ABC News journalist to address Gift + Home CEO Summit

Casual Living Staff -- Casual Living, 10/3/2012 2:58:57 PM

Claire ShipmanLAS VEGAS -- Claire Shipman, a best-selling author and senior contributor for ABC News, joins the slate of speakers confirmed for International Market Center's inaugural Gift + Home CEO Summit at the Las Vegas Market in January 2013. Jon Huntsman Jr., former Ambassador to China, and Robert Reich, one of the world's leading economists, will be presenting keynote addresses at the two-day summit for gift and home décor industry executives.

On Thursday, Jan. 31, Shipman, co-author of The New York Times best seller, Womenomics: The Workplace Revolution That Will Change Your Life, will address how women are changing the world - from politics to the workplace - and explore how the management styles of today's women are producing more profitable companies with happier employees. She will also discuss how women in the gift and home industry can get more time and freedom in their jobs without falling off the professional ladder.

"Claire's remarks will resonate with any executive, but in particular with the women who hold so many upper-level positions in our industry," said conference organizer Randy Eller, president of Eller Enterprises. "She is a great addition to the CEO Summit's stellar line-up of superlative economists and thought leaders."

A panelist on several White House and State Department programs on women's issues, Shipman is also a contributor for Good Morning America, World News and This Week. Prior to joining ABC News in 2001, Shipman served as White House correspondent for NBC News where she regularly reported on presidential policy and politics for NBC Nightly News and TODAY.

A veteran journalist, Shipman also worked at CNN for a decade, earning recognition for her White House press coverage, and spent five years at CNN's Moscow bureau. She received a Dupont Award and an Emmy as one of the key contributors to CNN's coverage of the 1989 Tiananmen Square student uprising, as well as a Dupont Award for CNN's coverage of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

"Claire's session promises to be equal parts informational, instructional and inspirational and is an excellent extension of the high-caliber content offered to conference participants," said Dorothy Belshaw, IMC's president of gift and home décor. "As the first-of-its-kind executive-level conference for the gift and home industry, the Gift + Home CEO Summit is an important first step in our multi-phase plan to transform the World Market Center in Las Vegas into the preeminent gift and home marketplace in the Western United States."

The conference program includes keynote addresses, panel discussions and other topical presentations, with all content geared toward CEOs, presidents and owners of gift and home businesses. Co-produced by IMC and Eller Enterprises, the event will take place Jan. 31-Feb. 1, 2013, in Las Vegas, during the winter 2013 market. For information, registration and sponsorship opportunities, contact Randy Eller at 615-771-1112, ext. 10, or reller@ellerent.com.

For more information, visit GiftandHomeLV.com.