The Asian Network at Yale (ANY) and Yale’s Working Women’s Network (WWN) jointly sponsor the 2017 Women’s Leadership Series. The focus of the Women’s Leadership Series is to bring together a diverse mix of Yale’s own successful women leaders who, through the discussion of topics relevant to today’s issues, will inspire and encourage women to reflect on their own goals and status as they strive to advance in their careers and lives. The format for the Leadership Series will consist of a moderated discussion with the speaker that will delve into topics of interest in which the speaker will share her personal and professional perspectives on questions. The Theme of the Series: Leadership, Identity, Career, Well-being, and Community Services. To RSVP, click here.
Eileen O’Connor leads the Office of Public Affairs & Communications and serves as the university’s chief communications officer. She joined Yale in January 2016. Ms. O’Connor has a long and distinguished career in public affairs, law, and journalism. She most recently served as deputy assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia and senior adviser to the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Ms. O’Connor lived and worked in Afghanistan, advising Ambassador Ryan Crocker and overseeing communications and public diplomacy strategy throughout the region. She received a J.D. from Georgetown University Law School, and helped lead the legal crisis management practices for several law firms in Washington, D.C., prior to being recruited to the State Department. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration, also from Georgetown, and a post-graduate diploma in world politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Earlier in her career, Ms. O’Connor was an award-winning journalist at ABC News and at CNN, where she served as a national and White House correspondent, as Moscow bureau chief, and in London and Tokyo. In this work, she covered politics, economics, the fall of communism, and conflict throughout the world. She is past president of the International Center for Journalists, educating members of the press and media in emerging democracies, and was chair of the Center for Justice and Accountability, suing human rights abusers in U.S. courts. She speaks frequently on journalistic ethics, Russian politics, violent extremism, and crisis management.