"We are
calling together women distinguished by their achievements in business,
the arts, the professions, government and academia..."read the letter
mailed the summer of 1979 to 113 exceptional Chicago women.
It was
both an announcement and a personal invitation to join other
influential career women in establishing an organization, a network
made up of movers and shakers with the sole purpose of doing some
collective moving and shaking.
It
began over dinner. A group who dubbed themselves the "Good Old Girls"
met socially several times. Why not expand? Why not meet regularly with
other influential Chicago women?
The
group hired a professional researcher to help find the leading women in
metropolitan Chicago. They pared their list from 1,000 to 113 invitees.
They established a Founding Board. They wrote and mailed the
invitations.
Ninety-seven
women accepted the invitation to meet for the first time on the 67th
floor of the Sears Tower at the Metropolitan Club. The Chicago Network
was off and running. During the early years, members forged
friendships, supported each other in professional and community work,
gathered at dinner meetings and made the phone companies happy as they
networked, networked, networked.
Today
there are 400 Chicago Network members. Has size changed us? Not much.
We are still a diverse group; we're mathematicians, television
producers, educators, doctors, lawyers, sculptors, art historians,
scientists, computer programmers, psychiatrists, painters of buildings
and of canvas. We head advertising agencies, construction firms,
nonprofit organizations, medical groups, messenger services, theater
troops, museums, public relations companies, international divisions
and our own businesses. We are still apolitical. We still have only one absolute rule: you must return a fellow member's phone call or email within 24 hours.
Click on the links below to learn more.
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