An advocate of women’s issues for more than 30 years, Wilson is founder and president emeritus of The White House Project, co-creator of Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work ® Day, and author of Closing the Leadership Gap: Why Women Can and Must Help Run the World (Viking, 2004).

In 1998, Wilson founded The White House Project in recognition of the need to build a truly representative democracy—one where women lead alongside men in all spheres. Since its inception, The White House Project has been a leading advocate and voice on women’s leadership.

Before she took the helm at The White House Project, Wilson was, for nearly two decades, the president of the Ms. Foundation for Women. She is an honorary “founding mother” of the Ms. Foundation. In honor of her work, the Ms. Foundation created The Marie C. Wilson Leadership Fund.

Over the last 30 years, Wilson’s accomplishments have spanned becoming the first woman elected to the Des Moines City Council as a member-at-large in 1983, co-authoring the critically acclaimed Mother Daughter Revolution (Bantam Books, 1993), and serving as an official government delegate to the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, China in 1995.

She has been profiled in the New York Times Public Lives column, has appeared on CNN, National Public Radio, and national programs such as the Today Show and Good Morning America, and is quoted widely for her expertise. Born and raised in Georgia, Marie has five children and four grandchildren. She resides in New York City.