Executive leaders featured in women’s leadership summit

Top executives from across the U.S. and abroad will be part of the first Women’s Executive Leadership Summit at UW–Madison Sept. 18-19, 2003.

The two-day Executive Education program, to be held at the Fluno Center on the UW–Madison campus, is packed with executives and authors who will discuss with participants how women shape effective leadership roles in their organizations.

The summit’s key themes are the changing roles of women in leadership, winning diversity initiatives, proven success models and specific best practices.

Keynote speakers are leading authorities on women’s leadership. They are:

Sally Helgesen, author of The Female Advantage: Women’s Ways of Leadership and other research-based books on women’s leadership roles, who is an international expert on changing trends in women’s effectiveness.

Barbara Ley Toffler, author of Final Accounting: Pride, Ambition, Greed and the Fall of Arthur Andersen, who will explore the ethical challenges business leaders face. She has taught at Harvard and is currently teaching at Columbia University’s business school.

Joan Z. (Jodie) Bernstein will join Barbara Ley Toffler for an innovative co-keynote on women and values. She works with the national law firm of Bryan Cave in Washington, D.C., where she counsels companies in matters of consumer protection regulation. She was previously director of Consumer Protection for the Federal Trade Commission and has been general counsel to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Pat Alea, Summit program manager, said, “This program is distinct from most other women’s leadership programs in two ways. Where most offer coping strategies on how to fit into the existing system, ours is about affecting change and shaping careers and organizations based on one’s values and beliefs. In addition, Wisconsin’s program is deliberately designed to be smaller and more intimate so we can listen and learn from the experience of participants. It is intended to be the beginning of discussions that will continue into the future.” Alea has served as an advisor to numerous executives in key leadership positions in business, government and the non-profit sector. She is co-author of The Best Work of Your Life and is a regular co-host of Career Talk on Wisconsin Public Radio.

For international perspective, two speakers will tell of their experiences in the Middle East: Dr Badria Al Awadhi, director of the Arab Regional Center for Environmental Law and author of 11 books and numerous articles on women’s issues and Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, CEO of Tejari, the Middle East’s premier electronic business-to-business marketplace. In 2001, she headed the Dubai e-government executive team responsible for instituting e-government initiatives throughout the public sector.

Coming from California is Barbara Waugh, of Hewlett-Packard, author of The Soul in the Computer: The Story of a Corporate Revolutionary. Waugh earned international acclaim for creating significant worldwide change within HP Labs’ corporate culture through positive global outreach as a founder of HP’s e-Inclusion initiative.

Business and government leaders who will share their expertise include:

Terri Bresenham, president and general manager of GE Medical Systems Lunar,

Madeleine Condit, senior client partner at Korn/Ferry International, an executive search firm in Chicago,

Lori Cross, president of Datex-Ohmeda US,

Joseph Hogan, president and CEO of GE Medical Systems,

Katherine Hudson, board chair of the Brady Corporation, Milwaukee,

Rhonda Jordan, executive vice president and general manager of Kraft Pizza Division, Chicago,

Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Barbara Lawton,

Mindy Meads, executive vice president of Sears Soft Line/Lands’ End,

Kelly Ritchie, senior vice president of Employee Services at Lands’ End,

Louise Root-Robbins, who coordinates the Status of Women program for the University of Wisconsin System, and

Julia Taylor, president of the Greater Milwaukee Committee.

Two winners of the prestigious Catalyst Award for Diversity Programs will be represented. Marna Van Winkle, partner and tax services coordinator for Ernst & Young in the Twin Cities, and Lydia Mallett, chief diversity officer for the Corporate Diversity Department of General Mills, will discuss key components of their winning programs’ success.

The Women’s Executive Leadership Summit is being produced by the UW–Madison School of Business Executive Education department with special assistance from the school’s Women in Business Council, an advisory council to Business School Dean Michael M. Knetter. Corporate sponsors for the Summit include Lands’ End and GE Medical Systems.

The cost to attend the program is $1,295 per person or $1,165 when three or more from the same company register as a group.

The entire program and registration information is available at http://uwexeced.com/womenssummit/ or by calling 608/441-7330.