Susan Coleman, professor of finance in the Barney School of Business, and Alfa Demmellash, CEO of Rising Tide Capital in northern New Jersey, were the featured speakers at the first annual Gail Champlin Speakers Program on Tuesday, Nov. 3.

The program, which addressed the question "Can Women Save the Economy?", was presented by the Center for Professional Development and took place in Butterworth Hall on the University's Asylum Avenue campus. The Gail Champlin Speakers Program was established to honor the former senior director of the Center, Gail Champlin, for her 27 years of work on programs and services to help individuals in the Greater Hartford community.

Tuesday's event was emceed by Joan McDonald, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, who introduced the speakers and led a thought-provoking question-and-answer period at the end of the program.

In her remarks, Coleman focused on the importance of “women being there for other women” by serving as mentors and by supporting female entrepreneurs. She also stressed the importance of a good education in helping individuals to get through hard economic times. Furthermore, she encouraged women to “Be bold and take calculated risks. Failure is a part of the learning process.”

You can read Coleman's speech on the Center for Professional Development website, at www.hartford.edu/cfpd.

Demmellash told the story of her life growing up in Ethiopia, moving to the United States, and how her experiences overseas and her mother's efforts to run a small business inspired her to help others in need.

Demmellash, who moved to the United States at the age of 12, has devoted her life to poverty alleviation and conflict resolution. Inspired by Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Muhammad Yunas, Demmellash co-founded Rising Tide Capital, a non-profit microenterprise development organization that supports underserved entrepreneurs in low-income urban communities of northern New Jersey. In October 2009, out of 9,000 applicants from 100 countries, Demmellash was selected as a CNN Hero for the work she is doing with Rising Tide Capital.