Shannon Petrin

Erin Messier

Erin Messier is the Director of Development at the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst. In this role, she helps secure financial resources from alumni and supporters to ensure Isenberg remains a top public business school, known for innovation and excellence. Erin holds a BBA in Management (2018) and an MBA (2024) from Isenberg. She also served as the WOI Conference President at the 5th annual conference in 2018 and continues to mentor the team as an advisor. In her free time, she enjoys being an auntie, spending time with family and friends, boating on warm summer days, traveling, and baking her famous chocolate chip cookies! 

Kristine Elison

Janie Kaplan

Janie Kaplan has been an Alumni Advisor to the Women of Isenberg (WOI) Conference since its inception in 2013.  In this role she has been involved with all aspects of the planning, execution and advancement of the conference. 

“The Women of Isenberg Conference brought me back to UMass after 30 years.  It’s been a wonderful way of giving back to the Isenberg community, as well as collaborating with students, faculty and staff on this wonderful event that has tripled in size over the past 12 years”, reports Janie.  

She is also serving as Chairwoman for Women for UMass Amherst (WFUM), a volunteer organization dedicated to supporting and promoting the personal and professional goals of all UMass-affiliated women – students and alumnae – through mentoring, events, a grant program, and other engagement opportunities.

After receiving her BBA in Finance in 1979 from the School of Business Administration at UMass, Amherst, Janie was recruited on campus by an Information Technology (IT) Consulting firm, American Management Systems, Inc. (AMS).  She remained at AMS and later CGI (who acquired AMS) for 33 years. 

Janie’s career was diverse including roles as a Business Systems Analyst and Project Manager on system development projects across many vertical markets and industries; as a Marketing Communications and Public Relations Manager, defining and executing programs across the firm’s business units; and as an Account Executive, cultivating and overseeing the firm’s long-standing clients. 

Janie “left” (never says “retired”) from the world of IT Consulting in 2012 and since then has been filling her time traveling near and far with her husband Peter and working on UMass projects for WOI and WFUM. They have one son, Sam, who is beginning his Fellowship in Nephrology at Tufts Medical Center in Boston.

Megan Hill

Megan Flanagan Hill is delighted to be serving as Faculty Advisor - Marketing and Communications for the 2025 Women of Isenberg Conference. Within the University of Massachusetts, Megan is a Business Communication Program full-time faculty member who teaches Management Communication and Career and Professional Development courses for both undergraduates in the Isenberg School of Management and graduate students in Isenberg’s Master of Science in Business Analytics program. She thoroughly enjoys preparing students for the workforce and bringing her marketing communications industry experience into the classroom and was nominated in AY 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 by Isenberg students through the Dean’s Office as “a faculty member of notable impact”. Megan has coached students on presentation delivery within the Isenberg Consulting Academy and the Honors Marketing Capstone thesis course. Megan is an active, published member of the Association of Business Communication (ABC) and has presented at ABC conferences in Colorado, Arizona and Oklahoma.

Prior to teaching in the Isenberg School of Management, Megan was a Professor of Practice teaching marketing and organizational communication courses within the Grenon School of Business at Assumption University in Worcester, MA. Megan served as a past Faculty Advisor at Assumption University leading students on a mission trip to Ecuador in 2018. As a former corporate communications specialist, Megan focused on corporate social responsibility, marketing, social media, trade shows and global internal communications with Raytheon Technologies, Collins Aerospace and Carrier Corporation working in their Hartford, Charlotte and West Palm Beach locations. Megan’s last role prior to teaching was working in public relations and marketing for water parks, golf courses and wedding venues across South Florida. As a former undergraduate who had internships with Raytheon, Meredith Corporation, Unum and Worcester Business Journal, she is passionate about advocating for undergraduates to step outside their comfort zone, shatter the norm and gain numerous internship experiences to build their network following graduation.

Raised in the Pioneer Valley and proud daughter of UMass graduates (’84 and ‘86), Megan resides in Wilbraham, MA with her husband and children. Outside of UMass, Megan is passionate about bringing women together in community and has been a co-lead of the Catholic Moms Group of St. Michael’s (East Longmeadow) as well as founding a 50-member book club for mothers of young children within her town. Her first public speaking engagement in the Pioneer Valley was as 2010 Springfield Colleen, a Western Massachusetts pageant best representing Irish culture and heritage. Megan is most excited for the 2025 Women of Isenberg Conference to witness attendees become engaged and enthusiastic about their future career endeavors.