The TCNJ Women’s Leadership Summit Committee consists of: Stephen Tomkiel, Assistant Dean, School of Business; Stephanie Horner, Assistant to the Dean, School of Business; Ro Multari, Program Assistant, School of Business; Quiana Starr, Program Assistant, School of Business; Gavin Farber, Coordinator for Undergraduate Advising, School of Business

Creativity strategist Dr. Natalie Nixon is the creativity whisperer to the C-Suite. Marketing guru Seth Godin has said that “she can help you get unstuck and unlock the work you were born to do.”
Natalie is the author of the forthcoming book “Move. Think. Rest.: Redefining Productivity and Our Relationship with Time” and the award-winning The Creativity Leap: Unleash Curiosity, Improvisation and Intuition at Work. She has been ranked in the 2024 Thinkers50 Radar cohort and among the top 50 keynote speakers in the world by Real Leaders, valued for her accessible expertise on creativity, the future of work, and innovation.

As CEO of Figure 8 Thinking, LLC, she advises leaders on how to catalyze creativity’s ROI for inspired business results. Her work has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, and Inc., and her clients have included Google, Meta, Deloitte, Salesforce, Coursera, and Cooley. Natalie’s experience living in 5 countries, combined with her background in anthropology, fashion, academia, and dance, distinguishes her as a one-of-a-kind creativity expert.

She received her BA (honors) from Vassar College and her PhD from the University of Westminster in London. She lives in her hometown of Philly with her husband, John Nixon, who is the proud stepmother of Sydney and loves ballroom, hip-hop dance, and open water swimming.

Dima is Middle-Eastern in her genes, American in her heart, and a global citizen in her spirit. Sheignites the untapped potential in individuals across the globe, empowering them to shatter limitations and become courageous, purpose driven leaders. Her own journey is one of escaping confinement, crossing continents, and transforming her life’s purpose. Harnessing the power of her story, Dima is committed to inspiring individuals to attain personal and professional growth.

Through keynote speeches, workshops, and executive coaching, Dima shares her unique leadership transformation journey with one goal in mind: motivate and activate those around her to reimagine their potential and grow into leaders.

Dima draws from two decades of corporate experience leading global teams and developing future leaders worldwide. She has worked across the United States, Europe, Asia, Middle East, and Africa for several Fortune 100 companies including IBM, Merrill Lynch, and Intuit. She has honed a keen expertise in developing leaders to meet the demands of the global workforce.

Dima’s memoir Breaking Vases received many awards including Writer’s Digest 2018 Grand Prize Award, Best Indie Book Award, Readers’ Favorite Award, National Indie Excellence Award, and Nautilus Book Award.

She has been recognized for her services with the 2014 President of the United States Bronze Volunteer Service Award, the 2019 Baton Rouge Business Report “Influential Women in Business,”2014 Baton Rouge Business Report’s “Forty Under 40” Award, and the 2016 Louisiana State University “Esprit de Femme Award.” She has been featured in numerous publications for her professional and philanthropic work.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dimaghawi/

Bozena Leven graduated from the Central School of Planning and Statistics, Warsaw, Poland with an M.A. in Economics (specializing in International Trade) and was awarded a Ph.D. in Economics from Cornell University. Her primary areas of study included International Economics and Economic Development. She has interspersed her academic duties with consulting stints at the Ford Foundation, International Affairs division assisting in their Soviet-East European program, the United Nations, office of the Under-Secretary-General, Department for Economic and Social Information and Policy Analysis, the William Davidson Institute, University of Michigan and the World Bank.  Her publications and research focus on two areas: financial restructuring of Eastern and Central Europe and the welfare effects of macroeconomic reforms in that region. She is also the Executive Director of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America in New York and the Interim Dean of the School of Business at the College of New Jersey.

Dr. Kathryn A. (Kate) Foster became the 16th president of The College of New Jersey in 2018.

A native of New Jersey and a scholar-educator with over thirty-five years of experience in public higher education, Foster comes to TCNJ from the University of Maine at Farmington (UMF) where she served as president from 2012 to 2018. Prior to the presidency, she was a Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution, on research leave from the State University of New York at Buffalo, her academic home from 1993 to 2012.

Foster earned her BA in geography from The Johns Hopkins University, her MCP (city planning) from the University of California, Berkeley, and her PhD in public and international affairs from Princeton University.

An overarching aim of Foster’s first year at TCNJ has been to clarify the college’s institutional priorities and align the relevant pieces – strategy, budget, capital investment plan, and programming – to ensure that the institution is making the most responsible and wise choices for today and tomorrow. This has involved the introduction of a new budget process to better align investment plans with priorities, and the development of key performance indicators to monitor progress.

Foster has placed particular emphasis on building a more inclusive community at TCNJ. The creation of a Division of Institutional Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; formation of a Bias Response Team; and the development of new education and advocacy programs are among the early achievements.