Thanks to our guest writers Cindy Balaji, Elika Mazhar, and Anita Bopalkar, professional devlopment co-chairs for the Chicago Women in Business (CWIB) group
On Thursday, October 27th, Chicago Women in Business hosted its annual CWiB Fall Conference. Held at the University Club in downtown Chicago, CWiB welcomed 150 students, 11 alumnae panelists, and an iconic keynote speaker, Valerie Jarrett.
Coming out of the past few years of the pandemic, it was an exciting time for women of all backgrounds and interests to gather together to hear from the distinguished and exciting speaker series. The first Leadership Panel featured Ivana Taylor, a Managing Director with Accenture in Chicago, Jennifer Worthington, the CFO of the Service & Marketing division at Caterpillar, and Sinem Hostetter, a Partner with McKinsey & Company in Chicago. Our lovely Deputy Dean Starr Marcello, a Booth alumna, moderated the panel. The second industry panel featured Pamela Roxas, a Vice President in the Industrials Group at Morgan Stanley, Natasha Walker, an Executive Operations Manager at Google, Lin JIang, the Founder and CEO of Yishi Foods, and Julie Gobin, the Global Product Director at Dow Chemical. This panel was moderated by Jessica Jaggers, Dean of Students and Associate Dean of Student Life. From these two panels, our students were able to learn about different leadership hurdles, career pivots, and important advice for becoming powerful women leaders in a variety of industries. Surrounding our inspirational panels were networking opportunities for students to connect with over 15 companies from a diverse range of industries.
The highlight of the evening was the Keynote Address delivered by Valerie Jarrett, CEO of the Barack Obama Foundation and former Senior Advisor to President Obama. This conversation was moderated by Alyssa Rapp, professor of the class Women as CEOs, Investors, Directors & Executives. Whether learning about Ms. Jarrett’s journey from Iran, her time within and after the White House, or her perspectives on mentorship and leadership, our students were able to learn so much from her advice and experiences.
CWiB was honored to host such a lively and engaging conference this year to help create a foundation of support for the women at Booth and beyond. The ability to connect with prestigious alumnae, network with an array of companies, and learn from the renowned Valerie Jarrett led to many of our students leaving the event excited and inspired. We look forward to continuing to host exciting events for our students this year!
