At this vital juncture in world history, women are exercising influence and exerting power in a shifting paradigm that's reshaping our future. With women elected for the top job in Germany, Finland, Chile and Liberia and two women having launched historic campaigns for president in the United States and France, with major universities across the world now led by women, both Fortune and Forbes magazines also are flush with choices to pick for their coveted Most Powerful Women in the World lists. Whether it be the London Stock Exchange, France 's rail system; India 's leading retail bank; China 's largest PC maker; or blue chip companies among America 's esteemed Fortune 500, female leaders have carried prospects for women and girls beyond the barriers that once limited their progress worldwide.
On the occasion of the 25 th Anniversary of the founding of the International Women's Forum, IWF will present, in Chicago on October 10-12, 2007, an international array of diverse headliners and legends who are engaged in challenging complacency and driving change. From current and former female heads of state and government; Nobel Laureates, women CEO's, leading scientists and visionaries named by New Scientist magazine as among the world's 70 Most Brilliant Scientists ; and female architects shaping our urban environments, IWF invites you to a one-of-a-kind global conversation with women changing the face of leadership across the world at this watershed moment in history.
In a city at the crossroads of American culture, commerce and change that was destined to become a world renowned architectural showcase, meet these leaders and their global counterparts next October in Chicago and rub shoulders with those who know something you should know. We will walk away, together, with a greater appreciation for the global mindset that will be necessary for success in a world recast by the women who are re-shaping its future.
Lynne Nellemann, President, IWF Illinois
Roula Alakiotou, Co-Chair, World Leadership Conference
Grace Barry, Co-Chair, World Leadership Conference
Gay Cook, President, International Women's Forum
CONFERENCE PROGRAM
Tuesday, October 9
8:30 am – 4:00 pm IWF Leadership Foundation Board & Committee Meetings
9:00 am – 6:00 pm Pre Conference City Tours
6:45 pm – 7:30 pm Reception for Forum Presidents & IWF and Leadership Foundation
Board Directors
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm Presidents' Council Dinner ( For Forum Presidents Only )
Wednesday, October 10
9:00 am – 6:30 pm Registration – Palmer House Hilton Hotel
8:30 am – 4:00 pm IWF Board, Committees & Presidents' Council Meetings
4:00 pm - 5:00 pm IWF General Assembly - Saluting Forum Leaders Worldwide
8:00 am - 9:00 am Yoga
Led by Certified Yoga Instructors Heather Becker, Reema Datta and Danny Paradise
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm Opening Ceremony & Reception - with Mrs. Maggie Daley, First Lady of Chicago & Honorary Chair who will kick off the 2007 25 th Anniversary IWF World Leadership Conference at the Chicago Cultural Center -- the first, free municipal cultural center in the United States and the City of Chicago's official reception venue. Surrounded by intricate mosaics of Favrile glass, stone and mother of pearl, and with stunning views of Millennium Park, enjoy an international celebration -- A Taste of the Midwest -- featuring the foods, wines, customs and incomparable hospitality of the American heartland!
