UNITED STATES/ IRAQ: U.S. Ambassador for Global Women's Issues Melanne Verveer to Visit Tupperware Brands and Rollins College to Share Perspectives on Empowering Women Around the World

Melanne Verveer, U.S. Ambassador at Large for Global Women's Issues in the U.S. Department of State, will visit Tupperware Brands, a global company with a long and deep history of empowering women, and Rollins College, a school with strong expertise on a variety of women's and international issues, on October 29. Ambassador Verveer is expected to address how advancing the status of women around the world benefits not just women but the world and Americans at home.

During her Orlando visit, Ambassador Verveer will meet with Rick Goings, chairman and CEO of Tupperware Brands, and give an address at Tupperware Brands headquarters during which she will describe her office's work in building economic and social opportunities for women around the world and the important role that business and academia play in supporting these programs. She will then give an address at Rollins during which she will examine the role of women in inspiring social change. In her position, Ambassador Verveer mobilizes concrete support for women's rights and empowerment through initiatives and programs designed to increase women's and girls' access to education and health care, to combat violence against women and girls in all its forms, and to ensure that women's rights are fully integrated with human rights in the development of U.S. foreign policy.

Ambassador Verveer and the Office of Global Women's Issues are partners with Tupperware Brands and Rollins College's Crummer Graduate School of Business in an inaugural program called Global Links, which is designed to inspire a new generation of Iraqi women entrepreneurs. The yearlong program, which launched in January to help advance the U.S. National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, brings an Iraqi woman professor to participate in an externship at Tupperware Brands' corporate headquarters and to spend an academic year in residence at Crummer. The inaugural Global Links scholar – Dr. Amel Abed Mohammed Ali, a professor and department head in the University of Babylon's College of Administration & Economics in Iraq – is currently in Orlando completing her studies, which include entrepreneurship and women business ownership, and will later return to Iraq to share her training and new knowledge with hundreds of Iraqi students. The Global Links program will continue with phase two in 2013.

"As a global society, we are at a tipping point with respect to the empowerment and equality of women and girls," said Verveer. "While we have come very far in our efforts to lift up women to lift up the world, we still have a lot of work to do to ensure women and girls have access to quality education and opportunities to earn a sustainable living for themselves and their families. Women will play an essential role in building the modern global economy and helping solve the critical issues facing the international community. We are very proud to work with the Tupperware Brands Global Links program, which is helping to create a more secure Iraq by fostering women's economic empowerment."

Tupperware Brands identified a need for Global Links when Goings was invited, along with Elinor Steele, VP Global Communications and head of Tupperware Brands' global women's initiative Chain of Confidence, to travel to Baghdad with the U.S. Department of Defense last year as part of a delegation – the first of its kind – focusing on Iraqi businesswomen, women's issues and investment opportunities. The goal of the delegation was to learn more about Iraqi businesswomen, the challenges they face in Iraq's fast-growing economy, and potential sustainable business and investment opportunities in the country. Because the country is poised for double-digital economic growth over the next few years according to estimates, a strengthened private sector is required to support the needed equitable distribution of these gains, particularly for women who experience the brunt of high levels of existing unemployment, weak labor laws, barriers to accessing credit and many other issues.

"We are very proud and honored to welcome Ambassador Verveer on her visit to the Tupperware Brands family," said Goings, who also participates in the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Parity Group. "Both the Secretary's Office of Global Women's Issues and the Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College have been incredibly strong partners in developing and launching Global Links, which supports Tupperware Brands' entrepreneurial spirit and long tradition of women helping women. We are so proud of this initiative and our broader work to close the gender gap and use education to help women open doors to socioeconomic opportunity and success. Nations that empower women have greater economic strength – it's that simple."

At Rollins, Dr. Mohammed Ali has participated in a comprehensive curriculum that has included graduate-level business courses at Crummer, such as social entrepreneurship and sustainable enterprise, business communications and women's studies. She believes that the program will develop both the intellectual and economic standard of Iraqi women, as well as the Iraqi community.

"It has been an honor for Rollins College to be part of Global Links and to work with Dr. Mohammed Ali and our program partners to encourage women's economic empowerment as well as peace and security through education, entrepreneurship and social change," said Dr. Lewis Duncan, president of Rollins College. "We are excited to welcome Ambassador Verveer to our campus and discuss how we can continue to apply education to further improve the lives of women around the world."

About Tupperware Brands Corporation

Tupperware Brands Corporation is a portfolio of global direct selling companies, selling innovative, premium products across multiple brands and categories through an independent sales force of 2.7 million. Product brands and categories include design-centric preparation, storage and serving solutions for the kitchen and home through the Tupperware brand and beauty and personal care products for consumers through the Armand Dupree, Avroy Shlain, BeautiControl, Fuller Cosmetics, NaturCare, Nutrimetics, and Nuvo brands.

About the Secretary's Office of Global Women's Issues Through the Secretary's Office of Global Women's Issues, the U.S. Department of State works to promote stability, peace, and development by empowering women politically, socially, and economically around the world. The Office is organized upon four pillars: 1) promoting the full engagement of women in the political and economic spheres; 2) mitigating the impact of violence against women and girls; 3) addressing underlying socio-economic problems, including women's access to health and education, food security, and global problems such as climate change; and 4) ensuring that women are integrated as equal participants in reconciliation, post-conflict reconstruction, and development in areas affected by conflict.

About Rollins MBA

The Rollins MBA at the Rollins College Crummer Graduate School of Business, located in Winter Park, Florida, is ranked a top MBA program by Bloomberg Businessweek and Forbes. It is among a select group of business schools in the nation that have been accredited at the graduate level and is distinguished by its faculty and the academic and business successes of its graduates. The Rollins MBA offers degrees in three different formats for both working professionals and full-time students. The school also houses Centers of Excellence in Leadership, Advanced Entrepreneurship, Career Development, Management & Executive Education, and Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership.

About Dr. Amel Abed Mohammed

Ali Amel Abed Mohammed Ali, Ph.D., is a professor and the head of the Department of Industrial Management in Babylon University's College of Administration & Economics in Babylon, Iraq. She is an accomplished researcher and academician focusing on several research topics, including strategies of organizational conflict management and change management and the effect of transformational leadership and information technology on business operations. She received a B.S. in management from the University of Baghdad, an M.S. in management and technology from the University of Wales and a Ph.D. in business administration from the University of Al-Mustansiriyh.