SHE Means Business Conference 2024

The Shoals Chamber is thrilled to host its annual Women in Business SHE Means Business Conference. The 2024 SHE Means Business Conference will feature a keynote address from Mrs. Caroline Aderholt, lunch, panel discussions, and a cocktail networking hour.

About Mrs. Aderholt:
Caroline Aderholt is an owner, manager, and shareholder in family-owned businesses involved in farming and real estate including McDonald Farms Partnership, Greenbrier Enterprises LLC, and Armadale Properties LLC. 
Caroline Aderholt has a long-standing interest in business and politics. In 1990 she graduated from Birmingham-Southern College with a double major in Political Science and Business Management where she served as SGA President.   Immediately upon graduation, she managed her father’s 1990 race for U.S. Congress for the Fifth Congressional District of Alabama as well as worked for the George Bush advance team during 1990.
In 1991 Aderholt joined the Metropolitan Development Board (MDB) in Birmingham, Alabama.  It was at MDB that Caroline began her lifelong interest in economic development. MDB is the economic development agency for the five-county area surrounding Birmingham.  While at MDB, she served as Director of Medical Economic Development, responsible for marketing Birmingham’s growing medical and research assets to prospective companies. MEDAL, Medical Economic Development Alliance, has served as the foundation for countless economic development efforts since then in the Birmingham area.
After marrying her husband Robert in 1994, Caroline continued contract work for the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama and the Business Council of Alabama. However, politics soon became Caroline’s main focus in 1996 when her husband won a successful bid for the U.S. Congress for the Fourth Congressional District of Alabama.  In 1999, Caroline and Robert became parents to a daughter, Mary Elliott, and again in 2004 to a son, Robert Hayes.  Priorities shifted, and Caroline would devote her time to raising children and representing her husband at official and political events.
In 2015, Caroline Aderholt joined Concerned Women for America (CWA) as their Chief of Staff in Washington, DC. CWA is the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization dedicated to helping its members apply Biblical principles to all levels of public policy. As Chief of Staff, Caroline oversaw the Legislative Department and lobbyists for CWA, directing the legislative agenda for the organization. Caroline crafted and led CWA’s strategy to promote and lobby the Senate to confirm Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court as well as led an effort with a small group of national organizations to craft one of the most conservative platforms in history at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Caroline left her full-time position from CWA in 2018, and in 2019 was asked to join their National Board of Directors.
Caroline Aderholt finished a 12-year term on the University of Montevallo Board of Trustees in 2017, a public liberal arts college in Alabama, where she served as Secretary of the Board. She also currently enjoys serving on the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame Selection Committee.   
Most recently, Caroline was chosen to serve on the Auburn Board of Trustees.  Her work at Auburn allows her to contribute to lifelong passions of agribusiness, economic development and Auburn University.
Caroline Aderholt remains active serving in leadership roles in Washington D.C. as President of the Republican Spouses Club, The Congressional Club (a bi-partisan setting for friendship among spouses of members of Congress), and The International Club Number One, which promotes friendship among spouses of elected officials and spouses of Ambassadors in Washington, D.C.  She also enjoys her work on the National Prayer Breakfast Foundation where she serves as Secretary of the Board.