May 16-17, 2005 · · Renaissance Washington, DC Hotel · · Washington, DC

BIOGRAPHIES

Business and Professional Women's Leadership Summit Chairs and Co-Chairs:

Summit Senate Chair
U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX)

In 1993, Kay Bailey Hutchison was elected as the first woman to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate. She was re-elected with the largest number of votes ever garnered in the state. In 2000, she was elected Vice Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, becoming one of the top five leaders of Senate Republicans, and the only woman.

Summit Honorary Senate Co-Chair
U.S. Senator Susan Collins (ME)

Susan M. Collins was elected to represent the State of Maine in the U.S. Senate in 1996 and was re-elected to a second term in 2002. Senator Collins is the Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Department of Homeland Security and is the Senate’s chief oversight committee.

Summit Honorary Co-Chair
The Honorable Elaine L. Chao
Secretary, U.S. Department of Labor

Elaine L. Chao became the nation’s 24th Secretary of Labor in January 2001 and is the first Asian American woman appointed to a President’s cabinet in U.S. history. She is respected as an effective and articulate champion of the nation’s contemporary workforce, acting quickly to focus the Labor Department on the modern realities of workers’ lives.

Summit Honorary Senate Co-Chair
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Dole (NC)

Elizabeth Dole has had a distinguished public service career, serving five U.S. Presidents before being elected in 2002 to serve North Carolina in the U.S. Senate. In 2004, her colleagues elected her Chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. She previously served as U.S. Transportation Secretary, U.S. Secretary of Labor, and President of the American Red Cross.

Summit Honorary Co-Chair
The Honorable Harriet Miers
White House counsel

Harriet Miers became Counsel to President George W. Bush in January 2005 after serving as Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff. In 1992, she became the first woman elected Texas State Bar President following her selection in 1985 as the first woman to become President of the Dallas Bar Association.

Summit Honorary Senate Co-Chair
U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (AR)

Lisa Murkowski is a third generation Alaskan and the first Alaskan-born senator to serve the state. She began her term in December 2002 and was selected to serve as both a Deputy Whip and as Chairman of the class of new senators elected in 2002. A member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Senator Murkowski chairs its Subcommittee on Water and Power.

Summit Honorary Co-Chair
The Honorable Gail Norton
Secretary, U.S. Department of the Interior

Gale Norton was sworn in as the 48th Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior in January 2001. She is the first woman to head the 153-year-old department. Norton has made Four C’s the cornerstone of her tenure: Consultation, Communication, and Cooperation, all in the service of Conservation.

Summit Honorary Senate Co-Chair
U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (ME)

With her election in 1994, Olympia J. Snowe became only the second woman Senator in history to represent Maine. In 2001, she became the first Republican woman ever to secure a full-term seat on the Senate Finance Committee. She is Chair of the Small Business Committee and chairs the Commerce Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere and Fisheries.