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Cathie Black

2013 Speaker

Cathie Black is well known publishing and media executive, best-selling author and popular speaker to business and women’s audiences. Black is board member of Hearst Corporation and President, then chairman of Hearst Magazines, one of the world’s largest publishers of monthly magazines. For 15 years, Black oversaw 15 titles in the U.S. and nearly 200 international editions in more than 100 countries including Cosmopolitan, Food Network Magazine, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, Popular Mechanics, Redbook, Town & Country and O, The Oprah Magazine. Industry watchers called her “the First Lady of magazines.” Fortune Magazine named Black to its annual “50 Most Powerful Women in Business” for 11 consecutive years since its debut in 1998. She has also been included numerous times on Forbes magazine’s list of “The 100 Most Powerful Women” and Crain’s list of New York City’s “100 Most Influential Women in Business.” Her best-selling book, “BASIC BLACK: The Essential Guide for Getting Ahead at Work (and in Life),” chronicled her four decades in the media business, and explains how to achieve “the 360° life. The book was translated into 12 languages for readers from China to Mexico. Black served as a member of the boards of IBM and the Coca-Cola Company for twenty years. She is a board member of Vibrant Media, a member of the National Council of Foreign Relations, a trustee of The University of Notre Dame and the Kent School, and for many years a member of The Advertising Council. Black is a graduate of Trinity College, Washington, D.C., and holds ten honorary degrees.