LAS VEGAS, May 8, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Carla Harris –
finance expert, best-selling author and gospel recording artist –
will be a featured keynote speaker at MGM Resorts Foundation's
11th annual Women's Leadership Conference (WLC).
The non-profit event will be held Aug.
7 and 8 at MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, NV.
Harris is the managing director and senior client advisor at
financial services giant Morgan Stanley. The author of the book
"Expect to Win: Proven Strategies for Success from a Wall Street
Vet," she is considered to be among the most influential women in
the financial services sector. Harris plans to share with
conference attendees some of the valuable lessons learned during
her 20-plus year career on Wall Street.
WLC 2017, themed "Women Inspiring Women," is designed to inspire
attendees to seek their highest level of personal and professional
growth by presenting participants with role models, varying
perspectives and strategies for development.
For more than a decade, Harris was a senior member of the equity
syndicate desk. She worked on the initial public offerings for UPS,
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Ariba, Redback, the General Motors
sub-IPO of Delphi Automotive, and the $3.2
billion common stock transaction for Immunex Corporation,
one of the largest biotechnology common stock transactions in U.S.
history.
"From Harvard to Wall Street to Carnegie Hall, Carla Harris's career path is intense,
impressive and inspiring, and we're excited to feature her on our
main stage," said Dawn Christensen,
the conference's organizer and director of National Diversity
Relations for MGM Resorts. "Whether working in a highly competitive
environment that's still a mostly male-dominated field to being a
best-selling gospel artist, WLC attendees will benefit greatly from
Carla's pearls of wisdom."
At Morgan Stanley, Harris is responsible for increasing client
connectivity and penetration to enhance revenue generation across
the firm. She formerly headed the Emerging Manager Platform, the
equity capital markets effort for the consumer and retail
industries and was responsible for Equity Private Placements.
Harris has extensive industry experiences in the technology, media,
retail, telecommunications, transportation, industrial, and
healthcare sectors.
In August 2013, she was appointed
by President Barack Obama to chair
the National Women's Business Council.
She is the immediate past Chair of the Board of the Morgan
Stanley Foundation and of The Executive Leadership Council, and
sits on the boards of Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO), A
Better Chance, Inc., and St. Vincent's
Hospitals, and is an active member of the St. Charles Gospelites of
the St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church and the Mark Howell
Singers. Harris is co-chair of the National Social Action
Commission of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated and was a
member of the Board of Overseers' Committee on University
Resources, Harvard University.
In 2015, she was named to the New Jersey Hall of Fame.
Additionally, Harris has received the Bert
King Award from the Harvard Business School African American
Alumni Association, the 2005 Women's Professional Achievement Award
from Harvard University, the Pierre
Toussaint Medallion from the Office of Black Ministry of the
Archdiocese of New York, the Women
of Power Award given by the National Urban League, the Women of
Influence Award from The Links, Incorporated and many other
awards.
Harris began her career with Morgan Stanley in the Mergers &
Acquisitions department in 1987. Prior to joining Morgan
Stanley, Harris received from Harvard Business
School an MBA, Second Year Honors and an AB in economics
from Harvard University, Magna Cum
Laude. She has also received Honorary Doctorates of Laws,
Humanities and Business from Marymount
Manhattan College, Bloomfield
College, Jacksonville
University, Simmons College, the
College of New Rochelle, St. Thomas Aquinas College and Fisk University, respectively.
Harris was recently named to Fortune Magazine's list of "The 50
Most Powerful Black Executives in Corporate America", U.S. Bankers
Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Finance (2009, 2010, 2011), Black
Enterprise's Top 75 Most Powerful Women in Business (2017), to
Black Enterprise Magazine's "Top 75 African Americans on Wall
Street" (2006 – 2011), and to Essence Magazine's list of "The 50
Women Who are Shaping the World", Ebony's list of the Power 100 and
"15 Corporate Women at the Top" and was named "Woman of the Year
2004" by the Harvard Black Men's Forum and in 2011 by the
Yale Black Men's Forum.
In her other life, Harris is a singer, and has released her
third gospel CD "Unceasing Praise" (2011), her second CD, a gospel
album titled, "Joy Is Waiting", was featured on BET Nightly News
while her first CD entitled, "Carla's First Christmas", was a
bestseller on Amazon.com in New
York and in record stores, and was featured on the CBS
Evening News with Dan Rather in his
"American Dream" segment. She has performed five sold out
concerts at Carnegie Hall.
Conference background:
WLC 2017 will also feature CNN International anchor and
broadcast journalist Natalie Allen
as a returning host. The conference is open to women of all
ethnicities, professions and social backgrounds, locally and
nationally, and the men who support them. The MGM Resorts
Foundation is the conference's presenting sponsor.
Each year, after costs, proceeds from the event are donated to a
nonprofit organization devoted to the welfare and development of
women and children in Las Vegas.
Dress for Success Southern Nevada, the local nonprofit that
provides gently used professional clothing and career counseling
services to empower women to achieve economic independence,
recently received a $25,000 gift from
the 2016 conference.
Registration costs $485 and
includes the full conference and all workshops and lectures, a
networking reception, and continental breakfasts and lunches
catered by MGM Grand. Time is also allotted for attendees to build
key professional relationships with other women attending while
enjoying the hospitality and entertainment of MGM Grand and other
MGM Resorts International destinations.
Participating sponsorships are available to organizations or
companies who share the vision and goals of this conference.
Current sponsors include: The Coca-Cola Company, Las Vegas
Convention and Visitors Authority, Southwest Airlines, Bank of
America, R&R Partners Foundation and McCarran International
Airport.
For more information about WLC, please visit
mgmresorts.com/womensleadershipconference.
About MGM Resorts International
MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) is one of the world's leading
global hospitality companies, operating a portfolio of destination
resort brands including Bellagio, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay and The
Mirage. The Company opened MGM National Harbor in Maryland on December 8,
2016, and is in the process of developing MGM Springfield in
Massachusetts. MGM Resorts
controls and holds a 76 percent economic interest in the operating
partnership of MGM Growth Properties LLC (NYSE: MGP), a premier
triple-net lease real estate investment trust engaged in the
acquisition, ownership and leasing of large-scale destination
entertainment and leisure resorts. The Company also owns 56 percent
of MGM China Holdings Limited (SEHK: 2282), which owns MGM
MACAU and is developing MGM COTAI,
and 50 percent of CityCenter in Las
Vegas, which features ARIA Resort & Casino. MGM Resorts
is named among FORTUNE® Magazine's 2016 list of World's Most
Admired Companies®. For more information about MGM Resorts
International, visit the Company's website at
www.mgmresorts.com.
About The MGM Resorts Foundation
The purpose of The MGM Resorts Foundation is to collect and
distribute monies and assets donated by employees of MGM Resorts
(NYSE: MGM) for the aid and support of qualified community
nonprofit programs, agencies or organizations designated
exclusively by MGM Resorts employees. In addition, the Foundation
collects and distributes donations to the Foundation by third-party
non-employees to support charitable, scientific, literary, and
educational activities approved by the Foundation's Board of
Directors and organized by MGM Resorts employees to benefit
qualified non-profit charitable organizations designated by the
Foundation's Board.
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SOURCE MGM Resorts International