The 19th annual Women in the Forefront Luncheon was held on Thursday, April 10, 2008 at the Hilton Chicago. Mayor Daley spoke to the overflow crowd of 1,000 and thanked The Chicago Network for its "wonderful contribution to the entire city of Chicago.” Keynote speaker, Edie Weiner, President, Weiner, Edrich, Brown, Inc. stressed that business leaders of both genders need to strike a balance between such "male” concerns as transportation, communication infrastructure and capital formation and the "female” interests of health, education and ecological integrity. "Men and women have different views,” Weiner said. "That is the point of diversity, that is good. If the present is about women fighting very hard for a seat at the table of influence, the future is about women being allowed to take the challenge to change the table.”

We were thrilled to have Allstate as our Platinum Sponsor. Thank you again to our Gold Sponsors Abbott, Alberto-Culver, AT&T, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, Deloitte & Touche USA LLP, Ernst & Young, Exelon Corporation, Harris, Huron Consulting, ITW, KPMG LLP, Peoples Energy, Perkins-Will | Eva Maddox Branded Environments, and Sara Lee Corporation.