Susan Hockfield, President of MIT since 2004, gave the welcome address at the inaugural GW@MIT Leadership Conference on November 8, 2010. She praises the efforts of the women who organized this conference for their hard work putting the event together, saying, "This is what I view as the most important role of leadership--helping people come together around the things they want to accomplish, and making it possible."

President Hockfield spoke about her own journey, her passion for being a scientist, and how the vitality of interdisciplinary work (such as the early 20th century merging of life sciences and engineering) at MIT might be a focus of leadership initiatives now and in the future.