7th Women and Leadership Conference
Embrace and Elevate
Systems of Change
Transformative Thinking on Women and Leadership
11-13 June 2025 | Claremont, CA, USA
About the Conference
Call for Proposals Is Now Open!
Women lead in many ways and in many contexts around the world. Scholars have established myriad challenges and barriers that women face as research on women and leadership grew rapidly over the last 50 years. Even with more women having achieved success as leaders, many of the same challenges and barriers that were identified decades ago still persist. Furthermore, we must expand leadership research and practice to include individuals who are gender-minoritized (e.g., non-binary, femmes, and trans-women) to fully move toward leadership equity. How can we look beyond individual women to consider holistic and systemic perspectives of change to advance equity?
The 7th ILA Women and Leadership Conference theme, Embrace and Elevate Systems of Change: Transformative Thinking on Women and Leadership, provides a critical platform to convene top scholars, thought leaders, change-makers, practitioners, and students to engage in insightful discussions, share best practices, and co-create solutions that drive meaningful progress toward leadership equity. The conference is dedicated to embracing and elevating systems of change that will transform leadership and expand opportunities for women and individuals who are gender-minoritized.
Streams
- Transformative Thinking on Women and Leadership
- Elevate Leadership Development and Education
- Elevate Girls and Young Women
- Elevate Women in Leadership
- Systems of Change
Conference Goals
Spark Innovation
To stimulate innovative thinking and creative solutions for establishing new systems and structures that address the persistent challenges and barriers to women’s leadership that can drive transformative change.
Transform Thinking
To share and create novel perspectives and cutting-edge research on women and leadership that highlight new approaches and successful interventions that reset current directions.
Inspire Action
To inspire collaboration and research that reshapes the narrative around women and leadership to catalyze systemic shifts that foster gender equity and inclusion.
Call for Proposal
Call for Proposals Is Now Open
We are seeking submissions for panels, presentations, posters, and workshops. Topics should align with the conference streams: Transformative Thinking on Women and Leadership, Elevate Leadership Development and Education, Elevate Girls and Young Women, Elevate Women in Leadership, and Systems of Change.
Important Dates
Call for Proposals
5 February 2025, 11:59 PM EDT
Call for Presentations Portal Closes
10 March 2025
Acceptance Notifications Emailed
Peer Reviewers
9 December 2024
Call for Peer Reviewers Form Opens
5 February 2025
Peer Review Recruitment Closes
7–28 February 2025
Peer Review Period
Presenter Deadlines
5 April 2025
Presenter Registration and Edits Deadline
Call for Reviewers
Call for Reviewers Is Now Open
Registration
Consider Donating
We hope that you will accept our invitation to donate to the Meet the Moment for Women and Leadership. Contributions received between now and early June will be awarded to offset registration fees of doctoral students who received proposal acceptance letters and applied for funding assistance. Note: Eligible applicants were already sent information on how to apply.
Donate during the registration process or use the link below.
Your registration includes full access to:
- Three Days of Programming including keynotes, reflective conversations, and concurrent sessions including workshops, panels, presentations, and more.
- Three Networking Lunches & Daily Refreshment Breaks
- Morning Rejuvenation Sessions
- Welcome Reception
Need approval from your supervisor to attend this conference? Download this customizable justification letter to make your case.
| Registration Rates |
Price All rates in USD |
|---|---|
|
ILA Member |
$500 |
|
ILA Student Member Must be a full-time student who is not employed full-time |
$400 |
|
Non-Member Become an ILA member during registration to receive ILA member rate |
$600 |
|
Student Non-Member Must be a full-time student who is not employed full-time Become an ILA member during registration to receive ILA member rate |
$480 |
Registering a Group?
If you would like to pay for a group of registrants, please email wlc2022@ilaglobalnetwork.org with the subject line “Group Registration.” If you have the names of the registrants, please provide the names in the body of the email.
Substitutions
If the person who registered cannot attend and you wish to make a substitution, please email wlc2022@ilaglobalnetwork.org by 1 June 2022. Depending on the complexity of the request, the ILA reserves the right to assess a $30 change fee.
Cancellations
1. Cancellations must be emailed to wlc2022@ilaglobalnetwork.org by 15 May 2022. Cancellations received after 15 May 2022 are not refundable.
