Before retiring in 1977, Irene was a major international opera star, having performed in every major opera house from Naples to San Francisco. She was a principal artist at New York's Metropolitan Opera for 20 consecutive seasons and was distinguished by the range and large number of roles in her repertoire. By the end of …

With a strong interest in the software industry in the '80s, Ruthann was a Managing Director at Alex. Brown & Sons where she worked with a variety of software firms and was instrumental in the successful IPOs of leading software companies including Microsoft, AOL, Aldus, Borland, Broderbund, Electronic Arts, McAfee Associates and the 3DO Corporation. …

Before joining the CHC, Maureen served Stanford University as Associate Dean of the School of Education and as the Director of the Career Management Center for the Graduate School of Business. Maureen shared her background from anti-war activist to children's services advocate. She also told us about The Children's Health Council and why it's so …

TMD member Lisa spoke on the death penalty and traced the history of capital punishment from the inception of our country to the present bill that aims to replace the death penalty with life without parole. She gave a personal account of her involvement with this issue, discussed specific death penalty cases, presented current statistics …

J-women.com is a web portal targeted at the growing number of women Internet users in Japan. The company is unique, since it started as a spin-off of Mitsubishi Corp., a major Japanese trading firm, where Junko was the Manager of Business Development at its Palo Alto Office. Although targeting the Japanese market, J-women.com is headquartered …

Mary Singleton is a distinguished scientist who worked at Lawrence Livermore Labs as Nuclear Facilities Manager and Research Chemist. She is now retired. She is extremely active in issues related to science and to women. She brought a still active class action suit against Lawrence Livermore Nuclear Labs for salary inequity for women. She spoke …

Shelly created an online curriculum project to highlight women scientists. Each year she spends one month in the Amazon with scientists studying fresh water dolphins and creating tools for teachers who want to use the experience in the classroom. Shelly spoke about changes in education, how she developed the project, and how she manages to …

WOMEN Unlimited teaches women how to navigate male-dominated business waters. Instead of focusing on generic leadership and management skills, the yearlong, once-a-month program caters to women's specific needs, such as how to communicate in all-male situations or when to say no. Amy shared some fascinating tips on how to be more effective at work and …

Before joining SVCV, Penelope was senior vice president at Odwalla, Inc., chief administrative officer at Morrison & Foerster, and chair of the Morrison & Foerster Foundation. For the last fifteen years, she has been involved with community-based non-profit organizations, and is currently chair of the Children's Television Education and Resource Center, a developer of school …

Evelyn's group of five top-class reporters and columnists specializes in chronicling the societal changes caused by the technological and economic revolutions the Valley has been experiencing. They call themselves "real-time anthropologists". Evelyn's amazing career includes stints at the Mercury News as first editor of the Computing section and later as technology editor, at Stanford as …

Warm, open, funny, actor/teacher/coach extraordinaire, Rebecca's stories were worth getting up early to hear. She's been a member of BATS Company and Coaching Staff since 1989 and has been Dean of BATS School of Improv since 1992. Prior to joining BATS, Rebecca was a coach and player with Seattle Theatresports. She performed her first improv …