Gildenhorn Book Talk with Melanne Verveer
The Alma and Joseph Gildenhorn Book Series featured Melanne Verveer, Executive Director of the Institute for Women, Peace and Security at Georgetown University, on her new book FAST FORWARD: HOW WOMEN CAN ACHIEVE POWER AND PURPOSE (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). Watch the conversation with Verveer and Aspen Institute Vice President of Philanthropy and Society Jane Wales below:
About Fast Forward:
Important conversations about leaning in, work/life balance, and empowering women and girls around the world have energized a generation of women. Fast Forward, by two women leaders whose experience spans corporate America, public service, and global diplomacy, takes the next step. Through interviews with a network of more than seventy trailblazing women, Fast Forward shows women how to accelerate their growing economic power and combine it with purpose to find both success and meaning in their lives.
Companies, countries, and organizations the world over are waking up to today’s new reality. Women control the lion’s share of purchasing power and are increasingly essential to competitiveness. The age of women’s transformative economic influence has finally arrived, and women are using their power for purpose, redefining what power and success mean in the process. Through clear, practical advice and personal stories of women around the world — including Hillary Clinton, Geena Davis, Christine Lagarde, and Diane von Furstenberg — Fast Forward shows every woman how to know her power, find her purpose, and connect with others to achieve her life’s goals.
About Melanne Verveer:
Melanne Verveer is a co-founder of Seneca Women and executive director of Georgetown University’s Institute for Women, Peace and Security. In 2009, President Obama appointed her the first-ever US ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues. She is a co-founder of Vital Voices, an international nonprofit that invests in emerging women leaders.
During the Clinton administration, she served as Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to the First Lady. She also led the effort to establish the President’s Interagency Council on Women, and was instrumental in the adoption of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000.
Ambassador Verveer has a BS and MS from Georgetown University. In 2013, she was the Humanitas Visiting Professor at the University of Cambridge. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the World Bank Advisory Council on Gender and Development. She holds several honorary degrees and is the recipient of numerous awards, including the US Secretary of State’s Award for Distinguished Service.