Leadership Spotlight

Connie Duckworth, WG'79, one of the nation's most influential women's business leaders, was the featured speaker at the School's MBA Commencement on May 18. Duckworth is a founding partner of 8 Wings Enterprises, through which she and three other partners serve as business advisors to, and selectively invest in, early-stage, women-led companies.

Prior to forming 8 Wings Enterprises, Duckworth had a successful 20-year career with Goldman, Sachs & Co., where she was the firm's first female sales and trading partner. She also served as co-head of the Municipal Bond Department, head of Fixed Income in Los Angeles, co-head of the firm's Chicago office, and regional head of Fixed Income Sales in a 20-state area.

Duckworth is also the chair of the Committee of 200, a professional organization of preeminent women entrepreneurs and corporate leaders. The organization capitalizes on the power, success, and influence of businesswomen in the global economy. She also has been active in Renaissance Ventures in Boston, the Center for Women's Business Research (formerly the National Foundation for Women Business Owners), and the Forte Foundation. She serves on the advisory boards of the business schools of the University of Michigan and the University of Texas, as well as the Graduate Executive Board of the Wharton School.

She is the recipient of numerous awards, including being named in 1997 to Working Mother magazine's first annual list of the 25 Most Influential Working Mothers in America. In 2000, she received the Kathleen McDonald Distinguished Alumnae Award from the Wharton Women in Business club.

All three of Wharton's degree-granting divisions celebrated the graduation of the 2003 classes in separate ceremonies that day. The Undergraduate Division held its Commencement program in the morning and the Graduate Division in the afternoon, both at Franklin Field. Later that evening, Wharton Doctoral Programs held their ceremony at the University Museum.