As we head into the second quarter of 2009, the shock of 2008 has faded, and our desire to build an even stronger economy increases, we continually assess our objectives, values, and contribution both professionally and personally.  Over the past several months, I’ve had the opportunity to meet with numerous colleagues, clients, consultants, industry and community leaders, and overall job seekers, about where we are today and expectations for the future, and it never ceases to impress me how motivated and realistically optimistic most people are about the path of our community and economic prospects for the future.

In February, I was fortunate to be included in a delegation of local leaders accompanying Mayor Crotty on a Metro Orlando EDC on a trip to Dubai.  Similar to Orlando, Dubai’s main industry is tourism, with an additional focus on building a health care city to provide world class medical services in the Mid-East.  Some of the trip’s highlights included meeting with the head of transportation in Dubai and learning about the rapid implementation of a rail system, which transports tourists, residents, and business people throughout the city via a modern, convenient commuter rail system.

We were present when Anne Chinoda, The CEO of Florida’s Blood Centers, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Minister of Health for the United Arab Emirates, which initiates the first-ever collaborative blood cell research effort between her organization and the UAE Health Administration.  Additionally, we met with Central Florida executives currently doing business in the Middle-East, as well as numerous other leaders of health care and hospitality organizations.  The common comment by many of those that we met with was how surprised and impressed they were by the depth and breadth of Central Florida’s industry diversity; specifically health care, biomedical research and training, digital media, and engineering/construction.  These economic missions are critical in expanding the awareness of our region’s repository of talent and expertise to attract economic investment in the Orlando area.

Locally, DM&A has certainly felt the impact of the economic slowdown like many of our contemporaries, but remain committed to providing value to our clients and community to help others get through these tough times to reposition enterprises for competitive advantage and success.  Now is the time to look ahead, invest wisely today for a prosperous economic rebound.

DM&A continues to work with clients as they transform their businesses, and IT functions.  Specifically, engagements in 2009 have included Corporate Strategic Planning, Risk Mitigation, Governance, Portfolio/Project Management and Business Process Efficiency and Execution.

I want to personally thank our consultants, colleagues, clients and community partners for their continued confidence and partnership with DM&A and look forward to a year of growth and prosperity.  Diane Meiller

DM&A Staff

Serena Frank Presents to SIM

Serena Frank, Principal of Governance and Strategy of DM&A, was the guest speaker at the Central Florida Chapter of SIM’s March meeting. The topic of her presentation was “IT Governance, Project Portfolio Management, and Business Alignment through Relationship Management”.  If you would like to see this presentation, please contact Diane Meiller or Serena Frank at dmeiller@meillerassociates.com or sfrank@meillerassociates.com

UCF Internship at DM&A

DM&A welcomed Eric Kami , a UCF student, who joined our staff in October of 2008 to observe our consulting business and shadow both Diane and Cheryl throughout the-day-to-day operations of the business.

Eric currently a junior at UCF is preparing for his LSAT’s while also leading several organization.  Eric’s busy schedule has required him to return to his academics full time.  While at DM&A Eric demonstrated a strong work ethic, a commitment to excellence and a professional demeanor.  We wish Eric much success in his endeavors!

Diane Meiller Joins SIM Central Florida Chapter Board of Directors

The Central Florida Chapter of SIM, recently appointed Diane Meiller to their Board of Directors as Director of Communications and Publicity Chair.  For more information on SIM and the local chapter, please go to www.simnet.org

SIM (Society of Information Management) is a professional non-profit society that provides Central Florida’s Chief Information Officers and other IT leaders the opportunity: To give back to the community, to further create opportunity for others and enhance Central Florida’s reputation nationwide as a community of outstanding technology leaders.  This is accomplished through mentoring, scholarships and speaker programs; To learn from contemporaries, business executives, technology experts, and community leaders by leveraging shared experiences; To enable career development through increased knowledge and greater exposure in the community and help develop the next generation of IT leaders; To network among peers who become confidantes, advisors, and friends; To act as the voice of the IT community on critical issue.

BioFlorida

Diane Meiller co-chairs with Anne Chinoda, CEO of Florida’s Blood Centers, on BioFlorida conference, scheduled for November 2009.

2008 Holiday Party

DM&A hosted its’ annual holiday gathering with clients, friends and colleagues.  With the changes in the economy that impacted so many, the holidays were a perfect time to remind us of hope and good will.  Thank you for celebrating with us!

To teach the energy balance equation, HMC linked the Safe Routes to School Program to the Team Nutrition Challenge and  provided bike, pedestrian, and traffic safety encouraging youth to bike and walk to school.  

When many of the local food stamp offices closed, Health Masters Club received funding from the USDA to pilot a “mobile education station” food stamp outreach utilizing a bilingual worker.  When Orange County Healthy Start Coalition was chosen to participate in the Black Infant Health Initiative, Health Masters Club joined the team.  HMC produced public service announcements for radio and television to raise awareness about some of the leading causes of black infant death including maternal health, teenage pregnancy, prematurity, and obesity. 

Dr. Moody, Founder of the Health Masters Club spearheaded the formation of Healthy Breast 2020 and Breast Health for Divas.  This project received a proclamation from the City of Apopka.  Breast Health for Divas is a television production which integrates nutrition, fitness and stress management in the prescription for breast cancer prevention.  

Please visit the Health Master Club website for more information at healthmastersclub.org.

Aaron

Joanne

Ken