Chicago’s famous architect and city planner Daniel Burnham once remarked, “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood.”
So, we didn’t. Instead, we dreamed of an extraordinary retreat and conference space designed especially for women leaders. And, after more than four years of painstaking planning and building, the dream came true. The Women’s Leadership Center at Williams Bay opens its doors this summer.
To celebrate the skilled builders and tradespersons who took the Center from ideas on paper to bricks-and-mortar reality, Ann Drake treated the team from Pepper Construction and associated contractors to an evening in their honor. It began with guests arriving at the WLC campus in the late afternoon; they strolled the campus and grounds as docents stood by to answer their questions. Then everyone boarded a dinner boat for an evening cruise around Geneva Lake. As a calypso band played, the entire team got to bask in a perfect summer evening and a job exceedingly well done.
“Thank you for helping to make this happen – for all your wonderful work,” Ann Drake told the gathering. “Some of you did things you’ve never done before. But it all turned out great. And I believe the results this will have for our women leaders will be exactly what we were after.” The crowd responded with cheers and applause.
As evening approached, the boat docked and all went on to their homes and the next project. But the Center will stand for decades to come as testament to their immense skill and patient dedication.
Daniel Burnham would have understood—and smiled.
