Enterprising Women

2006 Enterprising Women of the Year Awards — Hall of Fame Inductees

Issue: Vol. 7, No. 3

JANICE BRYANT HOWROYD is indeed a remarkable woman. She started her staffing business, The Act-1 Group, 25 years ago with a few thousand dollars and has since grown it to be the largest woman-owned, minority-owned staffing company in the country. She has offices in 75 cities and more than $600 million in annual revenues, with a goal of reaching the billion-dollar mark. Janice’s most spectacular growth has come in the last two years with the opening of Agile-1, a software division with a product that is now used by Fortune 500 and Fortune 100 companies.

Raised in Greensboro, NC, and a graduate of North Carolina A & T, Janice is one of 11 children — all college graduates. She serves on more than a dozen boards and has been the recipient of many awards, including the National Association of Women Business Owners' Woman Business Owner of the Year, the National Minority Supplier Development Council’s Business Person of the Year, and the Spirit of American Enterprise Presidential Award. She was designated the “Number One Woman-Owned Business” by the Los Angeles Business Journal, and one of the “50 Most Inspiring African Americans” by Essence magazine.

Janice Bryant Howroyd
Founder, Act-1 Group
Torrance, CA

MARTHA MAYHOOD MERTZ is a visionary philanthropist, a successful entrepreneur, and the founder of the ATHENA Award Program. Through her financial support and professional advocacy, over 5,000 recipients have received the award since the program began in 1982. At that time, the concept of women as leaders was not widely embraced. Martha’s vision was to capture the spirit of leadership that often is not reflected in the loudest voice or the wealthiest leader, but instead about a person who stays in it for the long run to commit to changing her community. In 2005, the organization changed its name to Athena International and expanded the leadership program around the globe.

As the president and owner of Mayhood/Mertz Investments, Inc., Martha established and manages a development and brokerage firm specializing in commercial and investment real estate holdings. She is also the project designer and facilitator of a custom-designed, two-day presentation centered on the ATHENA Leadership Model taught to college juniors and seniors.

A graduate of Michigan State University, her numerous awards include the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Michigan Women-in-Business Advocate, the National Association of Women Business Owners' Top 25 Women-Owned Businesses in Michigan, Toastmasters Communicator of the Year, and the YWCA Diana Award for Business Excellence.

Martha Mayhood Mertz
Founder, Athena Award Program
Sedonz, AZ

JUDI SHEPPARD MISSETT has brought a passion for fitness to thousands of individuals across the country as the founder of Jazzercise, the world’s leading dance fitness program. With more than 6,300 franchised Jazzercise instructors teaching 20,000 classes weekly in the United States and around the globe, Jazzercise offers a fusion of jazz dance, resistance training, Pilates, yoga, and kickboxing movements.

With programs designed to meet the needs of kids, teens, adults, and active seniors, Judi also developed Jazzertogs, a complete line of fitness apparel, as well as JM Digital Works, a division she established to produce broadcast-quality video productions for retail products and franchising tapes.

Among her many honors, Judi has been inducted into the National Association of Sport and Physical Education Hall of Fame, and has received Club Industry Fitness Business Pro magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as the Entrepreneur of the Year Award from the National Foundation for Women Legislators. Judi and her legion of instructors have raised more than $25 million for a wide variety of charities.

She credits her mother, who took it upon herself to set up dance teachers in her small town and help them establish a viable business, as the role model and inspiration for her business.

Judi Sheppard Missett
Founder, Jazzercise, Inc.
Carlsbad, CA

GLORIA HERNDON, PhD, is a remarkable woman who has given back to so many women in so many important ways. She is the founder and president of GB Herndon and Associates, a multiline insurance broker that represents a diverse clientele, including the National Medical Association, and the embassies of a number of foreign governments.

Gloria earned her bachelor’s degree in economics and political science, as well as a master’s and a PhD in international law and economics from John Hopkins University. She later worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture as an economist, and then joined the State Department and was posted to U.S. Embassy Commerce positions in Africa and Europe. Bringing a global perspective to everything she does, Gloria serves as co-chair of the American & African Business Women’s Alliance, Africare, and the African American Unity Caucus. She has co-chaired the boards of the National Head Start Association and the National Association for Equal Opportunities in Higher Education.

With her strong belief in giving back to the community, Gloria has undertaken renovation and rehabilitation projects of both commercial and residential properties in several economically depressed areas of East St. Louis, IL; St. Louis, MO; and Washington, DC. Building on her vast network of academic and business contacts, she is working to improve the quality of life and standard of living for women and families around the world.

Gloria Herndon, PhD
Founder, GB Herndon
Washington, DC

(This article is reprinted from the 2006 Enterprising Women of the Year edition (Vol. 7, No. 3) of Enterprising Women magazine. Copyright 2006, Enterprising Women Inc. Reproduction in whole or part is prohibited, except by express permission of the publisher.)

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