2. Registration cancellations received before the deadline are refundable, less a fee of 45 USD.
3. Refunds will be processed using the same method used for payment. Refunds are processed once per month.
ILA will observe all COVID-19 protocols in place at the conference location at the time of the event. All attendees will be asked to follow these same protocols. Click here to view COVID information from the city of Portsmouth.
All attendees should check their country of return for any Health Requirements or testing that may need to be done prior to returning home. The ILA does not cover the cost of testing or other associated costs.
Featured Speakers
Plenary: Reflecting on Leadership Experiences: Rejuvenating Your Leadership
The conference opening plenary panel will explore the speakers’ own lived experiences of leadership during times of great uncertainty. In particular, the discussion will consider ways to navigate difficult leadership situations that require evolving tactics. One thing most people will agree is that leadership is tiring. With this in mind the plenary speakers will consider how they have maintained their own well being and what tactics they engage with to support their rejuvenation to continue their leadership journey.
Karen Blackett
Plenary Speaker
Country Manager, WPP, United Kingdom; CEO, GroupM, United Kingdom
Katie Bell
Plenary Speaker
Chief Marketing Officer, Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, United Kingdom
Kristin Engvig
Plenary Speaker
CEO & Founder, WIN
Karen began her media career in 1993 at CIA MediaNetwork (now known as Wavemaker), working across a range of media performance accounts. Karen continued her career by joining Zenith Media in 1995 working on the prestigious BT account. Karen was quickly head-hunted by The Media Business Group.
In October 1999 Karen was promoted to the Board of Directors of the newly merged MediaCom and The Media Business Group Board. In January 2003, Karen moved from the Business Director role that she had held for so long to become the Marketing Director of MediaCom.
In 2008, Karen became MediaCom’s Chief Operations Officer for EMEA. Priority markets included Russia, Turkey, France, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Czech Republic and South Africa. After 3 years strengthening the EMEA network, during which time MediaCom moved from the 5th to 3rd largest EMEA network media agency, Karen was promoted to CEO of the UK Office in January 2011, running over £1.3bn of media billings and leading over 1,200 people in 5 UK locations.
MediaCom UK is the largest media agency in the UK with a range of diverse clients, such as Sky, Tesco, Coca Cola, Cancer Research UK, DFS, NBC Universal and Mars. MediaCom U.K represents Modern Britain with offices in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Edinburgh and Dublin. During Karen’s tenure as CEO the UK business won over £790 million of new business. (2011 -2015 inclusive)
In January 2016 after serving as CEO for 5 years, Karen was promoted to Chairwoman of MediaCom UK & Ireland and is closely linked with clients such as Tesco, Coca-Cola and Sky. In the role as Chairwoman, one of Karen’s many focuses was to support the continued growth and evolution of the regional UK offices which totalled 350 staff and had regional combined billings of £385 million. In January 2018, Karen took on a newly created role as the first UK Country Manager for WPP, the world’s largest communications network, overseeing 10,000 people across several well-known operating brands such as Ogilvy, Grey, H&K, VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson. In this role Karen is responsible for delivering growth in WPP’s 2nd largest market, with revenue of $2 billion. Her focus is on developing customer experience, commerce strategies, marketing technology and relevant real-world communications for WPP clients.
In 2019 Karen was appointed a Non-Executive Director of the UK Cabinet Office. Karen was appointed as CEO of GroupM U.K, the world’s leading media investment company, in April 2020 – an additional role to her WPP UK Country Manager responsibilities. In November 2020 Karen featured in one of the Top 100 Great Black Britons, and in December 2021 was chosen to feature in the book; The Female Lead.
Dr. Katie Bell has extensive leadership experience across both corporate consumer goods and higher education sectors. She spent her early career at Nestle UK in various brand marketing roles based around the UK before taking the opportunity to work in Porto, Portugal as marketing director for Symington’s port wine company, and then in Barcelona, Spain as managing director of the European University business school. Her return to the UK saw her promoted through a number of marketing, innovation and board-level strategic planning roles at GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, where she was most latterly Vice- President of the Global Digital Marketing function.
