Conference Keynote Speakers - Thursday, March 29

Opening Keynote Speakers
Thursday, 8:00am - 9:00am

Sharon Allen
Chairman of the Board, Deloitte & Touche USA
Thursday, 8:00am - 9:00am

Sharon Allen is the Chairman of the Board, Deloitte & Touche USA LLP ("D&T USA"). Her election by the partners and principals of D&T USA is just the latest achievement in a career filled with accomplishment. Prior to assuming the board chair, Sharon was a member of the D&T USA Board of Directors and managing partner of the Deloitte U.S. Firms' Pacific Southwest practice, based in Los Angeles. In her role as leader of the organization's second-largest regional office, she was also responsible for offices in San Diego, Costa Mesa, Phoenix, Las Vegas and Reno. Previously, she was in charge of the Portland office.

Sharon is the first woman elected as board chair, and becomes the highest-ranking woman in the organization's history. She has served on the Client Service Standards Task Force, Partner Admissions Committee and in many other committee capacities. With 30 years of experience in auditing and consulting, Sharon has worked with many high profile clients. Sharon also is involved in her community, with membership on the boards of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, United Way of Greater Los Angeles, Independent Colleges of Southern California and the YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles, among many other activities. She also has received numerous awards for business and community leadership.

Maria Otero
President & CEO, ACCION International
Thursday, 8:00am - 9:00am

Maria Otero is president & CEO of ACCION International. A leading global microfinance institution that seeks to open the financial systems in developing countries to reach the poor, ACCION provides technical assistance, equity investment and financial services to 27 of the most advanced microfinance institutions in the world. Ms. Otero first joined ACCION in 1986 as director of its lending program in Honduras, where she lived for three years. She became president of the organization in 2000. Ms. Otero is a leading voice on sustainable microfinance, and has published extensively on the subject, including as co-editor of The New World of Microfinance, published by Kumarian Press. Ms. Otero chairs the board of ACCION Investments, a US$20 million investment company for microfinance, and co-chairs the Microenterprise Coalition. She also serves on the boards of directors of three regulated microfinance institutions in Latin America: Mibanco in Peru, BancoSol in Bolivia and Compartamos in Mexico. Ms. Otero serves on several other boards, including that of the Calvert Foundation, the United States Institute of Peace, and BRAC Holding of Bangladesh, the largest NGO in the world. She is also coordinator of the Council of Microfinance Equity Funds, which convenes 18 equity investment funds dedicated to microfinance.

From 1995-2005, Ms. Otero served as the chair of the MicroFinance Network, a global association of 30 leading microfinance institutions. She chaired the board of Bread for the World from 1992-1997. In 1994, President Clinton appointed Ms. Otero to serve as chair of the Board of Directors of the Inter-American Foundation, a position she held until January 2000. She has also served in an advisory capacity to the World Bank's Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest (CGAP). Since 1997, Ms. Otero has been an adjunct professor at the John Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS). In 2000, she received Hispanic Magazine's "Latina Excellence Award," and was also featured in Latina magazine. In 2005, she was profiled in Newsweek's special report, "How Women Lead" as one of 20 of the most influential women in the United States.

Track Keynote Speakers
Thursday, 9:15am - 10:00am

Sandy Carter
Vice President, SOA & WebSphere Strategy, Channels and Marketing, IBM
WITI Technology Track - Women and SOA: Change agents for success!
Thursday, 9:15am - 10:00am

Sandy Carter is Vice President, SOA & WebSphere Strategy, Channels and Marketing for IBM Corporation, and author of the newest SOA technology book called, "The New Language of Business: SOA & Web 2.0". Sandy is responsible for driving IBMÕs cross-company, worldwide SOA marketing initiatives, and in this role, helps oversee the company's SOA strategy across software, services and hardware and sets the company's SOA marketing direction. Sandy has played a critical role in helping to identify SOA acquisition targets and ensure the successful integration of these organizations into the IBM SOA portfolio. Additionally, she directs SOA messaging and content, leading a global team in driving customer demand for IBM and IBM Business Partner SOA solutions.

