Donor Spotlight: Mark McMahon and “Changing the Chip” in Nicaragua

By Mark McMahon, Pro Mujer Donor Since 2004

The expression that we most heard on the first Velasco & Patterson Society (VPS) Encuentro in Nicaragua was ”cambiar el chip” or “change the chip”. This was the code phrase for what Pro Mujer in Nicaragua (PMN) is doing for their more than 37,000 clients – a virtual transformation of what women in Nicaragua see as possible and an approach in their lives! This transformation is being led by Gloria Ruiz, the PMN Country Director who oversees a staff of over 200. But I must say that she not only leads it, because the entire staff that we came in touch with during our brief, two-day whirlwind tour had the transformation embedded in their DNA and work diligently to ensure that they spread that message to all who they come into contact with.

We started Monday with an introduction by Gloria. I have never seen someone so enthusiastic presenting an agenda for a visit! She not only spoke from her heart but from her soul. You could tell that this was going to be a remarkable and memorable experience for all of us.

Here I am giving some observations about the takeaways.

This was followed by PMN staff introductions, showing a wide range of specialties and each one talking about the goal of transforming women’s lives.

Here I am with my partner Roberto Moreira speaking with Co-Founder Carmen (in brown) and Lynne (in blue).

The donors present then introduced themselves. Present were the President of the Tinker Foundation, Stan Eisenberg and Mary Jones, individual donors, representatives from Citibank Nicaragua and the Weberg Foundation. Everyone’s support for PM and its mission was as strong as the staff’s love for the organization.

We finished the morning with a presentation of PM Nicaragua’s operation, its growth and expansion over its15 years of existence and where it is today. What came out loud and clear was that the approach is threefold.

• First the women are supplied with loans to ensure their financial stability.
• This is followed by intensive training, with the goal of moving the clients pride up quite a few notches.
• The third step involves healthcare, including PAP smears, blood pressure monitoring and blood sugar tests. The statistics are impressive. In over 9,000 PAP smears given since 2010, over 2,300 tested positive and were sent for follow-up exams. The results for high blood pressure and blood sugar levels were equally impressive.

The afternoon started with a presentation on the health care focus of PM given by Dr. Gabriela Salvador, the Health and Human Development Director for PM’s global team based in the U.S. This was extremely informative on where the program is and where it is going. We then toured the Leon focal center. We got to see the facilities as well as meet with the professional staff; there are over 8,000 clients serviced in this focal center.

The rest of the afternoon was deeply emotional. We heard from Elsa Sosa, a PM employee who spoke on how working for PM has helped change her life. She was able to escape from an abusive relationship. The woman was so eloquent in her elaboration of her situation, spousal abuse and degradation, and how with the support of PM staff and clients she was able overcome her problems and reconstruct her life. I must admit, there was not a dry eye in the room after this brave woman’s remarks.

The last discussion of the day was by eight PMN client leaders. All I can say is WOW. These women are creating the future for this country. It was amazing to hear these women talk about how PMN had changed their lives. What was even more encouraging to me was to hear how they are truly grateful for all that PMN offers them, and this is not limited to micro-finance. That appears more of a tool or lure for these women to look inside themselves and find their inner strength. They do this through their groups and credit officers.

These client leaders have limited if any formal education, but talked about their children who are now doctors, lawyers, teachers and administrators. It was funny to note that several of the women never even talked about what they use the loan money for, but what it has brought them. One woman said that when she started she didn’t have a house to live in. Now she has three!

What really showed me the strength of the program was that after the presentations were made, one of the women asked for the floor, and said that although they were very grateful for all that PMN had done for them, there were still several things that needed to be addressed such as a bigger loan for the group. Now that took courage, and that shows the strength of the program because she had the courage to get up and say things could be better. We ended the day with some great local food and music.

