Women's Leadership Summit

Speakers

Carrie Rebora Barratt

Carrie Rebora Barratt is an accomplished art historian and museum leader with a distinguished career in New York City since the 1980s. She has held significant positions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, including Curator of American Paintings and Sculpture and Manager of the Henry R. Luce Center for the Study of American Art. Barratt was also the Deputy Director for Collections and Administration at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Chief Executive Officer and William C. Steere Sr. President of The New York Botanical Garden from 2018 to 2020. Her expertise in museum administration and collaborative nonprofit leadership has been instrumental in shaping the collections and visitor experiences at these institutions.

Stephanie Bohnak

Stephanie Bohnak serves as the Director of Education and Curatorial Services at the National First Ladies Library & Museum. She holds a Bachelor's from The University of Akron and a Master's from Bowling Green State University. Beginning her work in the museum field in 2021 at Metroparks Toledo, Bohnak has held several positions, such as Collections Management and Museum Education.

Alison Fox

Alison Fox is the CEO of American Prairie Reserve, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating the largest protected area complex ever assembled in the contiguous United States -for the benefit of wildlife and people alike, funded through private philanthropy, and located in the state of Montana. She has led the organization as CEO since February 2018 and has had various leadership and management roles with the organization since 2007, including communications, marketing and branding, institutional partnerships, and philanthropy. Ms. Fox holds an MBA from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University, where she focused on marketing and nonprofit management, as well as a BA in History from Dartmouth College. She is a member of the Big Sky Chapter of the Young Presidents Organization, Inc.

Doris Kearns Goodwin

Doris Kearns Goodwin is a Pulitzer Prize–winning presidential historian and bestselling author widely sought for her insights on leadership and American history. Her latest book, An Unfinished Love Story (2024), debuted at #1 on the New York Times list and is being developed as a feature film. She also published her first book for young readers in 2024 and has produced several major History Channel series through her company, Pastimes Productions. Goodwin’s acclaimed works include Team of Rivals, the basis for Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, The Bully Pulpit, and No Ordinary Time, which won the Pulitzer Prize. Her career began as a White House Fellow working with President Lyndon Johnson, inspiring her first bestseller. A frequent media commentator, she has consulted on numerous documentaries, earned multiple prestigious awards, and holds degrees from Colby College and Harvard University.

Gloria Kenyon

Gloria Kenyon is the Executive Director of the National Society of Colonial Dames of America. Her background includes a decade working with the Smithsonian, advancing through multiple leadership roles at institutions such as the National Museum of American History and the National Gallery of Art. Kenyon holds a Master's degree from the Smithsonian-Corcoran College of Art & Design and a Bachelor's degree from Salem College.

Louise Mirrer

Louise Mirrer has served as President & CEO of The New-York Historical Society since 2004. During her tenure, she has strengthened the institution’s commitment to public understanding of history, expanded its educational mission, and supported innovative historical scholarship. She holds a double Ph.D. from Stanford University, a graduate diploma from Cambridge, and a B.A. magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania. Under Dr. Mirrer’s leadership, New-York Historical has presented major exhibitions including Slavery in New York, Nueva York, Chinese American: Inclusion/Exclusion, The Vietnam War: 1945–1975, and Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow. She spearheaded a $100 million capital campaign completed in 2011 and launched the Center for Women’s History in 2017—the first of its kind in an American museum. A scholar of historical narrative, Dr. Mirrer has authored four books and numerous articles, including Women, Muslims, and Jews in the Texts of Reconquest Castile. She has held faculty positions at Fordham University, UCLA, the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities, and the CUNY Graduate Center. In senior academic leadership roles at Minnesota and CUNY, she led major initiatives in liberal arts education, founded the CUNY Honors College, introduced an American history graduation requirement, and expanded the university’s American history faculty.

Susan Neely

Susan K. Neely is a nationally recognized leader known for transforming industries and forging bipartisan partnerships. As CEO of two major trade associations, she advanced initiatives on retirement security, caregiving, financial inclusion, and public-health collaborations—including calorie-reduction efforts with the Clinton Global Initiative and First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign. Her public-service career includes roles as special assistant to President George W. Bush, the first assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, and senior positions with members of Congress and Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad. She chairs the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute and serves on boards for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement and the Global Child Nutrition Foundation. A two-time trade association CEO of the year, Neely is regularly recognized among Washingtonian’s “Most Influential People” and “100 Most Powerful Women in Washington.”

Anne “Dede” Neal Petri

Dede Petri is currently serving as the 24^th Regent of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. Born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, Petri graduated from Harvard College with an A.B. in American History and Literature and received her J.D. from Harvard Law School. Throughout her distinguished career, Petri has served as general counsel for the National Endowment for the Humanities, co-founder and president of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, and president of the Garden Club of America. She currently serves as President and CEO of the Olmsted Network, where she led the Olmsted Bicentennial celebration.

