We were enjoying beautiful views for a special event celebrating 53 years of women at Harvard Business School. Held on International Women's Day, speakers included former US Secretary of Commerce Barbara Franklin, Case Foundation CEO Jean Case, Blue Mercury founder and CEO Marla Beck, and US Trust SVP Jackie Vanderbrug. The event began with cocktails and light hors d’oeuvres before a panel led by National Geographic's first female chair, Jean Case, recipient of the HBSCDC 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award, interviewing Barbara to discuss her groundbreaking efforts to recruit women into high-level government positions during the Nixon administration.

Despite the advances women have made, only one-third of senior positions in the federal government and less than 15% in the private  are held by women. Here, HBS Director for Gender Initiative's Colleen Ammerman leads the discussion on gender equality and the importance of women in leadership positions.

Barbara, one of the first women to graduate from Harvard Business School, recently published A Matter of Simple Justice: The Untold Story of Barbara Hackman Franklin and A Few Good Women, which she signed at the conclusion of the evening. Here, Surprise Ride's Donna and Rosy Khalife with Metamorphosis Global Advisory's Allison Johnson.

The DC Harvard Business School Club was founded in 1933, and has 4,300 alumni. Here, Save the Children's Patricia Langan, Microsoft's Umbereen Ahmed, and International Finance Corp's Jannike Aase Jackson.

Liz Ovits & Heather Mahoney contributed to this issue.