Sandy's track record speaks for itself: 4Q2006 marked the fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit WebSphere Family growth, and the WebSphere brand has won seven industry awards. In addition, she has helped IBM's SOA initiatives consistently earn third party validation and top leadership rankings by analysts and pundits alike, as evidenced by these reports: reporting on 3Q Quarter 2006 results, Mark Loughridge, Senior VP and CFO, IBM Corporation, said: "This quarter, our software results once again reflected strong demand for products deploying Services Oriented Architectures.", and Dwight B. Davis, from Ovum said, "IBM's approach to the SOA market is more comprehensive and more coherent than any other vendor's plan at the moment.", while Barrons reported "SOA has become a buzzword for the growing trend throughout the IT industry to make computer systems more flexible and adaptable to changing business needs. IBM sells more than three times as much in SOA products and services as anyone else."

Sandy is a frequent speaker at industry events sponsored by Gartner Group, IDC, Women in Technology International (WITI), and Infoworld magazine and has the leading Blog in the industry for SOA. Her professional associations include member and winner of the Best Speaker Award, the Marketing Focus Advisory Council; Board Member of the Grace Hopper Industry Advisory Committee; and membership in Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Inner Circle. She is a recipient of the 2005 AIT United Nations Member of the Year award for helping developing countries in the area of technology. She is an active member of Women in Technology and the Co-Lead IBM Partnership Executive at Duke University. Sandy holds a Bachelor of Science degree in math and computer science from Duke University and an MBA from Harvard, and is fluent in eight programming languages.

For more information, please visit Sandy's blog.

Trish Karter
President & CEO, Dancing Deer Baking Company
Thursday, 9:15am - 10:00am

As CEO and cofounder of Dancing Deer Baking Co. Trish Karter has found a way to marry her creative, artistic, environmental, community and business interests. The woman-owned enterprise located in Boston's inner city, is lauded as one of the nation's most innovative natural food companies. It has received the food industry's equivalent of the "Oscars" many times over, 1999 Brand Design Award from the American Institute of Graphic Artists, 2000 SBANE New Englander Award for Innovation, Inc. Magazine's listing in the top 100 Inner City companies (2001, 2002 and 2003), FleetBoston's 2002 Small Business Leadership Award for Innovation, 2001 and 2005 Chamber of Commerce Award for Excellence, Francis Hesselbein Community Excellence Award 2005, Fortune Small Business Best Bosses Award 2005, WBENC Business Star 2006, Rosoff Award for Individual Achievement 2006, Corporate Philanthropy Award, Boston Business Journal, Innovator of the Year 2006 and many other accolades and honors. All Dancing Deer employees are shareholders and its operating philosophy is that when people are happy it shows in the food. The company partners in a philanthropic venture called the Sweet Home Project, with the Paul and Phyllis Fireman Foundation. Dancing Deer donates 35% of the retail price from the Sweet Home product line to direct action programs to end family homelessness. Karter is active in the local community and works with the City of Boston's efforts to promote economic well-being in otherwise overlooked areas.

Blythe McGarvie
President, Leadership for International Finance, LLC
Thursday, 9:15am - 10:00am

Blythe McGarvie is President of Leadership for International Finance, LLC, a consulting firm focusing on improving clients' financial positions. Her firm specializes in addressing the business challenges of providing global perspectives to U.S. and multinational companies, primarily in the consumer goods and service industries. Her business insights and acumen are featured in a regular column in CFO Europe magazine and in speaking engagements at client company meetings and industry associations. After eight years as a chief financial officer and numerous requests to share her insights, McGarvie wrote a book called Fit In, Stand Out, Mastering the FISO Factor for Success in Business and Life,Êpublished by McGraw-Hill in September 2005. McGarvie has been featured in numerous national and international publications, including The New York Times and CFO magazine.