10:00 pm Hospitality Suite Opens
Thursday, October 11
7:30 am - 6:30 pm Registration – Palmer House Hilton Hotel
7:45 am – 8:30 am Continental Breakfast
7:00 am - 8:00 am Yoga
Led by Certified Yoga Instructors Heather Becker, Reema Datta and Danny Paradise
8:30 am Welcoming Remarks
Gay Cook, IWF President
8:35 am 2007 World Leadership Conference Foundational Remarks
Lynne Nellemann, President, IWF Illinois
8:40 am Plenary I Changing the World - Leading the Future
With female heads of state and government, both present and past, we'll look at issues challenging their nations and the global community and discuss the changes that are necessary to improve the quality of life for today and tomorrow's generations. With their own views of human institutions and the impediments to useful cooperation that are frustrating the successful handling of competing interests, violence and instability, we'll hear the perspectives of the world's stateswomen on how we may approach the challenges and opportunities ahead with a fresh point of view. Meet the women leaders who impact world culture with their own brand of leadership and consider the implications for the future. Introduced & facilitated by Catherine Bertini, former Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Program and Professor of Public Administration, Syracuse University. Featuring:
World Crafters: Portia Simpson Miller, Former Prime Minister, Jamaica*
Mary Robinson, Former President of Ireland & Director, Ethical Globalization Initiative
10:00 am Break
10:20 am Plenary II Women CEOs – The Face of a New Generation -Driving Change
Female chief executives have taken charge at some of the world's largest corporations. Making the list of Fortune magazine's 50 Most Powerful Women in Business and Forbes magazine's 100 Most Powerful Women in the World are several women powerhouses leading companies in America 's heartland, across North America and around the world. With strong showings from Europe and Asia, business is opening to women – fast. Is this the face of a new generation? What will women's presence at the helm in the global corporate world mean to the future of women in the workplace? And, what strategies are the world's top female executives deploying to meet the challenges of power while driving market share, surviving corporate defeats and reshaping the landscape for generations to follow? Facilitated by Gloria Scoby, Senior Vice President and Group Publisher, Crain Communications and President, Crain Communications Mexico. Featuring:
Market Makers: Linda Dillman, EVP-Risk Management, Benefits & Sustainability, Wal-Mart
Padmasree Warrior, EVP & Chief Technology Officer, Motorola
Beth Brooke, Global Vice Chairman, Ernst & Young
12:30 pm Women of Thought – Shaping the Future
Luncheon Program
Representing some of the world's most sought-after seats of higher learning, letters and vision, meet global women of thought taking education, innovation and the world polity into the future. Exchange strategies and views for strengthening prospects for a new generation of women who will drive social, economic, political and developmental change around the world. Facilitated by Donna Carroll, President of Dominican University .
Thought Leaders: Rivka Carmi, President, Ben-Gurion University, Israel
Silvia Sioli de Torres Carbonell, Director, IAE Business School , Universidad Austral, Argentina
Lillian Tibatemwa-Ekirikubinza, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Makerere University, Uganda
2:30 pm Afternoon Break-Out Options
A City of Big Shoulders – Breaking Barriers: Go behind the scenes and discover how art, architecture, discovery, comedy and music have transformed Chicago 's urban environment. Winston Churchill once noted that “we build our buildings, and these buildings shape us.” Chicago 's buildings reflect the spirit of a nation where unbridled imagination and innovation lead forward. Reflecting the furtive cultural environment that is Chicago, join IWF behind the scenes and beyond the barriers of tradition and convention and experience the creative facets of this great American city. Choose from:
Behind the Design … personally crafted for delivery by IWF Director, Conference Co-Chair and Chicago Architect Roula Alakiotou, in a look at America 's model city known for its exquisite architectural design. Join us at the Cultural Center for a presentation by esteemed architectural historian Tim Samuelson on Chicago's life-enhancing public use and how urban planning has shaped this great city over time from the ashes of the 1871 fire, to the epochs of Louis Sullivan, Martin Roche, William le Baron Jenney, to Daniel Burnham, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Mies van der Rohe. Following the presentation, we will visit the stockyard at the Art Institute, and then visit the Millennium Park where Liz Edwards, Special Project Manager, will take us behind the scenes of the facility.
Behind the Discovery … join us at Chicago's world-famed Field Museum for a specially designed view into the Museum's ground-breaking new exhibition, The Ancient Americas, and be led on a journey through 13,000 years of human ingenuity and achievement in the western hemisphere. The museum's Senior Vice President, Edward Horner will help us unwrap and unfold some of the unique discoveries associated with this exhibit. In follow on to our discoveries of the Ancient Americas - explore the museum further through tours uniquely designed for IWF members and guests specially guided by docents.
Behind the Drama … at the Shakespeare Theater, one of Chicago's most artful cultural venues. Artistic Director and Founder Barbara Gains will share the vision that produced this unique theatrical facility inspired by the late Sir Peter Hall (Director and Founder of the Royal Shakespeare Company) who once declared, “I think the Chicago Shakespeare Theater is probably the best space for Shakespeare in the world”. Delighting audiences with theatrical productions that also feature global playwrights, the Chicago Shakespeare Theater is modeled on the Swan Theatre at Stratford. Ms. Gains will be joined by experts from Chicago's Theater World like Richard Christiansen, arts journalist and author of “A Theater of Our Own: A History and a Memoir of 1,001 Nights in Chicago” as well as Bernie Sahlins, writer and producer, creator of Second City and co-founder of the International Theater Festival.
