Our Founders
Caroline Worley (Right) Co-founder
Mary McCarthy (Left) Co-founder and President
President: McCarthy has 20+ years of experience as an entrepreneur and is the owner and founder of YMT Consultants, Inc., a business consulting and development firm. McCarthy is the former Chairperson of SCORE Columbus, sat on the Athena PowerLink Governing Body, sits on the programming committee for the Westerville Chamber, and public policy committee for National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) Columbus Chapter. She is a former member of the now-retired Ohio Department of Development’s Small Business Advisory Council. In 2018, Mary was hired as the WSBA’s president. Her leadership and passion for the organization and its mission cannot be matched. She plans to take the organization to the next level and beyond.
Our Board of Directors
Teresa Russell
Board Chair
Teresa Russell
Teresa is an Independent Wealth Advisor with LPL Financial. She brings an all-inclusive perspective to working with her clients, helping both individuals and businesses to build their financial future. As an investment adviser Teresa prides herself in her comprehensive financial planning services, long term growth strategies, and implementation and management that can assist in maximizing her client’s financial well-being. Teresa attended The Ohio State University and is alumni member of Delta Delta Delta Sorority. Teresa resides in Powell with her husband of 23 years and their two teenaged children. She is involved with several charitable organizations, including the American Red Cross, and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. In addition, Teresa is involved with The Women's Small Business Accelerator (WSBA), is a member of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) and is a member of the Business Advisory Council for Olentangy Local Schools.
Bhakti Bania
Co-Vice Chair
Bhakti Bania
CEO / AIA LEED AP, BBCO Design
Bhakti is a registered architect in the State of Ohio and in India as well as a LEED Accredited Professional with over 20 years of work experience. She has worked on a variety of projects, ranging from single family to large multifamily projects and dense mixed-use urban new builds and renovations. Her expertise lies in her ability to distill the big ideas of a project and express these comprehensively in presentations to committees and design boards.
Bhakti is proficient in designing complex programs into a limited footprint while still maintaining a high design standard. She is interested in exploring new and interesting uses for common building materials, with an emphasis on quality over quantity.
In her current role as CEO of BBCO Design, Bhakti has relentlessly built a strong client base for the company by maintaining existing client relationships and developing new business. An excellent communicator, she has been instrumental in leading the company to its current success.
Wes Almond
Co-Vice Chair
Wesley Almond
Vice President, MCR Medical Supply
As a key-employee position within the management team, Wes oversees and supervises the overall operation of the company’s activities and is responsible for keeping employees aligned with the goals and culture of the company. He works closely with the company President to creatively increase revenue, expand the company footprint, and further MCR Medical’s market share. Strongly focused on risk management and compliance aspects.
MCR Medical Supply, Inc. is owned and operated by seasoned CPR, First Aid, and CERT instructors / instructor trainers with decades of first aid instructing and practical field experience. We are wholesale suppliers of First Aid, CPR and disaster preparedness products, including materials needed by instructors.
MCR Medical Supply was awarded the Diversity in Business Award and has been recognized as one of the “Fast 50” (the fastest-growing companies) in Central Ohio by Columbus Business First magazine in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.
MCRmedical.com
Cindi Englefield
Secretary
Cindi Englefield, Secretary
Owner, Englefield Business Advisors, LLC.
Cindi owns Englefield Business Advisors, LLC, where she helps small business owners startup, grow, right-size, or prepare to sell their businesses. She started and grew her own educational publishing business over 20 years until she sold the business in 2011. She graduated from The Ohio State University with a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration where she majored in Marketing. Her passion is for solving the challenges of business. She attributes her success to being a member of organizations like Women Presidents’ Organization and National Association of Women Business Owners, as well as having many strong advisors. Cindi believes in philanthropy and is a board member and involved with many non-profits like the Healthy LifeStars® and the Women’s Small Business Accelerator. She was selected to be on the Columbus Chamber of Commerce Small Business Council. And, she is an Angel Investor. She enjoys golf, fishing, arts and crafts, reading, hiking, and horseback riding. She and Dave live in Dublin, Ohio to be close to their combined five children and their families and spend the cold winter months in Scottsdale, Arizona with their yellow Labrador retriever, Zelda.
