PENTA CEO hosts Lt. Governor Karyn Polito and Female Leaders in Celebration of International Women’s Month

WORCESTER_ On Friday, March 16, PENTA Communications, Inc. CEO, Deborah Penta welcomed a group of female leaders from throughout the region to a celebratory luncheon for International Women’s Month to honor Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito for her work on behalf of all women in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The event took place at the historic Worcester Club located at Oak Street in Worcester.

Penta introduced Lieutenant Governor Polito who spoke about the achievements of women in the Commonwealth while providing an update on the accomplishments made in her role since taking office. She discussed the progress of gender equality in the Commonwealth, and advances made by female leaders.

The Lieutenant Governor also shared her business and community initiatives for the year ahead. Since the beginning of her political career, Lt. Governor Polito has championed for women and girls and has fought to ensure all students have access to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) programs. She was also an instrumental advocate of “Jessica’s Law,” a bill to enforce strict minimum sentences for child sex offenders. She also serves as Chair of the Governor’s Council to Address Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence.

Businesswomen and female business owners contribute billions to Massachusetts’s economic landscape while creating sustainable jobs and pushing for gender parity. According to Women Entrepreneurs Boston, 26,209 individuals are employed by 18,709 woman-owned businesses within the city of Boston. Female owned companies generate over $4 billion in sales and account for nearly $7.6 billion of the Gross City Product.

Massachusetts also has a highly skilled pool of female professionals in its labor force. The Boston Globe reports that in 2014, the female to male student ratio for colleges and universities was 55 percent to 45 percent, respectively. U.S. News recently ranked the State as number one overall for best gender equality due to low maternal mortality rates and higher education parity.

Penta has been a steadfast advocate for women’s empowerment since the 1980s and was honored with an Americanism Award by the Ladies Auxiliary of Foreign Wars in 1986 for her writings on the importance of voting in the United States, especially for women. She has granted thousands of dollars, through the Deborah A. Penta Leadership Scholarship, to college-bound female students so they may pursue higher education. She is a regularly featured speaker on female leadership, has published numerous articles on female leadership, has been appointed to serve on over 20 boards over her career, and has been the Chairman of the Board of four nonprofit organizations in the Commonwealth. She served on Governor Charlie Baker’s Transition Team for Jobs and Economy and is the recipient of the prestigious Katharine Forbes Erskine Award in Business and Law. She received a Woman of Distinction Award, and an Inaugural Outstanding Women in Business Award.