Dear MassWIT subscribers,

It's very exciting for me to welcome you to the first edition of the MassWIT newsletter. When MassWIT began as the northeast's discussion forum for women back in December 1999, it wasn't obvious that our little group would grow to more than 1,700 members ... and we're still growing!

During those two and a half years, MassWIT women who have relocated across the country have started up new WorldWIT groups, or become involved in existing ones, in Atlanta, Denver, Florida and Philadelphia, so the MassWIT message is spreading!

When I met Suzanne Zellner in February of 2000 neither of us had any idea that we'd be working so closely together or where this project might lead. Suzanne's amazing ability to bring people together has made her an exceptional leader for MassWIT, the leading networking forum for women in New England. And the team of outstanding women that Suzanne has organized as the MassWIT leadership team shows the high caliber of women that MassWIT attracts, from entrepreneurs to corporate women, attorneys and consultants, .gov and .org women, and professionals across a wide range of industries and functions.

Since I left my job in the Boston area in June of 2001, I've missed participating in your activities but instead have had the pleasure of watching MassWIT thrive and grow, host great networking events, and capture the attention of the media and the business community.

My involvement now is mostly with the global organization, WorldWIT, of which MassWIT is a member (and on whose executive team Suzanne also sits) which is over 20,000 subscribers worldwide, in 52 regions. The whole network is held together by the simple idea of exchanging ideas and advice via moderated email discussion; in turn supporting women in their careers, in developing their businesses, in their intellectual growth and in their non-work lives as well.

Little by little, the world is noticing the great impact that our humble plain-text email conversations can have for working women. Apart from our subscriber growth (from 8,000 to over 20,000 in the last year) we've seen WorldWIT covered by Fortune magazine, National Public Radio, and other leading media outlets across the U.S. and abroad.

In June 2002, WorldWIT communities hosted 10 face-to-face events: in Boston, of course; and also in New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Vancouver, West Palm Beach, Omaha, Des Moines, Chicago, and Dallas.

Sponsors, including Deloitte and Touche, 3com, Telcordia Corporation, Aquent, CMP Media, SilverStream, Network World, and Sun Microsystems have come on board to support WorldWIT activities and help our network grow.

What was a tiny group in two cities (Chicago and Boston) back in 1999 has become a recognized force for uniting women in business and technology around the world, and we are very thrilled to have you in the group.

What's next for us? Over the next several months, we'll be: o launching a new WorldWIT (www.worldwit.org) Web site o putting up sites for our local groups, including MassWIT o announcing an exciting leadership development program aimed at women in corporations o adding more columnists to our roster for thought-provoking articles, including, we hope, at least one Northeasterner o creating new alliances with women's organizations (tech, business, entrepreneurial, and others) around the world.

Our membership goal for this year is 30,000 people – please help us spread the word! Your friends can subscribe to their local discussion list at our site, www.worldwit.org.

Thanks to all for passing along this newsletter to colleagues and work associates who may not know about MassWIT yet. If you'd like to know more about MassWIT, or other WorldWIT groups, or to get more involved with MassWIT activities, please write to us at info@worldwit.org.

Please let us know how we can help you, professionally, personally, career-wise ... that's why we’re here. And thanks again to the wonderful MassWIT women, who share so much of their energy, know-how, experience and good will with each other every day.

I am planning on coming to the MassWIT event on Dec. 5. I hope I can meet you then.

Cheers,

Liz Ryan