If there’s one thing the past few years have made clear, it’s that the ability to adapt isn’t just an advantage—it’s survival. Business Report‘s 2026 Women’s Leadership Symposium is built around exactly that reality.
Themed “The Power of Transformation: Shaping What’s Next,” the symposium on May 19 brings together some of the most forward-thinking voices in business, technology and community leadership for a morning of frank conversation about what change actually looks like on the ground—in your career, on your team, and across your community.
The morning kicks off with networking and a continental breakfast at 7:30 a.m., followed by a session-packed program that covers everything from why adaptability now matters more than mastery, to how executives are quietly reshaping their organizations through AI adoption. Danielle Brown, Global Head of Influencer Marketing at Google | YouTube, opens the speaker lineup with a candid look at why the professional rules many of us were taught to follow no longer apply. Then, Success Labs partners Adrian Owen Jones and Melissa Thompson tackle one of the trickiest leadership challenges around: guiding teams through change when not everyone is ready to move at the same pace.
A panel of executive women—including Community Coffee SVP/CCO Kristi Crump, EVP/CFO Nina Dusang, and LSU Engineering Dean Vicki Colvin—will pull back the curtain on how AI is already transforming how organizations operate and compete. And a community-focused panel featuring Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Susan Bourgeois, Ascension Economic Development President & CEO Kate MacArthur, and LSU Foundation EVP Krista Raney will dig into the longer game: how leadership reshapes entire economies and communities over time.
The program closes with health care executive and author Laurinda Calongne on the mindset shifts that bring clarity when certainty is nowhere to be found —arguably the most relevant skill of the moment.
Then the celebration begins.
At 11:15 a.m., the symposium flows into the Influential Women in Business luncheon, honoring nine exceptional Capital Region leaders whose work is reshaping their industries and their community:
- Meredith Eicher, Founder/Owner, Meredith Eicher & Associates
- Rebecca Evans Mouk, Owner/President, Ascension Roofing & Fabrication and JRE Industrial
- Terri Hicks, President & CEO, The Spine Hospital of Louisiana
- Jill Kidder, President & CEO, Visit Baton Rouge
- Danielle Mack, Vice President and Chief Philanthropy Officer, Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center
- Adonica Pelichet Duggan, CEO, Baton Rouge Alliance for Students
- Dr. Gunjan Raina, MDVIP / Baton Rouge General, Internal Medicine
- Melissa Thompson, Partner, Success Labs
- Lesley Tilley, Executive Vice President & COO, Woman’s Hospital
Both events are sponsored by Mercedes Benz of Baton Rouge, b1BANK, Kean Miller, Window World, Woman’s and the East Baton Rouge Parish Library. Tickets and additional details are available here.
