Three electrical industry CEOs were among those honored recently at the Working Woman 500 Congress hosted by Working Woman magazine. The event brought together the chief executives of the 500 highest grossing woman-owned businesses in the United States.

Representing the industry were (pictured above left to right) Brenda Hoyt, president of Capitol Lighting & Restoration, Inc., Spring Lake, Mich.; Cheryl Thompson-Draper, chairman of the Warren Electric Group, Houston, Texas; Suzanne Millard, president of Turtle & Hughes, Inc., Linden, N.J., and her daughter Jayne Millard Clark, a board member of Turtle & Hughes.

Millard, who has been among the top 50 women executives in the nation recognized by the magazine for the past five years, was also a member of the advisory board responsible for the planning and structuring of the meeting, which was attended by some 600 woman executives. "This congress gave us the opportunity to network and engage in cross-cultural industry discussion, brainstorming and sharing of ideas," observes Millard.

The two-day conference covered issues that included updating technology systems for the year 2000, methods for raising capital, use of the Internet, alternative compensation strategies and the potential of government and corporate procurement contracts.

Hoyt, who founded Capitol Lighting & Restoration in 1984, says, "I think it's extremely important for any woman in business to attend meetings like the Working Woman 500 Congress," Hoyt says. " You have the opportunity to meet women from other industries who have similar goals and aspirations, and you get to talk with them about their problems and how they solved them."

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