Celebrating 32 Years as….. The Competitive Edge in Women’s Leadership Presented By 2019 LEADERSHIP AMERICA “Leading With A Global Vision - A National Focus – A Local Concern” SESSION THREE Atlanta September 22-24, 2019 The Georgian Terrace 659 Peachtree Street Atlanta, GA 30308 PROGRAM OVERVIEW LEADERSHIP THAT IS TRANSFORMATIVE Conversations with Those Changing Lives and Communities Atlanta is excited to host 2019 Leadership America women and our 44 alumnae welcome you! Affectionately called the A-T-L, Atlanta is Georgia’s state capital; host to 78 global consulates and trade offices; and the locale of Hartsfield Jackson Airport, the busiest airport in the world with 107 million passengers annually. Long recognized as a place of significant civil rights, Atlanta is home to the Martin Luther King Center, The Center for Human & Civil Rights, and the Carter Center. As a southeastern hub, the city’s important federal agencies include The CDC, USDA Forest Service, and The Federal Reserve Bank. The Georgia Film industry competes with California and Canada with 700 feature films, TV movies, TV series, single episodes, and pilots produced in Georgia since 1972 resulting in an economic impact of $9.5 billion and featuring noted entertainers Ray Charles, Tyler Perry, Elton John, Julia Roberts. Women leaders who have pioneered in business and commerce, community leadership and the entertainment industry include Coretta Scott King; Sara Blakeley, Founder, SPANX; Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice, CEO Morehouse School of Medicine; Ann Cox, Founder, Cox Media; Margaret Mitchell, Author, Gone with the Wind. Georgia has a rich history of producing world-class women leaders – Juliette Gordon Low, Founder, U.S. Girl Scouts; Activist, Marian Wright Edelman; former Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Georgia, Leah Ward Sears; Mayors Shirley Franklin & Keisha Lance Bottoms; and, political icon, Stacey Abrams. The Atlanta agenda will – assemble nationally recognized leaders in business, commerce, and finance; noted educators; global health experts, civil rights activists, and nonprofit leaders; engage participants in conversations with community “transformers” who are “walking the walk” and “talking the talk” as they and their organizations reshape delivery of social services; address the root causes of, and, possible solutions to, the economic, education, and social disparities that are fraying the fabric of our nation’s communities; and, encourage participants to share reflections on their Leadership America experiences, the program’s impact on the shaping their leadership and their roles and responsibilities of women leaders. With Special thanks to the sponsors of Leadership Women. These corporations believe in helping women advance and achieve. Thank you to our Session Sponsors Sunday, September 22, 2019 Suggested Dress: Business attire Time/Location Event 1:00 p.m. Registration Opens – Arrival and Check-In 1:30 p.m. 2019 LEADERSHIP AMERICA RECONNECTS to 2:30 p.m. “Conversation Time Among The Class of 2019” 2:30 p.m. Welcome to Session Three, 2019 Leadership America – Program Overview to 3:00 p.m. MARTHA P. FARMER was named as the Founding Director of Women’s Resources, Piedmont now known as Leadership Women, in 1982, where she rapidly translated the organization’s Ballroom or vision and commitment into the development of Leadership Texas, the widely acclaimed program that has empowered more than 3,000 women leaders across Texas. Following a Meeting Room II move to Washington, DC, Farmer fulfilled the WR directive to develop a national women’s leadership program. In 1988, Leadership America was launched with Farmer as the Founding/Executive Director. Her commitment to volunteer service and leadership extends to regional and national memberships including the International Women’s Forum where she received IWF’s “Woman Who Makes a Difference” award in 20l1. A sustaining member of The Junior League, Martha is also a Trustee of the Chicago School of Professional Psychology and has served as a board member of several regional and national nonprofit organizations. She is a Ruling Elder in the Presbyterian Church, USA. Time/Location Event 3:00 p.m. Introductory Presenter to 3:30 p.m. “Nurturing Women Leaders” The Reverend Carolyn A. Abrams, Retired Founding Pastor, H.A. Brown Memorial United Methodist Church REVEREND CAROLYN ABRAMS is the founding pastor of H.A. Brown Memorial United Methodist Church in Wiggins, Mississippi, where she led the congregation for fifteen years before her retirement. In 1993, upon being appointed pastor of the Wiggins Circuit, Rev. Abrams became the first woman to successfully merge congregations and build a new church in the history of the Mississippi Conference. Under her leadership, H.A. Brown Memorial UMC was awarded for outstanding outreach ministry. In addition, she served as the CEO of Faith in Community Ministries, serving more than 6,000 displaced individuals and families in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Rev. Abrams holds a Master of Divinity from the Candler School of Theology at Emory University; a Master of Library Science from the University of Wisconsin, Madison; and a Bachelors of Arts in Political Science and Afro-American Studies from Tougaloo College, with honors. She is married to Rev. Robert Abrams, and she is a proud mother and grandmother. 