The next day was equally exciting, informative and emotional. We visited another communal bank that was held in the house of one of the clients.  This was a newer group, but no less enthusiastic.  It was great to hear the women relate their experiences and how much Pro Mujer means to them and their families.

Our last visit was to the house of a client, María Concepción Moran.  This I must say was for me the most emotional experience of the entire trip.

Maria Concepción related the hardships of growing up, living in a plastic and corrugated packaging house with her mother.  When she got married she had no place to live and built her own shanty with her husband.  She said how her and her daughter would wait outside a local business to get corrugated cartons to use as walls and roofing for her house.  She mentioned that whenever it rained the little bit of furniture that she had floated in the rain and everything got dirty because the dirt floor turned into mud.  Her husband was laid off from work and their only source of income was what she made by ironing clothes.

Someone told her about Pro Mujer and she went to a meeting, entered a group and took out her first loan without her husband knowing about it.  She used to proceeds from the loan to buy goods to open a small store in the front of her house.  Since then she has expanded her store, and last year took out a construction loan from Pro Mujer and put up concrete walls.

Maria Concepción said that she used to be afraid of the rains and now she is waiting for her first rainy season in her house.  Her husband also spoke on how Pro Mujer had changed her life, their lives.  Next her daughter spoke, and talked about how their lives had been transformed because of Pro Mujer.  Maria Concepción also took advantage and had a Pap smear and she was detected with uterine cancer.  She is scheduled to be operated on this week.  Once again, what we saw was a woman who learned to have pride in herself, a husband who learned to respect his wife and a family who was united behind their struggle to lift themselves out of poverty.

Several times during the trip, it would have been so easy to write a check to these women, but the Pro Mujer way is like the parable in the bible, teaching the women to fish instead of giving them the fish.  This was so evident, so many times, be it from the leadership, the staff or the clients.

What did I take away from the trip? CHANGE! The way that PM has helped these women change, transform their lives and that of their families. I came back changed, reinvigorated and even more committed to the vision and mission of Pro Mujer.

The Velasco & Patterson Society Kicks Off 1st Annual Campaign with Former Federal Reserve Chairman and Pro Mujer Senior Advisor, Paul A. Volcker

By Joshua Cramer-Montes, Director of Communications, Pro Mujer

“I’ve been on a four-year mission to find some financial institution that’s honest and solid and has a clear sense of public mission, and that’s why I found [Pro Mujer].” – Paul A. Volcker

On Tuesday, November 29^th, 2011, The Velasco & Patterson Society kicked off its 1^ST annual campaign with a special event hosted by Rosemary Werrett, a member of Pro Mujer’s Board of Directors and Chair of The Velasco & Patterson Society, and her husband Noel. The event, which was held in their home in New York City, also celebrated its Founding 100 members.

The Society is named after Pro Mujer’s Co-Founders Lynne Patterson and Carmen Velasco. It is the philanthropic leadership body that works with the organization to secure unrestricted funding in order to maintain and expand the impact that Pro Mujer is having on women in Latin America. These funds will help support our holistic and multidimensional package of services which includes microfinance, business and empowerment training and high-quality, low-cost primary health care.

The evening’s special guests were Paul A. Volcker, former Chairman of the United States Federal Reserve under Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, and his wife Anke. Most recently he was Chairman of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board under current President Barack Obama from February 2009 until January 2011.

From L to R, Pro Mujer Chief Executive Officer Rosario Pérez, Rosemary Werrett, Paul A. Volcker and Carmen Velasco

Other distinguished guests included: Bill Rhodes, Senior Advisor for Citi and author of “Banker to the World:  Leadership Lessons from the Front Lines of Global Finance;” Pro Mujer Senior Advisor Ernest Stern; and members of Pro Mujer’s Board of Directors. Joining them were approximately 50 people including many long-time friends and members of The Velasco & Patterson Society.

