Women and Leadership Conference
“The Andrus Center is committed to gender equity in our boardrooms, our corporate suites, our professions, our elected offices, and other leadership positions throughout our country. Our Women and Leadership conference is designed to empower the leaders of tomorrow by sharing the knowledge, insights, and motivating forces driving today’s most successful women.”
– Former Idaho Governor and Andrus Center Founder, Cecil D. Andrus
SAVE THE DATE! Women and Leadership Conference -2025
Each year the Andrus Center, a nonprofit within the School of Public Service at Boise State University, invites women, men, and students to a two-day event filled with inspirational and motivational keynote speakers as well as workshops to build skills and development. Women and men alike have lauded the gathering as a life changing experience. The conference will be hosted in Boise, Idaho on September 23 & 24, 2025. Varying ticket pricing will be available for in person only attendance.
More information coming soon!
Previous Conferences
2024 – September 24-25, 2024
The 12th annual Women and Leadership conference was hosted at Boise State University for a sellout crowd of over 700.
The amazing lineup of keynote speaker women leaders included author and internationally-recognized expert on disinformation, Nina Jankowic, Assistant Sheriff of City and County of San Francisco, Tanzanika Carter, Idaho Power CEO, Lisa Grow, Chair of the Cherokee National Historical Society and St. Luke’s Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, Christine Neuhoff, along with Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget with U.S. Department of Interior, Joan M. Mooney. Recordings are accessible to registrants only at this time but will be made public in September 2025.
2023- September 13-14, 2023
The 11th annual Women and Leadership conference reached 900 women and men across 28 States, the District of Columbia, and 5 Countries!
Our amazing keynote speaker lineup included retired basketball executive for the WNBA and entrepreneur, Angela Taylor, Associate Chief of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service, Angela Coleman, Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist and founder of Too Young to Wed, Stephanie Sinclair, New York University Development Director who’s known as the “$6 billion woman” for bringing in over a million a day to NYU, Debra LaMorte, former award-winning Fortune 50 tech executive, Cindy Montgenie, and retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent, Sarah G. Draper.. Recordings are accessible to registrants now and will be made public in September 2024.
2022 – September 14-15, 2022
In September, our 10th annual Women and Leadership conference reached 800 women and men across 35 States, the District of Columbia, and 3 Countries!
This year’s conference once again hosts an impressive lineup of six (6) distinguished women keynote speakers who have broken barriers and improved gender balance in their field and beyond. Our amazing lineup includes: the President and CEO of Bank of the West, Nandita Bakhshi, the Director for the Bureau of Land Management, Tracy Stone–Manning, prominent forensic psychiatrist, author, and environmental activist, Dr. Lise Van Susteren, the first ever female to fly F-35B jets in the Marine Corps, Captain Anneliese Satz, author and activist against human trafficking, Brenda Myers–Powell, and author and founding CEO of Virgin Unite, Jean Oelwang. Recordings are accessible to registrants now and will be made public in September 2023.
2021 – September 29-30, 2021
The Andrus Center hosted the 9th annual Women and Leadership conference virtually and nearly 1,100 registrants from 37 states, the District of Columbia, and 7 countries attended!
Participants heard from impressive lineup of six (6) distinguished women speakers who have broken barriers and improved gender balance in their field and beyond. The 2021 lineup included Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President & CEO Mary Daly, US Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen, American Association of University Women CEO Kimberly Churches, Author of How Ike Led (and granddaughter of Dwight D. Eisenhower) Susan Eisenhower, and world renowned soprano (whose immigrant mother carried her on her back while picking beets in Idaho fields) Cecilia Violetta López.
The recordings are available to registrants now (emailed Oct. 27th) and will become available for viewing by the general public in September 2022 via our YouTube channel.
View the printable 2021 conference program
2020 – September 15-17, 2020
The Andrus Center hosted our its 8th annual Women and Leadership conference on a fully virtual platform. Previous in-person conferences were limited to 800 participants in Boise State’s Student Union Building. With our move to a virtual platform, we were able to keep us all COVID safe and we dramatically expanded our reach!
Speakers included Pat Mitchell, former PBS CEO and Editorial Director of TEDWomen, Major General Linda Singh, Former Maryland Adjutant General, Heather Dawn Thompson, a Tribal Economic Development and Advocacy Lawyer, Kelly Martin, former Fire Chief of Yosemite National Park, Shari Graydon, Founder of Informed Opinions and an award-winning author, and Boise’s own Marlene Tromp, President of Boise State University. Nearly 1,200 participated online from 37 states, the District of Columbia, and 4 Countries! The response to our virtual pivot was so positive, we are committee to maintaining an online component to our conference even after gathering in person is once again safe.
Participants have protected access to the videos via an email sent November 6th, 2020. The general public will have the ability to view Keynote address videos from 2020 in Sept. 2021 via our Andrus Center YouTube channel.
Download the program from the 8th Annual Women and Leadership Conference
2019 – September 25-26, 2019
The Andrus Center, in continuing the work of the late Governor Cecil Andrus, is committed to creating opportunities for women to fully participate, on an equal playing field, in business and civic leadership by removing roadblocks borne of outdated ideologies. Gender equity and equal pay for equal work are Andrus Center fundamentals. You can view keynote address videos from 2019 Here.
2018 – Trends in Leadership
The 6th annual Women and Leadership Conference took place September 26-27, 2018. With amazing Keynote speakers, skill-building sessions, and a new record of 920 attendees, it was a year for the books!
2017 – Lessons in Leadership
It is with great pleasure that we celebrate the 5th year of this remarkable gathering of women – and men – who represent our leaders of today and tomorrow. The talented speakers joining us this year have made substantive contributions to the world in which we live, along the way breaking barriers and paving the way for those yet to come. Over two days, they will share the motivational forces and empowering lessons that have led them to achieve success in their chosen fields.
2016 – Empowering Through Knowledge
“The most interesting and organized forum I’ve been to in years.” The best part of Women and Leadership is the way all of these huge issues are pulled together. Distilled messages, inspiring stories, and usable tools; The issues presented are human issues.
2015 – Educate. Motivate. Inspire.
It is with great pleasure and honor that we once again host this wonderful gathering of nationally renowned and accomplished women. Our speakers this year have broken barriers and improved gender balance. We look for their personal stories and tips for success to educate, motivate, and inspire us all! Your participation in this year’s conference and your desire to achieve your full potential are key ingredients toward achieving your goal.
2014 – What is Success?
The annual conference is an incredible opportunity to rally with other women in a format tailored to educate and exchange ideas. Women have the perception of being competitive in the workplace, but the mood at this conference is to boost up other women and help them stand in a world where men have the upper hand at every turn. This is one incredibly easy way that I have changed my manner at work. Now I am actively trying to boost the other women at work to a higher level of confidence and the connection serves to bolster my own confidence as well.
2013 – Transforming America: Women and Leadership in the 21st Century
Andrus Center for Public Policy at Boise State convened its first women’s conference. The three-day event, titled “Transforming America: Women and Leadership in the 21st Century,” brought together an ensemble of powerful voices and opinions from women leaders in government, media, the financial sector, the corporate world, and education. The audience represented a range of experiences, ages, ethnicities, and political and religious values. The weekend allowed undergraduates to network with corporate executives and those long retired to have a word with the newly hired.
You can view video and hear audio from portions of all of our Women and Leadership Conference over the years on our YouTube Page.