For immediate release | September 7, 2018

Philanthropist and Author Melinda Gates will open the 2019 Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits in Seattle

ϲʿapp

Co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the largest private foundation in the world, Melinda Gates has dedicated her life to achieving transformational improvements in the health and prosperity of families, communities, and societies. Core to her work is empowering women and girls to help them realize their full potential. She has said, “if you invest in a girl or a woman, you’re investing in everyone else.” The session will take place on Friday, January 25, 2019, 4:00-5:15pm at the 2019 Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits in Seattle.

For the last twenty years, Gates’ mission has been to find solutions for people with the most urgent needs, wherever they live. And her journey’s discovery has made one thing undeniably clear—if you want to lift a society up—invest in women.

In April 2019, Gates will debut The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World, a timely and necessary call to action for women’s empowerment. The candid and inspiring book traces Gates’ awakening to the link between women’s empowerment and the health of societies. It introduces us to Gates’ heroes in the movement toward equality, offers startling data, and shares some of the moving conversations she’s had with women all over the world. Gates details the tremendous opportunities that exist right now to “turbo-charge” change, and she provides simple and effective methods that each of us can use to make a difference.

After joining Microsoft Corporation in 1987, Gates helped develop many of the company’s multimedia products. In 1996, she left Microsoft to focus on her philanthropic work and family. In 2015, she created Pivotal Ventures, a Seattle-based investment and incubation company to support women-led businesses. In 2017, Gates was named Forbes’ "Third Most Powerful Woman in the World." She received a bachelor’s degree from Duke University and an MBA from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business.

Gates' appearance at the conference is sponsored by Flatiron Books / Macmillan Publishers.

The best early bird registration rates are available through October 17, 2018, Noon (Central). If you need help in making your case to attend, can help.

Ways to stay in touch and get updates include: ; (@alamw and #alamw19), , , (#alamw19).

Related Links

2019



Contact:

Donna Hunter

Marketing Coordinator

/ Conference Services

dhunter@ala.org