Caroline Worley, Co-Founder
Caroline is the in-house council at The Champion Companies, and former owner of Worley Law, LLC, a legal practice focused on mid-sized business, which she founded in 2009. Before starting Worley Law, LLC, Caroline worked with other law firms, both large and small, and as an Assistant County Prosecutor in Franklin County, Ohio. Caroline serves on the Columbus Chamber's Small Business Council, as a Trustee of the Westerville Chamber, and as Past President for the Columbus Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners. Caroline was named a top 20 finalist for the 2012 Jefferson Awards, was chosen as Westerville Chamber's 2013 Outstanding Business Person of the Year, WELD'S 2014 Woman You Should Know honoree and received a 2014 Honorable Mention for the 2014 Enterprising Women of the Year Awards. Additionally, Caroline received the Columbus Chamber's 2014 Small Business Leader Award, 2015 Sunny 95 Outstanding Women honoree and received the 2015 Capital University Law School Alumni Outstanding Service Award. In August of 2014, Caroline completed a full Ironman triathlon.
Damon Cockrel
Best-Selling Author, Damon Cockrel is a mobile strategist and digital marketer who has been guiding entrepreneurs and sales professionals to success for over thirty years. His teams and students have been responsible for millions in goods and services provided to consumers at retail and to clients in both the public and private sectors.
A wireless industry pioneer, Damon served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Future Communications, Inc. which began as a garage-based business and expanded to a regional presence over his tenure. In addition to stand-alone stores, the company's retail footprint extended into Wal-Mart, K-Mart and Meijer with the “Future Cellular Express" brand. These strategic partnerships gave Future a total of thirty-six locations, making it the market's largest mobile retailer.
His passion for small business, and love for helping the underdog triumph, led to Damon founding Pocket Marketing Group LLC. The company has a singular focus; make mobile apps, location-based marketing, notification marketing and other enterprise-grade technology accessible and affordable to small and medium enterprise.
Damon's vision and influence was recognized by the National Academy of Best-Selling Authors with a Quilly Award for the book "Change Agents" and a Thought Leader of the Year nomination. He remains committed to leveling the playing field so that entrepreneurs can win against larger, more dominant, competitors.
Diana Westhoff
Diana Westhoff is a professional leader achieving service excellence and financial results through collaboration, communications, consultation, inclusion, and leadership development. Thriving in a fast-paced environment and consistently delivers in challenging situations, she is a highly networked individual and public speaker on diversity & inclusion and leadership development topics to large corporations, in both consulting and volunteer roles, for some of central Ohio’s largest organizations.
People are her project, and her product. She instinctively develops people and tends to do it by bringing method and process and accountability to what she does. She believes that structure supports growth, rather than hinders it, and is constantly thinking about how she can build systems for learning, systems for development. She is natural at on-boarding people -- if not doing it officially, nevertheless the colleague who takes new team members under her wings and makes sure that they have someone to turn to for answers. She is a natural trainer and works to build a learning organization, a place intentionally designed to expand each person's experience, understanding, and performance.
Diana’s professional career spanned 40 years in the financial services industry. During her tenure at these organizations, she is certified in DDI and Crucial Conversations coursework, created Onboarding programs, managed internal business communications to approximately 1,000 Commercial colleagues, partnered with Risk and Compliance colleagues managing regulatory projects.
Diana’s passion for community involvement and women development is demonstrated by establishing two women’s business resource groups for two companies and, consistently recruited to consult with other organizations around the process to establish company’s employee resource groups. At the end of the day, her passion is helping women and reaching back to bring women forward.
She is most proud of her work with WELD (Women for Economic and Leadership Development) as she is a founding member, a 2015 Women You Should Know Honoree, a Past Board Member and currently manages the three National Virtual Programs for the organization and serves on the National Advisory Council.
