About This Event:
50 YEARS OF WOMEN'S WAY: BARRIERS, BREAKTHROUGHS, AND WHAT'S NEXT
March 26, 2026 | 4 PM ET | Free, Virtual Panel
Join us for a powerful conversation reflecting on WOMEN’S WAY’s 50-year journey at the forefront of advancing gender equity. Featuring leaders from the organization’s early days alongside current Chief Disruptor, Diane Cornman-Levy, this panel will explore why WOMEN’S WAY was founded, the barriers and breakthroughs that defined it, and key lessons learned over the past five decades.
Moderated by Lynn A. Marks, a former member of the WOMEN'S WAY Board of Directors, the discussion will reflect on how organizations like WOMEN’S WAY have transformed the Philadelphia region and what is needed now to tackle today’s challenges and continue our fight for gender equity.
PANELISTS
Diane Cornman-Levy – Chief Disruptor at WOMEN'S WAY
Graham S. Finney – Founding Member of the WOMEN'S WAY Board of Directors
Beverly A. Harper – Founding Member of the WOMEN'S WAY Board of Directors
Letty D. Thall - Founding Member of WOMEN’S WAY and Founding Member of the WOMEN’S WAY Board of Directors
This event is free and open to the public. To make a gift in honor of WOMEN'S WAY's 50th Anniversary and be part of the next chapter, learn more here.
ABOUT THE PANELISTS AND MODERATOR
Diane Cornman-Levy: Diane brings more than 30 years of nonprofit leadership, coalition building, community organizing, and fundraising experience to WOMEN’S WAY. A tireless advocate for gender and racial equity, Diane joined WOMEN’S WAY in January 2017 after running for State Representative of the 168th District. Diane was also co-founder and executive director of two non-profits, both of which work to improve education and economic equity for families. In each of these positions, Diane challenged the status quo by forging cross-sector partnerships and designing new programs that increased economic and educational opportunities for families, teens, self-taught artists with mental health challenges, and returning citizens. During her tenure at WOMEN’S WAY, she led the transformation of the organization, including designing a new brand, creating new grantmaking programs, building a citywide, collaborative initiative to advance the economic security of women, and leading a year-long intervention to embed antiracism in every aspect of WOMEN’S WAY. Diane is currently a member of the Forum of Executive Women and two FORUM committees: Pay Equity and Public Sector Leadership Committees, and a board member of the nonprofit organization, LiveWell.
Graham S. Finney: City planner and longtime civic leader Graham has helped shape many of the decisions and institutions that continue to define Philadelphia as a vibrant and evolving city. Throughout his distinguished 50-year career, including founding the Conservation Company, helping to start Mastery Charter schools, and serving as Chair of the City Planning Commission, he championed collaboration among the government, corporate, and nonprofit sectors to improve the lives of residents across the greater Philadelphia region, with a particular focus on underserved communities. Graham was an early supporter of the women’s coalition that would become WOMEN’S WAY and a strong advocate for its formation. He became a founding member of the WOMEN’S WAY Board of Directors and served from 1977 to 1981.
Beverly A. Harper: In 1969, at age 27, Beverly began her career as a Black, female entrepreneur. Technology in all its popular forms had not made its way into the small business environment. No smartphones (just landlines), no desk top computers or copiers (just typewriters), and no cable TV for news and entertainment. Beverly grew up in North Philadelphia and Germantown, in a resource-poor family with eight brothers and a sister. Instead of seeing her life as a series of barriers, she developed survival skills and demonstrated resilience along with hard work that led to future success. Very early on, as she grew her marketing and community-engagement business, Beverly also made a commitment to support both large (Philadelphia Orchestra, Kimmel Center, Philadanco) and small (Painted Bride, Philly Ad Club, The Enterprise Center, WOMEN'S WAY) organizations with her time, management and marketing expertise, and financial resources. This dedication has been recognized with dozens of awards for leadership and community service. Supported from the beginning by her business partner, CFO, and award-winning Art Director Lisa Werchow, the company became one of the largest and most successful women/minority owned businesses in Philadelphia. Over more than 57 years in business, Beverly built exceptional teams of planners, researchers, and communicators to complete thousands of projects for government agencies at all levels, along with large and small private-sector organizations. A diverse group of hundreds of talented professionals have benefited from Beverly’s mentorship and her leadership. Many of them have gone on to successfully lead or start their own businesses.
Lynn A. Marks: Since graduating from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Lynn has been a public interest lawyer with a focus on promoting equality and social justice. She has been the executive director of Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts, Women Organized Against Rape, Greater Philadelphia Women’s Medical Fund and the New York State Family Planning Public Affairs Office. She has chaired the boards of directors of the Women's Law Project, Living Beyond Breast Cancer, PA Commission on Fairness and Justice, and the National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women. She teaches "Hot Topics in Justice and Law" at Temple University's continuing education program, Osher LifeLong Learning Institute (OLLI). She served on the Women's Way board of directors in the 1980's.
Letty D. Thall: Ms. Thall has decades of social justice advocacy and nonprofit management experience. She has built coalitions, spearheaded community education campaigns, raised funds, and developed public policies in the fields of maternal and child health, early care and education, child welfare, mental health, and women’s equality. Ms. Thall has provided board leadership in both a volunteer capacity and as a staff member to many nonprofit and civic organizations. She served as the first Executive Director of Women Organized against Rape (a founding agency of WOMEN’S WAY) and developed the Delaware Valley Child Care Council as a collaboration of employers, parents, funders, and providers to develop needed day care services. She was a founding Board member of WOMEN'S WAY, the oldest women’s fundraising coalition in the United States; a vice chair of the first Mayor’s Commission for Women in Philadelphia, and was Vice President of the Pennsylvania Women’s Campaign Fund, a bi-partisan political action committee dedicated to electing progressive women to the state legislature. She served on the Board of Directors of the PA Head Start Association and led their Government Affairs Committee. She also served on the Legislative Committee of the PA Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers and has served as the co-chair of the PACE committee and a Board member. She is also an Advisory Committee member for WOMEN'S WAY's Immediate Response Action Fund Committee.