Colleen Shogan

Dr. Colleen J. Shogan served as the 11th Archivist of the United States, the first woman appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate to lead the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). An author and political scientist, she championed civics education and expanded public access to the nation’s records through strategic initiatives that enhanced both in-person and online services.
Before becoming Archivist, Colleen held several cultural heritage leadership roles, including Senior Vice President and Director of the David M. Rubenstein Center at the White House Historical Association, positions in the U.S. Senate, and senior executive roles at the Library of Congress and Congressional Research Service. She was Vice Chair of the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission and now serves as Co-Chair of the Women’s Suffrage National Monument Foundation.
She holds a B.A. from Boston College and a Ph.D. in American Politics from Yale University, where she was a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow. Colleen also serves as a Senior Fellow in Civics Education at Stand Together and as an Adjunct Professor of Government at Georgetown University.

Judy Woodruff

Judy Woodruff is a senior correspondent and the former anchor and managing editor of the PBS News Hour. She has covered politics and other news for five decades at NBC, CNN and PBS. Woodruff is a founding co-chair of the International Women's Media Foundation, an organization dedicated to promoting and encouraging women in journalism and communication industries worldwide. She is the recipient of an Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as the Radcliffe Medal, the Poynter Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Journalism, the Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism from Arizona State University.

Jason Zajac

Jason Zajac serves as the President and CEO of Andrew Jackson's Hermitage. Before working at the Hermitage, Zajac received his degree from Fordham University. He has a background in fundraising for schools, universities, and healthcare organizations. He led major campaigns for the National Cold War Center, the Old Faithful Visitor Center, and the Flight 93 Memorial. Zajac also serves as an advisor for More Perfect.

Moderators

Joe Bondi

Joe Bondi is the Senior Vice President for Development. Bondi joined Mount Vernon after more than 15 years of fundraising at George Washington University, his alma mater, where he served as Assistant Vice President for Development, Campus & Community. As Senior Vice President for Development, Bondi helps shape the strategic direction for Mount Vernon’s future success. He oversees the planning and execution of the philanthropic strategy supporting the preservation and maintenance of George Washington’s beloved home.

Lindsay M. Chervinsky

Dr. Lindsay M. Chervinsky is the Executive Director of the George Washington Presidential Library and a historian of the presidency, political culture, and the government. She produces history that speaks to fellow scholars as well as a larger public audience. Chervinsky is the author of two books, The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution (Harvard University Press, 2020), and her latest one, Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents that Forged the Republic (Oxford Press, 2024). She also co-edited Mourning the Presidents: Loss and Legacy in American Culture (University of Virginia Press, 2023). Chervinsky is the creator of the Audible course: The Best and Worst Presidential Cabinets in U.S. History. Her research can be found in publications from op-eds to books, speaking on podcasts and other media, and teaching for every kind of audience.

Ann Compton

Ann Compton began her distinguished career in journalism as the first female reporter for the WDBJ TV, a CBS affiliate in Roanoke, before being hired by ABC news in 1973. By the next year, Mrs. Compton became the first woman assigned to cover the White House on a full-time basis by a network television news organization. During her time in the White House, she covered seven different administrations, served on the panel of two presidential debates and covered both Republican and Democratic National conventions in 1976. Compton was the chief Washington correspondent for ABCNEWS.com, in 2000, where she wrote and anchored a daily political column. On September 10, 2014, Compton retired from ABC News, 41 years to the day after she began at the network. Mrs. Compton has earned the respect of both viewers and peers alike, winning an Emmy, a Peabody, and the Silver Baton from the DuPont awards at Columbia University. Ann has been inducted into six Halls of Fame and has received five honorary university degrees.

Susan Swain

Susan Swain is the former Co-Chief Executive Officer and President of C-SPAN, where she helped lead network strategy and daily operations for the nationwide public affairs network. Over her decades at C-SPAN, she oversaw programming for its television channels, website, and radio station, helped launch BookTV and American History TV, and developed many of the network’s signature history series, including First Ladies, Landmark Cases, and American Presidents. A veteran on-air interviewer, Swain hosted Q&A for many years, covered eight presidential elections, and interviewed hundreds of national leaders, journalists, and historians. She also directed C-SPAN’s marketing, outreach, and book publishing efforts.

Ali Vitali

Ali Vitali is the host of MSNBC’s Way Too Early.  She spent a decade working as a Capitol Hill Correspondent for NBC News. Vitali covered the 2016 and 2020 presidential contests from primary to inauguration—on the ground and with the candidates—as well as the 2018 and 2022 midterms, from across the country and in the nation’s capital. In 2022, she wrote Electable: Why America Hasn’t Put A Woman In the White House…Yet. The book examines the 202o election and why is it so hard for a woman to be taken seriously as a presidential contender. She is a graduate of Tulane University.