The 2026 Forbes Power Women’s Summit brought together women leaders from business, sports, healthcare, fashion, media and other fields for discussions on leadership and influence. Serena Williams, Gunjan Kedia, Kate Ryder and other speakers addressed entrepreneurship, investment, innovation and social impact during the September 10 event.
Key Takeaways
- Serena Williams discussed increasing women’s influence over investment decisions through Serena Ventures.
- Gunjan Kedia discussed her leadership as the first woman to serve as U.S. Bank CEO.
- Kate Ryder addressed gaps in women’s healthcare through Maven Clinic.
- Leena Nair discussed human-centered leadership and innovation at Chanel.
- Speakers also addressed women’s sports, maternal health, entrepreneurship and leadership.
Forbes Power Women’s Summit Brings Leaders Together
Women leaders from business, sports, healthcare, fashion, media and other fields participated in the 2026 Forbes Power Women’s Summit on September 10. The 14th annual event centered its sessions on leadership, influence, entrepreneurship, investment, innovation and social impact.
Serena Williams, Maven Clinic founder Kate Ryder and U.S. Bank CEO Gunjan Kedia were among the executives and entrepreneurs who spoke during the event. Other participants included Chanel Global CEO Leena Nair, model and entrepreneur Cindy Crawford, Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu, Paralympic swimmer Ali Truwit, NASA astronaut Christina Koch and former U.S. soccer player Ashlyn Harris.
The summit’s focus on women building and leading businesses also parallels recent coverage of Gen Z women entrepreneurs and their approaches to company growth, digital audiences and management.
Forbes Executive Vice President and ForbesWomen publisher Moira Forbes said the summit had used the word “power” intentionally since the event began. She said attitudes toward the term had changed over the 14 years of the summit, with women increasingly embracing the concept of power alongside influence and impact.
The event also included journalist and author Elaine Welteroth, who founded birthFUND in 2024, and Reshma Saujani, founder and CEO of Moms First. Their appearances brought maternal health, family care and women’s access to resources into the discussions.
The lineup also included Grammy-nominated singer Natasha Bedingfield, who opened the event with a performance of her song “Dot Dot Dot” and later performed “Unwritten.”
Serena Williams Discusses Women and Investment Capital
Serena Williams used her appearance to discuss her work outside professional tennis, particularly through Serena Ventures. The firm focuses on early-stage companies founded by women and underrepresented groups.
Williams launched the investment firm after learning that female founders received only 2% of funding. She said changing investment outcomes requires changing who makes investment decisions.
The summit’s discussion of financial access also connects with recent reporting on women’s financial empowerment and the role of financial planning in supporting women with significant professional and household responsibilities.
Serena Ventures has invested in more than 100 companies, with 16 reaching unicorn status, according to the summit coverage. The firm began rebranding as Starfire Ventures during the summer, with the stated goal of developing the business beyond Williams’ celebrity.
Williams also discussed her return to competitive tennis. After nearly four years away, she returned to competition in 2026 and participated in mixed doubles with Carlos Alcaraz at the U.S. Open. She also reunited with her sister Venus Williams for women’s doubles.
Forbes estimated that Williams earned $40.1 million during the previous year, with $131,932 coming from prize money. The majority of her income came from activities outside tournament competition.
Williams connected her professional choices with her role as a mother and said she wanted to show her daughters that women can pursue multiple responsibilities while taking ownership of their achievements.
Her comments at the summit linked athletic achievement with entrepreneurship and investment, placing capital allocation alongside traditional measures of professional success.
Gunjan Kedia Details Her Leadership at U.S. Bank
Gunjan Kedia discussed her experience leading U.S. Bank, where she became CEO in April 2025. She is the first woman to hold the position.
Kedia joined U.S. Bank in 2016 after earlier positions at PwC, McKinsey, BNY and State Street. She also studied at the Delhi School of Engineering and Carnegie Mellon University.
As CEO, Kedia oversees an institution with more than $660 billion in assets and 70,000 employees. During her first year in the role, she focused on building confidence within the organization and establishing new business opportunities.
Kedia said her early career success depended in part on confidence in her own perspective and opinions. She described her first year as CEO as a period of putting new points on the board while rebuilding confidence across the organization.
Coverage of women CEO leadership rates has also examined the relationship between women serving as chief executives and the representation of women in senior corporate roles.
During her tenure, U.S. Bank entered a wealth-management partnership with the NFL, reached an agreement with Amazon involving credit cards for Amazon Prime and Amazon Business, and acquired investment bank BTIG.
Kedia also discussed maintaining established strengths while preparing an organization for future needs. She said companies should not allow past achievements or traditions to prevent them from adapting.
Her comments provided an executive perspective on leading a large financial institution while balancing organizational identity, employee confidence and new business initiatives.
