Speaker Biographies
Linda Coughlin, Chief Administrative Officer, Cendant Corporation
Linda C. Coughlin is chief administrative officer for Cendant Corporation where she is responsible for key matrixed functions that interface with and support the Company’s brands and business units, including Information Technology, Preferred Alliance Group, Customer Service (Call) Centers, Human Resources, Business Development Groups, Corporate Marketing, Events Marketing and Facilities and Corporate Real Estate.
Ms. Coughlin joins Cendant from Linkage, Inc., a leadership and organization development firm, where she was president. She previously held senior positions at Zurich Scudder Investments, Scudder, Stevens & Clark, Citibank and American Express Company since 1976. Most notably, while serving in positions of increasing responsibility at Scudder, Stevens and Clark from 1986 to 1997, Ms Coughlin launched the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) Investment Program and was appointed as chairman of the board of this mutual funds family in 1991. During Ms. Coughlin’s tenure, the AARP Investment Program grew to $15 billion in assets under management. Following the acquisition of Scudder Stevens and Clark by Zurich Financial Services in 1998, Ms. Coughlin was responsible for the integration and rationalization of five large business groups with significantly different cultures and distribution models.
Ms. Coughlin is a graduate of Fordham University, where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics, summa cum laude. She is also a member of The Women’s Leadership Board at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and is vice chair of Brandeis University’s Center on Women and Aging. She is a member of the Committee of 200, the Commonwealth Institute and The Boston Club.
Ellen Wingard, Executive Coach & Co-Editor, Enlightened Power
As co-editor of Enlightened Power, Ellen Wingard is considered a pioneer in the field of executive coaching. Ellen has coached CEOs, executive teams and emerging leaders to achieve business results while enhancing their resilience and renewal. She has honed her craft over the past 25 years in leading academic medical institutions, financial services and organizations such as Aventis, Citizens Bank, Dupont-Merck, Harvard Business School Press, Harvard Medical School, MIT, Morgan Stanley, The New York Times, Partners Healthcare, PricewaterhouseCoopers, The Principal, Pfizer, Inc., Sanofi-Synthelabo, Scudder Investments, and Wells Fargo Bank. Besides her coaching and consulting practice, Ms. Wingard is on the faculty of the Institute for Women’s Leadership and the Duke Corporate Education Program. She is also a member of the Women’s Leadership Board, John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. A former senior consultant for Linkage, Inc., Ms. Wingard was a co-developer of the first Women in Leadership Summit with Program Manager Susan Brady and consultant Rayona Sharpnack.
Mary Puma, Chairman & CEO, Axcelis Technologies
Mary Puma has been Axcelis' Chairman since May of 2005 and CEO since January 2002. She played an instrumental role in the company's spin off from Eaton Corporation in 2000, when she was named president and chief operating officer. Puma joined the semiconductor business in 1998, when it was Eaton's Semiconductor Operation, first serving as the vice president of its implant business and then as the vice president for the total operation.
Puma joined Eaton in May 1996 as the general manager of the company's commercial controls division. Prior to joining Eaton, she spent 15 years in various marketing and general management positions at five different General Electric business units.
Puma holds a BA in economics, Phi Beta Kappa, from Tufts University (J'79) and an MS in management from the MIT Sloan School. She is a member of the boards at Nordson Corporation and Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI).
Dr. Evelyn Murphy, Author, Getting Even: Why Women Don’t Get Paid Like Men and What to Do About it
Dr. Evelyn Murphy is the author of Getting Even: Why Women Don't Get Paid Like Men and What To Do About It. She is the founder and president of the WAGE (Women Are Getting Even) Project Inc., (http://www.wageproject.org/) which is dedicated to closing the wage gap in every American workplace. She inspires and helps working women to take the steps needed so that every woman is paid what she’s worth. Dr. Murphy, a Ph.D. economist, was the Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts from 1987 to 1991 and the first woman in the state’s history to hold statewide office. She has been an executive vice president of Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Massachusetts and is a board member for various corporations and non-profit organizations.
Masuda Sultan, Co-Director: Women for Afghan Women & Author: My War at Home
As an international activist and human right advocate, Masuda Sultan works with a number of organizations, including Women for Afghan Women and The Initiative for Inclusive Security. She is on the advisory boards of Arzu Rugs and the Business Council for Peace, where she empowers women to build sustainable enterprises. As part of her work on women's political development, Masuda organized women leaders from across Afghanistan to advocate for women's rights in the new constitution and produce the Afghan Women's Bill of Rights, which was endorsed by President Karzai and the New York Times. In her economic development work she trains entrepreneurs and is working to create a venture fund for women's business in Afghanistan. Masuda produced and narrated From Ground Zero to Ground Zero, the first documentary on Afghan civilian casualties to air on US television, later shown in Europe, Canada and Japan. She has appeared on Oprah, PBS, CNN, and ABC News and has been interviewed by the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. She has a master's degree in public administration from the JFK School at Harvard University, where she helped found the Muslim Students Caucus. Masuda's memoir entitled, My War At Home was recently published by Simon and Schuster.
