The chairwoman of the Howard Heinz Endowment and the Heinz Family Philanthropies will speak Wednesday on “The Impact of Philanthropy on Minorities, Health Care and Education.”

Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., will speak about her experiences as a philanthropist at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Campanile Room of the Memorial Union.

Kerry is renowned as one of the most successful philanthropists today, recognized with a spot on Utne Magazine’s top 100 American Visionaries.

Kerry’s career includes directing development of the Heinz plan to Overcome Prescription drug Expenses (HOPE) in Massachusetts, the establishment of the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER) in Washington and creating the H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment, which was created to discover scientifically sound environmental policies.

Kerry’s career beyond her role as the wife of a presidential candidate is the main reason for bringing her to Iowa State, said Dianne Bystrom, director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center, one of the event’s sponsors.

“She’s certainly had a career apart from her husband,” Bystrom said.

Chris Black, Kerry’s spokesperson, said her speech will touch on her husband’s campaign. “She’s been in Iowa all week campaigning for her husband,” Black said. “This is definitely a political trip.”

A native of Mozambique, Kerry studied at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, earning a bachelor of arts in romance languages and literature. She later studied at the Interpreters School of the University of Geneva.

After her first husband, John Heinz III, a Republican senator from Pennsylvania, died in a plane crash in 1991, Kerry inherited the $500 million Heinz foods fortune and took charge of the Heinz philanthropic interests, including the $1.6 billion Howard Heinz Endowment.

Kerry’s speech is sponsored by the U.S. Latino/a Studies Program, the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics, the ISU Democrats and the Committee on Lectures.