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Patricia Sellers      

Multimedia Journalist, CEO of SellersEaston Media Co. & Chair of the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit

Pattie Sellers is the CEO of SellersEaston Media Co. and Chair of the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit. Sellers is also a former assistant managing editor of Fortune. An award-winning magazine writer, interviewer and multimedia journalist, Pattie wrote more than 20 cover stories during her three decades writing for Fortune. Pattie’s resume includes groundbreaking interviews with Warren Buffett, Rupert Murdoch, and Nike founder Phil Knight, and definitive profiles of Melinda Gates, Ted Turner, former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Oprah Winfrey, former Coca-Cola Chairman Muhtar Kent, Heineken heir Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken, and many other leaders in global business and other fields.

Pattie cofounded Fortune Most Powerful Women (MPW), which began in 1998 as an annual ranking of the top women in the business, and has grown to be the magazine’s largest and most valuable franchise. Pattie oversees six annual Fortune MPW conferences across the globe. Pattie also cofounded and directs various MPW programs, including the Fortune-U.S. State Department Global Women Mentoring Partnership and the Goldman Sachs-Fortune Global Women Leaders Award.

In 2013, Pattie won Time Inc.’s prestigious MVP (Most Valuable Performer) award for her innovative work at Fortune and her broad contributions across its then-parent company. The Washington Post profile of Pattie, “The Rolodex that Redefined Power,” describes her unmatched talent for interviewing and writing about successful people.

Sellers wrote some of Fortunes most talked-about cover stories, including Marissa Mayer: Ready to Rumble at Yahoo, Oprahs Next Act, Can Meg Whitman Save California?,The $100 Billion Woman (Melinda Gates), Martha Stewart (I cannot be destroyed) and Ted Turner (Gone with the Wind). A specialist at capturing larger-than-life personalities, she has profiled Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent (Muhtar Kents New Coke), billionaire Richard Rainwater (The Fight of Richard Rainwaters Life), Tom Freston (The Most Wanted Man on the Planet) and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson (Hank Paulsons Secret Life). She has also broken ground with insightful career management stories about Ego (Get Over Yourself!), Charisma (Do You Need It? Can You Get It?), Failure (So You Fail. So What?) and Power (Do Women Really Want It? and Women, Sex & Power.)

Sellers grew up in Allentown, Pennsylvania, graduated from the University of Virginia and started at Fortune in 1984.

Speech Topics

On Women and Leadership

Women leaders tend to think about power horizontallyand manage that way too. Having spent the past 15 years studying women leadersand building Most Powerful Women into Fortunes second-biggest brand, after the Fortune 500Pattie Sellers has gained unparalleled access to Americas top women leaders and has keen insights into what makes women successful (and not) in business, philanthropy, government and beyond. Her views are provocative and can be controversial: The concept of the glass ceiling is overplayed, she believes, and women hold themselves back by feeling uncomfortable with power. Wise women leaders embrace powerin different ways than most men do.

A View from the Boardroom: How Great Leaders Lead

Entrepreneurs drive economic recoveryand women are key. While Sellers has spent most of her 26 years at Fortune writing about leaders of large companies, her purview is much broader. She has written definitive (and exclusive) cover stories on world-changing entrepreneurs and leaders from across the business spectrum. Sellers talks about the common traits of outstanding business-builders and also explores stories of prominent people who have discovered fresh passion to start new lives after their careers in business.

Beyond the Corporate Ladder: New Career Paradigms for Changing Times

The most successful people think of their careers as jungle gyms, where the rewards come from moving in all directions and not just up. Sounds scary, but particularly in this fast-changing and unpredictable world, you should not think of your career as just climbing a ladder. More than ever, you need peripheral vision and the ability to think broadly. An expert on the traits needed to navigate a successful career, Pattie Sellers shows how flexibilityin both managing and being managedis an increasingly critical trait in todays workplaces. Success favors the highly adaptable who are ready to swing to opportunities over here and over there.

Experienced Moderator

As the co-founder and chair of Fortunes Most Powerful Women Summit, Pattie Sellers uses her sharp intellect and comfortable conversation style to play host, emcee and moderator to the preeminent gathering of women leaders in business, philanthropy, government, academia and the arts. With warmth, humor and extensive knowledge on the latest trends in business, Sellers deftly engages panelsand her audiencein a vibrant discussion that will create a memorable and informative program.

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