Helene believes that supporting women’s professional development and advancement is crucial to the success of an organization, and relies on fundamentals of role models, mentors, connections and support. She has made addressing these fundamental needs a central part of her career, and was a founding member of the Women’s Mentor Program at Information Resources. This group established mentorship best practices, identified mentor pairings, and provided ongoing support to mentees through one-on-one sessions, group workshops and inspirational yet practical guest speakers. She brought this experience with her to future employers and continues to play a role in formal mentor programs. At Lightspeed, she is currently a mentor in the LEAP program, which pairs influential senior women with high potential women in other parts of the company. She is currently developing a program to bring one-on-one mentorship to a broad group of employees, to go beyond existing invitation-based mentoring. She is often sought out as a mentor and coach, particularly in the areas of communication, employee engagement, and difficult conversations, and has developed mentoring relationships both internally and externally.