"A circle of women who don’t just network, we nurture. Who don’t just connect, we challenge. Who don’t just support, we strategize." – Stacie Spragins, 2024-2025 Mentee

Tuesday, June 3^rd, Executive Alliance graduated 10 women from its Effective Impact Mentoring Program. This 9-month program helps women at the mid-level of their career gain the skills they need to move into senior leadership roles by teaming 8 half-day professional development sessions with a one-on-one mentoring relationship with an Executive Alliance member. For more information about the cohort forming, see www.executivealliance.org/mentoring

At the graduation event, mentees and their supporters heard from mentees Diamond Frazier of SECU MD and Stacie Spragins of leadRpoint. Diamond and Stacie shared their experiences and growth through the program arc as representatives of their class. Diamond, Virtual Business Advisor at SECU, launched her own non-profit Better Than Yesterday Mentoring during the program year. She said, “I gave birth to a new version of myself; one who knows her worth, owns her power and refuses to wait for permission to succeed.” Stacie came to the program after starting her own consultancy, leadRpoint, sharing that the program created a fundamental shift for her. “This community didn’t just help me find my voice. You helped me hear it. I feel like a mighty warrior,” she says.

Mentoring co-chairs Tracy Imm, Tracy Imm Worldwide, and NaTasha Horton, Truist Bank, led the program, focusing on developing each mentee and matching mentees and mentors to create transformative relationships. NaTasha recognized the power of that mentoring relationship, saying “we often say that mentorship is a two-way street. As much as your mentors poured into you, you reminded us what purpose looks like in action. You challenged us to think differently, to listen more deeply, and to keep growing ourselves. For that, we thank you.”

Tracy spoke more broadly about the effect of the program, which has graduated over 220 women since 1997. “Executive Alliance’s Mentoring Program provides that safe space for mid-career women to engage candidly with executive women on workplace issues they are navigating. Our graduates consistently gain clarity around values, strengths, leadership styles while learning new skills. Co-chairing the program was a rewarding professional experience for me this past year and I’m grateful to have led the effort with NaTasha Horton from Truist Bank.”

Congratulations to our mentees – and their mentors!

Liz Acosta, Associate VP, Governance, United Way of Central Maryland, mentored by Carole Argo, NCIA. 

Rafaella Cuff, VP of Strategic Analytics, The Y in Central Maryland, mentored by Kim Davis, Versant / MetLife

Diamond Frazier, SECU and President/CEO, Better Than Yesterday Mentoring Inc., mentored by Damita McDonald, Notre Dame of Maryland University

Melissa Greeson, Chief Administrative Officer, Bolton, mentored by Lynne Durbin, Inline LLC

Nicklette Kitt, Community Relationship Coordinator, Johns Hopkins Federal Credit Union, mentored by Julie East, Julie East Consulting

Reilly Maxwell, Institutional Business Strategist, Brown Advisory, mentored by Greta Kessler, Marsh McLennan

Hannah Marcin Finifter, Project Manager, The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, mentored by Anna Maria Palmer, GBMC

Sara Powel, Family Law Director, Women’s Law Center, mentored by Rebecca Sinclair, Orrstown Bank

Maria Sefiani, Financial Center Manager, SECU of MD, mentored by Mara Sierocinski, Sandy Spring Bank, a division of AtlanticUnion Bank

Stacie Spragins, Founder, leadRpoint, mentored by Christine Walsh, Alpha Graphics & Red Start Creative

Click here to see our graduation program and click here to see the photos from the event.