[inaudible conversations] and know everybody is having a good time in networking and moving the enterprise forward but we really should get started. We have two votes starting at noon so we are going to be on a bit of a short string here. It shouldnt, in any way denigrate the importance of this hearing of the Small Business committee. What we are going to do today is look for ways for womenowned businesses to reach their full potential and grow the American Economy and i certainly want to thank my colleague for working together on this. This is a matter of great importance to all of us and to allamerica even though all of america sometimes doesnt know it. Is that a fair statement . As you know, october is National Womens Small Business month which serves as a great reminder that the female entrepreneurs own more than 11 million businesses in our country and employ more than 9 million workers. They contribute 1. 6 trillion in sales for National Economy and are capable of even more as th
Ms. Mirrer good evening and welcome to the New York Historical society. Im louise mirrer, president and ceo, and i am thrilled to see you in our beautiful auditorium this evening. Tonights program, women in the white house, is part of our bernard and Irene Schwartz distinguished speaker series. I would like to thank mr. Schwartz for his support that has allowed us to bring many fine historians and writers to this stage. [applause] ms. Mirrer i would also like to thank and recognize members of the Chairmans Council in the audience and thank them for their generosity and all they do on our institutions behalf, and of course, my great and talented colleague, Vice President for Public Programs, dale gregory. [applause] ms. Mirrer tonights program is presented in collaboration with our brandnew center for womens history, and we are grateful to our partners at hogan lovells, who are the corporate sponsor for our womens history programming at New York Historical. Tonights program last about a
Ms. Mirrer good evening and welcome to the New York Historical society. Im louise mirrer, president and ceo, and i am thrilled to see you in our beautiful auditorium this evening. Tonights program, women in the white house, is part of our bernard and Irene Schwartz distinguished speaker series. I would like to thank mr. Schwartz for his support that has allowed us to bring many fine historians and writers to this stage. [applause] ms. Mirrer i would also like to thank and recognize members of the Chairmans Council in the audience and thank them for their generosity and all they do on our institutions behalf, and of course, my great and talented colleague, Vice President for Public Programs, dale gregory. [applause] ms. Mirrer tonights program is presented in collaboration with our brandnew center for womens history, and we are grateful to our partners at hogan lovells, who are the corporate sponsor for our womens history programming at New York Historical. Tonights program last about a
Ms. Mirrer i would also like to thank and recognize members of the Chairmans Council in the audience and thank them for their generosity and all they do on our institutions behalf, and of course, my great and talented colleague, Vice President for Public Programs, dale gregory. [applause] ms. Mirrer tonights program is presented in collaboration with our brandnew center for womens history, and we are grateful to our partners at hogan lovells, who are the corporate sponsor for our womens history programming at New York Historical. Tonights program last about an hour, and it will include a question and answer session. You should have a note card when you entered, but colleagues are still going up and down the aisles if you have not received one. You will have an opportunity to write a question on the note card. They will be collected later on and used for the q a session. Following the program, there will be a formal book signing, and copies of our speakers books are available in our ny
Just leave it this way. Alright. David i dont consider myself a journalist. And nobody else would consider myself a journalist. I began to take on the life of being an interviewer even though i have a day job of running a private equity firm. How do you define leadership . What is it that makes somebody tick . Do you get tired of people asking you what it feels like to be a woman ceo of any company . Mary i think i was surprised by it. Because i think that when people started asking, it was a reflection on the Auto Industry and what people thought of the Auto Industry. I had grown up in it, and frankly i would not be sitting here today if not 20 years ago people had not taken chances on me to develop me. It was a bit surprising, but now if i can be a role model for other young girls to pursue engineering careers or pursue math and science, thats a good thing. It is a question that gets asked probably more than it should. David when you joined General Motors at the age of 18, did you ex