True to Tri Delta tradition, we’ve thoughtfully curated an outstanding slate of speakers, engaging networking moments and fun, unforgettable activities—all created to deepen connection and enhance your Convention experience.
FRIDAY, JUNE 26, OPENING PANEL
This year’s Convention will kick off with our Women of Achievement Panel, moderated by Tri Delta CEO Mindy Tucker, Southern Methodist. Mindy will be leading several of our 2025 and 2026 Women of Achievement in a discussion around their professional impact and the role Tri Delta has played in their lives. Panelists include AnnaMaria DeSalva, William & Mary (2026), Julie Kincaid Hill, California/Los Angeles (2026), Sylvia Sydow Kerrigan, Southwestern (2025), Ashley Wilson McClellan, Southern Methodist (2026), Karen Lynch Parkhill, Southern Methodist (2025), and Jacqueline Reses, Pennsylvania (2025).
Established in 2000, Tri Delta’s Woman of Achievement title is the Fraternity’s highest honor. It recognizes alumnae whose leadership and service have made a lasting impact in their professions and communities and whose lives reflect Tri Delta’s core values of truth, self-sacrifice and friendship.
These women share a commitment to lead with integrity, serve with purpose and create a lasting impact wherever they are called. They have shaped boardrooms, communities, classrooms, companies and conversations with resilience, vision and heart.
Learn more about each of our Women of Achievement here.
SATURDAY, JUNE 27, KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Loretta Soffe, California/Berkeley
Author, Speaker and Executive Coach
This session is generously sponsored by BNY Wealth.
Loretta Soffe spent 24 years at Nordstrom, rising from cashier to Executive Vice President overseeing a $2 billion business, all while building a 25+ year marriage and raising three children. After leaving corporate leadership, she founded a consulting practice, served as an independent board director and was a Senior Advisor to Boston Consulting Group’s Global Retail Practice.
In 2025, Loretta published “Balance Is BS: Your Roadmap to a Thriving Marriage, Grounded Kids & Career Success,” challenging the myth that women must choose between ambition and a meaningful personal life.
Today, Loretta coaches senior leaders and professional women on career growth, life transitions and redefining success—with the credibility of someone who’s actually lived it.
SATURDAY, JUNE 27, EDUCATIONAL SESSIONS
April Mathis Voris, Alabama—Show Up With Purpose: Building a Personal Brand People Remember
Your personal brand is not just what you post, what you do or how you introduce yourself. It is the story people understand, remember and share about you. In this session, April will help Tri Delta members of all ages think about how they show up with clarity, confidence and purpose, and how to build a personal brand rooted in who they are, what they value and the impact they want to make.
Nicole Lenaers Yue, Colorado—What Comes Next: Mapping Your Career in the Age of AI
AI isn’t changing what you do—it’s changing what one person can accomplish. This session shows you how to use that shift to your advantage, not just survive it. Every attendee will leave with two tools they can use immediately—an AI-powered Career Mapping Workflow that walks you through building a complete, personalized career plan, and an AI Skills Gap Mapper that identifies exactly which capabilities to develop for your next role.
Ashley Baskerville, Cal State/Long Beach—The Cost of Doing It All: Reclaiming You
This session explores why so many women feel constantly busy, mentally exhausted and disconnected. Through practical strategies for protecting your time, making values-based decisions and recovering with intention, this session will help you move beyond survival mode and build a more sustainable, aligned life. Expect to hear relatable insights, receive actionable tools and have real conversations.
Ashley Wilson McClellan, Southern Methodist—Becoming the CEO of Your Own Life: Navigating Your Personal and Professional Life as a Leader
In this engaging and authentic session, Dr. Ashley Wilson McClellan shares lessons learned from leading complex healthcare organizations, launching a high-growth startup and balancing the demands of leadership with personal fulfillment. Drawing from her experience as a healthcare executive, entrepreneur, educator and mother, she will explore how leaders can intentionally design lives and careers aligned with their values, purpose and long-term vision. Attendees will gain practical strategies for navigating change, overcoming self-imposed limitations and leading with confidence—both professionally and personally. This session will inspire leaders to stop reacting to life’s demands and start becoming the CEO of their own lives.
Katherine Collins Neal, Wake Forest—Lead Without Limits: Tackling Perfectionism, Imposter Syndrome & Burnout
Some of the greatest threats to effective leadership aren’t visible. They’re the internal patterns of perfectionism, self-doubt and burnout that shape how we lead. In this session, we’ll recognize and reframe these hidden barriers, replacing them with practical strategies for resilient, values-driven leadership. Through insight, actionable tools and a guided exercise, let’s release the pressure to be perfect, quiet our inner critics and protect our energy for what matters most.
Melanie Sue Hicks, Central Florida—Legacy Building at Any Age: Life Lessons From Travel and Service
In “Legacy Building at Any Age: Life Lessons From Travel and Service,” Dr. Melanie Sue Hicks invites audiences to rethink what it means to create a meaningful life. Drawing from more than 2,500 hours of service work across 47 countries, she shares practical lessons on resilience, human connection and how each of us can build a legacy through the choices we make, the people we serve and the courage we bring to everyday life.
Judy Barton and Lesley Holland (BNY Wealth Staff)—Financial Confidence in Action
Build the financial knowledge and confidence to make smart decisions early in life. This discussion includes the basics of saving, investing, planning, giving and protecting your future, all while showing how small steps today can create greater independence, security and opportunity tomorrow.
Judy Barton and Lesley Holland (BNY Wealth Staff)—Wealth, Wisdom & Legacy
Examine the decisions that become increasingly important as wealth grows and life circumstances evolve. This session provides a practical, sophisticated look at investment planning, risk management, estate structures, philanthropy and the ways women can align their resources with their values and long-term goals.
SUNDAY, JUNE 28, KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Cathy Guisewite, Michigan
Cartoonist and Author
Cathy Guisewite created the comic strip “Cathy,” which ran daily in nearly 1,400 newspapers from 1976 to 2010, launching at a time when there were almost no female voices on the comic pages. It became a deeply personal touchstone for women wrestling with a changing world, earning a National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award, an Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program and the high honor of appearing on refrigerators across the land, right next to the food.
Along with the strip, Guisewite published numerous books and built her own merchandising company, licensing hundreds of “Cathy” products over the years.
Her latest book, “Cathy 50th Anniversary Collection,” is a sweeping retrospective of the strip from the very beginning—five decades of chocolate, bathing suits, mother-daughter dynamics and the messy, honest truth of being a woman trying to figure it all out.
Today, Cathy speaks with the warmth and wit that made her strip a cultural institution, offering audiences a mix of laughter, candor and the kind of hard-won perspective that only comes from 50 years of paying attention.