2012 Wall street women forum2012 Wall Street Women Forum®
“Headwinds and Tailwinds on Wall Street: Excelling in Turbulent Times”
Date: Wednesday, April 18 , 2012
Time: 2:45 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Place:10 on the Park at Time Warner Center, Columbus Circle, New York, NY
Featured Keynote Speakers: Mellody Hobson and Debora Spar
Opening Keynote
Mellody Hobson is president of Ariel Investments, a Chicago-based money management firm that serves institutional clients through separately managed accounts as well as individual investors and defined contribution plans through its no-load mutual funds. As president, Mellody is responsible for firm-wide management and strategic planning, overseeing all operations outside of research and portfolio management. Additionally, she serves as chairman of the board of trustees for the mutual funds. She joined Ariel in 1991 after graduating from Princeton University where she received her AB degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of International Relations and Public Policy.
Mellody has become a nationally recognized voice on financial literacy and investor education. She is a regular financial contributor on “Good Morning America,” and a frequent guest on ABC’s World News Tonight. In 2009 she served as executive producer and host of an ABC prime-time special, “Unbroke: What You Need to Know about Money.” Mellody is also a weekly finance expert on the Tom Joyner Morning Show and a regular columnist for Black Enterprise. She has been quoted and profiled in a number of publications including: Essence, Fortune, Money, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal among many others.
Mellody is actively involved with a variety of civic and professional institutions. Her community outreach includes serving as a board member of The Field Museum, The Chicago Public Education Fund and The Sundance Institute. Additionally, she is on the board of governors of the Investment Company Institute. She is a director of DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc., The Estée Lauder Companies Inc., Starbucks Corporation and Groupon. Mellody is also a member of the Economic Club of Chicago, the Commercial Club of Chicago, the Young President’s Organization (YPO) and is a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute. Additionally, in 2010, she received an honorary doctorate degree in humanities from Howard University. She is a former member of the Princeton University Board of Trustees.
Closing Keynote
Debora L. Spar became the seventh president of Barnard College on July 1, 2008.
Since her arrival at the College, Spar has been a vocal proponent of women’s education and leadership, spearheading initiatives that include the Athena Center for Leadership Studies, an interdisciplinary center devoted to the theory and practice of women's leadership, and Barnard’s Global Symposium series, an annual gathering of high-profile and accomplished female leaders held each year in a different region of the world.
A political scientist by training, Spar’s scholarly research focuses on issues of international political economy, examining how rules are established in new or emerging markets and how firms and governments together shape the evolving global economy. She is the author of numerous books, including Ruling the Waves: Cycles of Invention, Chaos, and Wealth from the Compass to the Internet (2001) and The Baby Business: How Money, Science, and Politics Drive the Commerce of Conception (2006). Her next book, tentatively titled Great Expectations: Dreams of Choice, Sex, and Money at the Edge of the Feminist Era, is due to be published in 2013.
Spar is a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, and received her doctorate in government from Harvard. She is a member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences and currently serves as a trustee of the Nightingale-Bamford School and a director of Goldman Sachs. Prior to coming to Barnard, Spar was the Spangler Family Professor of Business Administration and had served as senior associate dean for faculty research and development at Harvard Business School. At Harvard she taught courses on the politics of international business, comparative capitalism, and economic development.
President Spar is married to Miltos Catomeris, an architect whose specialty is academic, institutional and corporate campuses. They are the parents of three children.