In her opening remarks, Rosemary explained how she became involved with Pro Mujer, and then introduced Carmen who inspired everyone with a few words reminding us why we were all gathered there that evening. Carmen said:

“I remember the day we first met with the women we were helping in El Alto. I remember the urge they had to be heard, to have something in which they could believe. We could never have imagined that the seed that we planted more than 20 years ago, was going to grow in such a way that was not only going to succeed in Bolivia but become a model for countries throughout Latin America…to help transform the lives of more than a million women and their families. There are so many more women that need and want the life changing opportunities that Pro Mujer provides. That’s what gives us a renewed sense of urgency today.”

Rosario followed Carmen’s words by providing her vision of Pro Mujer’s future and how unrestricted giving will help make that vision a reality by saying, “We want to pursue key strategic growth opportunities that will amplify our palate of services at a lower cost to our clients and increasing our impact. Unrestricted funding is one of the cornerstones of that strategy.”

She went on to cite a recent Stanford Social Innovation Review article titled, “The Power and Pleasure of Unrestricted Funding” written by Kevin Starr, Managing Director of The Mulago Foundation. In it, Kevin writes, “Unrestricted money makes an organization work smoothly, enables innovation, and provides fuel for growth. It unlocks potential and allows people to get down to business and do what they’re best at. It makes it possible for great organizations to weather crises without losing momentum.”

The highlight of the evening was a provocative, yet often humorous fireside Q&A between Paul, who together with his wife Anke are Velasco & Patterson Society members, and Lynne. Below is an excerpt from their conversation:

Paul Volcker and Lynne Patterson

Lynne:  I have to say that I have been looking forward to this evening for a long time and I’m very grateful for Anke and Paul being here. Their support means the world to me; I am a huge fan of theirs. Their endorsement of Pro Mujer is very compelling given the decades they’ve both worked in finance, Anke, behind the scenes, and Paul, out front and center. So to have them sitting here is a great thrill to me, and I thank you. You don’t need any introduction but people are really here to hear you.

Paul:  I don’t want all these people here to be in some misapprehension, let me explain why I’m here.

L:  Please do.

Paul:  I’ve been on a four-year mission to find some financial institution that’s honest and solid and has a clear sense of public mission, and that’s why I found you. (applause)

L:  Well you know, I hope somebody’s writing that down…(laughter) Well thank you very much… Given your financial background, and the state we’re in, I know that you have been supporting a reset of the rules for finance and that you are urging our political leaders to apply this reset to commercial and non-bank financial institutions. In a recent article, you said that we don’t have so much time, but that you thought that we did have time if we did the right thing. This was a few months ago so I really want to ask you, where do you think we are now?

Paul:  Well this is some deep stuff. (laughter)

L:  I did my homework.

Paul:  I don’t want to disillusion you but we’re not much different than we were two months ago. It’s been a bit of a struggle. We have had a certain amount of resistance in this city and elsewhere that we really have had a breakdown of the financial system not just in the United States but around the world. We got off on the wrong path for a number of reasons. It wasn’t only the fault of the financial system – the financial system did break down – I think it needs a good dose of common sense and change. We have this very complicated Dodd-Frank bill that gets criticized but it had some essential pieces in it. One little piece was somehow named after me, which we certainly want to defend. (laughter).

But I don’t think the job is complete yet. We’ve got this great problem of “too big to fail” and we’re not going to deal with that without international consistency, which we don’t yet have, but there is some work going on there. We have a broken mortgage market. We’re so proud of our mortgage market and everybody in the United States should get a mortgage.  We generalized that a bit too far.  We now have a government control mortgage market which we don’t want to live with and that’s going to take years to return to good private operation.  There are lots of complaints about the credit rating agencies, complaints about accounting, but there are still a lot of things to do.  I hope people don’t lose some sense of momentum in getting them done.

L:  Could I ask you, are you still optimistic?

