The St. Louis Forum is intimate by design. Membership connects you with a trusted circle of accomplished women leaders in the St. Louis region. Our size allows for meaningful and lasting relationships with a diverse group of women across industries, career stages, and lived experiences.
Forum members learn with and from another through thoughtfully curated experiences. Events blend seasoned perspectives with fresh leadership energy, fostering an exchange of insights that broadens thinking and enriches your professional and personal development.
Engagement within the Forum extends well beyond scheduled events. Our members introduce one another to opportunities across the region, from civic involvement and nonprofit governance to business partnerships. Through these interactions, members discover new ways to contribute, participate, and lead, generating lasting professional and personal value.
The Forum elevates member accomplishments and amplifies collective reach. Your achievements are celebrated, your voice is heard, and your participation helps shape the Forum’s direction. Together, members create access, shape dialogue, and strengthen the impact of women leaders across St. Louis. You’re not just a member. You’re a co-creator of the community.
At the St. Louis Forum, connection leads to learning. Learning leads to collaboration.
And collaboration leads to impact — for our members and for St. Louis.
St. Louis Forum was founded in 1981, as a haven for “women leaders who were struggling with the isolation of being the only, and generally the most senior, woman in their company.” Six women joined forces to create the first imprint of what St. Louis Forum is today—a process that took upwards of six months to gather and craft by-laws, membership criteria, and the like. At the proverbial table sat Mary Barrows, Vice President of Mark Twain Bank; Jacqueline Reck, CPA; Claudia Wall, Peat Marwick & Co.; and, Patricia Spira, Development of CASA. A few months later, Hollye Stolz Atwood and Carolyn Whitelaw joined the cohort.
Later that year, the original organizing committee rendered it necessary to extend its membership to include “charter members—” the women scanned their rolodexes and targeted a select group of female executives to whom they’d extend invitations. Eventually those charter memberships extended themselves to full-time commitments, and, by February 1982, when the Charter Membership period ended, St. Louis Forum had a whopping 48 members—membership thus grew eight-fold.
Fast-forward 38 years and membership continues to grow. Currently, total membership has reached upwards of 200 women. As time progresses, so will St. Louis Forum—an exciting journey for female professionals in the St. Louis community, as well as for the region, at large.
âTo review the current by-laws of St. Louis Forum, log in here.