Cindi Bigelow
President, Bigelow Tea Company
Thursday, 9:15am - 10:00am

Cindi Bigelow is President of Bigelow Tea Company, a national market leader in the manufacture of specialty teas - including herbal, flavored and green teas. Bigelow Tea remains a family owned and operated business since being founded by Cindi's Grandmother, Ruth Campbell Bigelow, in 1945. The company employs 350 people and produces in excess of 1.4 billion tea bags annually at three manufacturing facilities. Cindi graduated Magna cum Laude from Boston College with a Bachelor's degree in Marketing and earned her MBA degree at Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management with a major in Marketing, Finance and Organizational Behavior. Prior to joining the family business, she worked as Sales and Promotion Manager for Joseph E. Seagram's and Sons. At Bigelow, Cindi worked in varying capacities in Finance, Customer Service, Purchasing, Materials Planning, Operations and Sales and Marketing. Her varying background was the foundation for her success in her current leadership role as President of the company.

Cindi is the founder of the Bigelow Tea Community Challenge 5K Road Race which has raised almost $400,000 for local charities. Additional community service activities include: leading the "Sandcastle Playground" a wooden village-type playground for the Fairfield community; making meals for Operation Hope; leading the Fairfield YMCA annual auction; sponsoring a Habitat for Humanity Bridgeport building project; and working on the Appalachia Service Project (ASP) - a home repair mission organization for high school youth. Personal awards and recognitions include: "Woman of Distinction" award from the Housatonic Girl Scouts; YMCA's Raphola Taylor "Strong Builder Award"; and the "Paul Harris Community Service Award" from the Fairfield Rotary Club. Cindi has also represented the company in receiving awards and recognition for: "Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Award"; the "Ernst and Young Socially Responsible Entrepreneur Award", the UCONN Family Business Program "Connecticut Family Business of the Year Award"; the Mass Mutual national "Family Business of the Year Award"; and the Housatonic Community College "Pillars of the Community Award".

Melanie R. Sabelhaus
Board of Governors, National American Red Cross, Former Deputy Administrator, SBA
Thursday, 9:15am - 10:00am

Melanie R. Sabelhaus was sworn in April 12, 2002 as Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration. President George W. Bush nominated her for the post and she was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate. During her tenure as SBA Deputy Administrator, Sabelhaus served as second in command to Administrator Hector V. Barreto in managing an agency with more than 80 offices across the country. She was responsible for overseeing policy development and program supervision for the SBA. Created in 1953 as an independent agency of the federal government to assist small business, the SBA is America's Small Business Resource, providing financial assistance, business education, training, counseling and procurement assistance programs to the nation's entrepreneurs. With a total loan portfolio of business and disaster recovery loans of about $50 billion, the SBA is America's largest single financial backer of small businesses.

Since leaving the SBA position in June 2005, Sabelhaus has continued to focus her energy on her passion for nonprofits. She serves on several boards, including the National American Red Cross Board of Governors, the United Way, YWCA, the Alzheimer's Association of Central Maryland, the Nantucket Historical Society, Women's Leadership Board of the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and as a member of the Foundation Board of Ohio University. Sabelhaus twice co-chaired the National Summit on Women in Philanthropy and she is national chair Emeritus of the United Way Women's Initiative which raised $63 million dollars last year for children and youth. She currently is the National Chair of the American Red Cross Women's Initiative, the Tiffany Circle. Senator Elizabeth Dole Chair of The National Republican Senatorial committee (NRSC), appointed Sabelhaus to Chair the Women's Majority Network (WMN) steering committee... The WMN is comprised of Republican women leaders in politics, education and business throughout the country educating and encouraging other women to get involved in the political process. She serves as the Senior Political Advisor to Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP), a national bi-partisan organization representing more than 520,000 women in Business and women Business owners nationwide.

