The 67th Tony Awards was a very big night for “Pippin,” and for Boston-area theater.

For Diane Paulus, the third time was the charm. The American Repertory Theater artistic director won her first Tony for directing tonight, collecting the trophy for her popular revival of “Pippin,” which won the Tony for best revival of a musical. Paulus had previously been nominated for her revivals of “Hair” and “The Gershwins’ Porgy & Bess.”

In her acceptance speech, Paulus gave thanks to all at the ART where the show was created, the Boston audiences who saw it first, and Harvard president Drew Faust, whom she quoted as saying “creativity is a form of knowledge.”

Patina Miller of “Pippin” also won the award for leading actress, saying it was a childhood dream come true. She thanked Paulus and called her “a visionary.” And veteran actress Andrea Martin won the Tony for featured actress in a musical for her role as Berthe in “Pippin,” bringing the show’s total number of awards to four. The excited Martin thanked the “extraordinary” Paulus for giving her the opportunity.

                                                                                http://www.boston.com/diane-paulus-wins-tony-award-for-pippin

(From left to right: Valentina Tereshkova, Barbara Barrett and Ludmila Shvetsova)

Barbara Barrett, Past IWF President & IWF Member of Arizona and Montana, paid a brief visit to Ludmila Shvetsova, IWF Vice President and President of IWF-Russia.  While there, she met Shvetsova’s colleague and friend, Valentina Tereshkova.

Each of these three women has an extraordinary aviation origin story. Barrett earned her distinction as the first civilian woman to land in an F/A-18 on an aircraft carrier. Since then she has served as Deputy Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and received cosmonaut certification from her training from the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia.  

As a retired Astronaut, Tereshkova is the first woman to have flown in space in the Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963. Coincidentally, next month will be the 50^th milestone since her flight into space.

Shvetsova herself early in her career, worked on the wing of the Antonov (An-225) Mryiva (meaning ‘Dream’ in Ukrainian) strategic airlift cargo aircraft. One day while working on the aircraft, a leader told her that she would do much bigger things in her life. Today, she serves as Deputy & Co- Speaker for the State of Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.

Three women from across the world met for a brief moment in time and forged a connection between their parallel pasts and their remarkable successes thereafter. 

On May 5^th, 2013 the Lieutenant Governor of Québec, the Honorable Pierre Duschesne, awarded Françoise Lyon, Senior Vice-President at Pembroke Private Wealth Ltd., with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for her years  of dedication to philanthropic efforts and work with Women in Finance. The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal  is a commemorative medal created in 2012 to mark the 60th anniversary of the crowing of Queen Elizabeth II. The medal honours significant contributions and achievements by Commonwealth country citizens and was awarded in Canada to citizens who made a significant contribution to their fellow countrymen, their community, or to Canada.

Mme Lyon was also the recipient of the 2013 AFFQ Bursary of the Collège des administrateurs du Québec, a grant which is given on an annual basis to a member of the Association des femmes en finance du Québec (Quebec’s Women in Finance Association) whose professional contribution has stood out amongst committee and board members.

                     IWF Hall of Fame Honoree

On the passing of The Right Honourable Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister (1979-1990), the International Women’s Forum pays tribute to our own honorary member and one of the first inductees into the inaugural International Hall of Fame. 

Mrs. Thatcher’s induction into the Hall of Fame took place at the British Embassy Residence in Washington, DC in 1986 when the International Women’s Forum was still the “National Women’s Forum”.  Please follow the link to relive a distinctive moment in IWF history as she addresses IWF members:

Johannesburg, South Africa, March 2013
A New Program of the IWF Leadership Foundation

The International Women’s Forum is proud to announce the successful launch of the Inaugural Global Executives Leadership Symposium (ExSL) in Johannesburg on March 18-19, 2013. A new program line of the IWF Leadership Foundation, the launch was conducted in partnership with IWF South Africa and with funding provided by JSC International Potash Company of Russia and South Africa, for a targeted audience of rising South African women leaders of high potential. Under the theme Growing South Africa: Women on the Agenda, this historic symposium was an important step in outlining key challenges and strategies for the generation of women leaders rising to make a positive impact in their careers and the future of development of South Africa. See the highlights video of the inspirational program here.

 Please click on the icon in the lower right corner next to HD button to expand to full screen.

The Honorable Deedee Corradini with Team Canada  in Denver, Colorado for the International Women’s Day Celebration.

Dr. Adis Maria Vila, the Chief Diversity Officer at the US Air Force Academy, was recognized for her leadership. She is  lauded for her mission to attract, retain, and develop a diverse workforce as well as fully integrating work-life balance policies into her organization.

Please follow the link to view   Dr. Adis Maria Vila’s profile. Click on the “Learn More” tab to watch a short 2-minuteillustrated video of her story and mission :

http://womensinsight.sodexo.com/