Every year, we bring together the talented young women from across the country who’ve received scholarships made possible by our founder, Ann Drake. This year’s gathering in late October of almost 50 Drake Scholars represented the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, members of Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority, and...
December 22, 2025
Continue reading
We love our new offices at 36 W. Geneva Street. We’ve now opened an administrative office for the Women’s Leadership Center in downtown Williams Bay. It’s a temporary base for operations until the full campus on Constance Boulevard is ready—close to everything so we can hold meetings, host small gatherings, and stay involved in our...
December 16, 2025
Continue reading
It’s happening: Most of the heavy work of constructing buildings, installing infrastructure, and laying down hardscaping (the paths, walkways, and driveways) has been done. A year ago, our teams had to battle winter’s cold as they worked inside structures without walls or complete roofs. Today, the crews get to enjoy warm, dry spaces as they...
December 16, 2025
Continue reading
Scientista is a global non-profit that amplifies, empowers, and connects “women leading with science” – a mission deeply aligned with our own. The Scientista Podcast, hosted by behavioral scientist Dr. Sweta Chakraborty and former Assistant Secretary of State Monica Medina, spotlights candid conversations with changemakers and thought leaders from around the world. A new episode...
December 9, 2025
Continue reading
Two influential organizations—Women Corporate Directors (WCD)-Chicago Chapter and the Women’s Leadership Center at Williams Bay (WLC)—collaborated to produce a groundbreaking new report: Confronting the Elephant in the Board(Room). The report debuted at the WCD Global Institute & Visionary Awards, held in Chicago on October 5–7, 2025, and is available for download here. Universally, Board leaders...
October 20, 2025
Continue reading
Since Day One, harmonizing with the natural beauty of our site has been a core value. We’ve made every effort to live up to that, including using a tower crane during construction so that we could lift material in and out without disturbing the trees. As hardscaping completes in each section of campus, we’re landscaping...
September 16, 2025
Continue reading
We are pleased to share that the the Women’s Leadership Center at Williams Bay now has its own dedicated social media presence! Please follow us on LinkedIn at @womensleadershipcenteratwilliamsbay and on Instagram @womensleadershipcenter for updates that highlight the vision, people, and purpose driving this inspiring new initiative. Join us as we build momentum toward advancing women’s leadership—one story, event, and connection at...
September 15, 2025
Continue reading
In July, we hosted a “hard hat tour” for members of our advisory board and community leaders from Williams Bay. They clambered through the three buildings under construction; at this point, all are fully enclosed, with roofs and windows and skylights and utilities installed. As we welcome Fall, we’re busy putting up wood siding on...
September 14, 2025
Continue reading
Money has no gender. However, the world of investing money does. And it’s male. There are many paths to growing wealth via investing; one of those paths leads through venture capital. The task of the venture capitalist is to spot a startup with promise, then put together the financing to fund its growth. It’s a...
September 12, 2025
Continue reading
One way to operate sustainably is to use locally sourced materials as much as possible. That’s one reason why you’ll see lots of a beautiful Wisconsin sandstone all over our campus. Called Krukowski Stone, this quartz-rich, cream-colored stone comes from a family quarry in the northern part of the state. Krukowski Stone is a newcomer...
September 1, 2025
Continue reading
What does it take to make an icon? A sold-out crowd gathered at Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, WI the evening of Thursday, July 17, 2025, to hear the answer. As part of its summer Speaker Series, the Yerkes Future Foundation hosted Jeanne Gang, MacArthur Fellow and award-winning architect, to talk about her work as...
August 8, 2025
Continue reading
In space, no one can hear you laugh. Yet naturalness, warmth, and collaboration—over power and control—can be exactly the way to lead a high-stakes team to success. This and other leadership lessons were shared with nearly 1,500 women at the 36th Annual Women in the Forefront luncheon, hosted by The Chicago Network. The annual event...
July 1, 2025
Continue reading