Sabelhaus is a successful entrepreneur with more than 25 years of business and corporate experience. She founded and served as chief executive officer of Exclusive Interim Properties (EIP) from 1986 to 1997, when the company merged with four other companies to form Bridgestreet Accommodations. The company did an IPO in 1997 and went public on the NASDAQ as Bridgestreet Accommodations. Sabelhaus became vice president of Global Sales and served on the board of directors of the publicly held company until 1998. For 15 years prior to starting her own business, she served in a variety of management positions with the IBM Corporation. Sabelhaus has recently joined the Superior Financial Group in Walnut Creek, California as a partner. The company provides capital to entrepreneurs who are starting and growing a business.

Luncheon Keynote Speaker
Thursday, 12:30pm - 2:30pm

Mary Wilson
Legendary Singer, Best-selling Author, Humanitarian
Thursday, 12:30pm - 2:30pm

It was a vision of musical stardom as a Detroit teen that inspired Mary Wilson to co-found one of the most successful female singing groups in recording history - The Supremes. Since then, Wilson has gone on to be a part of dozens of hit records, has written a best-selling autobiography, performed on stage and screen, lectured and toured the world, and continues to be looked up to as a singer who set the standard for females in the recording industry.

Since the late 70s, Wilson has shared her "Dare To Dream" message through such organizations at American Cancer Society, St. Jude's Children's Hospital, UNICEF and many more. Wilson eventually put her story to print, becoming a best-selling author with her autobiography, Dreamgirl... My Life As A Supreme. Dreamgirl went on to sell over 250,000 copies in hardback, becoming one of the most successful rock and roll autobiographies of all time.

Throughout her career, Wilson has had the privilege and pleasure of performing all over the world. Many of her performances with The Supremes were requested by royalty, such as for Britain's Queen Mother as well as for the King of Sweden. In 2000, Wilson had the prestigious honor of performing at the White House for the Millennium Celebration as well as two inaugural dinners held in President Bush's honor. Venturing further into the political world in 2003, Wilson was appointed as one of nine new Cultural Ambassadors for the State Department's new initiative program, Cultural Connect, whose goal is to improve cross-cultural understanding internationally.

A tireless humanitarian, Wilson was awarded the Lifetime Achievement award by the National Foundation of Woman and asked to join the Delegation of Woman Legislators. Wilson also participated in a Trade and Civil Life Conference in Bahrain with many of the kingdom's highest officials, hosted by the Prince and Prime Minister of Bahrain. The Free Trade Bill between the US and Bahrain remains a project that Wilson is very proud to have been a part of. Wilson has also visited the African nations of Mozambique and Batswana, where she spoke with thousands of children on the dangers of HIV and AIDS.

In 1988, The Supremes were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, receiving the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award, which Wilson personally accepted. With a successful solo career, an equally successful literary career, and her tireless humanitarian efforts, Wilson's future couldn't look brighter. She is living proof that dreams really do come true!

Closing Keynote Speaker
Thursday, 5:45pm - 7:00pm

Dr. Marie Savard
Internationally-Recognized Internal Medicine Physician
Thursday, 5:45pm - 7:00pm

Marie Savard, M.D. is an internationally-recognized internal medicine physician, expert on wellness and champion for patient rights. She is the author of three nationally acclaimed books, The Body Shape Solution to Weight Loss and Wellness: The Apples & Pears Approach to Losing Weight, Living Longer, and Feeling Healthier (Simon and Schuster, January 2005), How to Save Your Own Life: The Savard System for Managing--and Controlling--Your Health Care (Warner Books, 2000) and The Savard Health Record (Time-Life Books, 2000). Dr. Savard earned both a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing and a medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the former director of the Center for Women's Health and associate professor at the Medical College of Pennsylvania. Dr. Savard was technical advisor to the United Nations' Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, advisor to the American Board of Internal Medicine's Subcommittee on Clinical Competency in Women's Health, health columnist for Woman's Day magazine and senior medical consultant to Lifetime Television's Strong Medicine. A trusted voice on health, wellness and patient empowerment issues, Dr. Savard has appeared on the Today show and has been featured in dozens of other national media outlets, including, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Newsweek, Prevention and Health magazines.