Paul:  I’ll tell you, my optimism has been tested lately! (laughter) We have difficult times in the financial markets, but we have bigger problems.  I grew up—many of you grew up—in an age where the US was the leader of the world, no question about that.  We had the energy, we had the commitment to make things better.  Not everyone agreed, but most people believed the United States had a constructive role to play.  I think that’s changed in the sense that the United States has become weaker—too much consuming, too little savings.

And other countries have grown up, and that’s wonderful in some ways.  God knows how many hundreds of millions of people have been taken out of poverty.  In China alone in recent years, and Latin America in the last few years.  Of course that’s not all because of Pro Mujer (laughter). A lot of things have happened for the better, but this country is not in the position of having the same kind of leadership it once had, and that worries me because I don’t see anyone else doing it.  Nobody else is capable of doing it.  So we’re living in a more uncertain world in some ways.  There’s the potential breakdown in Europe which is disturbing.  In the good old days we might have had something to say to help that situation.  But now when we’re broke, how do we help somebody else who’s broke?  This is a more difficult time.

 L:  It is a difficult time.  It seems there’s not a will to work together.  But for those of us in this room, who really do care about creating a safer and saner world, what would you suggest that we keep in mind?  What guidelines would you give us?

Paul:  Well, one quality here and elsewhere is patience.  We’re not going to get rid of this messy economic situation in a hurry.  There’s too much debt out there and it will take a long time to resolve the problems.  There’s too cheap savings, we’ve got to restore the savings.  And there are a lot of concerns about social security and medicare, which we can’t afford under the current trajectory.  These are solvable problems, but are we willing to solve them?

In the political system now, to a degree I’ve never seen before, I don’t think any of us have ever seen before… I don’t recall the bitterness and differences we’re hearing now.  And of course, those circumstances were more difficult—in the middle of the great depression.

How can we restore some sense of cohesion, some sense of purpose?  Other than consumption, spending.  We’ve lost track of it.

L:  That’s the question.

Paul:  You’re supposed to tell me! (laughter) Here you are, you and Rosario and Carmen and the great American tradition—

L:  It almost seems we should apply the solutions outside of the United States—it’s almost harder here, some of our problems are more intractable.

Paul:  There are a lot of people who want to come to the table and have a say in how the world is run and that’s understandable. When you have that situation a lot of people want to get in on the action, but how do you solve it?  It’s hard to have cohesion in the middle of all those opinions.  We see that in Europe now, a relatively cohesive society.

So how do we run this world?  I do hope the United States can get through this difficult period and reassert some ability for constructive leadership.  We spend as much in defense as all the developed nations in the world and still feel insecure.  Maybe  too much.  We’re not going to solve it just by military expenditures.  This little dream I have of the way things used to be—they never were the way I dreamed.

L:  But they were different.

Paul:  I do think the divisiveness is greater.  Even Vietnam, there was a split in the country apart from Vietnam, the country was going in the wrong direction.  How did we get through that?

 L:  I want to thank you for summarizing the situation we face today, and for your leadership and the wisdom you’ve brought to the table. 

Paul:  I was a great supporter of President Obama, still am.  Let me point out it’s not easy to be the president in this inherited economic situation.  He stepped into a situation where the opposing party is just dead set against doing anything that the administration wanted.  I don’t know where that 60 votes in the Senate came from, well, we do know where it came from, but the idea that you need 60 votes to do anything in the Senate is not a concept—well, it was always possible in the rules of the senate, but nobody pushed it that way, except for a few issues that had immense support, went to very deep set feelings about social development or otherwise.  They didn’t push it in ordinary economic circumstances or run of the mill legislation, but now they do and it’s just indicative of the kind of immobilization for any president to face.

L:  Well, we’re grateful for your voice and that you’re still writing, still a voice—

Paul:  Well, I’m getting older anyway.  That’s an accomplishment! (laughter)

L:  Well, it is an accomplishment and it’s an inspiration.  Thank you so much for coming…

Paul:  I can’t help but be impressed with this organization that you have led, and that your associate (Rosario) has led!  I don’t know where she came from, but you’re not supposed to have that kind of energy! (laughter) But there you are.

