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President’s Bio
Faye Wattleton is co-founder and president for the Center for the Advancement of Women (CFAW), an independent, women focused, national opinion research, education and policy advocacy corporation. CFAW conducts and sponsors research to identify and understand issues and experiences important to women’s daily lives. CFAW packages its research, to shape attitudes, opinions and public policy through broad based communications platforms. Progress & Perils, CFAW’s landmark report on the attitudes of 21st Century women has received national and international acclaim and broad media coverage. The organization has also been recognized for its innovative research techniques, including interpretive and trend analysis.
From 1978 to 1992, as president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) Ms. Wattleton played a leading role in defining the national debate over reproductive rights and health, and in shaping family planning policies and programs around the world. She was the youngest person and first woman named to the presidency of the nation’s oldest and largest voluntary women’s reproductive health provider. Under her leadership, PPFA grew to become the nation’s seventh largest charitable organization, providing medical and educational services to four million Americans each year, through 170 affiliates, operating in 49 states and the District of Columbia and in developing nations through its international division, Family Planning International Assistance.
Ms. Wattleton holds a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from Ohio State University and a Master of Science degree in maternal and infant care, with certification as a nurse-midwife, from Columbia University. In addition, she has received thirteen honorary doctoral degrees: Bates College (1994); Simmons College (1993); Hofstra University (1992); Haverford College (1992); Meadville Lombard Seminary at the University of Chicago (1992); Bard College (1991); Oberlin College (1991); Wesleyan University (1991); Northeastern University Law School (1990); Long Island University (1990); University of Pennsylvania (1990); Spellman College (1986); and St. Paul’s College (1985). Ms. Wattleton recently received an honorary doctorate from Claremont Graduate University in May of 2007.
Ms. Wattleton was a 1993 inductee into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. Her memoir, Life on the Line, was published, in the fall of 1996, by Ballantine Books.
Noteworthy Media
Ms. Wattleton is a celebrated lecturer whose views on issues of women’s equality, health care and civil rights continue to be sought by organizations, opinion and political leaders around the world. In 1994, she was named one of the best female speakers in the United States by NEW WOMAN magazine.
BUSINESS WEEK named her one of the best managers of non-profit organizations in America; MONEY magazine selected Ms. Wattleton as one of five outstanding Americans, who project the forces that will shape our lives in the year 2000; ESQUIRE named Ms. Wattleton as one of the 25 most influential people in America, EBONY named her as one of the 100 Most Fascinating Black Women of the 20th Century, while PEOPLE listed Ms. Wattleton as one of the 25 most beautiful people in the world, and HARPER’S BAZAAR selected her as one of the ten most beautiful women in America. Cover stories on Ms. Wattleton have appeared in the NEW YORK TIMES magazine, BLACK ENTERPRISE, MS., WORKING WOMAN and HEART & SOUL magazine. In a poll of SASSY magazine readers, she was named “one of the twenty coolest women ever.” She has appeared in numerous national publications and on public affairs and news programs, including “GOOD MORNING AMERICA,” “OPRAH,” “ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT,” “60 MINUTES,” “THE MACNEIL-LEHRER NEWSHOUR,” “TODAY,” “20/20,” “NIGHTLINE,” MSNBC’s “HOCKENBERRY,” “POLITICALLY INCORRECT WITH BILL MAHER,” “CBS THIS MORNING,” “NBC NIGHTLY NEWS” and CNN.
In the book, Remarkable Women of The Twentieth Century, Ms. Wattleton is cited for the “Courage of Her Convictions.” “In the face of resistance, public ridicule, or even mortal danger, these women listened to their hearts and their unshakeable faith. In standing up for what they believed in they spoke out for many who dared not.” The book FIFTY ON FIFTY features Faye Wattleton as one of 50 “remarkable role models.” From Suffrage to Senate called her “the most visible and persuasive spokesperson for reproductive rights in the nation in the latter part of the century.” Ms. Wattleton was also featured in a national photography exhibit, “I DREAM A WORLD: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America.”
Board Service
Corporate and Non-Profit Boards of Directors
Ms. Wattleton presently serves on the boards of directors of Columbia University, New York Blood Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Pardee RAND Graduate School and the United Nations Association of the United States of America.
Ms. Wattleton formerly served on the board of directors of Estée Lauder Companies as chairperson of the audit & nominating and board affairs committees, as well as, formerly serving on the board of directors of Well-Choice, Inc , Savient Pharmaceuticals and the Quidel Corporation.