Kate Ryder Addresses Gaps in Women’s Healthcare
Kate Ryder, founder and CEO of Maven Clinic, discussed the challenges facing women’s healthcare and the business she built to address some of those gaps.
Maven Clinic provides healthcare services related to women’s and family health. Its consumer offerings include menopause medicine and hormone health access, while its business services help employers support workers through fertility care, including coaching for natural conception and IVF.
Ryder said women’s healthcare remains underserved by existing health systems. She also described the difficulty she faced when raising Maven Clinic’s Series A financing in 2016, when investors showed greater interest in other technology sectors.
Recent reporting on Maven’s women’s health strategy has examined the company’s employer benefits work and its planned Onward summit in New York City.
Maven Clinic is now valued at $1.7 billion, according to the summit coverage. Clear, the identity-verification company led by Caryn Seidman Becker, is among Maven’s corporate customers.
Seidman Becker also appeared at the summit and discussed Clear’s expansion beyond airport identity verification. The company has moved into healthcare settings, with hospital groups in Georgia, New York, New Jersey and Louisiana integrating identity verification into medical-office check-ins.
Seidman Becker said her experience as a mother and her response to the September 11 attacks influenced her decision to acquire Clear more than a decade ago. She purchased the company out of bankruptcy for $6 million and later helped build it into a multibillion-dollar business.
Ryder and Seidman Becker represented different approaches to improving experiences for women and families, with one focused on healthcare access and the other on identity verification and convenience in healthcare settings.
Speakers Examine Leadership, Innovation and Social Impact
Leena Nair, global CEO of Chanel, discussed leadership, technology and the role of people inside a large organization. She became Chanel’s second female global CEO in 2022 and its first person of color to hold the position.
Before joining Chanel, Nair spent 30 years at Unilever, where she became the company’s youngest, first female and first Asian chief human resources officer. At Chanel, she said her experience as an outsider helped her question established practices.
Nair also discussed artificial intelligence and said Chanel was experimenting with the technology while using it to simplify operations. She said the company’s approach remained centered on human skills.
Other sessions addressed leadership through sports and personal achievement. Alysa Liu discussed redefining success after stepping away from competitive figure skating at 16 and later returning to the sport. She won gold in women’s singles and the team event at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.
Ali Truwit discussed returning to competitive swimming after losing her left leg in a shark attack. She later competed at the Paris Paralympic Games, where she won two silver medals, and established American records in the 400-meter freestyle and 100-meter backstroke in the S10 classification.
Truwit also founded Stronger Than You Think, which has raised more than $1 million, donated 29 prosthetics and funded seven water-safety programs, according to her summit remarks.
Elaine Welteroth discussed birthFUND, the nonprofit she founded in 2024 to expand access to safe birth care and resources. She said the organization had raised more than $10 million.
Reshma Saujani discussed Moms First and efforts to make it easier for women to work and raise families. She also previously founded Girls Who Code and launched PaidLeave.ai, a tool designed to help parents determine which paid-leave benefits they may qualify for.
NASA astronaut Christina Koch discussed preparation and trust during spaceflight. Koch became the first woman to travel around the moon during the Artemis II mission and previously spent 328 consecutive days in space, the longest single spaceflight by a woman.
Ashlyn Harris, a former U.S. women’s national team goalkeeper, discussed women’s sports and the need for opportunities and infrastructure for athletes after retirement. Pat Cleveland, one of the first Black supermodels, also spoke about her career and the connection between fashion and world events.
The summit brought these discussions together across business, entrepreneurship, healthcare, sports, technology, fashion and community initiatives, with women serving as the central participants in each area.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Forbes Power Women’s Summit?
The Forbes Power Women’s Summit is an annual event centered on women’s leadership, influence and professional achievement. The 2026 edition was the 14th annual summit and took place on September 10.
Who spoke at the 2026 Forbes Power Women’s Summit?
Speakers included Serena Williams, Gunjan Kedia, Kate Ryder, Leena Nair, Cindy Crawford, Alysa Liu, Ali Truwit, Christina Koch, Elaine Welteroth, Reshma Saujani and Ashlyn Harris.
What did Serena Williams discuss at the Forbes summit?
Williams discussed Serena Ventures and the role women can play in investment decisions. She said the firm focuses on early-stage companies founded by women and underrepresented groups and has invested in more than 100 companies.
What did Gunjan Kedia discuss about women’s leadership?
Kedia discussed her role as U.S. Bank CEO and her approach to building confidence within the organization. She also described business partnerships and an acquisition undertaken during her tenure.
What did Kate Ryder say about women’s healthcare?
Ryder discussed gaps in healthcare services for women and the work of Maven Clinic. She described the company’s consumer and employer services covering areas including menopause, hormone health and fertility care.
