Oakland, CA - Vivian M. Stephenson, chair of the Board of Trustees at Mills College and chief operating officer for Williams-Sonoma, Inc., has received an honorary doctor of humane letters degree from Mills College.  Honored at the College’s 117th Commencement on May 14, 2005, she was recognized for her ethical, compassionate business and volunteer leadership, and her extraordinary advocacy on behalf of women’s education.

Stephenson became chair of the Mills College Board in 2002 following the illness of Suzanne Adams, former Board chair.  She has been instrumental in providing vision for the College’s highly successful Sesquicentennial Campaign that earned $130 million for student scholarships, faculty initiatives, new and renovated facilities, and endowment. Inspired by Mills’ Strategic Plan 2002-2007, the Campaign received $30 million more than the original goal of $100 million.

“Vivian Stephenson’s unwavering dedication to women’s leadership and her deep understanding of the power of education to transform lives and society  make her a truly outstanding Mills woman,” said Janet L. Holmgren, Mills President.  “A Cuban-born exile, she is experienced in working within multicultural environments, and brings to Mills critical insight about issues that are integral to our academic programs and student life.”

Stephenson was recently named one of San Francisco’s “100 Most Influential Business Women.”  The former executive vice president and chief information officer for Target Corporation, she was one of only a few women heading information services for a Fortune 50 corporation.  On behalf of Target, she accepted the 1994 Computerworld-Smithsonian award for technology in business and related services. She was later featured in Computerworld’s “Road to the Top” series (1998) and in Hispanic Business Magazine’s “Women Work Harder” article as one of nine Latina executives who reached the top of their fields.

Stephenson also has held key management positions with Tenneco Gas, Rand Information Systems, and Occidental Petroleum Corporation.

She currently serves as a board member of the California State Automobile Association (AAA), the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, and Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation.  In 2004, she was co-recipient of the Kile Ozier Award celebrating the spirit of volunteerism in the fights against HIV/AIDS.

Stephenson chaired the San Francisco AIDS Foundation Board of Directors (1995-1997), and served on the board of directors for the California Chamber of Commerce (1996-1999). She also served on the board of directors for the National Retail Federation Information Technology Council, @pos.com (a Silicon Valley e-commerce company), Alumnae Resources, IBM’s Information Systems Customer Advisory Council, and IBM’s Deep Computing Institute Advisory Board.

Stephenson has a BA in mathematics from New York University and an MBA from the University of Havana.

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