Women Of Excellence: Sheila Weidman-Farley
Vice president, corporate communications and marketing, Georgia-Pacific
Allison Shirreffs
July 1, 2008
sponsored by:
I
t's been two decades since then-Georgia-Pacific Chairman and CEO T. Marshall Hahn hired
Sheila Weidman-Farley to work in the company's corporate communications department. There were no
Web sites. No one sent e-mails. Press releases were faxed and mailed ... via the U.S. Post Office.
Over those 20 years, Weidman-Farley watched G-P grow to have more than 300 locations and 50,000 employees across North America, South America and Europe. She's worked for four CEOs and, for most of her tenure, has operated under the watchful eye of Wall Street. When G-P was purchased by Koch Industries and became a privatesubsidiary, Weidman-Farley made the adjustment.
As the industry has become more about manning high-tech control rooms and less about employees operating machinery, the company's workforce also has changed,
becoming more advanced, educated and more diverse ... as has G-P's leadership.
There are more women and minorities at the executive level, as there are at the helm of the company's paper mills. Weidman-Farley considers herself to be a beneficiary of such opportunities, but her former boss, Pete Correll, G-P's chairman & CEO from 1993 until his retirement in 2006, says Weidman-Farley's personality and abilities allowed her to take advantage of the opportunities available to her.
"Sheila is probably one of the two or three most driven, results-oriented executives I've ever met in my life. ‘No' is not an option for her – nor is failure," Correll says. Not only is she an effective executive, he adds, Weidman-Farley is "one of the most optimistic, enthusiastic people I've ever known in my life. With Shelia, the glass is always half-full."
Weidman-Farley's longevity is due to more than the opportunities available for her to learn and to grow. She's worked with "a wonderful group of talented, professional, great mentors" along the way. Weidman-Farley has returned the favor by sharing her ideas and experience with other female employees through women's groups at the company. What does she tell them?
"It's important in life to do work you're really passionate about." Weidman-Farley lives that philosophy outside her work as well. She is a L.E.A.D. program mentor for Leadership Atlanta and devotes her time to several charitable organizations. One of the causes near to her heart is Literacy Action, an organization that provides teacher-led classroom instruction for functionally illiterate adults. Weidman-Farley chairs its board.
Approximately 40 percent of the adults served by Literacy Action are the parent or caregiver of at least one school-age child. Weidman-Farley says if they're given the tools, skills and education to become better functioning members of society, they can then read to their kids, help them with their homework, identify medicines, open checking accounts and run the finances of the family.
Return to the Women Of Excellence index page.
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