Katie left GSK to take up a role as Chief Marketing Officer at Middlesex University, London, where amongst other things, she evolved the university-brand, redesigned the admissions service, and most recently led on the launch of higher and degree apprenticeships at the University. She recently completed her professional doctorate in higher education leadership.
Katie is currently Chief Marketing officer at UCAS where she is responsible for marketing, sales, communication and PR for both UCAS charity and for its commercial fund-raising business. Her main focus is in reshaping student admissions towards widening participation and access to higher education goals, and also in driving growth and innovation in the commercial activities which underpin the charitable objectives.
Kristin created WIN to bring alive a vision of a more feminine, global and sustainable way at work, in communities and life. More than 22000 individuals and hundreds of world-class companies have attended WIN’s live experiences, expanding worldwide. She pioneered a new way of looking at business through WIN’s framework of change, bringing in wellness, sustainability, beauty, art, new language and wholeness years ahead of the current trends.
As a global thought leader in the field of creativity, feminine and authentic leadership, she embraces her global responsibility through innovative leadership experiences and personal speaking engagements to inspire women worldwide to become agents of possibility.
She was awarded the CEO for Life award in 2021, was named among Diversity Global Magazine’s Top 10 Influential Women in Global Diversity and also received the International Alliance of Women Award. In her early career she worked for big companies such as JP Morgan, Citibank and Innovation Norway, EU and an as international strategy and marketing Consultant. A business economist (BI, Oslo) with an MBA (Milan’s Bocconi), she has also completed a wealth of interdisciplinary studies including acting and yoga. She attends global meetings such as the W7 of the G7 and the Nobel Peace Prize Forum, and also chaired the Women in Leadership meeting at the SDG tent during Davos in 2020.
Agenda
Wednesday 11 June 2025
07:15 – 17:00
Conference Registration
08:00 – 08:50
Activity & Continental Breakfast
09:00 – 10.20
Keynote Presentation
10:25 – 10:45
Mid-Morning Refreshments
10:50 – 11:50
Concurrent Sessions 1 (4-5 sessions)
12:00 – 13:30
Networking Lunch
13:40 – 15:00
Concurrent Sessions 2 (4-5 sessions)
15:00 – 15:20
Mid-Afternoon Refreshments
15:30 – 16:50
Concurrent Sessions 3 (4-5 sessions)
17:00 – 18:00
Welcome Reception
Thursday 12 June 2025
07:15 – 17:00
Conference Registration
08:00 – 08:50
Activity & Continental Breakfast
09:00 – 10.20
Concurrent Sessions 4 (4-5 sessions)
10:25 – 10:45
Mid-Morning Refreshments
10:50 – 11:50
Concurrent Sessions 5 (4-5 sessions)
12:00 – 13:30
Networking Lunch
13:40 – 15:00
Concurrent Sessions 6 (4-5 sessions)
15:00 – 15:20
Mid-Afternoon Refreshments
15:30 – 16:50
Concurrent Sessions 7 (4-5 sessions)
Friday 13 June 2025
07:15 – 11:00
Conference Registration
08:00 – 08:50
Activity & Continental Breakfast
09:00 – 10.20
Concurrent Sessions 8 (4-5 sessions)
10:25 – 10:45
Mid-Morning Refreshments
10:50 – 11:50
Concurrent Sessions 9 (4-5 sessions)
12:00 – 13:30
Awards Ceremony & Lunch
Hotel & Travel
Hotel
DoubleTree by Hilton - Claremont
Rate: $189.00 + taxes
Travel
Event Location: Claremont McKenna College, 888 Columbia Avenue, Claremont, CA 91711.
Airports
- Ontario International Airport (ONT): Approximately 10 miles from campus, about a 15-minute drive.
- Los Angeles International Airport (LAX): Around 50 miles away, typically a 1 to 1.5-hour drive.
- John Wayne Airport (SNA): Approximately 35 miles away, about a 45-minute drive.
Transportation Options
- Ride-sharing services: Available from all airports.
- Public Transit: The Claremont Metrolink station connects to Los Angeles’ transit network and is near the campus.
For more detailed travel information, please visit the Claremont McKenna College Travel Guide.
