“Passion, Energy, and Enthusiasm: WISE Portland Marks Official Launch With Jan. 21 Introduction Event” - Sport Oregon Voices

Sport Oregon Voices:

Local businesswomen pave the way for leading voice and resource for women in sports and events business chapter

The level of excitement for Jan. 21 is palpable for the board members, committee chairs and many volunteers of the new Women in Sports and Events (WISE) Portland chapter. On that date, WISE Portland will be hosting its first community event – “A Fireside Chat: An Introduction to WISE Portland” – as an official chapter, culminating almost two years of resourceful and purposeful work to get the chapter off the ground.

A leading voice and resource for women in sports and events business, WISE is an organization dedicated to assisting women in navigating and accelerating their careers, helping women understand their collective value, fostering peer connections and championing the hiring and advancement of women in the industry. Also core to its organizational goals, WISE promotes the sharing of diverse perspectives and encourages male representation among its membership.

As with many launch projects such as this, the path to Jan. 21 had the usual road bumps often associated with such an endeavor. But, especially for the Portland founding members, that makes it even more rewarding to see the chapter off and running.

One such member, Diane Penny, was one of the local professional women with an independent interest in starting a chapter here in Portland. Little did she know at the time, there were other conversations happening by others in town. So, really, it was just a matter of finding a way to get everyone together, somehow.

“We found out that there had been all these conversations happening with women in Portland about the need and desire for a chapter,” said Penny, the senior vice president and general manager of NBC Sports Northwest and a Sport Oregon board member. “But none of us had connected the dots on that conversation to have it with each other. We just felt like we were each standing on an island, saying ‘why is there not a chapter here?’”

So with a little help from Jim Etzel, CEO of Sport Oregon, the group initially connected in the spring of 2019, first by getting a joint conversation started with Amanda Mann, senior vice president and general manager of Rose Quarter operations, and Amy Ziskin, then vice president of partnership marketing with Portland Thorns FC and the Portland Timbers. 

Both Mann and Penny had been involved with WISE previously, furthering their motivation to see a chapter in Portland became an eventuality. 

Mann was a WISE member in Houston, and upon relocating to Portland was searching for a chapter in her new city. Penny had been involved with WISE chapters in Los Angeles and San Diego in the past. And, while residing in Dallas with a desire to eventually move back to the Portland area, she became a long-distance member of the San Francisco chapter, as it was the closest to the Pacific Northwest at the time.

Needless to say, both had a passion for bringing WISE to Portland, and were pleased to see so many others did, too, including team members from the Sport Oregon staff who have been encouraged and involved from the early stages while contributing in various capacities.

“I really strongly believed in the community that WISE was inspiring and empowering and the content they were providing for the development of their mission, which is really the empowerment of women, but also mentorship, which is a cornerstone of the organization,” Penny said.

While WISE has set programs throughout the year involving the participation of all chapters, it’s the local chapters who are encouraged to create their own programming based on their marketplace. So, a good deal of the Portland chapter’s continued work and interest now that it has launched will be dedicated to creating and implementing these programs of local interest. Portland, in particular, is keen on promoting the event side of the organization to position the chapter in a way that encourages broader membership.

Next week’s launch event is just the beginning. From there, WISE Portland will jump right in supporting the national organization’s programs in addition to sowing the seeds of its own chapter-specific programs. 

February sees Portland’s support of the Feb. 3 National Girls and Women in Sports Day and a Feb. 17 Financial Fitness chapter signature event. A host of activities are on tap in March in celebration of Women’s History Month, including “Power Play: Up Close With…” which is a series that brings together executive-level female sports business leaders from the same organization for a panel discussion on career issues. Mid-month, a WISE/R Symposium will be held virtually on March 15, and the following day (March 16) are the virtual WISE Women of the Year awards.

With nearly 30 chapters in North America, WISE recently has added a Seattle chapter as well, which has proved quite helpful to the Portland launch with the two organizations routinely sharing notes and ideas, along with providing support for one another. New chapters in Dallas and Salt Lake City have recently come online as well, providing even further resources for the Portland group to tap into during the start-up process and generally avoid starting from scratch in a lot of instances.

But the days of establishing bylaws, registering 501(c)(3) status and the basic organization work are now behind the team at WISE Portland, which began its member-recruitment process in late 2020. Now, the truly exciting and rewarding part for this enterprising group is about to begin.

“It’s so great – we’ll do a board/committee chair call, and there’s just so much passion, energy and enthusiasm, and overall excitement for this to finally be launching, and to do it formally and officially,” said Penny. “It’s just been an amazing team effort and I look forward to the exciting possibilities that lie ahead for all of us.”

To learn more about the many benefits of WISE and how to become a member, please visit the WISE membership page and be sure to check the Portland Chapter box.