Rickey Bevington Named Leadership Fellow of the International Women’s Forum

ATLANTA – Rickey Bevington has been selected for the 2022-2023 Leadership Fellow of the International Women’s Forum (IWF), comprising more than 40 participants who are leading change throughout the world. Bevington is president of the World Affairs Council of Atlanta, a nonpartisan membership organization affiliated with Georgia State University. The council’s vision is to inspire Atlanta to lead globally. As council president, Bevington holds an appointment as an expert in residence with the university’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business.

IWF invests in making women stronger, smarter, and more influential through its Leadership Fellows Program, a year-long, intensive leadership development experience.

“I'm privileged to have this opportunity, thanks to women who supported me in the process,” said Bevington. “I look forward to leveraging the IWF Leadership Fellows experience to open doors for other women in the future.”

IWF’s Leadership Fellows Program was launched in 1994 with seed funding from the U.S. Labor Department as a direct result of the Glass Ceiling Commission. It annually convenes fellows from around the world for a total of 20 days of leadership development. Featuring academic partnerships with Harvard Business School and INSEAD, the program offers customized leadership training for high-achieving women leaders on their path to the C-suite. The approach is holistic and focused on the participant’s personal and professional development, career path, and leadership trajectory while embracing the value of an outside perspective.

The 29th class of the Leadership Fellows Program includes accomplished women leaders in Afghanistan, the Bahamas, Canada, China, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, the Palestinian Territories, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the United States. Their backgrounds include corporate, government, nonprofit, academic, and entrepreneurial sectors.

Bevington has been president of The World Affairs Council of Atlanta since January 2022. She was previously a senior correspondent with Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB). During her 15 years at GPB, Bevington held leadership positions on and off the airwaves. As host and executive producer of multiple television and radio programs, her work was recognized with two Emmy Awards. She hosted “Ask the Mayor” with Atlanta’s Keisha Lance Bottoms and interviewed numerous public figures including former President Jimmy Carter, former United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young, and Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. Under her tenure as news director, GPB won the organization’s first national Edward R. Murrow Award for journalism excellence. Bevington also led GPB’s newsroom transformation into a multi-bureau, all-platform operation. She moderated candidate debates for the Atlanta Press Club and World Affairs Council International Women’s Day events between 2016 and 2020.

Bevington has significant international expertise through her work as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations’ Local Journalists Initiative, the German Marshall Fund, the French-American Foundation, and the Georgia Council for International Visitors, among other organizations.

She holds a B.A. in comparative literature from Barnard College of Columbia University.