Amy Maureen Beacom

Amy Beacom BA ’94 is the founder and CEO of the Center for Parental Leave Leadership, which consults, coaches, and trains companies and individuals on how to deal with the complexities and advantages of incorporating parental leave into a work environment. She works with organizations of all sizes–from mom-and-pop shops to enterprise-level companies like Microsoft and Phillips 66–to help them leverage parental leave as a leadership and development opportunity for managers and new parents.
     Beacom discussed her work at Lewis & Clark’s 2019 Gender Studies Symposium during a panel titled “Love, Kinship, and Economies of Care.” Her remarks highlighted how the lack of a national paid leave policy adversely impacts the culture of caring in the U.S. and directly keeps women out of the workforce and men out of care-giving roles. She says that now is a pivotal time for the cause, with Oregon’s pending parental leave bill and the introduction of national legislation. She encourages any fellow alumni to reach out to her if they are interested in the issue of parental leave.