Mary Catherine Bateson, of Boston, Massachusetts and Hancock, New Hampshire, is Clarence T. Robinson Professor Emerita in Anthropology and English at George Mason University, and President of the Institute for Intercultural Studies in New York. Formerly Dean of Faculty at Amherst College and Dean of Social Sciences at the University of Northern Iran, she specialized in Middle Eastern studies before turning to the study of cultural change and gender roles in the United States. Her 11 books include With a Daughter's Eye: A Memoir of Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson (Morrow, 1984); Arabic Language Handbook (2nd edition, Georgetown, 2003); Composing a Life (Atlantic, 1989) and, most recently, Willing to Learn: Passages of Personal Discovery (Steerforth, 2004). She has one grandson, 2 years old.

Nancy Berkley, of Livingston, New Jersey and Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, is a prominent golf writer, consultant and speaker. A former attorney with Sullivan and Cromwell in New York, she was formerly assistant general counsel at Prudential Financial and vice president for Corporate Marketing. She began her professional career as a high school history teacher. She is the author of Welcome Here! A Guide to Growing Women's Golf (National Golf Foundation, 2003) and is a columnist and course reviewer for The Golf Insider newsletter. She has two grandchildren, ages 3½ and 1 year.

Rita Bornstein, of Orlando, Florida, is President Emerita of Rollins College where she is Professor of Philanthropy and Leadership Development. As president from 1990 to 2004, she led a transformation of the college and quintupled its endowment. On her departure, the Winter Park (FL) Chamber of Commerce named her Citizen of the Decade. She was previously vice-president for development at the University of Miami and director of federal Title IX implementation programs in the southeastern United States. She has authored many journal articles, book chapters and two books, including Legitimacy in the Academic Presidency: From Entrance to Exit, in 2003. She has two granddaughters who are fraternal twins, 5 years old.

Geraldine A. Ferraro, of New York City, is executive vice president and head of public affairs practice of The Global Consulting Group, a leading international investor relations and corporate communications firm. She made history as the first woman to be nominated for vice-president on a national party ticket when she ran with Democrat Walter Mondale in 1984. She was first elected to Congress from New York's 9th Congressional District (in Queens) in 1978 and served three terms as a strong voice against the Reagan administration economic policies. Ferraro was the alternate U.S.
delegate to the World Conference on Human Rights in 1993, held in Vienna, and was vice-chair of the U.S. Delegation to the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, held in Beijing. In 1994, President Clinton named her U.S. Ambassador to the UN Human Rights Commission, and from 1996 to 1998, she was a co-host of the Crossfire political interview program on CNN. Since 1999 she has been a FOX News commentator. She and her husband, realtor John Zaccaro, have three children and six grandchildren.

Ellen Goodman, of Boston, Massachusetts, is a syndicated columnist for the Boston Globe and the Washington Post Writers Group. Her Pulitzer Prize-winning column appears in more than 400 newspapers nationwide. She is the author of eight books, including I Know Just What You Mean: The Power of Friendship in Women's Lives, co-authored with Patricia O'Brien, in 2000, and Paper Trail, published in 2004. She has two grandchildren.

Ruth W. Massinga, of Seattle, Washington, is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Casey Family Programs, a foundation based in Seattle, WA, that works to provide and improve foster care and to prevent the need for it. She also chairs the board of the Marguerite Casey Foundation, an independent grantmaking organization, and co-chairs the board of the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative. Massinga's three decades of child welfare work include service as secretary of the Maryland Department of Human Resources and as President of the American Public Welfare Association. She has two grandchildren, ages 6 and 4.

Rosemary C. Masters, of New York City, is a psychotherapist who specializes in marital problems, divorced and remarried families and treatment of trauma survivors. She is a faculty member and Chair of the Trauma Study and Treatment Group at the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy, and was formerly a staff therapist and counseling service planner at the Victim Services Agency. Before becoming a psychotherapist, she was an attorney with the Vera Institute of Justice where she was Administrative Director for the Manhattan Bowery Project of outreach and detoxification, a mental health alternative to incarceration for homeless alcoholics. She has two grandchildren, ages 5 and 2.

Patricia O'Brien, of Washington, DC, is a writer and journalist. A political correspondent and columnist for Knight-Ridder newspapers from 1976 to 1987, she was press secretary for Michael Dukakis' presidential run in 1987. She is the author of three non-fiction books, including the New York Times best-seller I Know Just What You Mean: The Power of Friendship in Women's Lives, with Ellen Goodman; and four novels, most recently The Glory Cloak, about Louisa May Alcott and Clara Barton. She lives with her husband Frank Mankiewicz in Washington, DC and has four grown daughters and eight grandchildren.

Nell Painter, of Newark, New Jersey, is Edwards Professor of American History at Princeton University and former director of its Program in African-American Studies. She has authored five books of American history, including Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol (Norton, 1996); Standing at Armageddon: The United States, 1877-1919 (Norton, 1989); and most recently Southern History Across the Color Line (University of North Carolina Press, 2002). She has also edited two other books, including Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (Penguin, 2000). She has two stepsons and although not a biological grandmother, she takes a lively interest in the children and grandchildren of her family and friends.

Letty Cottin Pogrebin, of New York City, has been a leading writer, feminist and commentator on women, families and modern Judaism for more than three decades. She is a founding editor of Ms. Magazine and the author of nine books, most recently a novel, Three Daughters (Penguin, 2003), and a memoir, Getting Over Getting Older (Berkley, 1996). Born in New York City, Pogrebin has contributed articles to dozens of publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Nation, Moment, Tikkun and Family Circle. For ten years, she wrote "The Working Woman" column in The Ladies Home Journal. She is a past president of The Authors Guild and heads The Authors Registry. Married to attorney Bertrand B. Pogrebin, she has three grown children and six grandchildren.

Pat Schroeder, of Washington, DC, is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Association of American Publishers, the national trade association of the U.S. book publishing industry. A national figure on women's rights issues, she served 12 terms in the U.S. Congress as a Democratic representative from Colorado, co-chairing the Congressional Caucus on Women's Issues and chairing the House Select Committee on Children, Youth and Families. She was the first woman member of the House Armed Services Committee, and now also leads New Century/New Solutions, an out-of-the-box think tank, for the Civil Society Institute in Newton, MA. She is on the board of the Marguerite Casey Foundation, and is expecting her first grandchild in January 2005.