10-13-2024 W2W - Flipbook - Page 21
Kristie Snedeker
47, Vice President, R Adams Cowley Shock
Trauma Center
When it comes to advising ambitious women
who want to advance their careers in the healthcare field, Kristie Snedeker often circles back to a
mantra familiar to any followers of Sheryl Sandberg,
the former chief operating officer of Meta: Lean in.
“Be open in speaking about what it is you desire to
do or be,” Snedeker said, “because you never know
who is looking for the next XYZ.”
That advice worked for Snedeker – who took over
as vice president for the R Adams Cowley Shock
Trauma Center three years ago – in the early stages
of her career. While working as a physical therapist
at the University of Maryland Rehabilitation and
Orthopedic Institute, Snedeker sought mentorship
from female leaders within the University of Maryland Medical System. Through these relationships,
she learned of job opportunities she would not have
known of otherwise. Now, when an early or mid-career employee asks to grab a cup of coffee with her
to ask for advice, she is happy to oblige.
“Oftentimes, people will ask, ‘Can I just grab
your ear for 10 minutes?’” Snedeker said. “Those 10
minutes are really meaningful to me and meaningful to the other person. I have been able to connect
people to their next step, and that is super fulfilling.
That’s how I pay it forward.”
— Angela Roberts
PHOTO BY LLOYD FOX
Rachel Graham
52, CEO, Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts
Her job demands both a passion for the arts and a love of analytics,
a mix that taxed her recent forebears. As the new CEO of the Baltimore Office of Promotion & the Arts, Rachel Graham moves easily
in both worlds.
“I am the intersection of creativity and intellectualism,” Graham
said. Equal parts aesthete and Mr. Spock, she took over BOPA last
spring in an effort, in part, to end lingering squabbles between it and
city officials. A cultural maven as well as a professed “policy wonk,”
Graham says her goal is to expand economic development via the
arts and restore public trust in the 40-year agency, which produces
such events as the Baltimore Book Festival, Artscape, the Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. Parade and the Baltimore Farmers’ Market.
Within two years, Graham said, “I want us to have moved past
the point where every conversation about BOPA dredges up what
BOPA was so that we can celebrate what BOPA is. I want us to be
able to say that, as arts council for the city, we can use that leverage
to attract visitors who come and invest in the city — and that we’ve
forged partnerships to help Baltimore achieve the greatness that it
is destined to achieve.”
— Mike Klingaman
PHOTO BY AMY DAVIS
WOMEN TO WATCH | 2024 | 21
