Deborah Penta    
Founder and Chair of the Board FLIC
CEO
PENTA Communications, Inc.

FLIC®, Female Leadership Interest Council

Deborah Penta is the founder and Chairman of the Board of FLICTM: Female leadership Interest Council – an non profit organization founded to inspire leadership development and mentorship for women. Her professional career spans over 20 years in the marketing, advertising and public relations world, helping companies achieve greater results and get to the next level. She is most well recognized as the CEO of PENTA Communications, Inc., a growing New England based marketing and advertising firm that she founded in the late 1980’s. Through her position as CEO of PENTA, she has worked with a diverse group of CEOs, presidents and senior level management helping them strategize to grow their organizations.

Over the years, she has dedicated her time to helping many nonprofit organizations through philanthropy, board expertise and fundraising. She founded the PENTA Communications, Inc. Black Tie Dinner Gala and Auction to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Massachusetts in 2000. Since the Gala’s inception, it has raised a net of nearly a half a million dollars to benefit children with life threatening medical conditions and in 2007; the Gala will fund its 100th wish for the Foundation.

Currently, she is on the board of directors for the Corridor Nine Chamber of Commerce, the WCAC: Worcester Community Action Council, the Catholic Free Press of the Worcester Diocese and the Girl Scouts of Montachusett Council. She serves on many committees for organizations throughout the region to help with strategic growth and marketing development. She has served on the board of directors for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Central and Western Massachusetts, Junior Achievement of Central Massachusetts and has dedicated numerous hours to help many regional foundations through fundraising and awareness.

In May of 2005, Ms. Penta was awarded with the prestigious Eli Whitney Award by the Corridor Nine Chamber of Commerce for her “perseverance in transforming challenge into innovation.” She received a Woman of Distinction Award in 2002, an “Americanism” award in 1982 and many awards for her industry expertise and leadership. She is a regularly featured guest on radio and television and she speaks at conferences and leads workshops and seminars on a myriad of topics. She is completing a book on female leadership which will be published in 2008.

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