L:  Thank you very much, it is touching and just being here is very moving for me.  I have to tell you it is the deepest satisfaction anyone could have.  You are my family.  I have my daughter Lydia here, and she can testify she doesn’t get enough attention—

Paul:  Come, Lydia, I want to introduce you to your mother! (laughter)

L:  And I want to say, we have some very distinguished guests here with us—Bill Rhodes, where’s Bill?  I just read his book, Banker to the World.

Paul:  You did read the book!

L:  This man was everywhere there was a problem, finding solutions. And Ernie Stern, a great supporter, a member Emeritus of the Group of Thirty and I’m so happy that he’s here.

Paul:  These people are representative of whom I’m talking about—moving in a constructive way, the same kind of influence in bringing banks together.  They’re all over the world, dealing with whatever crisis of the moment.  And Ernie of course—

Ernie:  I didn’t do that much. (laughter)

L:  And I don’t want to overlook Anke, Paul’s wife, because very smart men listen to their wives—(laughter) it’s another feather in their cap!

Having reached its goal of 100 new members in 2011 and as part of its overall campaign, The Velasco & Patterson Society is looking to increase its total number of members to 200 by 2012.

For more information on how you can get involved, please contact Jason Wu, Director of Development, Individual Giving at jason.wu@promujer.org or at (646) 626-7000, x108.

Una Noche de Música y Celebración: 20 Años de Empoderamiento a las Mujeres en Latinoamérica

La noche del 24 de Marzo del 2011, gente de diferentes ámbitos, viejos amigos, colaboradores, líderes del pasado y actuales, al igual que empleados y la Junta Directiva, se reunieron en conmemoración del vigésimo Aniversario de Pro Mujer, en honor a dos mujeres visionarias, las cofundadoras: Lynne Patterson y Carmen Velasco. El agotado concierto estuvo a cargo de la Orquesta Filarmónica de las Américas (POA),  dirigida por la dinámica conductora: Alondra de la Parra. Este tuvo lugar en el maravilloso Lincoln Center de la ciudad de Nueva York, en la sala de conciertos Alice Tully Hall.

De izquierda a derecha, la Directora Ejecutiva, Rosario Pérez y las Cofundadoras y Directoras: Lynne Patterson y Carmen Velasco.

Para aquellos que aún no están familiarizados con la historia de Lynne y Carmen, la primer vez que se encontraron fue en al Alto Bolivia en 1990.

“20 años atrás Lynne y yo, comenzamos una aventura la cual nunca nos imaginamos nos traería hasta aquí. Nosotros comenzamos Pro Mujer en uno de los países más pobres y menos desarrollado de Latinoamérica, mi país, Bolivia. Cuando comenzamos lo hicimos con un pequeño grupo de mujeres que aspiraban a mejores condiciones de vida para ellas y sus familias quienes ligadas   a una cultura de pobreza y temor Estas mujeres carecían de acceso básico a los servicios de crédito, entrenamiento y salud, eran tratadas como ciudadanos de segunda clase, no conocían del valor de sus derechos y pensaban que lo único que merecían era la caridad”, comentó Carmen.

Carmen y Lynne en sus primeros días de Pro Mujer.

Educadoras de profesión, ellas desarrollaron una innovadora forma de empoderar a las mujeres a través de la combinación de: microcréditos, entrenamiento y servicios de salud. Estos programas formaron la base de lo que hoy es Pro Mujer.

El programa original de Lynne y Carmen ha evolucionado a un paquete integrado de servicios el cual incluye: microfinanzas, entrenamiento sobre empoderamiento y negocios, educación sobre salud preventiva, y calidad y bajos costos sobre los servicios primarios de salud.

