Episode 167: Celebrating Women in Business
This week (Sept. 20 and 21) the Women’s Business Enterprise Council South (WBEC South) will host their annual WE Summit Awards and Scholarship Gala at the Roosevelt Hotel. Who is the WBEC South and why should women owned businesses get certified with them? President and CEO Phala Mire shares all the details and benefits on this week’s podcast.
about
Phala Kimbrough Mire is the president and CEO of the Women’s Business Enterprise Council South (WBEC South), a regional partner organization of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC). A non-profit executive for over 25 years, Mire currently orchestrates business growth and certification programs for women owned businesses in the South and is a renowned advocate and thought leader on entrepreneurship, diversity, inclusion, and women in business.
Prior to her work at WBEC South, she led the Southern Region Minority Supplier Development Council. Her accomplishments there included raising the council’s network rating from 34th to the top 10 and tripling revenues within her first three years. She simultaneously operated an MBDA center for eight years, oversaw the recovery of council operations in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and led the successful merger of the Louisiana, Arkansas-Mississippi and Alabama affiliate councils to form the new Southern Region MSDC in 2015.
A graduate of Tulane (B.A.) and Louisiana State University (Shreveport, MBA), Mire is co-founder of the groundbreaking Bigger Discussion series on ‘The Future of Supplier Diversity’. In 2020, she was honored as a City Business ‘Woman of the Year’ and inducted into the National Women’s Business Hall of Fame.
