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Head of The Whitehouse Project to Speak at School of Management Graduation, Aug. 6

BOSTON (July 8, 2004) — The driving force behind a national movement to elect the first woman president will speak Friday, Aug. 6 at commencement ceremonies of the Simmons School of Management, the only business school in the world designed specifically for women.

Marie C. Wilson, president and co-founder of The White House Project and immediate past president of the Ms. Foundation, will speak before new MBA graduates at 10:00 a.m. in the John Hancock Hall, 180 Berkley Street, Boston.

Wilson is recognized as one of the nation's driving forces behind increasing the visibility and representation of women in government and other leadership positions. She co-founded the nationally heralded The White House Project in 1998 to help elect the nation's first woman president and increase representation of women government leaders across the board. She was a pioneer of Take Our Daughters to Work Day, which has become a national yearly workforce tradition, and was president of the Ms Foundation from 1984 until May, when she stepped down to devote her full energy to The White House Project.

Wilson is author of several books, including the recently published "Closing the Leadership Gap: Why Women Can and Must Help Run the World," which shows how women can transform the essence of leadership.

The White House Project has run a series of initiatives, including an internationally published "straw poll" alerting voters to qualified female presidential candidates, research on successful campaigning, and creation of a database of female experts to help the organization's goal. The White House Project also recently teamed with V-Day--an organization dedicated to eradicating violence against women--in the national initiative "Women Elect the Future," to mobilize women to vote and develop leadership skills to enable them to run successfully for office.

Wilson, 63, was a full-time mother of four when she began her social and political activism, after adopting a baby boy with cerebral palsy and working to change policies in her local school system.

The Simmons School of Management has nearly 3,600 alumnae nationwide who manage and lead across a wide spectrum of business enterprises, from Fortune 500 companies to entrepreneurial ventures, to leadership position of government and non-profit organizations.

Reporters seeking more information contact Diane Millikan at 617-521-2364 or millikan@simmons.edu