Leeza Gibbons Keynote Speaker at 2015 Business Women's Forum (BWF) After Ivanka Trump Cancels

Ivanka Trump, executive vice president of Development & Acquisitions for The Trump Organization, and daughter of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, has canceled her engagement as keynote speaker for the 2015 Business Women’s Forum (BWF) (www.2015bwf.com), which is expected to be attract more than 500 attendees on October 23 at the Aqua Turf in Plantsville, Conn. from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Emmy Award-winner Leeza Gibbons, TV and radio host, producer, businesswoman, and a “New York Times” bestselling author, is the Forum’s welcomed luncheon keynote speaker. Gibbons will join Juliet Funt, owner and founder of WhiteSpace at Work, who will deliver the morning keynote address.

Under the theme, “Making It All Work”, the 33rd annual BWF is Connecticut’s longest-running, full-day conference for women and will feature networking, workshops, breakfast, lunch and a closing reception. The non-profitBWF is a program of the Greater Waterbury Chamber of Commerce Foundation and is led by female executives dedicated to the professional and personal growth of working women. BWF’s mission has been to raise funds for scholarships for female Post University students to pursue degrees in business. Over the past 32 years, the BWF has generated in excess of $190,000 toward those scholarships and helped women statewide enhance their small to medium-sized companies and personal careers.

The BWF Board is “surprised and disappointed” Ivanka Trump is unable to share insights into her notable and admired successes with the 2015 BWF attendees and is delighted to welcome Leeza Gibbons who is an award-winning television news journalist and host, and producer. An inspiring speaker, gifted social entrepreneur, and a “business superstar,” Gibbons is best known for anchoring and reporting on “Entertainment Tonight”, the most popular entertainment-news show in television history, and anchoring her award-winning daytime talk show, “Leeza.”

Currently Gibbons hosts Lifetime Television’s successful prime time magazine, “What Should I Do?” and produces her own syndicated talk show, “America Now”, and a PBS weekly news show, “My Generation”. In 2013 she won a Daytime Emmy Award for “Outstanding Talk Show Host” and was named a “New York Times” best-selling author of “Take 2,” a personal growth guide designed to help people recreate themselves and their personal and professional lives.

A respected social entrepreneur, Gibbons started her own nonprofit organization, the Leeza Gibbons Memory Foundation, after helping her grandmother and mother for decades in their struggles with Alzheimer’s. To help other families, Gibbons authored, “Take Oxygen First: Protecting Your Health and Happiness While Caring for a Loved One with Memory Loss.” In March 2015, she was winner of NBC’s “The Celebrity Apprentice” Season 7, having raised more than $700,000 for one of her signature foundations, Leeza’s Care Connection, making her the second woman to win the long-standing competitive program. In addition to Leeza’s Care Connection, Gibbons opened Leeza’s Place and both programs offer free support and encouragement services for family caregivers of loved ones with Alzheimer’s.

Juliet Funt, daughter of Allen Funt, the creator, producer and host of the widely popular “Candid Camera” TV show, is a nationally-recognized expert in business strategy and in coping with the current age of overload in which we all live and work. She brings humor and energy to her motivational presentations and will be the opening speaker at the October 23rd BWF.

Owner and founder of WhiteSpace at Work, Funt works with organizations to “flip the norms of business for the better.” A nationally-recognized expert who provides thought-provoking content and immediately actionable tools for her audiences, along with a good deal of humor, Funt is also a business owner, wife and mother. Known to be remarkably intuitive, she is able to blend high-impact content and a keen understanding of her client’s needs into her presentations and consulting services. She works with organizations in varying formats, from intimate executive workshops to keynotes for audiences as large as 7,000, and her clients span a wide array of industries. Her unique blend of charisma, humor and “tough love” help her connect with people at all levels and compel them to make real and lasting changes in their careers and lives.

The BWF will offer a full day of dynamic and accomplished speakers, professional business trainers as workshop leaders, networking opportunities and an exciting closing reception with many raffle and door prizes including a notable grand prize. Admission is $195/person. To register, visit www.2015bwf.com, or call the Waterbury Regional Chamber at 203-757-0701.

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Submitted by Bethel, CT

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