Conference Keynote Speakers - Friday, March 30

Opening Keynote Speaker
Friday, 8:00am - 9:00am

Sheila C. Johnson
CEO of Salamander Hospitality and a partner in Lincoln Holdings LLC
Friday, 8:00am - 9:00am

Sheila C. Johnson, CEO of Salamander Hospitality, LLC, and a partner in Lincoln Holdings, LLC, has enjoyed success in many arenas. Market Salamander, in Middleburg, Virginia, one of the first components in the portfolio of Salamander Hospitality, is a working chefs' market. Future additions include Market Salamander in Palm Beach, Florida, opening fall 2006, and the luxurious Salamander Resort & Spa, currently under development just outside of Middleburg. In addition, Johnson owns Woodlands Resort & Inn, a five-star, five diamond property located outside of Charleston, SC. Lincoln Holdings owns the Washington Capitals and Washington Mystics and has a minority interest in Washington Sports and Entertainment Limited Partnership, which controls the Washington Wizards, Washington/Baltimore TicketMaster, in-house promoter Musicentre Productions, and the management of the Verizon Center and the George Mason University Patriot Center. Johnson is president, managing partner and governor for the Washington Mystics WNBA team.

While Johnson is committed to developing successful businesses, her philanthropy is of ultimate importance to her. An accomplished violinist herself, her primary concerns are to make opportunities available for children and young adults to express their creativity through the arts and to ensure that the world is a safe place for children. Johnson sits on the boards of Parsons The New School for Design, the Curry School of Education Foundation at the University of Virginia, the Centers for Disease Control Foundation, the SUNY Morrisville Foundation, the University of Illinois Foundation, Wolf Trap Center for the Performing Arts, and the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership. She is on the advisory board of the Smithsonian's National Zoological Park. She has been a significant donor to each of these organizations. Other contributions include: Bennett College; United Negro College Fund; Strings for Schools in Philadelphia; Urban Gateways in Chicago; and, closer to home, The Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, supporting early childhood education programs. She also established the Sheila C. Johnson Performing Arts Center at the Hill School in Middleburg, VA.

As an advocate for the protection of women's empowerment and children she serves as a Global Ambassador for CARE. Believing that children are our future, Johnson's international work to date has helped introduce tougher sanctions and legislation to protect children globally. Johnson has always been committed to enhancing the life of children. As a co-founder of Black Entertainment Television, her crowning achievement was the development of an award-winning weekly program Teen Summit, giving teenagers a chance to talk frankly about their critical issues. Young adults still approach her to tell her how valuable the show was for their lives. Johnson's entrepreneurial spirit runs through every aspect of her life and she is both a catalyst and a tireless supporter of the causes to which she gives herself. Of all her many accomplishments, she is most proud to be the mother of her two children.

Track Keynote Speakers
Friday, 9:15am - 10:00am

Judy George
Founder & CEO, Domain Home
Friday, 9:15am - 10:00am

Judy George is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Domain Home. By combining her energy, creativity, determination and business savvy, Judy has created one of the hottest specialty home furnishings concepts in the United States. The success of Domain, Judy's Boston-based specialty chain, has established her place at the forefront of the home furnishings industry. The success and recognition Domain has achieved led to the March 2002 acquisition of Domain by Aga Foodservice Group, a U.K. based consumer and commercial kitchen products company. The merger of Aga and Domain positioned the company as the first specialty retailing chain in the U.S. to offer upscale consumers a total approach to the home by combining Domain's exclusive home furnishings with Aga's premium brands for kitchen, bath, hearth and more.

Ms. George has also co-authored two books. In her first book, The Domain Book of Intuitive Home Design Judy identifies four different personality types and explores how they express themselves through their aesthetic choices. In her second book, The Intuitive Businesswoman Judy applies the same concept to women and business. Additionally, Judy continues to sit on the Sodexho Business Advisory Board and the Secaucus, NJ based Daffy's Clothing Board of Advisors.

