Dr. Linda Bennett is a graduate of the New England College of Optometry. Before practicing in Belmont, she worked in a private practice in Charlestown, at the Harvard Community Health Center and at the Cambridge City Hospital. In addition to practicing optometry, she served as president of the Massachusetts Society of Optometrists in 2000. She was appointed to Massachusetts Board of Registration of Optometry in 2003 and is currently serving.
In 2005, Dr. Bennett joined other VOSH (Volunteer Optometrists in Service to Humanity) members in a trip to Armenia where they examined approximately 1500 needy patients. Many simply needed spectacles to improve their vision and they were given them at no charge. Others required additional health care. In September 2007, Dr. Bennett led the second VOSH trip to Armenia. The group had five clinics and saw over 900 patients.
Dr. Bennett lives in Belmont with her husband Raymond Huey. She has raised two daughters who attended the Belmont public schools. Prior to becoming an optometrist, Dr. Bennett taught elementary school in Holbrook for seven years.

Kelly Delaney, is a nationally celebrated pastry chef who has grown her gourmet pastry shop – Cakes for Occasions - into a wildly successful business. Delaney herself has evolved into a nationally recognized baking expert and has had the opportunity to share her expertise with consumers in a wide range of media markets. Her business has recently reached an important financial milestone, now grossing over a million dollars a year!
She began her business over a decade ago in a single oven in her mother’s home and now employs over 30 people and has produced 70,000 custom-designed cakes and nearly 7,000 wedding cakes. She has won numerous awards for her outstanding products including Reader’s Choice Awards, Northshore Magazines “Best of North Shore” Award and numerous other accolades. One of her wedding cakes was voted the viewer favorite and featured on NBC’s Today show. She is a regular guest on Fox 25 Morning News and has appeared in Gourmet and Yankee magazines.
Her success, in large part, has been because of her ability to stay current, innovate and continually reinvent her products and services. Delaney recently launched a shipping service and now customers can order products online and send them anywhere in the contiguous United States. She has created a gingerbread model of Fenway Park, designed cakes for the likes of Jewel and Rod Stewart, made a wedding cake that will be featured in an upcoming Disney movie, and supplied a custom-designed cake for NFL boot camp. She also launched a year-long charitable initiative called “Cakes for Caring” that enables her to give back to the community and organizations that she supports. Last year, Delaney was recognized by New England Business Owners (NEWBO) with the Quest award for “Entrepreneur of the Year.” She has become a role model and inspiration to other business owners but is quick to remind people that it takes a lot of hard work and perseverance, belief in your abilities and the courage to take some calculated risks. Here are some of her thoughts:

“Women who are trying to start their own businesses need to believe in themselves and surround themselves with people who believe in them. You’re going to make mistakes and you need to just learn from them. I’m proud that I’ve come this far and that I’ve created Cakes for Occasions. I’m fortunate that I have been able to run a profitable store and still, with my personality, have fun in life.”

Melanie Olson Giles is a Speech-Language Pathologist who is certified by the American Speech and Hearing Association. She is also licensed in MA and NH. She is the clinical director and member of STG, LLC. Melanie has training, which involves extensive evaluation and treatment of swallowing disorders, completing over 2000 swallow studies. Melanie has focused in the area of augmentative communication, with training in the dynavox, voice output computers. Melanie's other interests include autism with application through Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), pediatric through geriatric motor speech disorders, social skill training, functional communication, language and cognitive-linguistic therapy. Melanie works with pediatrics through geriatrics.

Meg Spencer brought 17 years experience in the field of regenerative medicine and other technology markets to Hamilton Thorne when she founded the present company in 2001. She founded two previous companies, taking each from start-up to global market leadership in their respective sectors. Hamilton Equine Systems, Inc., a high tech veterinary products company, was successfully sold at an attractive ROI for its investors. Hamilton-Thorne Research offered reproductive toxicology testing systems for the study of the effects of chemicals, pesticides and prescription drugs on human and animal reproduction.

Spencer has identified important problems in Stem Cell, transgenic research and molecular diagnostics; she has raised capital, sought and licensed key enabling technologies, forged accelerated university product development programs (with the Public Health Research Institute, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and Boston University), established international distribution channels and strategic sales alliances, and pushed through development of proprietary in-house technologies to revolutionize stem cell and transgenic research. Establishment of a top management team was accomplished successfully.

Education: Harvard University and George Washington University.


Kim Woods has over two decades of consulting experience grounded in corporate and growth strategy, performance improvement, organizational structure and change management. She has delivered significant, sustainable solutions for a vast client list that includes McKinsey & Company, State Street Bank, GlaxoSmithKline, Inc., Toys R Us and Aetna. Kim possesses a diverse skill set and excels at project development and management, personnel development and management and growth modeling and analytics. Prior to founding Sea Change Enterprises, Kim managed a $10M consulting practice as Senior Practice Director for Oracle Corporation. MBA, Babson College, BA, Clark University.

Previous Million Dollar Women Panelists Who Will Be Attending

•    Karen Andreas, Publisher, Salem Evening News                                           2006 Panelist
•    Janet Santa Anna, President, The Resource Connection Inc.                         2008 Panelist
•    **Anne Bailey Berman, CEO, Chadwick Martin Bailey                               2007 Panelist
•    **Jill Cheng, President, Cheng & Tsui Company, Inc.                                  2008 Panelist
•    Fran Dichner, President/CEO, R & L Associates                                           2005 Panelist
•    Kimberely Driscoll, Mayor, City of Salem                                                     2006 Panelist
•    Wendi Goldsmith, Founder & CEO, Bioengineering Group                         2007 Panelist
•    Victoria B. Jackson, Owner, Atlantic Lab Equipment, LLC                         2008 Panelist
•    Beverly Kahn, Founder/President, NDT, Inc.                                                2005 Panelist
•    Phyllis LeBlanc, Owner & CEO, Harbor Sweets                                           2005 Panelist
•    Ann Murphy, President, Telecommunications Export Co.                             2005 Panelist
•    Julie Palen, Sr. Vice President, Mobile Device Management                         2007 Panelist
Tangoe, Inc. and Former Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Internoded 
•    Phyllis Sagan, Owner & CEO, Sagan Real Estate                                         2005 Panelist
•    Roseann Tully, Publisher, Intermezzo Magazine                                            2007 Panelist