KWLA welcomes Stacy Berdan as Keynote Speaker

         
Stacie Nevadomski Berdan is a seasoned global executive, an international careers expert and an award-winning author on how to succeed in the global marketplace. She provides practical and relevant advice on the value of understanding cross-cultural environments, the benefits of feminine leadership, and the need for developing a global mindset in all American students today. She spent the majority of her career at Burson-Marsteller and Unilever, where she served as strategist, coach, and counselor to CEOs, politicians and senior executives around the world. Her extensive global leadership experience in corporate communications, brand marketing, public affairs and cross-cultural consulting extends across four continents with a specific focus on Asia.

Stacie uses her international business experience to promote the need for global awareness and cross-cultural competency for all in her books, media appearances, by-lined contributions and speaking engagements across the country. She has authored four books on the intersection of globalization and careers. Her two most recent books were released in the fall 2013: Raising Global Children (ACTFL, November 2013), co-authored with her husband, veteran travel writer Marshall S. Berdan, is a combination parenting-advocacy book filled with practical information for parents and teachers on how to help prepare our children for a global world. A Student Guide to Study Abroad (IIE, September 2013) – coauthored with Dr. Allan Goodman, President and CEO of the Institute of International Education, and Sir Cyril Taylor, Founder of AIFS – is the go-to guide for students and advisers on how to make the most of study abroad. Her first book, Get Ahead By Going Abroad, won two business-career awards, and identified a fast-tracking career trend in women working internationally. Her second book, GO GLOBAL! Launching an International Career Here or Abroad has received rave reviews.

Stacie blogs regularly for the Huffington Post and on her site www.stacieberdan.com. Her numerous broadcast appearances include NBC “Weekend Today”, NPR’s “Marketplace,” ABC News “Money Matters” and “America This Morning”, CNN International, numerous FOX appearances, and her work has been featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Forbes, Fortune, Time, The Language Educator and many others.

Stacie spent the majority of her career at Burson-Marsteller, one of the world’s leading global communications firms, rising from entry level to senior management. She then went to Unilever, one of the world’s largest consumer products companies, where she led the successful roll-out of the new global brand and was responsible for the internal and external communications strategy for the $11 billion business reorganization in North America. Throughout her career, she has counseled dozens of senior executives at the world’s leading companies, internationally-acclaimed non-profit organizations and several foreign governments in the area of strategic business communication. She is equally comfortable advising business leaders, campus counselors, teachers and students on the ins and outs of going global. Her professional responsibilities have spanned more than 50 countries in Asia-Pacific, Europe and South America.

Stacie received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Florida Atlantic University in 1988 and completed graduate coursework in English literature there in 1991. Stacie lives in a 1750 historic home in Glastonbury, CT, with her husband, twin daughters and a Vizsla named Cody.