I'm just back from a whirlwind week in Washington, D.C., where we held Fortune's Most Powerful Women Evening With... dinner on Wednesday.
The State Department's historic Benjamin Franklin room was done up in majestic purple for 155 guests including FDIC Chair Sheila Bair, SEC Chair Mary Schapiro, U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Dianne Feinstein, and top women from Goldman Sachs (GS), Thomson Reuters (TRI), Exxon-Mobil (XOM), Fidelity Investments, Deutsche Bank (DB) MORE
Patricia Sellers - Apr 30, 2010 2:46 PM ET
Mary Civiello
I've been in Washington, D.C., welcoming Fortune-U.S. State Department mentees from around the world -- rising-star women leaders who will shadow U.S. participants of the Fortune MPWomen Summit from companies such as General Electric (GE), Wal-Mart (WMT), American Express (AXP), Google (GOOG), JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Exxon-Mobil (XOM).
Tonight, they and more than 100 women leaders will be with us for a MPWomen dinner that will also include U.S. Senators Olympia Snowe and MORE
Patricia Sellers - Apr 28, 2010 9:59 AM ET
What has to happen in Silicon Valley to create more female entrepreneurs?
We began that conversation on Postcards on Monday, after reading "Out of the Loop in Silicon Valley" in Sunday's New York Times. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg chimed in on this site, saying that women tend to be as good at risk-taking as men when doing a deal or building a product. But career-wise, they tend to be more risk-averse, MORE
Patricia Sellers - Apr 22, 2010 3:51 PM ET
After I shared with you yesterday's Postcard, "Silicon Valley: Wasteland for women, really?," I happened to spend time with someone who is a top role model for young women in tech: Marissa Mayer of Google (GOOG).
Mayer had invited me (and my Fortune colleague, Jessica Shambora, too) to sit at her table at the Matrix Awards, an annual lunch honoring women in communications. Mayer was one among a star slate this MORE
Patricia Sellers - Apr 20, 2010 2:16 PM ET
Good to see the New York Times taking on the issue of Women in Silicon Valley (Why so few?!) on the front page of its business section on Sunday.
The story was interesting and full of eye-opening stats: Women own 40% of the private businesses in the U.S., for example, but they create only 8% of venture-backed tech start-ups.
My quibble with the story is that it failed to point out the MORE
Patricia Sellers - Apr 19, 2010 11:42 AM ET
Two surprising additions to the top 10 of the new Fortune 500, out today: Bank of America (BAC) at No. 5 and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) at No. 9.
That's evidence that the financial crisis has made the big banks bigger--and amidst consolidation, the survivors mightier. Goldman Sachs (GS), No. 39 measured by revenues, ranks sixth on the 500 in terms of profitability. Last year, Goldman earned a stunning $13.4 billion on MORE
Patricia Sellers - Apr 15, 2010 12:35 PM ET
April is National Autism Awareness Month--the time to talk about a disability that affects one in every 110 births in the U.S. and almost 1 in 70 boys. The lifetime cost of caring for a child with autism: $3.5 to $5 million, according to The Autism Society. But all the money in the world doesn't make dealing with autism easy. Here is one man's story about how his son's autism MORE
Patricia Sellers - Apr 14, 2010 11:51 AM ET
by Patricia Sellers
It's an important next couple of days for JPMorgan Chase (JPM).
The company reports earnings tomorrow morning.
And on Thursday morning, we'll see how far the $100 billion bank--yes, that's how big, in terms of annual revenues, JPMorgan has grown through the financial crisis--has surged up the Fortune 500.
I know. But I can't tell you. Watch for the Fortune 500's release at 7:30 a.m. Thursday.
So, it's a good moment to MORE
Patricia Sellers - Apr 13, 2010 12:57 PM ET
by Patricia Sellers
So much optimism in the air....and yet, so many people seeing black clouds.
Last week, I told you about the gloomy economic view of Meredith Whitney, the influential financial-services industry analyst.
This morning I had breakfast with Cheryl Bachelder, the CEO of AFC Enterprises (AFCE) and president of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen. That's right, the chicken chain. Like Whitney, Bachelder sees more pain than gain in the year ahead.
"Now we have MORE
Patricia Sellers - Apr 12, 2010 1:02 PM ET
I just got an email from Deep Blue. He's an anonymous source of my boss, Fortune Managing Editor Andy Serwer.
Deep Blue emails me too. A faithful reader of Postcards as well as Fortune, he prods and provokes and passes on scoop. (Thanks, DB!) Now and then, he even makes us rethink the big stuff--like life.
That's what Deep Blue's email did for me this morning. Maybe you've heard this story already. MORE
Patricia Sellers - Apr 9, 2010 1:31 PM ET
For the latest on the most influential women in business, philanthropy, government, and the arts, like us on Facebook. 
In a funny and candid interview, Google VP Marissa Mayer explains how she got to the top. Watch
Xerox CEO Ursula Burns shares how she once accepted a job with Dell but ended up staying with Xerox. Watch
Pattie Sellers has written some of Fortune's most talked-about cover stories, including "Oprah's Next Act," "Can Meg Whitman Save California?" "The $100 Billion Woman" (Melinda Gates), "MySpace Cowboys," Martha Stewart ("I cannot be destroyed"), Ted Turner ("Gone with the Wind") and Oprah Winfrey ("Oprah Inc."). Since its launch in 1998, Pattie has helped oversee Fortune's "Most Powerful Women" cover package.
A specialist at dissecting larger-than-life personalities, she has also profiled former U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Morgan Stanley chairman John Mack, and countless CEOs.
Pattie co-chairs the annual Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, the preeminent gathering of women leaders in business, philanthropy, government, academia, and the arts. She started at Fortune in 1984, covering the big brand companies.
In Pattie's blog, Postcards, she provides insight into the lives of super-achievers through commentary, career advice, and Guest Posts by CEOs and other leaders.
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Fortune Most Powerful Women
Sheryl Sandberg:
Gina Bianchini