Behind the Masterpieces … at The Chicago Conservation Center will take us behind the art of restoring, preserving and protecting the masterpieces at one of America 's premier private art restoration and conservation laboratories. The Chicago Conservation Center is the largest facility of its kind in the United States. Although closed to the public, The Conservation Center will be opened exclusively for IWF for a facility tour, including tips and demonstrations from the Center's top artisans and conservators on preservation and restoration of some of America 's greatest art collections. The Center has cared for fine art from some of the country's most prestigious museums, galleries, corporate and private collections. Heather Becker, noted artist, author, historian and CEO of The Chicago Conservation Center takes us on this one-of-a-kind look behind the art of ensuring that masterful works endure.
Behind the Laughs … at world renowned Second City with the improvisational comedy troupe that has nurtured some of America 's finest comedic talent from Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi to Ryan Styles and Mike Meyers. You still see many of these talents on Saturday Night Live, a mainstay in America 's NBC weekly line-up for over 30 years. From its earliest days in Chicago , through the golden years of Toronto and Second City Television (SCTV), Second City has provided enduring comic relief to a conflicted world. Featuring Tom Yorton, President of Second City and some of his top talent in a live, interactive improv performance custom-designed for IWF.
Behind the Blues … America 's incomparable musical genre finds irreplaceable inspiration in Muddy Water's adopted home of Chicago . From its roots in America's deep south and northward – Chicago has left an indelible mark on the blues and the women and men who sing it – from Billie Holiday, to B.B. King and John Lee Hooker. Join IWF at some of Chicago 's most historical spots important to this gutsy musical expression. Travel the path of some of the most famous blues masters of all time and hear from Barry Dolins, Coordinator of the Chicago Blues `Fest since 1985. We'll also include a stop at Blues Heaven, the former Chess Records Recording Studio, for a private harmonica lesson from one of Chicago 's own blues masters. Enjoy a Blues Encore Thursday evening in the IWF Hospitality Suite where more performances will be featured!
6:45 pm Launch for Dinners
7:45 pm Dine Arounds, Guest & Young Leader Dinners
10:30 pm Hospitality Suite Opens
Friday, October 12
7:30 am - 6:30 pm Registration – Palmer House Hilton Hotel
7:00 am - 8:00 am Yoga
Led by Certified Yoga Instructors Heather Becker, Reema Datta and Danny Paradise
7:45 am – 8:30 am Continental Breakfast
8:35 am Plenary III Shaping Prospects for Improved Health & Longevity -
Into the Future
What will be the biggest health and life-breakthroughs of the next 50 years? New Scientist magazine editors asked over 70 of the world's most brilliant scientists for their ideas – some of whom are featured in this roundtable. In the coming decades will we discover that we are not alone in the universe? Unravel the physiological basis for consciousness? Routinely have false memories implanted in our minds? Begin to physically evolve in new directions? And will physicists finally hit upon a universal theory of everything? Facilitated by Andrea Dunaif, MD, Chief, Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Molecular Medicine, Northwestern University. Featuring:
Global Visionaries: Elizabeth Loftus, Distinguished Professor, Psychology & Social
Behavior, University of California, Irvine – “Imagine a world where anyone
with the correct technique and the right pharmaceuticals can implant false
memories into anyone they choose.”
Ellen Heber-Katz, Professor of Molecular & Cellular Oncogenesis
Program, the Wistar Institute – “The day is not far off when we will be
able to prescribe drugs that cause severed spinal cords to heal and
hearts to regenerate.”
Carolyn Porco, Voyager Imaging Team Member & Leader of the
Cassini Imaging Team – “The most significant development in the
next 50 years will be the discovery of extraterrestrial life forms, extant
or fossilized, on another solar system body.”
Irene Pepperberg, Harvard University Psychologist – “By 2056, we will
use birds to understand how human language evolved.”
