Sr Jane Wakahiu with Pope Francis 
The World Meeting of Families 2018 has announced that a symposium dedicated to the global impact of women’s leadership will be held on Saturday, August 25 as part of its international gathering of families from August 21-26. ‘Voices of Impact: Women Leaders Shaping Global Change’, will be chaired by Irish broadcaster and entrepreneur Norah Casey and US business executive Susan Ann Davis and will feature a series of dynamic conversations and interviews with women leaders at the RDS in Dublin.
This is the first time that a symposium of this type has featured as part of a WMOF gathering.
The symposium themes will include women’s leadership in driving global growth and reducing poverty; peacekeeping; sustainability; entrepreneurship; girls’ education; violence against women; the needs of refugees, the challenges of the homeless and people with special needs.
According to organisers, women change-makers from around the globe will engage in dynamic conversations on unique initiatives and solutions to the world’s most pressing problems.
Speakers
The keynote speaker is Norwegian General Kristin Lund, Jerusalem, the first woman to lead the UN Peacekeeping Forces. Major General Kristin Lund is Head of Mission and Chief of Staff of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO).
She was the first female officer to be promoted to the rank of Major General in the Norwegian Army, before becoming the first female Force Commander in a United Nations peacekeeping operation, while serving in Cyprus.
Confirmed speakers also include Louise Phelan, VP of Global Operations, PayPal, EMEA; Monique Morrow, Zurich, technology pioneer and co-Founder of the Humanised Internet; Ruth McCarthy, CEO of Global Payments, FEXCO, Dublin; Aoibheann Mangan, EU Digital Girl of the Year (age 11); Sr Jane Wakahiu, Los Angeles, Director of Catholic Sisters Initiative, Conrad Hilton Foundation; Jackie O’Donovan, London, Managing Director, O’Donovan Waste Disposal; Irish motivational speaker, Joanne O’ Riordan; Irish corporate director and Board Chair of Crafts and Design Council of Ireland, Breege O’Donoghue; sustainability and ethical trade innovator Caroline Keeling, Chief Executive of Keelings; social entrepreneur Iseult Ward, co-founder of Food Cloud; visual artist Leanne McDonagh, a member of the Traveller Community; Syrian journalist Razan Ibraheem; Sinéad McSweeney, Vice President of Public Policy EMEA and Managing Director, Twitter Ireland; Irish Naval Commander Marie Gleeson and Silicon-valley based Caroline Dowling, CEO of Integrated Network Solutions, Flextronics.
Tickets for the Saturday symposium are free of charge and can be booked on the World Meeting of Families 2018 website https://www.worldmeeting2018.ie/en/Programme/Voices-of-Impact-Women-Leaders-Shaping-Global-Cha.