As a shining example of the entrepreneurial spirit and of the evolution of women within the world of business, Ms. George has been acknowledged for her contributions to the retail industry, women in business and the community. Ms. George's unique entrepreneurial journey has been praised in the following: The Pursuit of Wow, Tom Peters, Making a Life Making a Living, Dr. Mark Albion, The Arc of Ambition, James Champy & Nitin Nohria. President Clinton recognized Ms. George twice for her work; in 1993 she was chosen to participate in the NAFTA Conference and in 1996 was selected to participate in the first-of-its-kind Women in Trade Business Development Mission in Amsterdam and London, representing U.S. women CEOs. In May of 2004 Judy received the Anti-Defamation League's prestigious American Heritage Award. In 2003 she was voted Ernst & Young's Northeast Region Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2003, in celebration of their 50th anniversary, Ms. George was honored by the U.S. Small Business Administration at their "Celebrating Women in Business" breakfast. Ms. George was listed in Retail Info Systems "Power Elite 2003"; ranked 12th of 100 Top Women Led Businesses in Massachusetts, 2001 by Babson College and The Commonwealth Institute. Her Domain Home is ranked 201 among Working Woman magazine's "Top 500 Women-Owned Businesses" and 79th among the top 100 furniture stores in the country.

Judy George's many speaking engagements range from motivational talks, to presentations within the furniture industry. Some of Ms. George's speaking engagements include: Keynote speaker for The Women's Leadership Exchange Conference; Keynote speaker for United Way of Massachusetts Bay, Women's Leadership Breakfast; Women Entrepreneurs Series, Harvard Business School; Keynote speaker for the National Association of Women Business Owners - Chicago Chapter Annual Luncheon Gala; and The Fleet Bank Women Entrepreneur Series with Gloria Steinem.

In addition to speaking engagements, she has made many television and radio appearances including: New England Cable News "CEO Corner", HGTV's "The Furniture Show" and Kitchen Trends, Lifetime Television's "Our Home" and MSNBC's "Home Page" to name a few.

Gail Goodman
CEO, Constant Contact
Friday, 9:15am - 10:00am

Gail Goodman is CEO of Constant Contact, the leading email marketing service for small businesses, associations, and nonprofits. Under Gail's leadership, Constant Contact has grown to serve more than 90,000 customers worldwide, was recently ranked 166th on the Inc. 500 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the United States, and named the 6th fastest growing company in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 for New England (with five-year growth of 3,552 percent). Gail is an Entrepreneur.com Business Coach, where she writes about how small businesses can market their business and drive growth by building long-term, profitable customer relationships. She has been featured in numerous publications and outlets including Fortune Small Business, Entrepreneur, Small Business Technology Magazine, Inc Magazine, Mass High Tech, Boston Business Journal, CNN, eBay Radio, Small Business Advocate and PM Magazine. Gail previously held positions in marketing and management consulting with Open Market, Progress Software, Dun & Bradstreet Software and Bain & Co. She is also active in the business community as a Board Member of the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council, a member of the Leadership Council of the Massachusetts Chapter of the NFIB, and a Board member of the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge.

Shirley Singleton
President, CEO & Chairman, Edgewater Technology, Inc.
Friday, 9:15am - 10:00am

In 1992, Shirley Singleton co-founded Edgewater Technology and served as the Company's President from 1992 through 2002. In early 1999, Edgewater was acquired by StaffMark, a publicly-traded billion dollar staffing organization, and became an operating subsidiary focusing on project-based IT consultancy business. Shirley remained as the subsidiary's President and led the organization to 60% revenue growth and 18% EBITDA during the first year following the acquisition. In January 2002, StaffMark changed its name to Edgewater Technology, Inc., as well as its Nasdaq ticker to EDGW and named Shirley as the Company's President and Chief Executive Officer. Under her direction, Edgewater has grown from a privately-held, five-person shop into a publicly-traded, innovative technology management consulting firm with more than 300 consulting professionals nationally.

