Join Us in Celebrating the Women of OWI

Jeanette Higham 

VP of Human Resources 

 

Which powerful woman inspires you and why?  

The most powerful woman who was always inspirational to me was Princess Diana.  In the years leading up to her death, she used her popularity to bring awareness to AIDS, leprosy, domestic violence, and mental health.  She desperately loved her children and loved everyone around her.  I was constantly awestruck by how she was able to overcome everything that was thrown at her by others and still have so much love to share with the world.  That is something I still need to work on within myself, and I try to instill in my daughter and others around me.  No matter what happens, we need to care about one another.  That is the only way we will get through all the adversity in our lives.   

What is something you’d like the next generation of women in leadership to know?   

Take risks; don’t shy away from what you want, who you want to be or who you want to be with.  That is the only way you will fail in some things and succeed in others.   

How can we better support women in the work force?   

I believe the OWI workforce has shifted in a more positive way over the past 3 years from a mainly male dominated run organization to a more diverse company.  This is due in large part to the change in ownership and leadership and their views on how they want the company to be run.  I was the first female to ever sit on the ELT at OWI.  I never felt belittled or disrespected as a leader but in this type of industry, I also had to adjust my way of building relationships with others in order to meet the needs of my internal customers.   It has been difficult the past 2 years with the pandemic to truly have any sort of mentor programs or groups focused on women or diversity.  As we begin to come back into the office and establish how we want to create our culture under Greg’s leadership, those types of programs will be created and I hope, there will be enthusiastic participation from employees who are willing to be part of the change.  

What excites you about the future of women at OWI?   

I love just how incredibly smart, talented, and passionate all of our women are at OWI (well, all of the employees in general), but especially the women that have worked at OWI a long time and the ones that we have hired since I came on board in 2019.  They have wonderful ideas, care about our products and the employees and are resourceful problem solvers.  I believe with Christina and Sara behind the helm of OWI, there is so much more for all of us to accomplish together.  That should be exciting for anyone who works here.   

What career accomplishment are you most proud of?    

When I worked at SC Johnson, we were sold to a private equity firm and had to become our own company.  When they sold us, our employees only had 18 months to enjoy all that the Johnson Family had to offer in terms of employee amenities including, the employee benefits, the Johnson Family store, the Green Bay Packers tickets, the cabins in upper Wisconsin, and most importantly, the Childcare Center.  The Childcare Center was a wonderful amenity that was offered to only SC Johnson employees at a very reduced rate.  In 18 months, we were all about to lose that benefit.  It was heartbreaking to see the families trying to figure out where their children would go.  I was tasked with being part of a project, partnering with Bright Horizons and the YMCA, to build a brand new, state of the art YMCA center, with a childcare center attached to it run by Bright Horizons.  I helped to design the entire building (including the pool within the YMCA), build the curriculum for the childcare center, get feedback from the community, hired the staff, and was part of something that was not HR.  I loved that I could see it being built from the first scoop of dirt to the day we opened.  It was an amazing adventure and to this day, it is still open, still successful and I am truly proud that I was part of something really special. 

 

Josephine Benkers 

General Counsel 

 

Which powerful woman inspires you and why?   

Well, I am a lawyer so I would remiss if I didn’t mention Ruth Bader Ginsberg.  RBG was a real trailblazer who demonstrated incredible energy and resilience throughout her career. 

What is something you’d like the next generation of women in leadership to know?   

Find a balance and focus on what is most important. Set boundaries. Teach the next generation the same thing.  

What excites you about the future of women at OWI?  

I am excited about the increasing representation of women among the Company’s leaders.   

What career accomplishment are you most proud of?  

Getting a big jury verdict in a patent lawsuit on behalf of the inventor of captioned telephones.  

What does Women’s History Month mean to you?  

I think it’s really important to tell some of the untold stories of women’s contributions in history.