100 Gather for Women’s Leadership Conference at UNC Asheville

Professional golfer Nancy Lopez, 48-time winner on the LPGA Tour, gave the keynote address to 100 guests at the Women’s Leadership Conference hosted at UNC Asheville.

Lopez was joined by a panel of women serving in leadership roles, including Nancy Henderson, president of the LPGA Foundation and chief teaching officer for LPGA; Christina Zacamy, managing director of Zacamy & Co., LLC; Sharon Ritchey, senior executive director and chief operating officer of AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company; and Kristy Roberts, Southeastern regional sales director of Medtronic.

“One of the things I know and I believe firmly … is that leadership happens at every level of an organization, and every level in the community,” said UNC Asheville Chancellor Mary K. Grant in her introduction of the panel. “Every one of us has the capacity to make a difference. And it’s about how we do it, it’s about who we surround ourselves with, and it’s about how we get to that end goal. This room is loaded with leaders.”

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Lopez spoke of the importance of support for women as leaders and as athletes in her own family. “As I learned to play the game, there were a lot of boundaries for women,” said Lopez, who played her first golf tournament at age eight, a time when women were typically restricted to playing on certain days and times. In high school, she was initially blocked from joining the varsity golf team but persevered with support from her dad. “He just kept encouraging me, telling me to keep being a good person and keep doing things right.”

Lopez quickly became one of America’s best-known female athletes, winning LPGA Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year, and Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year all in the same season. She retired with three major championships to her credit among her 48 LPGA event victories. Her company, Nancy Lopez Golf, makes a full line of women’s golf clubs and accessories.

The panel, which followed Lopez’ keynote, addressed research examining successful women in leadership roles, building personal leadership brands, the importance of programs teaching leadership skills to young girls, and how skills learned competing in golf can play a role in developing those leadership abilities among girls and women. UNC Asheville recently added women’s golf as its 16th NCAA Division I athletic program; the Bulldog women’s golf team will make its debut in the 2016-17 academic year. The Women’s Leadership Conference was sponsored by UNC Asheville Athletics.