NewsonWomen: Women in Business, Women Entrepreneurs, Women in the News

Avon CEO Sheri McCoy made Co-Chair of "FIRST" Board of Directors.

FIRST,  not-for-profit organization that inspires young people to participate in science and tech, appointed Sheri McCoy as Co-Chair of the Board of Directors for the international organization. Sheri, who holds a masters in chemical engineering from Princeton University, and an MBA from Rutgers, is CEO of Avon Products Inc. Read more in the Business Wire press release.

Women in Healthcare - Melissa Frieswick made Vice President of Strategic Solutions at Branson's Virgin HealthMiles.

Virgin HealthMiles, Inc., part of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, appointed Melissa Frieswick Vice President of Strategic Solutions. Melissa had been a business leader at Dominium Benefits and before that had leadership roles at Cigna Healthcare. Virgin HealthMiles is a health engagement platform for corporations to encourage employees to lead healthier lifestyles. Read more in the Business Wire press release.

Karen Swager made Vice President of Phosphate Mining at The Mosaic Company.

The Mosaic Company promoted Karen Swager to Vice President of Phosphate Mining operations. Karen, who holds a Master of Science in Metallurgical Engineering from Michigan Technological University, had been General Manager of their Four Corners Mine. Read more in the prnewswire press release.

Women in Science - Dr. Jessica Grossman made President and CEO of Sense4Baby.

Sense4Baby, Inc., a startup developing a "portable, remote, wireless maternal/fetal heart rate monitoring system to perform non-stress testing for mothers in high-risk pregnancies", appointed Jessica Grossman, M.D., its President and Chief Executive Officer. Jessica had been Medical Director at Ethicon Endo-Surgery, a Johnson & Johnson company, and before that spent ten years in the startup medical device world. Read more in the prnewswire press release.

Women Engineers - "the skill set to build anything you can dream of" Debbie Sterling, Engineer and Founder of GoldieBlox, explains why she started her company to help girls learn to love engineering! You will love this Video! Every Woman should watch it!

Sustainability - Beatriz Perez, Coke Chief Sustainability Officer, talks about the "5by20" Initiative, designed to inspire 5 million Women Entrepreneurs by 2020.

Women in Engineering - Leah Busque, Founder of Task Rabbit, on how to go from Engineer to Entrepreneur!

Women in Engineering - Watch Kellan Elliott-McCrea talk about how Etsy grew their Number of Female Engineers by 500% in one year! Great ideas for others who want to hire Women Engineers!

Women in Science - Syros Pharmaceuticals raises $30 million in new Funding and Dr. Nancy Simonian becomes CEO.

Syros Pharmaceuticals, involved in gene control for the treatment of cancer and more diseases, raised $30 million Series A financing. Nancy Simonian, M.D. will be their Chief Executive Officer. Nancy had been Chief Medical Officer at Millennium Pharmaceuticals and before that, Vice President of Clinical Development at Biogen. Read more in the Business Wire press release.

Cleave Biosciences, whose CEO is Dr. Laura Shawver, raises $10 million more in Series A Financing.

Cleave Biosciences, whose CEO is Dr. Laura Shawver, raised $10 million in Series A financing from new investor New Enterprise Associates (NEA), bringing its Series A total to $54 million.  Read more in the company press release. Watch Laura talk about women in biotech.

Women in Science - Dr. Cori Bargmann to Co-Chair Working Group for Obama's "Brain Initiative".

Dr. Cori Bargmann, the Head of the Lulu and Anthony Wang Laboratory of Neural Circuits and Behavior at Rockefeller University, has been appointed by President Obama to lead a major new brain research initiative. The "Brain Initiative" will work to help researchers find new ways to treat, cure, and even prevent brain disorders like Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, and traumatic brain injury. $100 million in research will be supplied by The National Institutes of Health, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the National Science Foundation. Read more in the White House press release. Watch Cori talk about the brain!

16-year-old Girl, Katriona Guthrie-Honea, Spearheading Seattle’s first biotech hackerspace - from GeekWire.

By Taylor Soper from geekwire.com

"Katriona Guthrie-Honea had a great idea. Last year, as a freshman at Ingraham High School in Seattle, she taught herself enough biology to make a molecular model of a gene-specific biosensor — yes, as a 15-year-old. More than 300 hours of work led the teen-whiz to the grand prize at 2012 NWABR biotech expo. (Then she had)... another great idea: Create the city’s first biotech hackerspace — a community space for anyone to test out their scientific endeavors." Read more about the amazing Katriona and her project which needs funding on geekwire.com.

Sloan Research Fellowship goes to Sarah Koch, Math Lecturer at Harvard.

A Sloan Research Fellowship, awarded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to early career scientists and scholars identified as scientific leaders of the future, was given to Sarah C. Koch, a Benjamin Peirce Lecturer on Mathematics at Harvard University. Sarah was one of five scholars from Harvard who were chosen to receive awards. Sarah plans to use the award "to further her research into complex analysis and dynamical systems". Read more about it on harvard.edu.

Sandra Kurtzig, Founder and CEO of Kenandy (named after her two sons!), Talks about Starting Out at 23 and the "Flinch Method" of Pricing!

Danielle Fong, Co-Founder of LightSail Energy which is developing Compressed Air Energy Storage, Explains how to Provide Clean Energy. Watch and Learn about Renewable Energy.

Anne Wojcicki, 23 and Me Co-Founder, Talks about How Consumers can Change the Healthcare System. Watch the Video.

Spiral Genetics, co-founded by CEO Adina Mangubat, Raises $3 million in Series A Funding

Spiral Genetics, co-founded by CEO Adina Mangubat (pictured), raised $3 million in Series A Funding. Becky Drees, the company's Chief Scientific Officer who holds a a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of California, Berkeley, is also a Co-Founder. Read more about the deal on gigaom.com.

Ellen Strahlman Made Chief Medical Officer and SVP, Research & Development at Becton Dickinson

Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE: BDX), the global medical technology company, appointed Ellen Strahlman, M.D., M.H.Sc., Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President, Research & Development. Ellen had been SVP and Chief Medical Officer at GlaxoSmithKline. Read more in the prnewswire press release.

Swallow Solutions, a life sciences company founded by Dr. JoAnne Robbins, Raises $1 million in Series A Funding.

Swallow Solutions, LLC, a life sciences company founded by Dr. JoAnne Robbins, raised $1.046 million in Series A funding, led by Venture Management. JoAnne is a Professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine, and is Public Health and Associate Director of the Geriatric Research Educational and Clinical Center at the Veterans Hospital in Madison. Read more about the deal in the Business Wire press release.

DuPont CEO Ellen Kullman Shows Why Education System needs to Change and the Outlook for Women. Watch Video!