Women of Distinction and Leadership at the 2012 Summit

To celebrate International Women's Day, we are pleased to introduce influential, inspiring and accomplished women ambassadors, who will speak at the 2012 Summit.

Innovative and creative in their management approach and in their strategies for promoting the cooperative business model, they all offer a unique, value-added perspective that will enrich the Summit program.

From now, the following female speakers have been confirmed their presence in the 2012 Summit: – Kathy Bardswick, president and chief executive officer, The Co-operators (Canada); – Dame Pauline Green, president, International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) (Switzerland); – Rachel Griffiths, co-founder, Reputation Consultancy (Great Britain); – Geneva Guerin, director, Sustainability Solutions Group (Canada); – Rebecca Kemble, president, US Federation of Worker Cooperatives (United States); – Monique F. Leroux, chair of the board, president and chief executive officer, Desjardins Group (Canada); – Judy Lipp, executive director, TREC Renewable Energy Co-op and TREC Education (Canada); – Sylvia Okinlay-Paraguya, chief executive officer, National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO), (Philippines); – Tracy Redies, president and chief executive officer, Coast Capital Savings Credit Union (Canada); – Antoinette C. Roxas, youth sector representative, MSU-IIT Multi-Purpose Cooperative (Philippines); – Robynn Shrader, chief executive officer, National Cooperative Grocers Association (NCGA), United States; – Hélène Simard, president and chief executive officer, Conseil québécois de la coopération et de la mutualité (CQCM) (Canada).

The following speakers have been confirmed their presence in the official pre-summit event Imagine 2012: – Claudia Sanchez Bajo, freelance researcher and consultant and chief editor of the Chine Actuelle review (Belgium); – Neva Goodwin, Co-Director of the Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University (United States); – Elinor Ostrom, Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences – 2009 (United States); – Vera Negri Zamagni, Senior adjunct professor of International Economics and Chair and professor of economic history, University of Bologna (Italy).

The addition of these presenters will enhance the already prestigious list of international speakers from the political, economic and social sectors, including Nobel Prize recipients. In total, more than 130 speakers are expected to come and share their expertise, accomplishments and vision for the future of the cooperative and mutualist model.

They will discuss how the cooperative approach can solve the challenges presented by the major economic upheavals in the world.