2025’s Women in Business Honorees
The diverse roles of this year’s 15 honorees show just how far women have come in the RV industry.
Women — nearly 79 million of them — make up 47% of the U.S. workforce, according to data from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In 2024, 57.6% of women were active employees, compared to 67.8% of men. As McKinsey and Co.’s Women in the Workplace 2024 report indicates, “Over the past decade, women’s representation has increased at every level of corporate management. Most notably, women today make up 29% of C-suite positions, compared with just 17% in 2015.”
A 2022 Pew Research Center study found that women accounted for 50.7% of the college-educated workforce, and the labor force participation rate for college-educated women was 69.6%.
Progress is being made, and women across the board are receiving greater recognition for their hard work and contributions. However, women still face a wage gap, earning 84 cents for every $1 men make. McKinsey and Co. notes that women are less likely than a man to receive their first promotion to manager — for every 100 men promoted in 2024, only 81 women were. The study also points out that women of color face greater difficulties, representing only 7% of C-suite positions.
At the current rate of progress, McKinsey and Co. estimates it would take 48 years for women to achieve their share of representation in the U.S. workforce, assuming the current rate of progress is maintained.
Gender equity matters, not solely from the perspective of equality, but also for a business’s bottom line. According to Forbes, research indicates that removing gender discrimination can bolster productivity by as much as 40% and profitability by 63%, while also broadening the range of skills available to the team.
The McKinsey and Co. study found that, compared to companies without any female executives, “companies with the greatest proportion of women on executive committees earned a 47% higher rate of return on equity.”
Women are good for business, and in order to maintain — or improve! — the current rate of progress, we need to continue to support and celebrate women’s achievements in the workforce.
At RV PRO, this is something we take seriously, and we look forward to honoring the contributions women make to the RV industry each year with our Women in Business spotlight. This year, we had a record number of nominations, and we thank all of the nominators as well as our sponsors for taking the time to recognize and appreciate so many outstanding women in our industry.
Please allow us to introduce you to the 2025 honorees!
Brenda Arms – Alliance RV, Director of Parts Operations
Deanna Weaver – Bontrager Outdoors, Director of Administration
Denyse Pontius – Century Chemical Corp., CEO
Jennie Hilliard – Miller’s RV, Co-Owner
Laura Swope – Vogt RV World, Office Manager
Lisa Smith – Tiffin Motorhomes, Director of Allegro Club & Events
Mandy Weimerskirch – REV Group, Controller
Monika Geraci – RV Industry Association, Senior Director of PR & Communications
Nicole Schantz – Priority RV Network, Executive Director
Rachel Yessa – Lippert, Director of Marketing | Strategic Partners | Market Expansion
Samantha Newcomb – Forest River, Purchasing Agent & Product Designer
Sarah Betz – RV Doctor, LLC, Co-Owner/Certified Technician
Stacey Curtis – General RV Center, Delivery Process Support & Trainer
Valerie Chowning – RV Sales of New Mexico, Owner
Victoria “Vicki” Ross – Thor Motor Coach, Plant Manager
We’d also like to thank our sponsors:
