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| The Chamber's Women of Excellence with their awards (left to right): Sabrina Mosseau, BS, RN, OCN, Administrative Director/Medical Oncology & Women’s Health; Joan Hayner, CMPE, CEO, CapitalCare Medical Group; Faith Ann Takes, President, Empire Education Corporation; Kelly Brown Mateja, Director of Programs and Services, Colonie Senior Service Centers, Inc.; Teresa Fenner Spadafora, Branch Manager, Vice President, First Niagara Bank, NA; Donna Lamkin, Chief Program Officer, Center for Disability Services; Maryellen Gilroy, Ed. D., Vice President for Student Affairs, Siena College. |
Each year the Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber's Women's Business Council holds the Women of Excellence Awards, to honor women who have made significant contributions to business in the region and our communities.
This year's seven honorees included Faith Ann Takes, president and CEO of Empire Education Corporation, and head of Central Avenue's Mildred Elley and Austin School of Spa Technology, who was named for Excellence in Business.
During her speech, Takes credited the women who have come before her, Mildred Elley and Catherine Austin Motl, who started the schools she now owns, as well as the countless other women, who had a tougher road to business success.
"I just hope that personally, that I lived up to their legacy, and I hope that the road we've paved, our generation of women, will lead to more success for the women in generations to come," Takes said.
Takes is a native of Guilderland, New York and has been the President, CEO and owner of Mildred Elley School since 1985, and Austin’s School of Spa Technology since 2005.
A Summa Cum Laude graduate, she has a Master’s of Management Science (ABT) from Lesley University in Cambridge, MA and a Bachelor of Science, Business Education from the University at Albany, State University of New York.
Entrepreneurial and hardworking by nature, Ms. Takes purchased Mildred Elley at a time when the school was defunct in 1985 and has since increased enrollment from 37 students to over 1700 by offering associate degrees and certificates in a wide variety of programs. She enjoys developing and offering new programs that will meet the needs of students and employers in the Capital District, the Berkshires and New York City.
In less than 6 years she has taken Austin’s School of Spa Technology from 50 students to over 300 by offering not only cosmetology, but barbering, nail technology and esthetics. She has relocated both Mildred Elley Albany and Austin’s School of Spa Technology to one building on Central Avenue in Albany.
Ms. Takes was appointed by Governor Mario Cuomo as Council member for the New York State Advisory Council on Proprietary Schools with a subsequent selection as Council chairperson.
As a member and chairperson of the New York State Advisory Council for Proprietary School Supervision, Ms. Takes served as a liaison between New York State career schools and the New York State Education Department and assisted in the crafting and implementation of reform legislation. She has used her diplomatic skills to bring a fragmented association together and increase membership as a member and President of the New York State Registered Business School Association.
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| Faith Ann Takes with her Women of Excellence Award. |
