WEST PARIS – Wendy J. Newmeyer of West Paris, founder, president and chief executive officer of Maine Balsam Fir Products, has been selected as lead speaker at the Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship 2005 Conference on April 14.

The third annual conference will be held at the Falcone Center for Entrepreneurship at Syracuse University. The all-day event expects to draw more than 400 women, 40 percent of whom already own a business, 40 percent who want to, and 20 percent students and service providers. There will be 15 breakout sessions after the keynote speeches by Wendy and Myra Hart of Harvard University, who was a co-founder of Staples.

Newmeyer’s topic is titled “The Most Exciting Journey of All,” about starting a business. She expects to share her message of faith, hard work and determination coupled with good timing, a creative use of available natural resources from her farm and her diverse talents that helped create and maintain her company since 1983. She employs seven women and her husband, Jack Newmeyer. Their products can be found in hundreds of stores across the nation.

She will also be addressing the Bangor National Association of Women Business Owners Chapter on May 19 at its annual meeting at the Lucerne Inn.

Newmeyer has won numerous awards including the SBA’s Small Business Person of the Year 2000. She is a graduate of the Leadership Maine Program; is active in her church, the Vineyard Fellowship of Mechanic Falls; and on the boards of the Growth Council of Oxford Hills, the Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce, the Maine Centers for Women, Work and Community and the DECA Chapter at OHCHS.