Gina Boswell ’89 Named Among Top Women in Business by PINK magazine and Forté Foundation

Gina Boswell ’89, senior vice president and COO of Avon North America, has been named one of the Top 15 Women in Business 2007 by PINK magazine and Forté Foundation.

Boswell was recognized for her work in transforming Avon's entrepreneurial direct sales approach to the web. She led the effort to bring sales of two of the company's leading brands, Skin So Soft and Anew, to the Internet and to modernize Avon's woman-to-woman sales relationships by giving its 500,000 sales reps that ability to have their own websites to conveniently serve their customers.

The second annual “America’s Top Women in Business: Game Changers” list is the cover story in the February/March 2007 issue of PINK magazine. The list was compiled from nominations from corporate executives, industry watchers, members of the business media, and business schools.

PINK magazine is a national business publication for professional women. Forté Foundation is a consortium of business schools and corporations that is dedicated to boosting the number of women business leaders by increasing the number of women entering business and attaining MBAs. The Yale School of Management is a Forté Foundation member.

“These women demonstrate that taking risks and changing the rules of the game to find better solutions is smart business and more personally rewarding,” said Elissa Ellis, executive director of Forté Foundation, in a statement. “They prove that success in business is as much a function of passion for the work as it is technical or managerial skills. These outstanding business leaders confirm for future generations of women business leaders that women need not sacrifice their authentic selves to get to the executive suite.”

In addition to Boswell, the Top Women in Business 2007 list includes: Deborah Brooks, president and CEO, The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research; Beth Comstock, president, NBC Universal; Lisa Ellis, president, Sony Urban Music; Karen Flanders, director, The Coca-Cola Company; Aerin Lauder, senior vice president, Estee Lauder; Duy-Loan Le, senior fellow, Texas Instruments; Pernille Spiers-Lopez, president, IKEA, North America; Marissa Mayer, vice president, Google; Tamara Rosenthal, vice president, Lacoste USA; Stacey Snider, CEO, Dreamworks SKG; Susan Sobbott, president, OPEN from American Express; Nina Tassler, president, CBS Entertainment; Lindsey Ueberroth, managing director, Preferred Boutique; and Robin Uler, senior vice president, Marriott International.