With the April 26-28 PMA Foundation Women's Fresh Perspectives Conference at Loews Coronado Bay Resort in San Diego just around the corner, organizers are confident the some 225 participants will benefit from a powerhouse speaker lineup as well as sessions geared toward three career stages and a unique mentoring program that pairs lesser experienced women with industry veterans.Geena Davis

According to Margi Prueitt, PMA Foundation executive director and senior vice president of PMA, the 2015 conference is “going to be absolutely great.” The speaker series, Prueitt said, is headlined by Academy Award-winning actress and advocate Geena Davis. 

Davis will keynote at the April 28 closing session that will run from 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. with an address entitled “Geena Takes Aim: Empowering Women.”

Consistently witness to the strength of women during her decades-long film career as well as her Olympic sports participation (an alternate on the archery team) and, most recently, gender advocacy, Davis is recognized for her work toward bringing gender equality into the popular culture lexicon.

According to the PMA Foundation, she is at “the forefront of changing female portrayals and gender stereotypes, through cutting-edge research, education, training, strategic guidance and advocacy programs.” Davis' film awards include the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1989's “The Accidental Tourist,” and she has received numerous nominations and accolades for her screen work. Both she and co-star Susan Sarandon were nominated for Best Actress in the 1991 hit, “Thelma and Louise.”

Her offscreen activism has increased in momentum in recent years. In 2007 she founded the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in the Media, with its mission for reduction of stereotyping of women, and this year she will launch the Bentonville Film Festival in Arkansas, with the intent of highlighting diversity in film.

A perfect fit for the WFPC, Davis shares the podium with other eminently qualified motivators.

At the opening general session on Sunday, April 26, keynote speaker Colette Carlson will share her insights with an address entitled “3 Truths Female Leaders Need to Know,” a look at self-awareness as well as skills necessary to become an authentic, credible and confident leader. Using humor to deliver her message, Carlson encourages her audience to laugh out loud along the way to learning business skills. Her session will include tips on cultivating connections and developing strategic relationships, using self-promotion to gain support and also boosting credibility through the elimination of  self-deprecating and self-sabotaging behaviors. Carlson is a business communication expert, motivational speaker and author of “Tactfully Speaking,” published in Business Management Daily.

Monday's morning general session, “Well on Wheels,” features keynote speaker PowerHouse Performance Coaching founder Jenny Evans, who will examine the tendency to be a a perfectionist who over extends time and resources, who fails to delegate or say no when the situation requires it and who may evaluate herself harshly and has difficulty asking for help. The program addresses both psychological and physical needs of female leaders and provides tools for establishing confidence, power, resiliency and health.

Ken Tucker of Intentional Difference motivational speaking and blogging will keynote the Monday afternoon general session. The motivational guru will further examine an individual's Intentional Difference, which consists of critical outcome, driving passion, assimilated experience, cumulative knowledge, emergent skill and prevailing talent. According to the foundation he will focus on the idea that “5 percent separates you from the rest of the world. Eighty-five percent of what you are capable of doing, most other people can do just as well. Ten percent of what you are capable of doing, others can be trained to do. But 5 percent…the unique 5 percent of what you are capable of doing, only you can do.”

The speaker series also features Cohen Career Consulting founder Aimee Cohen, author of the bestseller “WOMAN UP! Overcome the 7 Deadly Sins that Sabotage Your Success”; Your SweetSpot's president and CEO Kym Harris; Deborrah Himsel of the Thunderbird School of Global Management; Cheryl Jordan, leadership development coach; Rebecca Hendricks, executive associate for Barnes & Conti Associates, which provides consulting, facilitation, and development work for numerous client organizations across a wide range of industry sectors; Rob Brodo, executive vice president and GM of Advantexe Learning Solutions with more than 20 years of training experience with a focus in healthcare, technology, chemicals, and process manufacturing industries; and Amy Hirsh Robinson, expert on the changing workforce and consultant to Fortune 500 companies, privately held businesses and not-for-profits to prepare and retool leaders and their workforces to excel and compete in the New Economy.