Prior to co-founding Edgewater, Shirley held various management positions from 1982 to 1992 at Logica North America and attained the position of Vice President and General Manager of the Northeast region. Shirley has been presented with numerous awards and recognitions, including:

• MAGIC 106.7FM's Exceptional Women Award in 2006
• NEWLA's Leadership Award in 2006
• NFTE 50 for New England in 2005
• Boston Magazine's Top 100 Powerful Women for 2003
• New England Business and Technology Association Exceptional Leadership Award in 2003
• Top 100 Woman-Led Businesses in Massachusetts from 2002 to 2005
• Massachusetts Interactive Media Council's Leader of the Year Award in 2001

Shirley serves on the Foundation Board for Bunker Hill Community College; the Board of Trustees for the Massachusetts Taxpayer's Association; Advisory Board for The Boston Club; Board of Trustees for the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council and the Dean's Advisory Council for Bentley College. In addition, she is a member of the Town of Essex's Conservation Commission. Shirley graduated from Northeastern University with a Bachelor of Science in Education.

Melissa M. MacDonnell
VP & Director, Corporate Affairs, Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. & Director, Liberty Mutual Foundation
Friday, 9:15am - 10:00am

Melissa M. MacDonnell is Vice President and Director of the Liberty Mutual Foundation and Corporate Public Affairs for Liberty Mutual Group. She helped Liberty launch the Liberty Mutual Foundation, which she now oversees along with community relations and speechwriting for Liberty's Chairman President & CEO, Ted Kelly. Melissa created the Liberty Mutual Mentoring Initiative, a $1 Million strategic effort resulting in research, technical assistance to mentoring programs, and more than 1,700 new mentor-mentee matches in low-income communities throughout Massachusetts. For the past eight years, Melissa mentored her "little sister," originally from Germaine Lawrence - a residential treatment program for troubled girls.

Melissa chairs Faith and Action, an initiative of the United Way of Massachusetts Bay to reach and serve high-risk youth in low-income communities through faith-based institutions. She serves as Vice Chair of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts, which is empowering communities and changing lives of African Americans and people of color. In May 2005, Melissa received the LeadBoston Alumni Award for leading the way to a socially just Boston. She was inducted into the Academy of Women Achievers at the YWCA, named one of Boston's Ten Outstanding Young Achievers by the Boston Jaycees and one of Boston's top forty under forty by Boston Magazine in 1997.

Prior to joining Liberty Mutual, Melissa managed Massachusetts philanthropy, community relations and corporate voluntarism for Fleet Financial Group. She began her career as a financial analyst. Melissa earned her BS in finance with a concentration in Spanish from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, an MBA from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College and a Masters in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Luncheon Keynote Speaker
Friday, 12:30pm - 2:15pm

Jean Chatzky
Award-Winning Journalist, Best-Selling Author and Motivational Speaker
Friday, 12:30pm - 2:15pm

Jean Chatzky, award-winning journalist, best-selling author and motivational speaker, has created a global platform that is making significant strides to help millions of men and women battle an epidemic with a devastating impact - debt. Jean is the financial editor for NBC's Today, a contributing editor for Money, Time and Travel + Leisure magazines, a columnist for The New York Daily News, and is a featured money coach on Oprah's "Debt Diet" series. She hosts a daily show on the Oprah & Friends channel, exclusively on XM Radio. She is the author of four books, including the best seller, You Don't Have to Be Rich. Her recent book, Pay It Down: From Debt to Wealth on $10 A Day, is a New York Times and Business Week best seller. Her latest book, Make Money, Not Excuses is a Wall Street Journal and New York Times Bestseller.

Jean has been recognized as an exceptional journalist. She received the Clarion Award for magazine columns from the Association of Women in Communications, has been nominated twice for National Magazine Awards and was named one of the best magazine columnists by the Chicago Tribune. In addition to her professional work, Jean is on the March of Dimes advisory council, lends her support and expertise to women's services groups and is on the board of the Nora Magid Mentorship prize at the University of Pennsylvania, which helps journalism students get a head-start in the field. She is also on the Communications Committee for University of Pennsylvania.

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