THE TEAM
Elisabeth L. Marchant, Founder and CEO 
A lifelong entrepreneur, Elisabeth Marchant has been consistently recognized for her visionary leadership and business acumen. Early in her career as president and CEO of her family’s manufacturing business, she opened significant new markets and expanded the company’s reach into new regions and product lines. Marchant then entered the publishing and media world, launching her first endeavour with b3 Magazine, a national technology publication targeted at C-level executives - a success which led to the production of 15 annual executive conferences throughout the United States. With growing recognition in the industry, Marchant became publisher of Business to Business magazine at The Leader Publishing Group where she founded Atlanta Woman magazine. She was later named president and CEO and was responsible for four titles, 12 custom publications and 45 annual events. In 2005, she joined Multicast Media Networks, an international leader specializing in broadband media where she served as executive director for the corporate and nonprofits division of the company.
Marchant launched Womenetics in 2009 as an outgrowth of her lifelong passion to see women advance in the workplace; a passion built on an education that fostered independent thinking women. She is a graduate of Converse College with additional academic work in the U.S. and abroad at the university systems of Paris at The Sorbonne, Montreal at McGill University and New York City at The Parsons School of Environmental Design.
Marchant has been recognized by her peers through numerous community honors, including the YWCA's Academy of Women Achievers and the Atlanta Business Chronicle's Top 10 Women in Business. A member of the 2004 class of Leadership Atlanta, she is deeply involved in her community, having served on boards for the Atlanta Community Food Bank, the Henry W. Grady Hospital Foundation and the board of governors of The Buckhead Club.
Ellen Adair Wyche, Vice President Programs
Ellen Adair Wyche, who has a wide breadth of knowledge on business and women’s issues, has developed and executed Womenetics content, image and programming with strategic counsel since the company’s founding. She brings more than 30 years of experience serving in a variety of public relations roles in corporate, civic and agency settings. Wyche has also been a successful entrepreneur and business owner. She founded The Wyche Group in 2003 to work with corporate, institutional, educational, arts, and entertainment clients to create dynamic public relations and marketing programs that connect purposeful brands with discerning audiences.
She now leads the Womenetics team to achieve consistently powerful results: creating thought-provoking content while building a robust brand reputation with national and global thought leaders, corporate partners, the Womenetics client base and media professionals.
A graduate of Emory University, Wyche has been active in the Atlanta community through such groups as The Trust for Public Land, the Atlanta Botanical Garden and the Alzheimer’s Society of Atlanta. In 2008, she was named one of The Top 25 Atlanta’s to Watch by Atlanta Business magazine.
Janece Shaffer, Senior Editor
Janece Shaffer brings more than 20 years of communications, marketing and professional writing experience to her position as senior editor of Womenetics.
Most recently, Shaffer spent nine years as national director of communications with The NAMES Project Foundation, the international caretaker of The AIDS Memorial Quilt, where she worked to forward the mission of the Nobel Prize-nominated memorial.
In addition to her work in the field of communications, Shaffer is an award-winning, professionally produced playwright who has spent the last decade creating powerful, honest and often humorous works about women – women as professionals, as mothers, as wives and as friends. Her plays have been produced in theatres across the country.
Shaffer holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Georgia and a master’s degree in communications from Georgia State University. She serves on the advisory board of the Alliance Theatre and is the co-founder of Overture, a program that works to introduce high school students to professional theatre.
Stephanie Proft, Editorial Assistant
Stephanie Proft recently graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree from Georgia State University, having majored in print journalism with a minor in anthropology. As a student, Proft’s writing was recognized for its excellence by the Atlanta Review of Journalism History. Born in Lichtenfels, Germany to a native mother and an American soldier, Proft is fluent in German and has lived in cities all over the United States.
She has penned several articles for Womenetics on a wide variety of topics including global philanthropy, green entrepreneurship and academic feminism.
Amy Dordek, Director, Business Development & Marketing, Chicago
Amy Dordek, a vital force in the Chicago business community for over 25 years, excels at forging strategic connections between companies and organizations that enable them to further their missions.
Most recently, Dordek served as the managing director of the midwest region for BPI group, a global HR Consulting firm, where she was the highest-ranking woman in the company's U.S. division and oversaw key client relationships while also spearheading account management and marketing activities. Dordek worked closely with local, national and global colleagues and clients, including McDonald's, Pepsi and Kraft, to help them achieve their critical business objectives.
In addition to previous HR consulting experience as a client relations manager with Capital H Group, Dordek is an experienced business owner. She co-founded TradeStar Expo, a trade show exhibit manufacturing and consulting firm, grew the company and sold it three years later.
Dordek passionately contributes to her community, currently as president of Meals on Wheels Chicago. With Dordek's guidance and through her connections in the business, philanthropic and culinary communities, the organization has blossomed as one of the largest and most successful providers of meals to the homebound and elderly in the country. Dordek's extensive civic engagement includes participation with Reading is Fundamental, the America-Israel Chamber of Commerce and the Women's Health Foundation, among others.
Shemariah “Mara” Butts, Public Relations and Events Assistant
Shemariah “Mara” Butts is a young professional who firmly believes innovative thinking and communication are the keys to social change.
A Georgia native and graduate of the University of Georgia (UGA), the leadership roles Butts held throughout her undergraduate career reflect her love of service and her academic interests in public relations and child/family development. Her many extracurricular activities include four years with the state conference and UGA chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), of which she served as vice president. During her term, Butts established an after-school tutorial program for children at risk of failing standardized tests. Additionally, Butts spearheaded the programming efforts for the Youth and College Division of the NAACP's annual conference in Augusta, Ga.
Butts, who is a current active member of the Junior League of Atlanta, is an alumna of an array of civic organizations including the United Way V.I.P. program, the White House Project - Go Run, Emily’s List P.O.P and a 2010 fellow of the New Leaders Council of Atlanta. Formerly an independent consultant for Brunner Advertising and the Andrew Young Foundation, Butts also spent time as a legislative monitor for the League of Women Voters of Georgia.
Butts is pursuing a Master of Arts degree in public relations/issues management from the Kent State University School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Janet Shuford, Content Manager
Janet Shuford has more than 20 years of experience working with Fortune 500 companies in a variety of technology positions. Career highlights include serving as interactive manager for ABC Radio for nine years and spending 10 years on the staff of General Electric Capital in a number of positions including project manager, sales specialist and finally as regional proposal manager.
As a student, Shuford attended UCLA where she focused on Japanese and geology. She also had the opportunity to spend a year studying in Kyoto, Japan.
Travel remains one of Shuford’s great passions and that includes weekend trips in the family’s Cessna Cardinal. She is also a passionate advocate for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