Conference Program Team
Conference Co-Chairs
Dr. Sherylle Tan, Director of Internship and KLI Research, Claremont McKenna College
Program Co-Chairs
Dr. Natasha T. Turman, Director for the Women in Science and Engineering Residence Program, University of Michigan
Stream Co-Chairs
Transformative Thinking on Women and Leadership
Joanne Barnes, Ed.D.
Areli Chacon Silva, Ph.D.
Elevate Leadership Development and Education
Sakina T.S. Dixon
Martinella Dryburgh, Ph.D.
Elevate Girls and Young Women
Rebecca Burns
Marilyn Pierce
Elevate Women in Leadership
Lori Peters, Ed.D.
Joanna Sztandur, Ed.D.
Systems of Change
Chrys Egan, Ph.D.
Christine Haskell, Ph.D.
Activities Team
- Yolanda Caldwell
- Dorine Lawrence-Hughes, Ed.D.
Sponsor
- Recognized as the conference platinum sponsor from main stage
- Opportunity for representative of the organization to welcome conference attendees
- Opportunity to collaborate with ILA on a webinar or work with ILA’s podcast partner on a podcast production
- ILA Organizational Membership for Two Years
- Eight complimentary conference registrations
- Logo placed prominently on all marketing material
- Logo and a link to your website on conference sponsor webpage
- Opportunity to work with ILA staff to plan a session or special event at the conference which your organization will be recognized as sponsoring
- Opportunity to host unlimited Pop-Up Stands whenever your team is available: multiple networking breaks and three group luncheons will take place over the three-day conference
- First page of full color conference PDF session guide reserved for your organization
- Logo displayed prominently on conference APP
- Two messages of your choosing sent during the conference via the conference APP
- Attendee list three weeks in advance for three-time honor system use
- Logo displayed prominently on on-site sponsor thank you banner
- Logo on screensaver in breakout rooms and general session
- Recognized as a sponsor of one of the five breakout rooms, the poster session, or the Interactive Roundtable Discussion Session
- Invited to have a collateral piece you provide placed on every seat at one of the three luncheons
- Provide ILA with a header banner advertisement and we will include it on the ILA Interface Newsletter three times in a calendar year
- Create an html message and ILA will send it to the entire ILA database once within a calendar year (exposure to over 20,000 leadership professionals worldwide)
- Recognized as a conference supporter sponsor from main stage
- ILA Organizational Membership for One Year
- Four complimentary conference registrations
- Logo placed prominently on all marketing material
- Logo and a link to your website on conference sponsor webpage
- Opportunity to work with ILA staff to plan a session or special event at the conference which your organization will be recognized as sponsoring
- Opportunity to host unlimited Pop-Up Stands whenever your team is available: multiple networking breaks and three group luncheons will take place over the three-day conference
- Full page ad in full color conference PDF session guide reserved for your organization
- Logo displayed on conference APP
- One message of your choosing sent during the conference via the conference APP
- Attendee list three weeks in advance for two-time honor system use
- Logo displayed on on-site sponsor thank you banner
- Logo on screensaver in breakout rooms and general session
- Recognized as a sponsor of one of the five breakout rooms, the poster session, or the Interactive Roundtable Discussion Session
- Provide ILA with a header banner advertisement and we will include it on the ILA Interface Newsletter once in a calendar year
- Create an html message and ILA will send it to the entire ILA database once within a calendar year (exposure to over 20,000 leadership professionals worldwide)
- Two complimentary conference registrations
- Logo on all marketing material
- Logo and a link to your website on conference sponsor webpage
- Opportunity to host six Pop-Up Stands: multiple networking breaks and three group luncheons will take place over the three-day conference
- Half page ad in full color conference PDF session guide reserved for your organization
- Logo displayed on conference APP with link to your website
- Attendee list three weeks in advance for one-time honor system use
- Logo displayed on on-site sponsor thank you banner
- Logo on screensaver in breakout rooms and general session
- Recognized as a sponsor of one of the five breakout rooms
- One complimentary conference registration
- Opportunity to host three Pop-Up Stands: multiple networking breaks and three group luncheons will take place over the three-day conference
- Organization’s name on all marketing material
- Organization’s name and a link to your website on conference sponsor webpage
- Organization’s name on conference APP