Glass Ceiling Award

The Glass Ceiling is awarded to a woman in our community who has broken through the traditional barriers to obtain success. She is a woman who inspires you, who has shown great courage or who has paved the way for others and who has provided a tangible role model for all of us. The recipient may be the “first” or one of a few women among men at her level or in her field.

Nominations are made by Kalamazoo Network members and the form is available on the members only page.

Jane Tamraz
2011 Recipient

Jane Tamraz will tell you it’s never been “me”, but “we” that has resulted in the success of her business, Biggs|Gilmore. She will also let you know that it’s about people individually that make the whole work. She is undoubtedly one of the most inspiring individuals it has been my pleasure to meet.

As Jane spoke about her feelings on winning the Glass Ceiling Award at the Kalamazoo Network May dinner, it became evident that she never considered a glass ceiling when pursuing her goals of transforming Biggs|Gilmore into an agency that has recognized and responded to the changing technological needs of their clients. 

Biggs|Gilmore was founded in 1973 as an independent agency offering traditional advertising services for a wide range of local companies and brands. Our Glass Ceiling recipient joined the company in 1993, and in 2000, she and her partner, President Mike Gerfen, purchased the firm. Under their leadership, Biggs|Gilmore has transformed into a national interactive agency for companies like Heinz, Kimberly-Clark and Kellogg. They were named AdAge Small Agency of the Year in 2010 as well as receiving Top Agency in the 2009, 2010 and 2011 Internet Advertising Competition. Biggs|Gilmore, which now has offices in Kalamazoo and Chicago, continues to grow and hire in both cities, and in 2010, they experienced an impressive 30% growth.

Jane has a can-do attitude and great positive energy. Through some her past working experiences, she discovered the way to not do things. She wanted to provide a positive working atmosphere so that people looked forward to coming to work. She absolutely loves what they accomplish together and feels very fortunate to be with such talented, intelligent people doing good things.

Jane is a graduate of Michigan State University. She was director of communications at Bronson Methodist Hospital before joining Biggs|Gilmore. Jane has been active in the Greater Kalamazoo United Way for many years, serving as a Board member and Marketing Committee chair. She’s married to Mike Marchak and the proud mom of two young women, Lili and Maddie.

Jane Tamraz is one such woman and we are proud to have as our 2011 Glass Ceiling Award recipient.

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2005	2006	2007
The 2005, 2006 & 2007 Glass Ceiling Awards were created by Jean Hunderman-Smith of PipeDream Glass in Mattawan. www.pipedreamglass.com PipeDream Glass 9940 West R Avenue Mattawan, MI 49071 269-372-2239 Back to Top

Previous Recipients

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