Women in Leadership Summit

On May 8, 2024 the Department of Economics held a Women in Leadership Summit for almost 60 undergraduate women in the Economics and Economics and Accounting majors. The inaugural event had two sections designed to connect current undergraduate women as well as to introduce them to possible career paths. The first section featured a distinguished panel composed of UCSB Economics Professor Kelly Bedard as well as alumni Lisa Hartung and Debra McClure. Lisa is Senior Vice President of Investments at Stifel and Debra is Global Head of Sales at Dropbox. The hour-long panel was moderated by alumni Prachi Joshi who is in charge of Membership Product at Uber. The format was relaxed, with a question-and-answer format, and gave students special access to successful women in leadership they may not have otherwise. Students in the audience asked the panelists about their career paths, advice for young women in the field, and what they love most about their jobs.

After the panel adjourned, the panelists joined 17 other alumni for a formal, structured networking event. In order to highlight the diversity of career options, the participating alumni were selected to represent a wide variety of industries such as finance, consulting, real estate, marketing, technology and accounting. Students spent 15 minutes with each industry expert learning about their profession with the opportunity to ask questions.

The strong participation indicates that this is event is worth repeating. The Economics Department is excited to host another Women in Leadership Summit in the 2024-2025 academic year. This year, we want to add panelists and networking participants from an even wider variety of professions and need your help. Can you help us prepare the future female leaders by sharing your knowledge and expertise? Let Courtney in Career Connection know by completing this form.