Dr Joyce Banda, Martina Navratilova and Dame Stephanie Shirley among speakers to celebrate women leading change

LONDON and BERLIN, May 31, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Simmons College today announces its inaugural International Women's Leadership Conference, to be held November 16-17 at the InterContinental Hotel in Berlin.  

Bringing together true pioneers in business, technology, sport, and innovation with the best and brightest of Europe's businesswomen and men, the international event will lend global perspectives and new inspiration to important conversations on the opportunities, experiences, changes and challenges women face in becoming leaders. It builds on the 38-year legacy of the renowned US Simmons Leadership Conference.

With "Women Leading Change" as its theme, the event features philanthropist and stateswoman Dr. Joyce Banda the former President of Malawi; record- and ground-breaking tennis champion Martina Navratilova; activist and humanitarian Zainab Salbi; high-tech innovator Dame Stephanie Shirley; and foreign policy expert Anne-Marie Slaughter, among many more. Together with hundreds of expected attendees – professional women and men from across Europe – the conference and its speakers aim to inspire individuals and to keep women's leadership development at the top of the agenda for global business. (See the full programme here.)

"In 1979, when Simmons held its first conference, women were at the very start of the journey to becoming leaders; role models and signposts were few," said Judy Benjamin, Executive Director, SimmonsLEADS, Simmons College. "Fast forward nearly four decades and we enjoy unprecedented opportunities to learn from women who have accomplished extraordinary things, instigating real change. With this event we'll celebrate the innovators and risk takers who break through in all kinds of ways and explore the often unique challenges and opportunities women still face in developing as leaders."

The Simmons International Leadership Conference is expected to attract 500 professional women and men from across Europe. The event is generously supported by world-leading organisations: EMC, Biogen, Cisco, and the Walt Disney Company, among others.

Proceeds from the international conference and its US counterpart are dedicated to Simmons College's graduate programme scholarships, for development of future leaders. The conference is organised by SimmonsLEADS, a dynamic set of programmes and events developed by Simmons College and focusing on women's development as leaders.

About the Simmons Leadership Conference and Simmons International Leadership Conference
Simmons College has presented this conference simultaneously for 38 years, and it is now the US's premier women's leadership conference. Previous years' events have featured such notable women as Hillary Rodham Clinton, Madeleine Albright, the late Benazir Bhutto, Meg Whitman, Mary Robinson, Arianna Huffington, and Queen Noor.

The first International Simmons Leadership Conference will be held in Berlin in November 2016. To facilitate broad participation, the event will be held in different countries in future years.

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SOURCE Simmons College