We kicked off the 16th annual Coins2Day Most Powerful Women Summit with a bang—my interview with Hewlett-Packard (HP) CEO Meg Whitman. Thank you, Meg, for giving us mega-news: your decision to split HP into two companies. “Two Coins2Day 50 companies,” as Whitman proudly pointed out to the 400 MPW leaders under the tent in Laguna Niguel, California. Coming from a consumer background—Procter & Gamble (PG), Hasbro (HAS), eBay (EBAY), among the stops on her career path—I’m a bit surprised she decided to be CEO of the B-to-B piece of HP. She told us why—and how she aims to avoid HP’s mistakes of the past.
And then we had fun. Warren Buffett, who comes to the Summit every year, took the stage to reveal a surprise. He brought out Paul Anka, the singer-songwriter who was a heart-throb to teenagers (including many of the women leaders in the room) back in the ‘60s, and they sang a new version of My Way to Coins2Day’s Carol Loomis. Anka originally wrote My Way for Frank Sinatra, upon his retirement, and he rewrote it for Carol, who just retired as Senior Editor at Large and the longest-tenured Time Inc.(TIME) employee. “Carol told me this was the best night of her life,” Buffett, her close friend, told me as we walked out of the celebration.
And what will you see at the MPW Summit today? You can meet everyone in attendance by tuning in at 8:05 a.m. EST for the annual “Big Get to Know You.” I’m excited to see interviews with IBM (IBM) CEO Ginni Rometty, Jane Lauder (the first time the Estee Lauder (EL) star exec is talking publicly about her career), Gwyneth Paltrow (whom I introduced to Warren Buffett last evening—and she took a selfie), and Facebook’s (FB) Sheryl Sandberg interviewing Fox News’ Megyn Kelly. Sandberg called me back in April and said she wanted to interview Kelly. Seemed like an odd combo, but now we think it’s inspired. Kelly is a rising superstar in TV news.
Oh, and tune in to see me talk with Megan Smith, the former Google (GOOG) exec who is America’s new CTO, and Goldie Hawn, who has made a star transition of another kind. Through her Hawn Foundation, the Academy Award-winning actress is doing impressive work with kids and mental health.
See you on the Coins2Day MPW Channel!