Marie C. Wilson
| Marie C. Wilson | |
|---|---|
| Born | Marie Collins |
| Residence | New York City |
| Alma mater | Vanderbilt University, University of Delaware, Drake University |
| Notable work | Closing the Leadership Gap: Why Women Can and Must Help Run the World |
| Spouse(s) | Nancy A. Lee |
| Children | 5 |
Marie C. Wilson is a feminist, author, political organizer and entrepreneur; founder and president emerita of the White House Project and the Ms. Foundation for Women; and creator of Take our Daughters to Work Day. She has written Closing the Leadership Gap: Why Women Can and Must Help Run the World and Getting Big: Reimagining the Women's Movement. She contributed the piece "Front Line: The Funding Struggle" to the 2003 anthology Sisterhood Is Forever: The Women's Anthology for a New Millennium, edited by Robin Morgan.
Wilson was born and raised in Georgia, the daughter of a typesetter and a dental hygienist. She was the Vice President of the Student Body, a Merit Scholar, and Homecoming Queen. Wilson studied philosophy at Vanderbilt University,[6] where she and now-Sen. Lamar Alexander voted against the expulsion of James Lawson for his participation in staging sit-ins at Nashville's lunch counters.[7] She graduated from the University of Delaware and received a Master of Science in higher education from Drake University.[8]
Between 1978 and 1981, Wilson was the Director of Women’s Programs at Drake University; creating one of the largest programs of its kind in America. During this time, Wilson designed and administered educational programs and services for women who are entering or re-entering the workforce. During a five-year term as the Director of Women’s Programs, Wilson created special career and professional development and re-training programs that met the needs of 3,000 women annually. Ms. Wilson also initiated career programs for women in the community, including men and women managing together, alternative work arrangements, and career development for minority women. After having built the largest university-based women’s program in the county, Wilson took her human resource skills to the Iowa Bankers Association and its 650 member banks. In the years to follow, Wilson served as Vice President, and Director of Education and Human Resources.
In 1983, Wilson became the first woman elected to the Des Moines City Council as a member-at-large. In 1984, during her tenure as a city councilwoman, Wilson was recruited to come to the Ms. Foundation for Women.
Wilson left a seat on the Des Moines City Council to lead the Ms. Foundation. Created in 1973, the Ms. Foundation was established at the height of the feminist movement to fund feminist organizations nationwide. Wilson and her staff initiated funding circles, including some of the first collaborative groups in the funding community, beginning with the creation of the Collaborative Fund for Women’s Economic Development, for which the foundation received an award from the White House. Since its inception, it has leveraged tens of millions of dollars to support local micro-enterprise programs for low-income women and to reshape public policy. of During her time at the foundation, main initiatives included establishing a $17 million endowment in an organization that had none, and, beginning a 5-year, $50 million endowment campaign.
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