January 2007

 

Dear Friends:

 

As we start a New Year, I send heartfelt wishes to IWF's global membership of 4,200 women leaders for a happy, healthy, rewarding 2007 that brings us all closer together across careers, cultures, and continents.  To that end, it is my privilege to announce that the 2007 IWF Global Cornerstone Conference “Building Bridges – Breaking Walls” —under the patronage of Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah, Founding Member of IWF Jordan—will be presented May 14-16, 2007, in Amman.  In a country widely recognized for the conciliatory leadership it seeks to bring the world, IWF will reach across its global networ k t o assemble women leaders in Amman to consider the elements involved in building a sense of unity, stewardship, and trust across the region and world.

 

To help members prepare for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, we will be providing recommendations on some pre-conference books you may wish to read, movies to see, and information on visa arrangements and travel tips to ensure a safe journey and very comfortable stay.  Details will be available soon. 

 

In the meantime, you can click on the links below to IWF's web site for details about hotel reservations at the Grand Hyatt Amman and special tours available preceding and following the 2007 IWF Global Cornerstone in Amman .  Please be mindful of the following schedule of governance meetings when making your travel arrangements:

 

• For forum presidents, there will be a special dinner arranged in Amman on Sunday evening, May 13, and an extended Presidents' Council meeting on May 14.
•  IWF's Leadership Foundation Board and committees will meet May 13.
• IWF's committees will meet May 13, and IWF's Board will convene May 14. 

 

It was my pleasure to see all of you who attended the 2006 IWF World Leadership Conference in Seattle in September. I am most grateful to the Washington State Forum and Conference Co-Chairs Debbie Bevier and Sally Jewell for a truly magnificent program featuring Innovation and Creativity.

 

To everyone who could not join us in Seattle, I invite you to watch web casts on the IWF web site of the Opening Plenary on Innovation & Creativity , the Closing Luncheon on Women Leaders Pioneering Innovation, and the very moving IWF Hall of Fame Gala at which three stellar women were inducted into the IWF Hall of Fame in ceremonies presided over by Gillian Martin Sorensen, senior advisor at the United Nations Foundation. The 2006 inductees were: Dr. Linda Buck, Nobel Laureate; Professor Dame Sandra Dawson, KPMG Professor of Management and Master of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge University; and Dr. Susan M. Love, pioneer and founder of the breast cancer advocacy movement. 

 

IWF's Board has been at work strengthening IWF's global reach and impact under strategic initiatives designed to Grow IWF Forward in the 21 st Century .  To that end, IWF's web site platform will be broadened to increase its facility and value to members as an effective communications tool for connecting people, programs, initiatives, and ideas.

 

Forum presidents provided key input in Seattle, which I very much value, on the new web site features. Those include a first-time user help section; video feature presentations; a forum corner where member forums can post their news; a program calendar where forums directly can post their events; online IWF conference registration and a direct credit card payment option; a member profile section where members' bios and photos will be posted and can be edited by the individual member; electronic roster download capability and heightened search functions enabling members to readily access one another; a section to promote members' specialty areas and availability for public speaking; a corner for member vacation home exchanges; a section for sales items from members; an author's corner designed to allow IWF's authors to talk about their books; and an affinity chat room for like-minded members.  We anticipate bringing the new web site on line in the first quarter of 2007.

 

As is the IWF, the IWF's Leadership Foundation is on the move, growing opportunities for women around the world.  Now having served women leaders of high potential from 24 nations, the Leadership Foundation Board voted to double the size of its Fellows Program in 2007.  Swamped with applicants from the Far East, the Middle East, the Pacific Basin and Europe – from North America, South America, Central America, and the Caribbean Islands , the program offers a place where the next generation of top women can come together across continents and disciplines to engage in leadership training designed to help them reach new levels of achievement.

 

IWF's Leadership Foundation, under the leadership of President Rosalind Gilmore of the United Kingdom , is closing in on its goal to raise the US$5 million required to ensure that the legacy of our members and women's leadership is secured for future generations.  Recently, the United States Congress was persuaded that federal women employees should have access to competing for the Leadership Foundation Fellows Program. The Leadership Foundation received a $500,000 grant to fund federal women candidates for the program in perpetuity, set up as a restricted fund. 

 

As our global network expands through the International Women's Forum and its Leadership Foundation, the dreams of women leaders to connect their vision for a more equitable and productive future is coming together at IWF. 

 

I hope to see a record number of you May 14-16 at the 2007 IWF Global Cornerstone in Amman , hosted by IWF Jordan - IWF's first Arab forum - and October 10-12 for the IWF World Leadership Conference & Hall of Fame Gala in Chicago, hosted by the Illinois Forum, where we will observe an IWF milestone—our 25th Anniversary!

 

It remains my greatest privilege to serve as your IWF President. As always, I welcome and value your ideas, comments, and suggestions, and look forward to hearing from you as together we strengthen, advance, and Grow Forward this unique and wonderful international organization of women leaders. I can be reached via gcook@iwforum.org. 

 

Warm regards,

Gay Cook

IWF President