Category: Mary Louise Smith Chair / page 2

Madeleine Kunin
Madeleine Kunin


Madeleine Kunin is the first and only woman to have served as governor of Vermont, serving from 1985-1991. Kunin was born on September 28, 1933, in Zurich, Switzerland, and moved to the United States as a child in 1940. She holds a bachelor's degree in history from the University of Massachusetts and a Master of Science from the Columbia School of Journalism. Before seeking elective office, she worked as a journalist and a college professor. Prior to serving as governor, Kunin was lieutenant governor of Vermont from 1979-1983 and a […]
Ruth Mandel
Ruth Mandel


Ruth B. Mandel served as the director of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University from 1995-2019, where she also held a faculty appointment as Board of Governors Professor of Politics. From 1973-1994, Mandel served as director of Eagleton's Center for American Woman and Politics (CAWP), where she remained affiliated as a senior scholar. Beginning in 1991, Mandel held a presidential appointment as a member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, the governing body of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. She also served as vice chairperson […]
Claire McCaskill
Claire McCaskill


Claire McCaskill served as a U.S. senator for Missouri from 2007-2019, the first woman to be elected to the U.S. Senate from Missouri. McCaskill was born July 24, 1953, in Rolla, Missouri. Her father, Bill McCaskill, served as Missouri state insurance commissioner and her mother, Betty Anne McCaskill, served on the Columbia City Council. McCaskill attended the University of Missouri, where she completed her Bachelor of Arts in political science in 1975 and Juris Doctorate in 1978. Following college, worked as a prosecutor. In 1982, she assumed office as a […]
Anne Mulcahy
Anne M Mulcahy


Anne M. Mulcahy is the former chairperson of the board and the former chief executive officer of Xerox Corporation, located in Stamford, Conn. She was named chief executive officer of Xerox on Aug. 1, 2001, and chairman on Jan. 1, 2002. She retired as CEO in 2009. Mulcahy was born October 21, 1952, in Rockville Centre, New York. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in English/journalism from Marymount College in Tarrytown, New York, in 1974. In addition to the Xerox board, she has been a member of the board of […]
Michele Norris
Michele Norris


Michele Norris is an American journalist and leader of the Race Card Project, an initiative to foster a wider conversation about race in America. She is a former host of the National Public Radio news program "All Things Considered," the first African American female host for NPR. Since 2019, she has been an opinion columnist with The Washington Post. Norris was born September 7, 1961. She attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she majored in electrical engineering, and graduated from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis with a degree in […]
Soledad O'Brien
Soledad O'Brien


Soledad O'Brien is a broadcast journalist, executive producer, and philanthropist. She is the chairman of Starfish Media Group, a 360-media production company and distributor that she begin in 2013. O'Brien was born September 19, 1966, in St. James, New York. She is a graduate of Harvard University. From 2003 to 2013, O'Brien was an anchor and special correspondent for CNN. Most recently, she was anchor of "Starting Point." From 2007 to 2012, she hosted "In America" documentaries, guest-anchored CNN news shows, and anchored CNN's exit poll coverage during the primaries […]
Christina Romer
Christina D Romer


As chair of the Council of Economic Advisers from January 2009 to September 2010, Christina Romer was one of the four economics principals who met with President Obama daily to design and guide the administration's response to the Great Recession. She played a key role in macroeconomic policy, the rescue and reform of the financial system, health care reform, and budget policy. In addition, she was a primary spokesperson on the economy for the administration, appearing frequently on the evening news, in the financial press, and on the Sunday morning […]
Pat Schroeder
Pat Schroeder


Patricia "Pat" Schroeder represented Colorado in the United States House of Representatives from 1973 to 1997. She was the first woman elected to Congress from Colorado, running without the support of the state Democratic Party or the Democratic National Committee. Schroeder was born July 30, 1940, in Portland, Oregon. She graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1961 with degrees in philosophy, history, and political science. Following, Schroeder completed her Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School in 1964. From 1964 to 1972, she was a field attorney with the National […]
Lynn Sherr
Lynn Sherr


Lynn Sherr is an award-winning broadcaster and best-selling author. Sherr spent more than thirty years at ABC News, including more than twenty as a correspondent with the ABC Newsmagazine "20/20." Since she left ABC in 2008, she has been freelancing on a variety of platforms, from print to TV to digital. Throughout her career, Sherr has covered a wide range of stories, specializing in women's issues and social change, as well as investigative reports. Her awards include an Emmy, two American Women in Radio and Television Commendation awards, a Gracie […]
Elaine Weiss
Elaine Weiss


Elaine Weiss is an award-winning journalist and writer. Her magazine feature writing has been recognized with prizes from the Society of Professional Journalists, and her by-line has appeared in The Atlantic, Harper’s, New York Times, Boston Globe, Philadelphia Inquirer, as well as reports and documentaries for National Public Radio and Voice of America. She has been a frequent correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor. Weiss holds a graduate degree from the Medill School of Journalism of Northwestern University. She has worked as a Washington correspondent, congressional aide and speechwriter, magazine […]