Diana has also supported the following organizations:
• Faith Mission Advisory Council Member
• Action for Children, Past Board Chair, Board Member 8 years
• Make a W.I.S.H. 2016 Honoree (Women Inspiring Strength & Hope)
• Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges (OFIC) Past Board Trustee
• Girl Scouts of Heartland Ohio, Past Board Development Committee Chair, Ex-Officio Board Member
• Women Leadership Council (WLC), Founding Member
• Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA), Founding Member & Past Board Member
• Freedom a la Cart Past Board Member & Co-Chair of the 2022 & 2023 Eat Up Columbus Annual Fund-raiser
• New Directions Career Center 2022 & 2023 Woman of Promise Co-Chair
Diana holds a Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Communications from Otterbein University, Westerville, Ohio. She lives in Columbus, Ohio and enjoys spending time with her husband Robert and dog, Zinnie, and tasting great wine.
Lindsey Osting
Growing up, there were two things you could always count on with me.
First, my knees were always scraped up. Second, I was always on the move. Scraped up knees and always on the move were reflective of my willingness to try something new and when I did, I gave it my all.
My career has been like that too. I pretty much knew I would end up in healthcare. It’s where I had an interest and I come from a long line of nurses and doctors. I can’t say I intentionally charted a path to become a hospital President. What I can say is I love that this is where I landed.
Sure, there’s an element of predictability when I look at where I’ve been and what I’ve done but that’s hindsight. It wasn’t deliberate and it wasn’t linear. I’ve been a nurse at the bedside, I’ve practiced in a physician’s office, I’ve been in nursing administration, and I even worked in a clinical technology role. Add all of that up and I realize it was perfect training for what I am doing today.
I have lived in the clinical world. I understand the needs of patients.
I understand the challenges of the clinician. I’ve experienced firsthand the important role support services play. I know how to lead by influence.
I’ve worked to connect dots for people. I get to use all of that experience as President of OhioHealth’s Doctors Hospital. Then I’ve also got my “bonus perks.” By that I mean I get to engage with the community we serve. I am also helping to keep our osteopathic heritage front and center as we care for patients and prepare the next generation of providers.
Healthcare isn’t easy. Leadership isn’t easy. It requires acommitment to being “all in.” There will always be some scrapped knees but for me, that’s okay. I get to work with extraordinary people everysingle day as we keep moving forward with our commitment to improvethe health of those we serve. Yes, I love where I am.
A native of Zambia and longtime New Yorker, Radha Desai is a recent transplant to Columbus, Ohio. She is currently an Associate Attorney at Ice Miller LLP, specializing in immigration law, where she provides corporate and individual clients with solutions to their business immigration needs.
Radha has always been passionate about women's issues and supporting women. This was instilled in her by her mum, dad, and four sisters. She believes that society cannot progress until we tackle the litany of hurdles women face to succeed. For this reason, she is a proud member of the WSBA Board and excited to further the organization's mission.
In her free time, Radha prioritizes spending time with her husband, daughter, and pup. They enjoy eating, hiking, and traveling together.
Sue Kantor
Sue is the Founder of Sophisticated Styling and her mission is to empower women through their appearance. As a trained image consultant and personal wardrobe stylist, Sue helps women with their closets and shopping to make the best choices for their lifestyle and career.
Winta Hayelom
Co-owner and operator
Flavor 91 Bistro is an all natural restaurant located in Whitehall, Ohio. Established in 2016, Flavor 91 Bistro serves American Fare with Ethiopian Flare including grass-fed burgers, vegan and vegetarian options, free range and cage free chicken wings, garden fresh salads, and heart warming soups.
Winta is the winner of the 2020 WSBA Pitch Competition and gives the board the of the day to day accounting of operating a business from a female business owner’s perspective.
Donna Binda is a Private Banker in the Columbus office of J.P. Morgan Private Bank. Donna works closely with accomplished individuals, business owners and families, acting as their champion and strategic partner on their journey towards the financial future they desire. Donna believes in the uniqueness of the individual—to her, no two clients are the same. She prides herself on understanding her clients life journey, family dynamics, priorities and pain points before providing thoughtful wealth management recommendations geared toward future goals. Donna combines her ten-plus years of financial services experience with J.P. Morgan’s best-in-class capabilities—investments, estate planning, lending, philanthropy and banking—delivering these in a personalized and bespoke manner. Clients value her genuine demeanor, problem-solving diligence and sense of ownership for all matters, large and small.