En los últimos 20 años Pro Mujer, ha otorgado más de $885 millones de dólares en pequeños préstamos, con un préstamo promedio de $260, proveyendo a más de 1,000,000 de mujeres con el acceso necesario para que estas a su vez puedan transformar sus vidas y las de sus 5,000,000 hijos y los miembros de sus familias. Actualmente Pro Mujer opera en: Argentina, Bolivia, México, Nicaragua y Perú.

El concierto se inició con la pieza vibrante: “Three Latin American Sketches” por Aaron Copland’s, seguido de una pieza filosófica y de otro mundo: “Unanswered Question” por Charles Ives.  La pieza de Samuel Barber’s  “Knoxville: Summer of 1915”,  fue embellecida por la experta soprano Emily Albrink, que a su vez fue reconocida por el New York Times, como encantadora y vocalmente fuerte y versátil. Después de una pequeña introducción por Alondra de la Parra, Lynne y Carmen se subieron al escenario para agradecer al público. En honor a los orígenes latinoamericanos de Pro Mujer, Carmen dio un emotivo discurso en español resaltando los pasados veinte años.

Carmen hace honor a “a las reales heroínas” de la noche como ella lo dice, las mujeres microempresarias de Pro Mujer.

Lynne inspira al público cuando habla sobre el exitoso futuro de Pro Mujer.

“Mi sueño es que todas las mujeres en Latinoamérica puedan tener acceso al sistema de apoyo educativo y social, a los servicios financieros y de salud que ofrece Pro Mujer, a su vez que continuemos siendo pionera en nuevas soluciones para satisfacer las necesidades más eficazmente. Estoy segura que en los próximos 20 años, bajo la dirección de Rosario Pérez, nuestra Directora Ejecutiva, estaremos ayudando no solamente a miles de mujeres sino a millones, y que sigamos siendo guiadas por nuestra misión para crear las condiciones y servicios que les ayude a desarrollar su potencial y puedan cambiar el mundo.” Lynne Patterson.

Después de la maravillosa ovación por más de 1,000 seguidores del concierto, Alondra y el POA terminaron la noche con “Concerto for Chamber Orchestra” por Daniel Schnyder.

El concierto estuvo precedido por una recepción en el vestíbulo: Morgan Stanley de la sala de concierto Alice Tully.

De izquierda a derecha: los cinco Directores de Pro Mujer, Rodolfo Medrano (México), Naldi Delgado (Perú), Gloria Ruiz (Nicaragua), Gonzalo Alaiza (Bolivia) y José Alberto Morales (Argentina).

Carmen, Lynne, Alondra y Rosario

Gail Landis, la presidente de la Junta Directiva de  Pro Mujer, agradeció a los patrocinadores Banamex y Natura Bisse, al igual que a los miembros de la sociedad Velasco y Patterson y al Comité Junior, quienes estuvieron en la celebración por manifestar su apoyo. En nombre de todo el personal de Pro Mujer, Gail entregó a Lynne y Carmen dos libros con una selección de fotos de la trayectoria de Pro Mujer en los últimos 20 años.

Carmen, la presidente de la Junta Directiva de Pro Mujer, Gail Landis, y Lynne.

Fue una noche maravillosa en la sala de concierto, Alice Tully, pero tal y como Lynne lo expresó: “Mañana nosotros regresaremos a trabajar, porque millones de mujeres dependen de nosotras.” 

Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

Agradecimientos especiales a nuestros patrocinadores, Banamex y Natura Bisse, quienes ayudaron a  hacer  posible la noche.

An Evening of Song and Celebration: 20 Years of Empowering Women in Latin America

Last night, people from all walks of life – longtime friends and supporters, past and present leadership, Board members and staff – joined Pro Mujer in commemorating its 20^th anniversary in honor of two visionary women, Co-Founders Lynne Patterson and Carmen Velasco. The sold-out concert featured dynamic Mexican conductor Alondra de la Parra and the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas (POA) at the stunningly beautiful Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. 

