The Simmons University Institute for Inclusive Leadership hosted the 46th Annual Simmons Leadership Conference on March 20, 2025. The diverse array of panelists and guest speakers championed resilience, self-growth, and interpersonal connection.
“This is the longest running conference for women in America,” said Joyce Kulhawik ’74, ’02HD, Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist and President of the Boston Theater Critics Association, in her welcoming remarks at the Simmons University Institute for Inclusive Leadership’s 2025 Simmons Leadership Conference. “Just the fact that we gather together here as women [and male allies] is a show of strength, connection, and leadership.”
Drawing upon recent research, conference co-host and the Institute’s Chief Operating Officer Kristen Palson conveyed how women’s promotion to leadership roles enhances productivity, inclusivity, and overall performance in the workplace. “When women thrive, we all thrive,” she said. “Talk is easy, but action is not … this requires adaptability and courage to challenge the status quo.”
Addressing this year’s conference theme, “Leading Change,” Simmons University President Lynn Perry Wooten discoursed on key leadership traits, including courage, resilience, and boldness. “When we invest in thriving, we can make [a] long-lasting impact,” she said.
A diverse array of panelists and keynote speakers from corporate, nonprofit, and arts-based domains shared their perspectives on resilience and shaping a communal vision.
In recognition of her vision and dedication, Sheila Davis, CEO of Partners in Health, received the Helen G. Drinan Visionary Leader Award for her indefatigable advocacy for the world’s most vulnerable populations.
Leading with One’s Best Self and Cross-Generationally
The Institute’s CEO, Susan MacKenty Brady, delivered a keynote address entitled “Lead from Your Best: Unlock Trust, Talent, and Transformational Results.” Interweaving practice-based advice with a personal anecdote, Brady said, “Empathy is the key to killing harshness.”
For Brady, [your] “best self” constitutes the mobilization of one’s strengths and vitality. Here selfhood is inclusive of others — through listening, mutual respect, and collective values. She emphasized that achieving one’s best self is “a moment-to-moment practice,” and that women can lead the way to diversify the workplace and optimize talent.
The Institute’s Vice President, Kerry Seitz, led a subsequent business panel, “Leading Through Change,” with Senior Director of the Social Impact and Inclusion Office at Cisco, Julie Lane; Director of Behavioral Insurance Activation at John Hancock, Gregory Martin; and Chief Partner Officer at Dell, Denise Millard. The panelists discussed how leaders engage and empower employees across the generational spectrum.
In Martin’s experience, younger generations appear “fast-tracked” for success and expect premature promotions. “I had this negative, unconscious thought of this generation [Gen Z], but then I realized that I was the same way … So, [I focus on] what can I do for him or her to help them,” he said. When interacting with her Gen Z employees, Lane said, “I want to work with them to [diversify] their opinions.”
For Millard, personality type, rather than generational-specific norms, can be more useful in guiding her engagement with her staff.
Conversing with one another, the panelists underscored the importance of honesty, communication, and adapting to new or different situations. Furthermore, they emphasized that innovation and inclusivity are not singular endeavors; instead, they require multigenerational collaboration.
From Challenge to Change
Morning and afternoon concurrent sessions offered expert advice on reframing unpredictability as an asset.
The panel discussion, “Women Driving Change in Health Care and Life Sciences,” featured Enterprise Chief Nursing Officer of CVS Health, Dr. Angela Patterson; Executive Partner of Private Equity of Sofinnova Investments, Dr. Maha Radhakrishnan; Dean of Simmons’ School of Nursing, Dr. Heather Shlosser; and Executive Vice President of Boston Children’s Hospital, Dr. Laura Wood. These experts theorized how women leaders can overcome challenges in the healthcare industry while continuing to lead with compassion.
“Executives Navigating Change to Lead with Purpose” placed Seitz in a fruitful dialogue with Vice President of Worldwide Midmarket & Small Business (SMB) Sales at HPE Aruba Networking (a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company) Sherifa Hady, and Chief Operations Officer of Point32Health Katie Catlender. The panelists conveyed strategies for navigating changes and transformations without abandoning core values and visions.
In her concurrent session, “Courageous Curiosity: Turning Self-Discovery into Actionable Change,” Yolanda McLean, Senior Director of Global Quality Control at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, shared how self-discovery empowers leaders to embrace the unknown. Elsewhere in the program, McLean delivered a keynote addressing women leading in the health care and life sciences industries.
Dr. Nadya Zhexembayeva, Founder and Chief Reinvention Officer of The Reinvention Academy, presented “How to Lead in Turbulence Without Losing Your Mind.” She shared how ever-shifting environments can be transmuted into rites of reinvention.
President Wooten led an interactive concurrent session, “Inspiring a Bold Vision to Ignite Meaningful Change,” during which she explained how leaders can inspire others to craft and fulfill a seminal vision.
