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Women on the Rise honors women leading the way for the next generation with their outstanding contributions to the business community.
This year's award recognizes six rising business leaders in industries that range from technology and economic development to finance, law and architecture.
Women on the Rise is part of the Women in Leadership program, which also includes Women Who Mean Business. All honorees were selected from nominations by an advisory committee made up of previous honorees and Albany Business Review staff.
The full stories of this year's Women on the Rise and Women Who Mean Business will be part of the Oct. 6 issue of the Albany Business Review. An event to recognize the honorees will take place on the same day at 11 a.m. at Hilton Garden Inn Troy.
This year’s Women on the Rise honorees are:
Katherine Hart Crain, partner, Couch White
Katherine Hart Crain started her career at Couch White as a summer associate and now chairs the firm’s trust and estate practice. Through her efforts, the practice group has tripled the amount of active legal services being provided to clients and Crain is seen as a trust and estate industry leader in the Northeast, according to her nomination.
Crain recently completed the Women Executives Accelerator Program, meant to develop hard and soft leadership skills for promising young women. She also is on the board of the Empire State Youth Orchestra and the Estate Planning Council for Eastern New York.
Alissa McDonald, CEO, PopPD
Alissa McDonald doubled her teaching salary in one year through a side business she started during maternity leave in 2019. After more than a decade teaching in the South Glens Falls School District, McDonald left her job to focus on her growing startup.
PopPD is a software platform where educators can post video lessons to help other teachers with professional development in the classroom. The lessons are typically broad concepts on teaching strategies, rather than single-day lesson plans. Content creators receive 70% of a sale and PopPD receives 30%. The company is in the middle of raising a $500,000 pre-seed round. Beta Boom, an investment fund focused on funding software companies founded by women and underrepresented populations, nearly closed the round with its investment of $300,000.
Renee McFarlin, senior economic developer, Capitalize Albany Corp.
Renee McFarlin leads business development programming and strategic initiatives at Capitalize Albany Corp. She is also responsible for grant administration and leading the organization’s business attraction and retention efforts. McFarlin recently managed Capitalize Albany’s Building Improvement Grant Program, awarding grants ranging from $1,500 to $25,000 for 34 small businesses and three nonprofits.
McFarlin also serves as a volunteer on the city of Albany’s Special Events Committee, reviewing applications and permitting requests and consulting on events.
Maggie MulCahy, principal, Hyman Hayes Associates
Maggie MulCahy has spent the past 10 years at Hyman Hayes Associates, rising from project manager to associate to senior associate, and is now the first female principal in the firm’s 30-year history. Her concentration is in the health care field and she also leads the HR department and chairs the office culture committee.
MulCahy is a board member of the National Association of Women in Construction, chairs the Community Outreach Committee, is a member of Girls Inc. and has led fundraising efforts for local food banks.
Diana Polli, director of new product introduction/fabrication - industrial products, Plug Power
Diana Polli leads a team making engineering designs a reality — including a fuel cell system that can deliver enough power for over 300 homes. She is also working on fabrication strategies for 1MW and 5MW electrolyzer design – a growth area for the company. Plug has invested in manufacturing and hydrogen generation plants at the pace of about $1 billion a year for the past few years as it works to build scale to ensure it can produce more fuel cells and hydrogen using its generation plants and electrolyzer technology. Polli started her career with Precision Valve and Automation, leading a team of engineers through automation projects from concept to completion.
Ashleigh Smith, director of finance, Kitware
Ashleigh Smith Joined Kitware in 2016 as controller and was promoted to director of finance in July 2021. She currently leads and manages all finance functions within Kitware, a software research and development company in Clifton Park. Smith also manages Kitware’s administrative staff, leading efforts around office expansion and hybrid work.
Smith has led employee training and development initiatives, particularly excelling at explaining complex business concepts to all employees, according to her nomination. A key accomplishment has been leading Kitware through its transition to an employee stock ownership plan in 2020.
Smith has served as treasurer for the Brighter Choice Charter Schools and teaches a Junior Achievement program to second graders.