Fordham University held its ninth annual Women’s Summit on Wednesday, Oct. 22, with the theme “How to be the CEO of Your Life.”
The event, which was held at Fordham Lincoln Center’s Constantino Hall, included a keynote presentation, breakout sessions, some honorary award recognitions and networking opportunities.
The summit was founded by Hope Ogletree, senior director of development for the Gabelli School of Business and the senior director of the Fordham Women’s Philanthropy Initiative in 2017.
The conference empowers women to take part in more philanthropic work, either individually and/or through giving circles — participatory philanthropy groups where money is donated to a pooled fund.
“What I realized was that my amazing Fordham women needed to become comfortable with this intimidating word called philanthropy,” Ogletree said. “[Money] does not define you as a person. What defines you is your ability to use this thing as a tool and not let it intimidate you and not let it control you.”
Ogletree said she founded the summit to build pride and connection among Fordham’s women graduates, noting that when she first created the event, the university had no alumnae group — even though women made up 55% of Fordham’s alumni population at the time, according to Ogletree.
This year’s event continued this founding mission through discussions and presentations, led by Fordham alumnae, faculty and parents of Fordham students. The conference, which convened over 150 Fordham alumnae, according to Ogletree, was planned by members of Fordham’s Development and University Relations (DAUR) team.
To start the event, Fordham President Tania Tetlow gave a welcome speech, in which she explained how control over money grants women the power to participate and make key decisions in society, according to Ogletree.
Following Tetlow’s speech, Elizabeth Nesvold, GSB ’95, chair of Emigrant Partners and vice chair of Emigrant Bank, gave a keynote presentation on “Money as a Tool: Reframing Financial Health for Women,” which was also moderated by Ogletree.
Nesvold then discussed the changing role of women in society, in regards to money, the increase in wealth owned by women and how women can use their money to pursue philanthropic endeavors as well as contribute to and cultivate change in places of importance.
Attendees were then given a short break before participating in two breakout sessions. One of the sessions, titled “How to Forge an Unshakable Life of Meaning and Purpose,” was led by David Marcotte, S.J., an associate clinical professor in the psychology department, and focused on how to create happiness, purpose as well as meaning in your life through health in your body, mind and spirit.
The next session, “Charting your Career with Clarity,” was led by Nicole DuBois, FCRH ’02, chief human resources officer at Graham Windham, Morgan Vazquez, FCRH ’13, executive director of human resources at Wells Fargo and Julie Gebauer, a Fordham parent and the president of the health, wealth and career business segment for Willis Towers Watson.
In the session, which was moderated by Kay Turner, vice president for human resources at Fordham, the panelists shared wisdom on forging your career path based on insight from their own careers.
The event attendees then reconvened in order to honor Fordham’s “2025 Pioneering Women in Philanthropy,” which included Nesvold, Jane Barnett, MC ’76, Betty Burns, FCLC ’83 and Deneen Donnley, LAW ’92. The honorees are chosen by the members of the DAUR who took part in planning the event, according to Ogletree.
“They are women who have been active in Fordham after graduation or have had such spectacular lives that are really worthy of honoring,” Ogletree said. “It’s to just show Fordham women that all things are possible … And [that] that’s sort of the way that we can see ourselves in the future.”
The summit ended with a networking session where attendees could mingle, after which they were invited to attend a reception in the Bateman Room with wine provided by Gabriella Macari, GSB ’09. Ogletree said she knew attendees had enjoyed the day’s events because many did not want to leave the conference room.
“Here’s the way you know people are having fun,” Ogletree said. “People stayed in Constantino, where the tables were, far longer; usually, people get up and they go running over for a glass of wine. The way I know that this was an exciting, wonderful day is that nobody wanted to leave. They didn’t want to leave the big room, and then they said, ‘All right, all right, it’s time to go get a glass of wine.’ And they didn’t want to leave there either.”
Ogletree said the excitement for and engagement in the annual Women’s Summit has been built and continues to grow, and she is happy with the turnout of this year’s event. She also said the benefits of the summit, that continue to extend to new generations, allow Fordham alumnae to impact the broader Fordham community, which lends itself to Ogletree’s overall goal.
“We’re educating, we help mentoring, we’re having people meet one another, we’re giving them a vision of hope of what their institution can be,” Ogletree said. “I want Fordham alumnae to leave their mark on Fordham, the way they want to. And by becoming more financially literate and comfortable with their own budgets, they have the ability to impact their institution their way.”
