Women's Leadership Institute 2009: Keynote Speakers
Opening Keynote
Katty Kay
Katty Kay is Washington correspondent for BBC World News America, a nightly newscast airing on BBC AMERICA and BBC World News. She reports on U.S. news and politics. Ms. Kay is also co-presenter of BBC World news bulletins, a post she has held since June 2004. BBC World bulletins air on 230 public broadcast television stations throughout the U.S., and on BBC AMERICA.
Kay's career with the BBC began in Zimbabwe in 1990 where she started filing radio reports for the Africa Service of BBC World Service radio. Among the stories she covered during her time there were Zimbabwean land reform and the issue of white farmers, the independence of Namibia and the demise of apartheid in South Africa.
Kay then went on to work as a BBC correspondent in London, and later Tokyo, reporting on stories including the Kobe earthquake, the gas attack on the Tokyo underground, and the beginning of the Japanese economic recession. She settled in Washington in 1996 where she took some time out of broadcast journalism to join The Times Washington bureau before returning to the BBC as a freelance journalist in 2002.
From Washington, Kay has covered sex scandals in the Clinton administration, two presidential elections as well as wars in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq. She also witnessed first-hand the huge change in American policy and psyche brought on by the attacks of Sept. 11. Kay was at the Pentagon just 20 minutes after a hijacked airplane flew into the building - one of her most vivid journalistic memories is of interviewing soldiers still visibly shaking from the attack.
Kay is a contributor on Meet the Press, Larry King Live, The Chris Matthews Show and a regular guest host for Diane Rehm on NPR. Kay grew up all over the Middle East, where her father was posted as a British diplomat. She studied modern languages at Oxford from where she went on to work for a brief period with the Bank of England.
In The New York Times bestseller, "Womenomics: The Workplace Revolution That Will Change Your Life" (2009), Kay and co-author, Claire Shipman, show how women's management style is ideally suited to the new business world, resulting in more profitable companies with happier employees. They also show how women can use this power to get what they really want—more time and freedom in their jobs without falling off the professional ladder.
A fluent French and Italian speaker with what she describes as "rusty Japanese," Kay juggles her journalism with raising four children with her husband, a consultant.
Closing Keynote
Frances Lucas
Dr. Frances Lucas was named President of Millsaps College in January 2000, becoming the first female president in the College's 110-year history. Dr. Lucas' 25-year career in higher education is an illustration of opening doors and breaking barriers with grace. Prior to taking the helm of Millsaps College, Dr. Lucas served Emory University as senior vice-president for campus life, becoming the first woman to hold a vice-presidential role in that university's 160-year history. At age 29, she was the youngest vice-president for student affairs in the country and the first female vice-president at Baldwin-Wallace College in Ohio, where she was named that college's Most Outstanding Administrator.
Her proven senior leadership in higher education, coupled with her Mississippi roots and life-long affiliation with the Methodist Church, made her an ideal choice for Millsaps College. As president, she flourished in a role that allows her to promote the benefits of a liberal arts education in a rapidly changing world.
Dr. Lucas' combined experiences produce a style that is energetic, inclusive, and empowering to others; these qualities have led to recognition by numerous local and national organizations. In March 2004, the Mississippi State University Women's Commission selected Dr. Lucas as Outstanding Mississippi Woman of the Year. In 2003, she was named Mississippi's Business Woman of the Year by the Mississippi Business Journal. Dr. Lucas is a frequent keynote speaker for national professional organizations in higher education and business and has served as president of Mississippi Foundation of Independent Colleges, Southern University Conference, Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference, National Association of Schools and Colleges of the United Methodist Church, and Jackson Medical Education District Board. She was also on the board of directors of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. She is currently the chair of the Associated Colleges of the South academic consortia and is on the board of directors for Educational and Institutional Insurance Administrators.
Civically, Dr. Lucas serves on the board of directors of Trustmark National Bank, the board of visitors of the University of Mississippi Dental School, the board of governors of the University Club, and the executive board of the Newcomen Society. Dr. Lucas is also the proud mother of Michael, 17, and Anna Catherine, 16.