Dr. Conway was born and raised on an outback tract of land called Coorain in Hillston, New South Wales, Australia with her parents and a brother. Her early education was provided entirely by her mother and a governess. She graduated from the University of Sydney where she studied English and History. She received her Ph.D. in History from Harvard and then taught History at the University of Toronto from 1964 to 1975. She also was Vice President of Internal Affairs at the University from 1973 to 1975.

Dr. Conway was Professor of History and the first woman President of Smith College (Northampton, MA) from 1975 to 1985 where she introduced many innovations that helped young women advance financially and academically. She has been a Visiting Scholar with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Program in Science, Technology and Society since 1985.

In 1978, she was named a director of Merrill Lynch and was the Lead Independent Director until her retirement in April 2007. She was named a director of Colgate-Palmolive Company in 1984 and continues as a member of their Audit Committee, a member of their Personnel and Organization Committee and chair of their Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. She was named a director of Nike Inc. in 1987, where she currently serves as a member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and chair of the Corporate Responsibility Committee.

Dr. Conway served as a director of Lend Lease Corporation Ltd. for eleven years (beginning in 1992), became Chairman of the Board in November 2000, retiring in May 2003. Lend Lease Corporation Limited (ASX: LLC) is an international real estate and financial services group.

Dr. Conway holds numerous Honorary Doctorates from North American universities. She has been a member of the Harvard University Board of Overseers and of The Conference Board. She was a trustee of Hampshire College, Northfield Mt. Hermon School and The Clarke School for the Deaf. She also is a trustee of the Boston Museum Project and the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.

She has written or collaborated on more than twenty books including several about women in leadership and women’s experiences in the 18th and 19th century. Her two volume anthology, Written By Herself, vol 1 (editor, 1995) and Written By Herself, vol. 2, Autobiographies of Women from Britain, Africa, Asia and the U.S. (1996), represents some of the best biographical depictions of women’s earliest professional and business successes. The story of her life, The Road from Coorain, based on her memoir by the same title, became an award- winning film in 2002. Dr. Conway continues to write and speak about women in leadership and in contemporary life.