Originally published by Williamson Homepage
Authored by Matt Blois
Courtney Bach, a senior leader at Brentwood-based LBMC who works in auditing and advisory, said it’s important for young professionals to see female business leaders. She joined LBMC right out of school about a dozen years ago.
“There were not a lot of women above me,” she said. “I didn’t have a lot of role models, specific females that I could look up to and say I want to do what you’re doing.”
Now, nine of the company’s 53 leaders at the shareholder level are women.
In 2010, LBMC started a program called Women Initiative Network that focuses on giving women within LBMC the opportunity to connect and learn from each other. That could mean retreats for female employees or panels with female leaders at the company.
Tammy Wolcott started a company called W Squared that provides back office services. LBMC acquired her business about two years ago.
She said she’s seen an increase in the number of women taking on leadership roles since starting her company in 2005.
“I was looking around the room at the health care council event recently. The health care council has a female president, and there were as many women in the audience,” she said. “There are a lot CEOs who have had successful exits and had big positions in Nashville.”
Both Wolcott and Bach said they benefited from supportive male mentors early on in their careers. They said men and women bring different perspectives, and that diversity can make businesses stronger.
“I think it’s seeing that you can be successful and it doesn’t have to look the exact same as your counterpart,” Bach said. “Confidence can look different in one person versus another. It doesn’t have to look the exact same.”