Inaugural Meeting: Council on Women's Business Leadership

Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
January 20, 2012

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On Tuesday, January 24th, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will host the first meeting of the International Council on Women’s Business Leadership at the State Department in Washington, D.C. The meeting can be viewed via live webcast on the Internet at http://www.state.gov/e/eb/adcom/icwbl/.

The Council serves the United States government in an advisory capacity on major issues in international business and economic policy, including the effective integration of business interests and women’s economic empowerment into overall foreign policy; the role and limits of international economic institutions from a gender-specific perspective; and the Department of State’s role in advancing and promoting the role of women in a competitive global economy.

Secretary Clinton selected a distinguished, diverse, and international membership for the Council, representing a wide range of expertise and backgrounds, including leaders of American and foreign, public and private sector organizations. Secretary Clinton will serve as the Council’s Chair. The Council’s members are listed below; each will serve a two-year term.

Council Vice Chairs:
• Cherie Blair, Founder, Cherie Blair Foundation for Women (United Kingdom)
• Indra Nooyi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, PepsiCo, Inc. (USA)

Council Members:

• Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Governor, Bank Negara Malaysia (Malaysia)
• Sheikha Lubna bint Khalid bin Sultan Al Qasimi, Minister for Foreign Trade (UAE)
• Beth A. Brooke, Global Vice Chair of Public Policy, Sustainability, and Stakeholder Engagement, Ernst & Young (USA)
• Wanda Engel, Executive President, Unibanco Institute (Brazil)
• Susan Fleishman, Executive VP for Corporate Communications, Warner Brothers (USA)
• M. Audrey Hinchcliffe, Founder and Principal Consultant of Caribbean Health Management (Jamaica)
• Catherine L. Hughes, Chairperson of the Board and Secretary, Radio One (USA)
• Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Managing Director, The World Bank (Indonesia)
• Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs, The White House (USA)
• Wendy Luhabe, Founder/Chairman, Women Private Equity Funds (South Africa)
• Ory Okolloh, Policy Manager for Africa, Google (Kenya)
• Maud E. Olofsson, former MP and former Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden and Minister for Enterprise and Energy (Sweden)
• Judith Rodin, President, Rockefeller Foundation (USA)
• Meera H. Sanyal, Chairperson and Country Executive, ABN AMRO / RBS Bank India (India)
• Elizabeth H. Shuler, Secretary-Treasurer, AFL-CIO (USA)
• Ofra Strauss, Chairwoman of the Board, Strauss Group (Israel)
• Sally Susman, Executive VP for Policy, External Affairs, and Communications, Pfizer (USA)
• Zhang Xin, CEO, SOHO China (China)
Open press for remarks.

Pre-set time for video cameras: 8:15 a.m. from the 23rd Street Entrance Lobby.
Final access time for journalists and still photographers: 8:30 a.m. from the 23rd Street Entrance Lobby.

Media representatives may attend this briefing upon presentation of one of the following: (1) a U.S. Government-issued identification card (Department of State, White House, Congress, Department of Defense, or Foreign Press Center), (2) a media-issued photo identification card, or (3) a letter from their employer on letterhead verifying their employment as a journalist, accompanied by an official photo identification (driver’s license or passport).

For more information about the Council, please contact the Economic and Business Affairs Bureau’s Senior Coordinator for Economic Policy & Public Diplomacy, Nancy Smith-Nissley, at smith-nissleyn@state.gov or Office of Press Relations, U.S. Department of State (202) 647-2492.

ENDS

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