It started well before spring, through the great planning by City Women's Network, the executive women of EWMD, and TIAW, through our European Representative Susanne Alfs, when all of them turned out a wonderful International Meeting in London and Barcelona in May. It was a fantastic program appreciated by all participants.
Then, in June, TIAW members became further energized with the happy news that four new networks had joined our Alliance. We wish to warmly welcome Women in Banking & Finance headquartered in Kent, United Kingdom, as well as our newest U.S.-based networks: National Association of Women Business Owners, American Society of Women Accountants, and American Women in Radio & Television, all three are headquartered in McLean, Virginia. The combined membership of these four networks increases TIAW's overall membership to 26,000, making our organization one of the largest for senior level professional women in the world. This is a cause for celebration! Think of the networking! It's also a reason to pause and consider how best we might marshal our energies to advance women further.
Meanwhile, quietly behind the scenes, Committee members are hard at work doing just that. They're planning two fantastic, major TIAW events. The first of these is the European Executive Women's Dinner to be held in the fabulous city of London in September, co-hosted by TIAW and City Women's Network. The dinner will attract women doing (and hoping to do) business in Europe. The second upcoming event, the largest TIAW meeting of the year, will be held in November in Washington, D.C. This event, the TIAW Global Partnership Forum, themed "Uncommon Women on Common Ground" will be co-hosted by TIAW and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. There's excitement building around both of these upcoming meetings after their huge successes of last year. Stay tuned for more news in August.
Finally, TIAW is pumped over the advancements being made in our three key Programs - the first being the successful openings in June of our latest Village Banks in Mexico, under the TIAW Microenterprise Program. We're full of hope for the revitalization and expansion of the TIAW Daughters Program, as outlined in last month's issue of TIAW Connections. And we're especially energized for TIAW's Women on Boards Initiative with the good news that Norway is poised to introduce legislation that will compel boards of public companies to increase the representation of women board members to 40% by 2005 or face penalties by 2007. As a result of this quota-setting strategy, Sweden too, is now looking at adding muscle to their equality legislation. We're holding our breath to see if it all plays out as planned and to act on what we, as executives, can do to advance this issue even further around the world. These are halcyon days to savor.
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