Harbus

Issue date: 2/4/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Elizabeth Head (OD) Conference Planning Team with Ann Fudge. Pictured left to right: Marianne Yip (OB), Linda Soo (OB), Ann Fudge, Trisha Coad (OH) and Sonia Sahney (OA).

On Saturday, January 26, 2008, the WSA brought together more than 900 women (and men!) to be a part of the Dynamic Women in Business Conference.

As in years past, the conference provided a unique forum for current and future women business leaders to exchange ideas about their professional and personal experiences. More than three hundred attendees were HBS students; the remainder were HBS Alumni, HBS faculty, distinguished business leaders, community members and students from other business schools - some traveling from as far away as California, Texas and Georgia to attend.

This was the 17th annual Dynamic Women in Business Conference, the longest-running and largest student-organized conference on campus. Through the course of its history, the conference has provided timely discussions on issues that are important to women professionals. This year's conference was no different. The informal theme of the conference revolved around charting your own path through the business world and being true to yourself and your priorities as you do so.

Inspirational speeches from keynotes Janet Hanson (Founder, 85 Broads and Milestone Capital Management) and Ann Fudge (former Chief Executive Officer of Young & Rubicam Brands) kicked-off and closed the conference activities, respectively.

Janet Hanson spoke candidly about difficulties she encountered throughout her life and discussed how these situations affected her career and led her to create a global networking organization that now includes over 17,000 current and future businesswomen from all types of industries and functions. Janet believes that companies that "invest in the undervalued asset of smart women over the next ten to twenty years will see great returns on that investment."

Ann Fudge challenged conference attendees to stay true to the "personal power" given to each of them at birth. She contributes her lengthy and successful career in marketing to her diligence in keeping her priorities in line. As a married mother of two when she graduated from HBS, she took the lowest paying offer she received because the position with General Mills and the move to Minneapolis were the right choices for her family. "Be who you are; it is your gift to the world," Ann told the crowd. She suggested that knowing who you are, understanding what is important to you and realizing your priorities are fundamental to making you a successful business woman and a complete person.

Continued...

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