By Kate Gardiner | Architectural Renderings courtesy of Studio Gang
A n innovative new Women’s Leadership Center is being built on the lakefront in Williams Bay thanks to successful logistics leader and philanthropist Ann M. Drake and renowned architect Jeanne Gang. On the next spread, At The Lake is thrilled to premiere the architect’s rendering of the campus, which is slated to open in 2026.
The new Women’s Leadership Center in Williams Bay will bring female leaders to the Geneva Lake area from all over the country, thanks to the efforts of founder and funder Ann M. Drake. Set to open in 2026, the new 24,000-square-foot conference center will host groups of up to 80 people on a tranquil, 9-acre lakefront lot near Yerkes Observatory and the former George Williams College campus.
“When [Yerkes Future Foundation founder and chair] Dianna Colman first met me and introduced me to her plans for Yerkes, I was excited by her vision for the observatory as a place for learning and the arts,” explains Drake. “When I found the property nearby, I thought I could build a women’s center here. And when I talked to [architect] Jeanne Gang, it seemed like we could make it real.”
“When you think about the story behind Yerkes and Kishwauketoe [Nature Preserve], it’s a story about natural things — paying attention to nature — but it’s also a story about inspiration and people accomplishing impossible things together,” Drake explains. “I’m building this center to encourage innovation by bringing together accomplished women in an extraordinary space dedicated to collaboration and generating solutions to complex problems.”
The center’s campus will include three main buildings and all of the architecture was inspired by Wisconsin’s natural beauty. “We are excited to explore ways to realize Ann’s vision through architecture that fosters creativity and collaboration, and embraces the natural beauty and ecology of Geneva Lake,” says architect Jeanne Gang, founding partner of Studio Gang. “The Women’s Leadership Center’s site plan will also leverage its proximity to the famous Yerkes Observatory, where generations of influential astronomers (such as Edwin Hubble) lived and worked.”
Williams Bay Village President Bill Duncan says the project’s architecture and design has been carefully considered to enhance rather than obscure the natural surroundings. “The sensitivity to the environment has been unusually strong,” he explains.
The result of this sensitivity is a small-footprint conference center with buildings that take up less than 10 percent of the site, leaving most of the campus in its natural Wisconsin Woodland state. The three main buildings that make up the Women’s Leadership Center will be named The Lodge, The Council and The Cabin. Together these spaces will provide opportunities for various forms of programming, including: summits, focused retreats, seminars and roundtable discussions. A small maintenance shed, located adjacent to the necessary on-site parking, is also being planned.
The Cabin will include private ac- commodations for up to three guest artists or lecturers concurrently to support on-site programming. The center’s campus is designed to be active year-round, hosting a range of activities from an engaging, day-long board retreat for 15-20 attendees to a five-day leadership summit for 60-80 attendees. Visitors will be provided overnight accommodations at local boutique hotels in the area and will be shuttled to the center for activities.
Duncan believes that the presence of a campus designed by Gang, a modern “starchitect,” will attract people from around the country to attend events at the conference center, who will then use area hotels, restaurants and other attractions. “When complete, the Women’s Leadership Center will be a magnet on a level that [the architecture of] Frank Lloyd Wright has been [for other communities],” he explains.
“I think the Women’s Leadership Center will be a fabulous addition to the lakefront and the community of Williams Bay, and a perfect complement to nearby Yerkes Observatory,” adds environmental lawyer Lynn Grayson, president of the Geneva Lake Association. “I am thrilled to live in an area that will include these two extraordinary entities.”
Drake is a legendary business leader in the field of shipping and logistics, where she spent the majority of her career. She says she was often the only woman in her boardroom, which inspired her to become a lifelong advocate for women. In 2012, as CEO of DSC Logistics, she was the first woman in 47 years to win the Distinguished Service Award from the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals. She took the opportunity to start the AWESOME (Achieving Women’s Excellence in Supply Chain Operations, Management and Education) program, a community of more than 1,500 women, which works to advance and transform the future of supply chain leadership.
In addition to her business leadership, Drake is also the president and founder of Lincoln Road Enterprises, an operational philanthropic organi- zation with a goal to “elevate women’s leadership and create a future in which women are at the forefront of improving the world we live in.”
Building the Women’s Leadership Center in Williams Bay is the next phase of achieving that goal, according to Drake. “We want women leaders to be at the front of initiatives that are helping our world,” she says. “That’s why we’re building this space.”