Pro Mujer’s CEO, Rosario Pérez and Co-Founders and Directors, Carmen Velasco and Lynne Patterson (from L to R).

For those of you unfamiliar with Lynne and Carmen’s story, they first crossed paths in El Alto, Bolivia in 1990. 

“Twenty years ago, Lynne and I embarked upon an adventure that neither one of us imagined would bring us here today. We started Pro Mujer in one of the poorest and least-developed countries in Latin America – my country Bolivia. When we first started, we were helping a small group of women who aspired to a better life for themselves and their families yet were bound by a culture of poverty and fear. These women lacked access to basic but much-needed services such as credit, training and healthcare. They were treated as second-class citizens, had no sense of their rights or their own value and thought they only thing they deserved was charity” – Carmen Velasco.

Carmen and Lynne in the early days of Pro Mujer.

Educators by trade, they developed an innovative approach to women’s empowerment by combining microcredit, training and healthcare support. These programs formed the bedrock of what become Pro Mujer.   

Lynne and Carmen’s original programs have since evolved into an integrated package of services, which now includes: microfinance; business and empowerment training; preventative health education; and high-quality, low-cost primary healthcare.

Over the past 20 years, Pro Mujer has disbursed more than $885 million in small loans – averaging $260 – providing more than 1,000,000 women with the access to vital services needed to transform their lives and the lives of their 5,000,000 children and family members. Today, Pro Mujer operates in communities throughout Argentina, Bolivia, Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru.

The evening’s program opened with Aaron Copland’s vivid “Three Latin American Sketches” followed by Charles Ives’ philosophical and otherworldly, “Unanswered Question.” Samuel Barber’s “Knoxville:  Summer of 1915” highlighted the vocal prowess of soprano Emily Albrink; hailed by the New York Times as “delightful and vocally strong and versatile.” After a short introduction by Alondra, Lynne and Carmen took to the stage to thank the audience. In honor of Pro Mujer’s Latin American origins, Carmen gave a moving speech in Spanish highlighting the past twenty years.

Carmen honors the “real heroines” of the evening as she puts it – Pro Mujer’s women microentrepreneurs.

Lynne inspires the crowd by speaking about Pro Mujer’s exciting future.

“My dream is that all women in Latin America might have access to a Pro Mujer ‘s educational and social support system, financial and health services, and that Pro Mujer will continue to pioneer new solutions to meet their needs more effectively.  I am confident that in the next 20 years, under the leadership of Rosario Pérez, our CEO, we will be helping not thousands, but millions of women and that we will continue to be mission driven to create the conditions and services whereby women can realize their potential and change the world” – Lynne Patterson.

Following a standing ovation by many of the more than 1,000 concert goers, Alondra and the POA brought the evening to a close with “Concerto for Chamber Orchestra” by Daniel Schnyder.    

After the concert, a champagne reception was held in the Morgan Stanley lobby of Alice Tully Hall.

All five of Pro Mujer’s Country Directors (from L to R), Rodolfo Medrano (Mexico), Naldi Delgado (Peru), Gloria Ruiz (Nicaragua), Gonzalo Alaiza (Bolivia) and José Alberto Morales (Argentina).

Carmen, Lynne, Alondra and Rosario

Gail Landis, the Chair of Pro Mujer’s Board of Directors, thanked the evening’s sponsors Banamex and Natura Bisse as well as the members of The Velasco & Patterson Society and Junior Committee who were among those gathered to show their support. On behalf of Pro Mujer’s entire staff, Gail presented Lynne and Carmen with two bound picture books containing a selection of photos from Pro Mujer’s 20-year trajectory.

Carmen, the Chair of Pro Mujer’s Board of Directors Gail Landis and Lynne.

A wonderful evening was had by all at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts but as Lynne pointed out, “tomorrow we get back to work because millions of other women depend on us.”

Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

Special thanks our sponsors, Banamex and Natura Bisse, who helped make the evening possible.