Experience: Marilyn Carlson Nelson is chair of Carlson, providing travel, hotel, restaurant, and marketing services under such brands as Radisson and Regent Hotels, Country Inns and Suites, Carlson Wagonlit Travel, and T.G.I Friday's. With headquarters in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and operations in more than 150 countries, Carlson-owned and -franchised operations employ about 150,000 people. Forbes magazine has named Nelson as one of "The World's 100 Most Powerful Women." She is on the World Economic Forum's International Business Council and in 2004 co-chaired the Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. She served a presidential appointment as chair of the National Women's Business Council, and chair of the US Travel and Tourism Advisory Board. She received the National Business Travel Association's highest honor, the Icon Award, for a career of leadership in the business travel industry in 2006, and was presented with a French national honor created by Napoleon Bonaparte: Chevalier (Knight) in the French Légion d'Honneur. Nelson was also named one of America's Best Leaders by US News and World Report. She currently serves on the boards of Exxon Mobil Corporation, the Mayo Clinic Foundation, the Committee to Encourage Corporate Philanthropy, and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.