Middle Atlantic Products celebrated its first successful local chapter elle@LegrandNA event in Fairfield, New Jersey, on Jan. 29. elle@LegrandNA was created to empower women within the Legrand North America organization, enabling them to succeed professionally and personally. The Fairfield event brought together more than 50 women from the Middle Atlantic and Raritan New Jersey offices to learn about the program opportunities offered at the local level. 

"Legrand believes that diversity is an important element of creating innovation and global leadership. elle@LegrandNA is a powerful commitment toward that goal," said Sneh Virdi, elle@LegrandNA president and executive VP of finance for the Electrical Wiring Systems Division of Legrand. "We're delighted at how well the program is being received, especially at the local level, which is pivotal to growing and nurturing leadership within the company."

The event kicked off with an opening address from Virdi, who explained the forum's vision and recounted the milestones the organization had reached at the national level, including the national conference that took place last summer and the creation of mentoring and professional development subcommittees. She also introduced the forum's executive leadership to celebrate this inaugural event and urged all the women across the company to become members and take advantage of the development and leadership opportunities.

"elle@LegrandNA provides women with the support and encouragement to excel in their careers, grow their abilities, and network with others. The local events really foster that mission, and this first experience paved the way for successful programming," said Megan Knedler, elle@LegrandNA regional leader and director of marketing communications at Middle Atlantic. "The feedback from the New Jersey local chapter launch was resoundingly positive, and all the attendees are eager to participate in upcoming events."

elle@Legrand is designed to support and nurture the development of women within the organization with local chapters. Led by six regional leaders, the cornerstone to the local program is focused around Lean In Circles, a concept founded by Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook and author of the book "Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead." Using Sandberg's approach, Circles are made up of small groups of women within each company location who meet monthly to network, openly communicate about issues they're facing, and learn more about each other as well as about other company departments, roles, and processes. The Circles encourage leadership, providing engaging content and confidential support. In addition to Circles, quarterly in-person gatherings offer cross-circle networking, collaboration, content from guest speakers, and panel discussions.

More information about Middle Atlantic Products is available at www.middleatlantic.com.