Jill Ker Conway

Jill Ker Conway was born in Hillston, New South Wales. The story of her early life is known to many whom have read her best-selling memoir The Road from Coorain. She is a graduate of the University of Sydney in History and English, and earned her Ph.D. in history at Harvard in 1969. Ms. Conway served as Vice President for Internal Affairs at the University of Toronto from 1973 to 1975. In 1975 she became the first woman president of Smith College and served ten years in that post. Since 1985 she has been a Visiting Scholar and Professor in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's program in Science, Technology and Society. She holds thirty-eight honorary degrees from North American and Australian Colleges and Universities.

Ms. Conway is a director of Colgate-Palmolive Co., and Nike, Inc. She also served as director of Merrill Lynch & Co. 1978-2007 and Lend Lease Corporation from 1992 to 2003 and served as its Chairman from 2000-2003.

Ms. Conway is the author of several best-selling books: The Road from Coorain, published in 1989; Written By Herself, an anthology of American women's autobiography published in 1992; True North, the second installment of her memoirs, spanning her life from 1960 when she left her native Australia to 1975 when she accepted the presidency of Smith College; and When Memory Speaks - Reflections on Autobiography. Ms. Conway has also edited three anthologies of women’s autobiography from around the world, the most recent being In Her Own Words, published by Vintage Books. Her latest books include a mystery novel written in collaboration with Elizabeth Kennan under the pseudonym, Clare Munnings, titled Overnight Float, Norton, 2000, and A Woman’s Education, Knopf, 2001, the third installment of her memoir picking up in 1975 when she began as the first woman president of Smith College.

Ms. Conway was married to the late John J. Conway, Canadian war hero and Professor of British History at Harvard. She makes her home in Boston, Massachusetts.