IWF World Leadership Conference - Chicago - September 28-30, 2016

Dear IWF Chicago members and friends:
As most of you know by now, Chicago has been awarded the honor of hosting the2016 IWF World Leadership.Women leaders from over 50 countries and across 6 continents will be our guests fromSeptember 28-30, 2016.
This annual forum draws the world’s leading architects, advocates, catalysts, and pioneers of change – the women who are re-drawing the map for how we’ll live, work, produce, and maintain healthy communities in the future. As seismic shifts in the world power structure reshape modern economies, societies, and environments, this key platform enables women leaders to meet with their global peers in a meaningful way.
Many of you have attended past conferences and experienced the innovative and gracious hospitality of other chapters. Now it is our turn. We need every bit of the next 18 months to create an experience that showcases our city with that same level of excellence.
Initial meetings for the 2016 meeting were held in 4Q 2014 with the IWF Global Organization to establish initial logistics and to set guiding principles. This month, we will kick off the broader Chicago 2016planning effort in earnest. There will be several overall planning sessions and then individual committee activities will launch. In addition, regular updates will now be distributed to theentiremembership with opportunities to participate in many areas of planning, development and execution.
Below please find the 2016 guiding principles and current 2016 Planning Committee list.Please reach out to any of the committee members if you have an interest in any aspect of the conference.There are many roles, activities, and processes yet to be defined.
Experience shows that conferences that leverage the full power of their membership are the most successful at hosting this group of over 5,500 of the world’s most talentedwomen. We invite you to join us in this exciting journey towards IWF Chicago 2016.
Ana Dutra and Lisa McClung
Guiding Principles for the Conference
  • We are committed to providing anexcellent experiencefor attendees
  • We will demonstrate Chicago IWF’s strategic mission “C2C” – Connecting women leaders from Coast-2-Coast and Continent-2-Continent in impactful ways
  • The meeting will help toposition IWF Chicagoon the city stage for the future
  • We will fulfill our role andcommitmentsto DC and support the IWF Fellows Program
  • The 2016 meeting will help us to contribute to thelong term successof Chicago IWF
  • We will leverage the 2016 meeting to attract new members and buildmomentumandenergywithin our current membership
ChicagoIWF World Leadership Conference 2016 Planning Committee
— Executive Chairs –Ana Dutra and Lisa McClung
— Co-Chairs–Laurel Bellows, Cindy Baier and Joan Beugen
— Conference Events / Activities
  • Opening Night – Joan Beugen & Lori Brown
  • Closing Night – Michelle SmeadLianne Stein
  • Dine Arounds – Ann Drake
  • Chicago Hospitality (Pre-conference event(s) / Post Dine Around Activities, etc) – Catherine Johnson, Aleksandra EfimovaLeeAnn Hoover
  • Behind the Scenes – Joyce Simon, Lynn Osmond & NilaLeiserowitz
— Development / Liaison Activities
  • Fund Raising – Sylvia Van Loveren, Sara Sirotzky, Kristen Prinz, & Kathleen Yosko
  • Chicago / Regional Liaison – Ginger Gorden & Kathleen Carroll