Opening the Door to the C-Suite in Artificial Intelligence

WODFW 2024

This session focused on building awareness, encouraging mentorship, and generating conversations around the critical impact that artificial intelligence is playing in our personal and professional lives and what role it will play in the future. The session featured a panel discussion of experts from Accenture and some of our own IWF/MA members sharing their insights and experience on this important topic.

Panelists: 

Christine Disco, Senior Managing Director at Accenture

Rebecca Schechter, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Dragon Ambient eXperience (DAX) at Nuance Communications, a Microsoft company

Sarah Fay, Digital Transformation CEO, AI Investor & Board Director at Ziff Davis

Opening the Door to the C-Suite in Financial Services

WODFW 2024

In the Spring of 2024, IWF/MA launched the series Opening the Door to the C-Suite, a sister to Women Opening Doors for Women. This series will be more content-driven and offer networking for our members, partners, and guests. 

This session focused on building awareness, encouraging mentorship, and generating critical conversations around topics that are key for talent pipeline development in the financial services industry, starting with a discussion of Deloitte's research exploring the necessary steps needed to increase the advancement of women in FSI. Learn more about the research here.

Panelists: 

Yvonne Garcia, Chief of Staff to CEO at State Street

Krissy Davis, Vice Chair, US Investment Management Practice Leader at Deloitte

Sheryl McQuade, Regional President, Metro New England at TD Bank

2023

Unlocking the Power of Inclusive STEM Education & Leadership

WODFW 2023

The 17th Annual WODFW featured a high impact mentoring session and panel discussion around the importance of creating new leadership pathways for women. The key focus of the discussion centered on how women leaders can contribute to new pipelines for discovery for human health. The panel discussion was led by a blended group of women representing IWF/MA, Wellesley College, Tomorrow's Women Today, and Deloitte.

Panelists: 

Reshma Kewalramani, Chief Executive Officer of Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Paula A. Johnson, President of Wellesley College

Arrive and Thrive 

WODFW 2022

Dr. Lynn Perry Wooten was our featured keynote speaker at the 16th Annual Women Opening Doors for Women, focusing on key strategies from her recent book, Arrive and Thrive: 7 Impactful Practices for Women Navigating Leadership. Over 100 mentees participated along with 35 IWF/MA member mentors.

Speaker:

Lynn Perry Wooten, PhD

9th President of Simmons University

Chaos. Confidence. Connection 

WODFW 2021

The 15th Annual WODFW was held virtually and featured a panel of three very special women sharing personal stories about exactly that - how they have navigated through chaos with confidence, and how meaningful connections made a difference for them. 

Panelists:

Cady Coleman, Retired Astronaut

Dr. Aisha Francis, CEO, Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology

Yvonne Garcia, Chief of Staff to the CEO, State Street

Moderator: 

Beth Chandler, CEO, YWBoston

Mentoring so it Matters

WODFW 2020

July 14, 2020

Guest Speakers U.S. Representative Ayanna Pressley

Event Co-Chairs: 

Heather Campion, Koya Leadership Partners

Yvonne Garcia, State Street

Lauren Pimpare, Tomorrow's Women TODAY

Boston Women's Leadership Council

Fireside Chat: Getting There and Staying There

WODFW 2019

The keynote featured strategies for building a powerful sustainable personal brand with Boston's Connector and Founder of Get Konnected, Colette A.M. Phillips.

Moderator:

Priscilla Douglas, PhD

Boston Public Library Board Chair

President, PHDouglas & Associates

Introduced by Lauren Pimpare.

Fireside Chat

WODFW 2018

Featured Speakers:

Carol Fulp, President & CEO of the Partnership

Gloria Larson, President Bentley University

Panelists: 

Rachel Kaprielian, U.S. Government Relations at McDonald's

Susan Rittscher, CEO of the Center for Women and Enterprise

Lauren Pimpare, CEO of the Tomorrow's Women Today

Membership Panel Discussion lead by Jessee Mermell, President of Alliance for Business Leadership

Small Group Mentoring Sessions: the most powerful portion of the event, led by our Member Mentors.

11th Annual WODFW

WODFW 2017

The 11th Annual Women Opening Doors for Women mentoring event paired established executives with aspiring leaders. Hosted at the law firm Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP, more than 135 women were in attendance. Over 30 mentors attended, including event chairs, Gale Murray, Jesse Mermell, Gloria Larson, and Donna Cupelo. The emerging leaders represented over 50 different companies in the Commonwealth. To kick off the mentoring, Beth Monaghan, CEO and Founder of InkHouse, inspired the group with a brief keynote address based off of her TED Talk, Leave the Ladder Down".

Fostering Women's Leadership

WODFW 2016

The 10th Annual Massachusetts Women's Forum Women Opening Doors For Women Mentoring Event (WODFW) was held on Thursday, March 31, 2016 at the State House. The theme of the event was "Fostering Women's Leadership".

The goal of WODFW is to bring emerging women leaders together with women of substantial influence in the Greater Boston area, for mentoring, showcasing living-and-breathing role models, and engendering an "I can do it too!" worldview. We hope to inspire emerging leaders through interactions with our membership in a world-class event. In 2016 we had over 110 mentees and over 40 mentor/members from IWF/MA (formerly known as MWF)

The evening began with a cocktail reception on the Grand Staircase. Attendees then moved into The Great Hall for a seated dinner with IWF/MA member hosts at each table. They then head from our Elected State Constitutional Officials, enjoyed a Keynote Speed by Cath Minehan, Dean of Simmons College School of Management, and participated in three interactive topic-based small-group sessions led by IWF/MA members who answered attendee questions and shared their personal stories and wisdom.