Atlanta's Business Women Empowerment Project is bringing its signature Women on the MOVE Summit back to Midtown next Thursday, September 17, for a 13th straight year, packing a single day with executive panels, an AI workshop, and a lineup that spans city hall, the airport, and the courthouse. The one-day business and leadership summit will run from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Microsoft Atlantic Yards at Atlantic Station, with doors and registration opening at 8 a.m. and networking continuing until 3 p.m.
According to Atlanta Daily World, the summit is a signature initiative of the Business Women Empowerment Project, Inc., the nonprofit founded by Dr. Kim McNair to educate, connect and empower women in business. Dr. McNair, who created and produced the event, said the summit should help people grow their businesses, brands and themselves. She launched her original production company, Kim McNair Productions, in Orlando back in 1991 before relocating it to Atlanta in 2007, a career arc detailed by SwagHer Magazine.
A Lineup Spanning Government, Courts and Corporate Boardrooms
This year's speaker roster blends public officials with private-sector leaders. Walter Vinson, assistant general manager of business diversity and government affairs for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, will appear alongside Greg Clay, deputy chief of staff for the City of Atlanta, per the same Atlanta Daily World report. Also featured is Keisha Wright Hill, chief magistrate judge for Clayton County, who was sworn in to that role in December 2020 and now heads a bench where eight of the county's nine magistrate judges are women, according to Clayton County government records.
Jay Bailey, president and CEO of the H.J. Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs, is also on the bill. RICE, the Atlanta business generator he leads, serves more than 1,000 Black business owners annually and was inspired by construction pioneer Herman J. Russell, according to Mastercard Strive. Business attorney Joi-Lin Hunt and podcast host David Shands, known as the Podcast King and host of the Social Proof podcast, round out the featured speakers, per Atlanta Daily World.
Microsoft's Midtown Campus Hosts an AI Workshop
The summit takes place at Microsoft's Atlantic Yards campus, a 523,511-square-foot facility across two buildings that opened in 2022 as a regional hub for artificial intelligence and cloud computing, according to background compiled by Georgia Tech's Scheller College of Business. Microsoft signed a long-term lease at the site through 2035. This year, Microsoft is hosting both the all-male leadership panel and the AI Advantage Workshop, which will cover using Copilot, Claude and ChatGPT to grow a business, with Cloteal LaBroi, the company's director of government relations infrastructure, among the presenters.
Jon McKenley, Microsoft's senior manager of community affairs, said partnerships like Women on the MOVE bring the company's mission to life. The programming also includes two structured sessions: the first, titled The Business of You, focuses on building a personal brand and expanding influence, while the second, Leading Through Change, centers on pivoting with confidence, strategy and purpose.
Kroger, Corporate Sponsors and a Youth Mentoring Pipeline
Kroger's Atlanta division is also backing the event. Tammie Young-Ennaemba, the division's corporate affairs manager, said Women on the MOVE gives women encouragement, knowledge and relationships to advance. The summit is additionally supported by Southern Regional Medical Center, Creative Velocity, Life With Shenita, A1 Audio Visual and Avacend, according to Atlanta Daily World's reporting.
Proceeds from the summit support the BWEP Leadership Academy for High School Girls, which provides financial literacy, entrepreneurship, technology, life skills and personal growth programming and has mentored more than 100 young women since it was established under BWEP in 2020, per KMP Productions. The academy uses a four-pillar curriculum known as M.O.G.U.L. to guide high schoolers toward post-secondary education and business literacy.
Registration Options and Broader Context
General registration tickets include a continental breakfast, catered lunch, an exclusive swag bag, panel discussions, the Microsoft AI workshop, networking, and door prizes and giveaways. A VIP Executive Experience adds priority seating, VIP check-in, access to the WOTM Executive Lounge, curated networking, a speaker meet-and-greet and a premium gift. Attendees can register online at bwepinc.org/womenonthemovesummit2026 using the promotional code SAVE25WOTM, and organizers note that space is limited.
The summit's growth tracks with Georgia's standing as a hub for women- and minority-owned business activity. The state ranked third nationally for the overall economic clout of women-owned businesses, based on combined firm creation, job growth and revenue generation, according to the National Women's Business Council's 2023 annual report. A separate study by FitSmallBusiness, cited by the Albany Herald, ranked Georgia as the top state in the country for Black entrepreneurship.
The Women on the MOVE Summit first launched in 2013 and later inspired a spin-off television series, Women on the MOVE Live!, which aired for four seasons on regional networks including AIB-TV, ION-TV and WATC-TV 57 and earned an Emmy nomination, according to KMP Productions. Dr. McNair, an entrepreneur and author who holds professional certificates in Women's Entrepreneurship from Cornell University and Women in Leadership from Harvard Business School, was named one of ATL Plus Magazine's 50 Most Powerful Women in 2024.
