The
Forum Team
The Career Relaunch Forum is produced by Carol Fishman Cohen
and Vivian Steir Rabin, the co-authors of Back on the Career
Track: A Guide for Stay-At-Home Moms Who Want to Return to Work
(Warner Books,) and the co-founders of
iRelaunch, "The Career
Reentry Experts," a company providing career reentry
programming, events and information to employers, universities,
organizations and to mid-career professionals in all stages of
career break. Since 2006, Carol and Vivian have presented their
career rentry strategies to almost 4000 people at more than 65
events both nationally and internationally. They are frequently
quoted in the national press, including The Wall Street Journal,
The New York Times and National Public Radio, and their
Back on
the Career Track blog is featured on Yahoo Shine, Yahoo's
women's portal. Both relaunchers themselves, they understand,
first-hand, the challenges and rewards of returning to work
after a career break.
The Career Relaunch Forum is iRelaunch's signature event.
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- Relaunched at a major investment firm after 11
years out of full time workforce
- Mother of four children ages 13 to 18
- BA in Economics from Pomona College, MBA
from Harvard Business School
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The book that Business Week called “The
definitive rebuttal...to those who say you
can’t go back.”
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- Relaunched by joining a small executive search
firm after seven years out of the workforce
- Mother of five children ages 11 to 19
- BA in English from Harvard College, MBA from
Harvard Business School
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 Meghan McCartan, Marketing and Event Management
Director
As the Founder and Managing Partner of Detours&OnRamps,
a conference created to address the issues of
working mothers, Meghan McCartan brings the
perfect background to direct the marketing and
event management requirements of the Career
Relaunch Forum. Meghan started Detours&OnRamps
as a result of her own experiences in seeking
out jobs that would allow her to balance work
and family. Having worked full-time, flex-time,
as a consultant, and “not at all” Meghan had
tried out a number of options and found that the
“perfect job,” allowing a working mother to make
a significant contribution and use education and
skills—while still being able to spend time with
children—was elusive. More importantly, the
search process for such a job is exhausting in
and of itself. Meghan started Detours&OnRamps to
bring together companies, recruiters, support
groups and working and non-working mothers in an
atmosphere of practical learning and positive
networking.
Prior to Detours&OnRamps, Meghan was the AVP of
Marketing for a major financial institution. She
holds an MBA in Marketing from Tulane, as well
as a BA in Government/History from William and
Mary. She lives in New Jersey with her husband,
4 year old Emma, and 2 ½ year old twins “Coco”
(Courtenay) and Sydney.
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 Betsy
Blagdon, Technical DirectorBetsy spent 11
years in software engineering and management at
electronic imaging and educational software
companies before taking time off to be with her
two children, currently ages 8 and 11. She
relaunched her career as a website designer 8
years ago. Through her website design company,
www.glissadedesign.com, Betsy has helped many
small businesses and non-profit organizations,
primarily in the Boston area, develop and/or
expand their web presence. Betsy has a degree in
Mathematics from MIT. |
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