Mina Teicher, Professor of Mathematics, Bar-Ilan University; Chief Scientist,
Israeli Ministry of Sciences & Technology; and Chairman, Council for Advancement
of Women in Science &Technology – “The most intriguing question for the 21 st
century is how does the brain work? Will women be instrumental in solving
its mysteries using their interdisciplinary, multi-tracking skills, and how may it
impact women's lives?”
10:00 am Break
10:20 am Plenary IV Taking It To The Future – A New Generation Speaks Out
Featuring young women leaders from Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Europe, North America, Latin America and the Caribbean who have been selected through the years by the IWF Leadership Foundation to participate in the internationally acclaimed Fellows program. Hear the voices of the next generation on how they intend to shape the future for women, their families, careers and community as they tackle the hard choices and navigate the future on wings spread further by the legacy of women leaders worldwide. Featuring introductory remarks by Ludmila Shvetsova, First Deputy Mayor of Moscow, whose work on behalf of Moscow Government is changing prospects for youth and future women leaders in Russia's dynamic and expanding market. Facilitated by Esther Bush, President and CEO, Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh with:
Samar Dudin, Founder & Director of Takween Open Spaces for Enlightenment & Creativity, Jordan
Alicia Encisco , Principal Consultant, Zyman Group, Mexico
Molly Tschang, Director - International Programs, Internet Business Solutions Group, Cisco, USA
Vivian Lau, CEO, Junior Achievement, Hong Kong
Erika Alexander, RVP Select & Extended Stay Lodging, Marriott International, Inc. USA
Lise Taylor, Technical Director, Black & Veatch, United Kingdom
Totsie Memela, CEO, Postbank, South Africa
Malka Nir, F18 Engineering Department Manager, Intel Electronics, Israel
Joan McGlockton , Vice President, Corporate Affairs & Associate General Counsel,
Sodexho, USA
11:50 am Break
12:15 pm Closing Luncheon – 25 Years at IWF
Women Who Changed the World – Shaping the Future
Utilizing global interactive technology, IWF celebrates its growth across five continents, its leadership initiatives, the Leadership Foundation, and a retrospective on our development. Featured are the expansion of the Leadership Foundation, its Fellows, Mentors, Trainers and Leaders, staged and presented by webcast. Appearing are past Fellows, current Fellows, the forum presidents, the boards of IWF and the Leadership Foundation, the founding forums, IWF's current and past presidents, the Foundation's current and past presidents. Facilitated by Gay Cook, IWF President (2005-2007).
2:30 pm Chicago City Tours By River Boat with docents hand-picked by Chicago's Architectural Foundation. In the birthplace of the modern day skyscraper, cruise a palate of urban architectural design from the corner of Michigan and Wacker, to as far north as Goose Island, and take in the breathtaking sites of some of the world's most outstanding architectural structures including the Sears Tower, the John Hancock Building, Soldier Field, Buckingham Fountain and more .
Chicago City Walking Tours offers your choice of:
• Financial District - Join IWF's VIP tour crafted by Terry Savage, IWF member and founding member of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Get an inside view of the most exciting trading floors in the world as Terry leads the tour through the Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Board Options Exchange. Finish with a private reception at Peak6 Options, one of the world's largest option trading firms, where you will hear from founder Jen Just on the importance of capital markets.
• Lyrics & Symphony – Featuring Chicago's thriving theater district comprised of historical landmarks like The Civic Opera House, a majestic, limestone skyscraper that is one of North America's most beautiful opera houses and home to the Lyric Opera of Chicago. The tour includes a visit to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra -- the Symphony Center -- originally built as Orchestra Hall in 1904 by famous Chicago Architect, Daniel Burnham.
6:45 pm Gala Reception
7:30 pm International Hall of Fame Awards Gala
Featuring the inductions of Billie Jean King, Tennis Legend and Social Pioneer, USA and Graca Machel, Mozambique's champion of women, children and families in areas of high conflict and former First Lady of Mozambique and South Africa, with Carmen de Lavallade, Choreographer, Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, 2007 Mistress of Ceremonies.
*Invited
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