Past Events Main Page

2005 Women Who Make a Difference
Awards Dinner
March 1, 2005

Click here for awards ceremony information.
Click here for the afternoon program.

Honoree Profile and Remarks
Click here for the list of all 2005 honorees.

Theresa Heinz
Chairman, The Howard Heinz Endowment and the Heinz Family Philanthropies

Teresa Heinz is the chairman of the Howard Heinz Endowment and the Heinz Family Philanthropies. The New York Times has called her "one of the nation's leading philanthropists." Named by Utne magazine as one of 100 American visionaries ("people who could change your life"), she is recognized as one of the country's premier environmental leaders. She is also a tireless educator and advocate on behalf of women's health and economic security.

Under her leadership, The Heinz Endowments have become widely known for developing innovative strategies to protect the environment, improve education, enhance the lives of young children, broaden economic opportunity and promote the arts. Programs spearheaded by the Heinz Family Philanthropies include the Heinz Plan to Overcome Prescription Drug Expenses (HOPE), the H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment, endowed professorships in environmental management at the Harvard Business School, and a chair in environmental policy at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. In addition, she has established the Teresa Heinz Scholars for Environmental Research, and endowed the John Heinz Environmental Fellows Program for the United Negro College Fund.

Ms. Heinz has for many years been a strong advocate for women, and continues to be at the forefront of women's issues and causes. She has sponsored and hosted annual conferences on Women's Health and the Environment, and established the Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER), a Washington-based think tank.

Teresa Heinz is married to Senator John Kerry.

Jeff Lewis's Remarks for Teresa Heinz

Thank you, and my deepest apologies that Teresa can't be with you tonight. Linda, before I say anything else, let me first congratulate you and the organization for such a wonderful job this afternoon, and for this evening. And second, let me do this as the both as Teresa's Chief of Staff and President of the Heinz Family Philanthropies, I'm delighted that there are other men in the audience, but I am appalled by the fact that there are not more men in the audience.

I think that's wrong. So let me make a pledge to you and your board, particularly since my wife is Mills alumnus. I will find four tables for you for your next dinner. And they will be four tables of men. For those of you who were with us this afternoon, if you learned anything else, and to listen to the discussion and the conversation - as a man, you only grow by the people you surround yourself with. And as a person, that's very true too.

I happened to be one of maybe five men, at most, in the audience this afternoon. It was a fascinating discussion. But what I got out of it was more than I could contribute. But it was wonderful to be there. Hopefully next year, I can bring a large group of men to that discussion - to listen and to learn. Thank you.

Let me share some remarks I believe Teresa would have delivered, had she been here.

Let me begin by thanking the National Council for Research on Women, for honoring me tonight; I am humbled to be among such an extraordinary group of women honorees. You asked that each of us identify a pivotal moment, or turning point where we recognized our own call to leadership.

For me, that call came in the worst possible way. As many of you know, my late husband, John Heinz, was killed in an airplane crash. At that moment, I lost my best friend. I had to assume the responsibility of raising three sons, take over the helm of the family endowments and philanthropy, and determine my own future.

Fortunately, a number of years later I met and later married John Kerry and today I'm a very lucky woman. And unfortunately most of us aren't as lucky because he would have been President and it would have been great. But we're not doing politics.

There is no one single moment, no one occasion when one is more personally challenged than when death is at your front door as an uninvited guest. Unlike most women this happens to, I had the resources, wealth that could sustain me and my family; and wonderful friends who comforted us during those dark, early days.

But at the same moment, you cannot help think about other women who find themselves in a similar situation or even worse. At that point in time, you harness your courage in the face of horrible circumstances and you lead, not because you want to, but because you have to.

Fortunately, pension and retirement security was not something I had to worry about. But you do at that moment, think about other women and I recall the bi-partisan work that Congress had been doing to change the private pension system to better protect women and spouses.

I learned early on, that poverty and old age has a distinctly female face. And it only grows worse, not better. Through the Heinz Family Philanthropies, we began to develop a strategy to combat this problem. And I am proud of our efforts and continue to change the way that people understand the problem, and what they can do about it.

And as I campaigned across America to elect my husband John Kerry, President, I heard stories from women in every city, in every town, in every meeting. Women who worked their entire lives and do not expect to be able to retire because they cannot save enough; they cannot afford to participate in a pension plan because they do not have the extra income, after paying their bills.

And women who simply fear that Social Security is going to disappear. And today, despite the fact that Social Security has become the most successful anti-poverty program in this country's history, some yearn to undo it. Nothing could be more tragic. Nothing could be more wrong.

If you look around the room tonight, I would suspect that many of us know what we have to do. We have to work together. We have to lead an effort where we can turn the desire of those to dismantle Social Security, into an opportunity to talk about how unfairly it treats women who are this country's greatest caregivers.

It is an opportunity to challenge Republicans and Democrats alike, to address the fact that unlike many other countries, the United States has no national retirement policy. And it is an opportunity for women to come together - not as Republicans or Democrats, but simply as mothers, wives and women.

This, to me, is our leadership challenge and our greatest opportunity.

Let me finish by saying a couple of personal notes. I've worked with Teresa since about a month after John Heinz was killed. I was John Heinz's staff director. She is, in a few words, probably one of the most extraordinary people you will ever meet. She is very real. She tells it like it is. She is refreshing, she is honest.

And most importantly, she is one of those few people that you could sit and have a conversation with about almost anything. She would have been a phenomenal First Lady. I regret the fact that she's not. But most importantly, I am deeply honored to be here to accept the award for her and to say thank you.

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