In 1990 Women Executives’ Network (WEN) was begun by 5 women who initially intended to organize a local chapter of a national professional business woman’s organization. One of the first communications from that national organization told us that we needed to pay for a trip to Anniston for one of their organization experts. They also wanted to see a copy of our by-laws.
Since we did not have a treasury or a set of by-laws we decided to do our own thing. We created an organization that had no officers, no by-laws, no dues, no fundraisers, and no elections. The founding members were Becky Wood, Brenda Jackson, Paula Watkins, Cindy Nims, and Bonnie Schroeder.
We met early on at the Noble-McCaa Butler house and ate on Wedgwood China. We quickly moved to more comfortable meetings elsewhere. We have been with SouthTrust-Wachovia-Wells Fargo and the catering from Mashburns for quite some time now.
After a few years we instituted our $10 annual dues to defray the cost of postage and stationery. For over a decade we have donated our lunch overage charges to local charities at the end of the end of the year.
We also wrote up a brief set of guidelines for membership. The potential member has to be the highest level female in her organization. She must supervise at least 2 staff. Or, the potential member can be a professional such as an accountant, lawyer, judge, doctor, etc. We allow multiple members from large employers such as RMC, the Depot, and JSU.
(The above history was provided by Paula Watkins, founding member.)