Carolyn M. Vella

I am announcing, with sadness, the passing of Carolyn M. Vella.

Carolyn trained and worked as an R.N. in Washington, DC, while taking philosophy courses. After her marriage, she created The Helicon Group, a global competitive intelligence, research, analysis, and training firm. While Founding Partner, she co-authored 8 books on competitive intelligence, including Outsmarting the Competition: Practical Approaches to Finding and Using Competitive Information (1990).

Carolyn was the keynote speaker at the first meeting of the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals. She also founded SCIP’s Women’s Leadership Council.

Before her retirement, she was presented with SCIP’s highest award, the Meritorious Award.

In her private life, she worked extensively with cats, where she showed and bred Japanese Bobtail cats. She also judged pedigreed and household pet cats in the US, Canada, and Russia. Carolyn won numerous awards from the Cat Writers Association.

She shared her knowledge by serving as the lead author on 6 books on cat related subjects, including In the Spotlight: A Guide to Showing Pedigreed and Household Pet Cats (1990) and Robinson's Genetics for Cat Breeders and Veterinarians (4th Edition 1999).

She is survived by her husband, John J. McGonagle.

At Carolyn’s request, there will be no services.

In lieu of flowers, you may make a donation to Every Cat Health Foundation,  637 Wyckoff Ave Suite 336, Wyckoff, NJ 07481 888-963-6946.

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