When the JOURNEY team put out the call in January for nominations and applications for JOURNEY Fellows, we hoped to get a good response. To be honest, we were a bit nervous as JOURNEY is a new and unique nonprofit organization. After receiving more than 200 applications and spending several weeks interviewing candidates, it was clear: A whole lot of visionary, innovative women on the cusp of breakthrough leadership feel underpowered and are hungry for opportunities to expand their impact. They just need pathways to power cleared.
Enter JOURNEY. Our mission is to accelerate the trajectory and diversity of women in leadership by connecting the world’s most promising emerging talent with the most impactful women leaders.
Today, we are thrilled to announce the inaugural class of JOURNEY Fellows. These two dozen women are leaders in tech, finance, healthcare, law, education, retail and other fields spanning the corporate, startup, and venture capital worlds. My colleagues and I, along with the JOURNEY Champions who helped us select the Fellows, were surprised to see a multitude of strong candidates in healthcare—disruptors profoundly improving access to caregiving and other services, particularly around mental health.
Our JOURNEY Fellows represent a broad diversity of racial, ethnic, geographic, economic, and career backgrounds. Research shows that having a variety of perspectives at the table produces better results. Today more than ever, we need diverse perspectives to tackle challenges such as climate change, access to education, the wealth gap, the digital divide, and global security, as well as access to healthcare.
I can hardly wait to see our Fellows scale their impact under the collective mentorship and sponsorship of our Champions.
Thank you to the impact-driven CEOs, startup founders, and venture capitalists who are our JOURNEY Champions. (See list here). And congratulations to our 2022-23 JOURNEY Fellows, whose inspiring bios you will find here.
Ivy Barney, Regional Vice President, Store Operations, Walmart
Melissa Barra, EVP, Chief Sales and Services Officer, Sleep Number
Shenna Bennett, Director of Global Logistics Operations, Dow
Regina Borda, Managing Director, Pizza Hut Latin America and Iberia, Yum! Brands
Adrienne Brown, Vice President, U.S. Diabetes, Eli Lilly
Lisa Dyson, Founder and CEO, Air Protein
Karen Fang, Global Head, Sustainable Finance, Bank of America
Emma Fuller, Director of Sustainability Science, Corteva Agriscience
Toni Y. Hickey, General Counsel, Cummins Filtration
Cherée Johnson, SVP and Chief Legal Officer, General Counsel & Secretary, Dentsply Sirona
Lindsay Jurist-Rosner, CEO, Wellthy
Elli Kaplan, CEO and Co-founder, Neurotrack
Cindy Kent, Chief Operating Officer, Everly Health
April Koh, CEO and Founder, Spring Health
Elena Kvochko, Chief Trust Officer, SAP
Jaclyn McQuaid, Executive Chief Engineer - Full Size Trucks, General Motors
Shally Pannikode, SVP and Chief Information Officer, Healthcare Services, Humana
Corbin Petro, CEO and Co-Founder, Eleanor Health
Laura Weidman Powers, Operating Partner, Base10 Partners
Yolanda Sanders, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Gap Inc.
Elise Smith, Co-Founder and CEO, Praxis Labs
Shelly Stoneman, SVP of Government Relations, BAE Systems
Martina Welkhoff, Founding Partner, WXR Fund
Denise Woodard, CEO and Founder, Partake Foods
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