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Remarkable Women Powerful Stories

August's Remarkable Women: Thulile Khanyile

Listen to Thulile's story on the go | Audio only

Meet our next remarkable woman: Melanne Verveer

Listen on demand 28 September | Bio


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Meet our host: Lynne Foley, OAM

“I channel my energy into influencing and supporting each woman I meet to be empowered to reach her aspirations. I intend my legacy to be the contribution I make to achieving gender equality, through opening doors to education for women and girls.”

An exciting motivational speaker, Lynne Foley, OAM, is passionate about leaving her audience with new ideas, thoughts and challenges and full of confidence to break through personal and professional barriers. She works professionally by facilitating leadership programs for individuals and organizations whose mission is to empower women and men through personal and leadership development. Lynne is an accredited and highly respected executive coach, speaker, consultant and educator, gaining her experience through successful executive leadership, consulting, board chair and director roles. As chair of the Zonta Spirit Working Group, Lynne implements the organization’s global strategy to meet the leadership needs of members, clubs and districts  facilitates at conferences and workshops.

Meet Melanne Verveer

Melanne Verveer is the Executive Director of the Georgetown University Institute for Women, Peace and Security. The Institute seeks to enhance national and global security by documenting the crucial role women play in peacebuilding and security through research and scholarship and by engaging with global leaders on the urgent issues of our time. She is also the special representative on Gender Equality for the OSCE Chairmanship.

In 2009, former President Barack Obama nominated Melanne as the first U.S. ambassador for global women's issues. There, she led efforts to integrate women's rights and participation into U.S. foreign policy.

After her role as chair and co-CEO of Vital Voices Global Partnership, an international non-governmental organization she co-founded to invest in emerging women leaders, Melanne worked at the State Department. She has served as an assistant to the president and chief of staff to the first lady in the Clinton Administration. She led the effort to establish the president's interagency council on women and was instrumental in adopting the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. Before her time in the White House, she served in numerous leadership roles in public policy organizations and as congressional staff.

Melanne is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission and serves on the boards of several organizations, including the Atlantic Council, the National Endowment for Democracy and the World Bank Advisory Council on Gender and Development. She has a bachelor's and master's degrees from Georgetown University and several honorary degrees. She is an honorary fellow at Clare Hall College, Cambridge and has received numerous awards, including the U.S. Secretary of State's Award for Distinguished Service.