Young Leaders Create Change
In her Signature Session, CEO of Unchartered and trailblazing energy advocate Jessica O. Matthews delivered her presentation, “The AI Revolution at Work: Leading Change and Overcoming Fears in a Rapidly Evolving World.”
As a Nigerian-American, Matthews realized the urgency for revolutionizing energy at a young age. She shared the process of creating Soccket, a soccer ball that functions as a portable generator. This invention effectively turned play into power for regions without reliable sources of energy.
Reflecting on the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Matthews compared the advent of AI to the invention of the Gutenberg printing press in fifteenth-century Germany. While she conceded that certain fears surrounding AI are valid, she articulated how leaders can embrace an “innovator’s mindset” and treat AI as an “augmented toolkit.” As Matthews explained, “You have to grow with the change, you have to evolve as well … Innovation is the ability to see the world not just as it is, but as it could be.”
Addressing the topic of environmental activism, Sophia Kianni, Founder of Climate Cardinals and the youngest appointed United Nations Advisor, led the concurrent session entitled “Women in Leadership: Breaking Barriers and Building Legacies.”
Years earlier, when visiting her relatives in Iran, Kianni was appalled by the air pollution, which threatened her family’s health. Even though her relatives were suffering the effects of climate change, Kianni realized that many of them did not know what climate change was. As a result, Kianni engaged in activism at the grassroots level, which eventually blossomed into Climate Cardinals, a global, youth-led organization that educates people on climate change and empowers them to lead climate solutions.
Kianni shared the wisdom she has gained thus far from her leadership journey. She stressed the importance of “passion projects,” self-evolution, leading through giving, and moving people “from apathy to action.” As Kianni expressed, “If you give people something to work on that they care about … they will work [more effectively and enthusiastically].”
Leading Unexpectedly
In her multimedia keynote address, “You’ve Been Chosen: Thriving through the Unexpected,” Cynthia “Cynt” Marshall, CEO of the Dallas Mavericks, shared a personal narrative of determination and triumph, interspersed with musical selections. Marshall began by recounting her childhood in Richmond, California, which was marked by poverty and violence.
In spite of their circumstances, Marshall’s mother realized the transformative potential of education. “Education matters. Zip code doesn’t,” she said. “Educators literally saved my life.”
Marshall reminisced about her sorority sisters at the University of California, Berkeley. By joining a sorority, “I learned the value of sisterhood,” she said. “In the sisterhood, we can count on each other.”
The communal nature of sisterhood mirrors Marshall’s leadership style. “In order for me to be a great leader, I need to listen to the people, learn from the people, and love the people … It’s all about the people.” She concluded her keynote by gifting in-person attendees with tiaras, saying, “Ladies, you are the Queen of the Castle wherever you are. Embrace your royalty!”
Artists from The Second City, an improvisational theater troupe based in Chicago, showcased another variety of leading through the unexpected. In their “action session,” Applied Improv Facilitators Lele Mason and Tamara Nolte demonstrated how improvisational comedy can acclimate people to “get comfortable in the uncomfortable.”
According to Mason, practicing improv can help leaders develop “tool[s] of resilience, collaboration, and listening.” For Nolte, improv demands “taking risks together,” which can strengthen collaboration, trust, and gratitude. “Accept reality and make [it] work for you,” said Mason. “This is the essence of improvisation.”
Ageless Leadership
In the final session, Tiffany Dufu, Simmons University Trustee and President of the Tory Burch Foundation, joined actress, author, and entrepreneur Brooke Shields in a fireside chat, “Leading Change at Every Age.”
As Shields remarked, “Leading change is really about being vulnerable and honest … It’s about telling the truth.” Writing deeply personal books was a way for Shields to embrace change. Moreover, “getting an education was my way of being rebellious [in Hollywood],” she said.
Addressing the luminary’s new book, Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old (Macmillan, 2025), Dufu inquired about Shields’ motivation underpinning this work. Around the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Shields explained, she started a new business called Commence, which offers wellness products for women over 40. “There is a beautiful bracket in the middle [of a woman’s lifespan],” Shields said. “And we need to talk about it [in order for] the rhetoric to change.”
Dufu and Shields discussed the joys of parenting, personal fortitude, empathetic friendship, endless learning, and positive self-reflection. Moreover, Shields articulated the need for women to advocate for their health. “Women’s pain is … less valued … than a man’s pain,” she said. “But you know your body better than anyone, [even] if you are not a doctor.”
When analyzing effective leadership, Shields noted the power of women forming community. “It’s not ‘I’m a woman, hear more roar,’” she explained. “It’s ‘I’m a woman, hear me more.’” Here, Shields drew upon the insights of feminist Gloria Steinem (a guest speaker for SLC24): “Every important [social] movement starts like this [i.e., in conversation with someone else].”
Concluding the conference, co-hosts Palson and Kulhawik celebrated women’s ability to make meaningful change.
“By empowering girls and women to rise with courage and confidence, we can ignite a movement of limitless potential,” said Palson. “And together, we can shape a future defined by possibilities.”