NEWS

Preparing women for future challenges is focus of UNC-Chapel Hill MBA conference

CHAPEL HILL -- More than 300 business students, alumni and business leaders committed to addressing the challenges women face in business will come to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School Nov. 15-16 for the national Graduate Women in Business Conference, "Embracing the Challenge."

Under the title sponsorship of Johnson & Johnson, the conference encourages participants to learn from women leaders in their industries to create strategies for success. Keynote speakers include Colleen Goggins, worldwide chairman, Personal Consumer Healthcare, Johnson & Johnson; Julie Garella, co-founder, McColl Garella, an investment bank focused on women-owned and – run businesses; Lisa Gonzalez, vice president, Central Nervous System Sales, GlaxoSmithKline, and Dr. Janet Porter, associate dean, UNC School of Public Health. During the panel on ethical leadership with New York Times business journalist Geraldine Fabrikant and Duke Energy Vice President of Diversity and Ethics Richard Williams, participants will discuss perceptions and expectations of corporate leaders in the current climate of distrust.

Kenan-Flagler’s Graduate Women in Business is dedicated to the education and promotion of women in business and competed with other business schools to host the conference.

"The goal of the 2002 conference is to connect and strengthen the peer group of emerging women in business. The early commitment of a strong group of sponsors, recruiters and speakers has been the key toward achieving this goal, as well as the support of several business schools to sponsor their students’ attendance," said Samantha Jones, conference chair. Rice University, Wake Forest University, University of Virginia, University of Pittsburgh, Indiana University (supported by the Ford Foundation), Georgetown University, Vanderbilt University and Thunderbird Graduate School of International Management are supporting their students who will attend.

Conference sessions center on industries — finance, consulting, marketing, energy and technology — and applications. The hands-on development will focus on entrepreneurship, international careers, team-building and work-life balance. The sessions feature more than 40 speakers, moderators and panelists who have volunteered their time and expenses to participate.

Students will have the opportunity to meet with representatives from more than 15 companies at a job fair, and Kenan-Flagler is hosting an applicant seminar for women to educate, advise and counsel those who are considering business school.

For information, visit http://www.gwib.org.

Graduate Women in Business was founded in 1978 when there were very few women in MBA programs, few, if any, female role models highlighted in class discussions, few female professors and virtually no businesswomen invited to participate in lecture programs. Graduate Women in Business is dedicated to the education and promotion of women in business through more than 50 chapters nationally.

About Kenan-Flagler

Kenan-Flagler (http://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu) is one of the world’s top-ranked business schools, focusing on recruiting talented graduate women internationally through active recruiting and fellowship offers.

- 30 -

Kenan-Flagler contacts: Kate McKeon, (919) 225-0994, Kate@unc.edu

Kim Weaver Spurr, (919) 962-8951, spurrk@unc.edu

Allison Adams, (919) 962-7235, aadams@unc.edu