Good morning! New guidelines tell doctors to take IUD insertion pain seriously, Commerzbank celebrated for turnaround, and Fortune’s Most Powerful Women International Summit is almost here.
– What to watch. Good morning from Riyadh, where Fortune’s first Most Powerful Women International Summit in the Middle East starts tomorrow.
My colleagues and I are preparing a fascinating program that will blend global business issues with regional perspectives. It’s a big week all around: Fortune’s annual Most Powerful Women in Business list publishes tomorrow, too.
Stay tuned for more, from the details on which 100 executives made this year’s MPW list—and who our number one is for 2025—as well as coverage of the conference throughout the week.
In Riyadh, I’ll be speaking with execs from Unilever and Marriott about putting the consumer first; leaders from Scopely and Wixel Studios about women’s role in the global video game market; and Manna Tree’s Ellie Rubenstein and Pure Harvest’s Serene Farah about building climate-friendly food resiliency.
Other conversations will cover global business through trade wars and geopolitical challenges; the future of AI; VC trends, with experts from Greycroft and Eclipse Ventures; the future of fintech with Emily Chiu of Novo; workforce trends in countries like Saudi Arabia, where nearly 60% of the population is under 30; and the future of women’s health. Policymakers from around the globe, including Estonia, Japan, Kenya, the Philippines, and Tanzania will share their perspectives, as will some of the top female ministers in Saudi Arabia’s government.
Fortune editor-in-chief Alyson Shontell will sit down with former MSNBC president Rashida Jones and Jomana Alrashid, CEO of the Saudi Research and Media Group, to talk about the future of media. Fortune’s Diane Brady will speak with Lubna Olayan of the Olayan Group, one of the most influential women in business here. And my colleague Ellie Austin will close out the gathering with an interview with former U.K. prime minister Theresa May.
Stay tuned for more throughout the week—and remember to watch for the 2025 MPW list tomorrow.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
The Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is Fortune’s daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world. Today’s edition was curated by Nina Ajemian. Subscribe here.
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Patient pain. New guidelines for IUD insertion and other gynecological procedures tell doctors to “not underestimate the pain experienced by patients.” This is the first time the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has laid out pain management options for patients and made recommendations for different anesthetics. New York Times
- Turning things around. After years of low profits, employees and shareholders showed their support for German bank Commerzbank—which thanks to CEO Bettina Orlopp is defending itself against a UniCredit takeover and has seen real turnaround. “Commerzbank still has the best years ahead of it,” Orlopp said to shareholders at the company’s annual meeting. Bloomberg
- Taking leave. The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan is taking leave until the U.N.’s oversight office finishes its investigation into sexual assault allegations against him. A female aide to Khan alleged the sexual assault, which Khan has denied. Wall Street Journal
- Life support. The near-total abortion ban in Georgia is forcing a mother to keep her 21-weeks pregnant daughter alive on life support, even though her daughter has been declared brain-dead by doctors. She will need to be kept alive until her baby can survive on his own, which will likely happen at 32 weeks. NBC
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
PPE company Fire-Dex named Lauren Burke DeVere CEO. She is currently the company’s president.
Pavilion Payments, a payment solutions provider for the gaming industry, named Lori Lawson COO. She most recently served as the company’s SVP of gaming operations and VP of the project management office.
Film studio Neon named Alison Cohen general counsel, president of business and legal affairs. Most recently, she was general counsel, EVP business and legal affairs at FilmNation Entertainment.
Core Scientific, a digital infrastructure company, appointed Elizabeth Crain to its board of directors. Crain is cofounder and former COO of Moelis & Company.
Life science company Element Biosciences appointed Madhuri Hegde to its board of directors. She is SVP and chief scientific officer at Revvity.
ON MY RADAR
There’s much more to the Fever than the Caitlin Clark show Sports Illustrated
How Taylor Jenkins Reid became a publishing powerhouse Time
Gen Z men are becoming more religious. The women, not so much Vox
PARTING WORDS
“A man could never get into my head, never understand what I’m going through.”
— Singer Laufey on the “magic” of female artists working with female songwriters and producers
