Read the Women Blog!
President’s Bio
Faye Wattleton is co-founder and president of the Center for the Advancement of Women (CFAW), a non-politically partisan, research-based, education and advocacy organization for women. CFAW has received national and international acclaim and broad media coverage for its ground-breaking research and analysis on trends in women’s attitudes, opinions and roles in society, to influence public opinion, policies and practices vital to preserving women’s advancement. CFAW published a landmark report, Progress & Perils: A New Agenda for Women, which presented the views, experiences and priorities of over 3,300 American women over a wide range of economic, social and political issues.
From 1978 to 1992, Ms.Wattleton held the presidency of the nation’s oldest and largest voluntary reproductive health provider, Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA). She was the youngest, first woman, and first African-American to hold this position. At the time of her departure, Planned Parenthood had grown to become the nation’s seventh largest non-profit organization, with an aggregate budget of $500 million, providing medical and educational services to four million Americans each year, through 170 affiliates, operating in 49 states and the District of Columbia. PPFA also supported family planning programs in dozens of developing countries.
BUSINESS WEEK named Ms. Wattleton as one of the best managers of non-profit organizations in America. MONEY magazine selected her as one of five outstanding Americans, who project the forces that will shape our lives in the year 2000.
• Fifteen years of distinguished service on the board of directors of public and private corporations include: Savient Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (chairperson nominating and board affairs committee audit committee,); Quidel Corporation, (chairperson, corporate governance committee, audit and compensation committees); Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield, (chairperson, nominating & compensation, foundation committee, continuous quality assurance, and public policy committees); Estee Lauder Companies (chairperson, audit, nominating and board affairs committees); and Leslie Fay Companies.
• Her service on non-profit boards of directors includes: Columbia University, (audit, scientific, health policy nominating board affairs committees), New York Blood Center, (executive audit and nominating committees); Jazz at Lincoln Center, (audit and nominating committees), Pardee RAND Graduate School. Past service includes; the United Nations Association of the United States of America, Kaiser Family Foundation and The California Wellness Foundation. Ms. Wattleton was a chairperson of the Metro Chapter of Young Presidents Organization.
Ms. Wattleton is a celebrated lecturer whose views on issues of health care, women’s and civil rights continue to be sought by companies, organizations, opinion and political leaders around the world. NEW WOMAN magazine named her one of the best female speakers in the United States.
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 50 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”, “WORLD NEWS TONIGHT”, “60 MINUTES”, “MACNEIL-LEHRER NEWSHOUR”, “TODAY SHOW”, “20/20”, “NIGHTLINE”, “POLITICALLY INCORRECT”, “CBS THIS MORNING”, “NBC NIGHTLY NEWS"and “ANDERSON COOPER 360”.
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 their “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 featured in a national photography exhibit, “I DREAM A WORLD: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America”. She is also featured in HBO’s “The Black List I”, produced by Timothy Greenfield Sanders.
Her mark in many walks of life is evidenced by numerous honors and awards: the 2004 Fries Prize for Improving Health, the National Mother’s Day Committee’s Outstanding Mother and the Jefferson Award for the Greatest Public Service performed by a Private Citizen. Other honors include the American Public Health Association’s Award of Excellence; the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Humanitarian Award; Independent Sector’s John Gardner Award; the Women’s Honors in Public Service from the American Nurses Association; American Humanist Award. Planned Parenthood Federation of America honored her with its Margaret Sanger Award and, in 1993, the same year she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.
Ms. Wattleton holds a Bachelor of Science degree, in nursing, from Ohio State University and a Master of Science degree from Columbia University. She is the recipient of fourteen honorary degrees.
Ms. Wattleton’s memoir, Life on the Line, was published, in the fall of 1996, by Ballantine Books. Her second memoir will be published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. She can be reached at or FayeWattleton.com.