3:30 p.m. Special Opening Presentation - to 5:00 p.m. “Sisters Reflecting Leadership in Action – Conscience, Courage & Conviction” Featuring Honored Guests – Andrea Abrams, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Chair of Gender Studies Program, Associate VP, Diversity Affairs & Special Assistant to the President, Centre College, Danville, Kentucky Jeanine Abrams McLean, PhD, Program Director, Fair Count Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner, U.S. District Judge, Middle District of Georgia The Honorable Stacey Yvonne Abrams, Founder & Chair, Fair Fight ANDREA ABRAMS came to Centre in 2007 as Centre’s first Consortium for Faculty Diversity at Liberal Arts Colleges Postdoctoral Fellow, and became assistant professor of anthropology in 2009. She was promoted to associate professor in 2014. In 2018, she was named associate vice president for diversity affairs and special assistant to the president. She is the author of God and Blackness: Race, Gender and Identity in a Middle Class Afrocentric Church (NYU Press, 2014). Her research focuses on issues of race, gender and social justice. Abrams has a B.A. in sociology and anthropology from Agnes Scott College. She earned a graduate certificate in women’s studies and a Ph.D. in anthropology from Emory University. JEANINE ABRAMS MCLEAN is the Program Director for Fair Count, an organization taking dead aim at increasing census participation in Georgia, was recently launched by Stacey Abrams, who narrowly lost her bid in the state’s gubernatorial race. Dr. McLean is a biologist and recently worked for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as the Lead in the Phylogenetic Unit. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology from Duke University and completed her Doctorate in Philosophy and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Texas at Austin. THE HONORABLE LESLIE ABRAMS GARDNER is a United States District Judge for the Middle District of Georgia and former Assistant United States Attorney. Gardner received a Bachelor of Arts in 1997 from Brown University and her Juris Doctor in 2002 from Yale Law School. She began her legal career as a law clerk for Judge Marvin J. Garbis of the US District Court for the District of Maryland. She served as an associate at the law firms of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom LLP, and Kilpatrick Stockton LLP, between 2003 and 2010 and as an Assistant US Attorney in the Northern District of Georgia from 2010 to 2014. On November 21, 2014, Judge Gardner took the oath of office and became the first female federal judge in the Middle District of Georgia and the first African American woman to become an Article III judge in the State of Georgia. STACEY YVONNE ABRAMS is a political leader and best-selling author who served as minority leader of the Georgia House of Representatives from 2011 to 2017. A member of the Time/Location Event Democratic Party, she was the party's nominee in the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election. Abrams was the first black female major-party gubernatorial nominee in the history of the United States. In February 2019 she became the first African-American woman to deliver a response to the State of the Union address. Her new work includes fighting for free and fair elections with Fair Fight, whose mission is to advocate for election reform and engage in voter education, and ensuring all Georgians are counted in the 2020 census through Fair Count. 5:00 p.m. Break & Depart for the National Center for Civil and Human Rights Pemberton Place, 55 Ivan Allen Blvd. The Center for Civil and Human Rights in downtown Atlanta is an engaging cultural attraction that connects the American Civil Rights Movement to today’s Global Human Rights Movements. Our purpose is to create a safe space for visitors to explore the fundamental rights of all human beings so that they leave inspired and empowered to join the ongoing dialogue about human rights in their communities. The Center was first imagined by civil rights legends Evelyn Lowery and former United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young and was launched by former Mayor Shirley Franklin. The effort gained broad-based corporate and community support to become one of the few places in the world educating visitors on the bridge between the American Civil Rights Movement and contemporary Human Rights Movements around the world. Established in 2007, The Center’s 43,000-square-foot-facility is located on Pemberton Place, adjacent to the World of Coca-Cola and the Georgia Aquarium, on land donated by the Coca-Cola Company. 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Self-Guided Tour of the National Center for Civil & Human Rights 6:30 p.m.