Schneider Electric announced that Iram Shah, Schneider Electric’s senior vice president of customer transformation, delivered the keynote address on Wednesday at WorldChicago’s International Women’s Day Fair & Luncheon. She will also speak as an honoree at Chicago Woman magazine’s International Women Leaders’ Luncheon today. Coinciding with the 40th annual International Women’s Day, a day observed on March 8 reserved to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women worldwide while calling to action the acceleration of gender parity, Shah has been selected by WorldChicago and Chicago Woman for her work as a leading figure in transforming business cultures, driving change and giving back to communities.

Shah’s speeches will detail the transformation Schneider Electric has undertaken in recent years to support and implement policies that advance and empower women in the workplace. The company has developed a proactive, 4 pillar strategy to include women at every level of the company, including serving as one of 10 corporate champions for the United Nations’ #HeForShe global solidarity movement. The strategy puts key issues such as gender equality on the top of its agenda, making diversity not just a human resources focus, but a key business strategy.

“Diversity is not a buzzword; it’s an essential, inescapable element of our society,” said Shah. “Through meaningful collaboration, we can empower women to join the conversation about gender parity and support them in our call to action to move closer to true equality. Schneider Electric continues to progress in taking a stand for diversity and offering equal opportunities to women at every level of the company, demonstrating a commitment to forging a more gender inclusive world — and supplementing the efforts of other leaders represented at WorldChicago’s International Women’s Day Fair & Luncheon.”

Shah is an accomplished businesswoman and humanitarian with 25 years of experience working for Fortune 500 companies across five countries to innovate how they promote cultural diversity and conduct meaningful business. At Schneider Electric, she has led efforts to build upon and expand the company’s culture of inclusivity, where all forms of diversity are seen as real value for the company. In addition to her corporate efforts, Shah also contributes to philanthropic causes and serves on several nonprofit boards. Currently she is a board member for Habitat For Humanity Chicagoland and is chairwoman of the Sonia Shah Organization, a non-profit foundation started by her late daughter.