Executive of the Year

Janet L. Garber
Deputy Chief of Staff for Resource Management
U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command
Janet Garber oversees a budget of more than $700 million and is a driving force for effective management of resources for an Army command that combines developmental, operational testing, and evaluation. When she entered federal service as a GS-7 budget program analyst for the Tank-Automotive Material Readiness Command in 1975, there were few women in high positions. She prepared herself for the task with education and dedication, earning her B.Sc. at Michigan State University in 1974 and M.B.A. from Boston University in 1986. She has served as program analyst, human resources director, and procurement appropriations manager in posts in the U.S. and Europe.

Career Achievement in Government

Deborah V. Holmes
Vice President
Government National Mortgage Association
Since becoming Ginnie Mae's first chief information officer in February 1996, Deborah Holmes has implemented technological changes that have helped assure the agency's future effectiveness. Her conversion to efficient, paperless processing of programs and financial systems has reduced processing time at Ginnie Mae by 80 percent. Holmes, who joined the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in 1974, has more than 20 years of experience in system design and development. Her work has won national recognition for innovative design.

Career Achievement in Industry

Un P. Morris
Advisory Systems Engineer
Lockheed Martin Systems Integration-Owego
As a 12-year-old child living in Korea, Un Morris was forced to work to support her education and her family. When she later came to the U.S., facing language and cultural barriers, she enlisted in the Air Force and eventually, while working as an aircraft mechanic, was selected to attend Air Force Officer Training School. She went on to become an expert in electronic countermeasure technology. Later, she served with the National Security Agency before joining Lockheed Martin in 1992, and now is considered an expert in "threat emitter" technology.

Lifetime Achievement

Moonja P. Kim, Ph.D.
Chief, Business Processes Branch
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Engineer Research and Development Center
Dr. Moonja Kim focuses on cutting-edge technology issues for improving business practices and organizational performance. Among her accomplishments during more than 19 years in research and development was creation of a "Claims Guidance System" to help government construction engineers at the Corps of Engineers field offices minimize mistakes. In addition to serving as chief of the Business Processes Branch, she is acting chief of the Engineering Processes Branch, Facilities Division, supervising 52 persons. An expert in the field of knowledge management, she earned her Ph.D. in social psychology.

Lifetime Achievement

Janice M. Sylvestre
Acting Branch Chief
National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration
From her days as a student intern, Janice Sylvestre has demonstrated an unshakable commitment to pursuing professional objectives. She has developed systems that transfer cutting-edge computational research into routine daily forecasts for major rivers. The computer software program she developed for this purpose became the world standard. Her work on a computer program to accommodate dam failures is used today by National Weather Service field forecasters. She continues to pursue the next generation of hydraulic modeling by studying sediment and pollutant transport in rivers.

President's Award

Kay Coles James
Director
U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Before being named by President George Bush in 2001 to head the OPM, where she oversees 1.8 million federal workers, Kay Coles James served as a Senior Fellow at The Heritage Foundation; was secretary of Health and Human Resources in Virginia; and served in two previous presidential administrations. Under Ronald Reagan, she was a member of the White House Task Force for the Black Family and the National Commission on Children. During the George H.W. Bush administration, she was associate director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and assistant secretary for Public Affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Community Service

Jong-on Hahm, Ph.D.
Director, Committee on Women in Science and Engineering
National Research Council
Dr. Jong-on Hahm leads efforts to coordinate, monitor, and advocate national action for increasing the participation of women in the science and technology work force. Before taking this position, Dr. Hahm worked at the Department of Neurosurgery at Georgetown University, where her research focused on the development of viral vectors for gene therapy of neurological disorders. She also serves on numerous boards and committees that advance opportunities for women. Dr. Hahm earned her Ph.D. in neuroscience from MIT in 1991.

Community Service

Lt. Col. Wanda L.P. Smith, USAF
Deputy Director of Resource Management
Defense Threat Reduction Agency
Lt. Col. Wanda Smith directs financial and human resource management activities supporting threat reduction programs valued at more than $2 billion annually. Her first assignment was at Air Force Systems Command Headquarters as a cost analysis officer. She entered the audit career field in 1982 and assumed her current duties in 1999. Lt. Col. Smith has served as president of the Los Angeles Chapter of Tuskegee Airmen, Inc., where she helped develop the TAI national scholarship fund, which gives grants to college-bound students pursuing careers in aerospace.

Corporate Responsibility

Debra L. Johnson
Deputy Director, Office of Procurement
NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
The Office of Procurement at the Johnson Space Center spends more than $3 billion per year for goods and services. Debra Johnson is responsible for management decisions made in this organization that revolve around human capital. She also serves as lead for the Small Business and Small Disadvantaged Business programs at the Center and is the Center's Ombudsperson. For her contributions, Johnson has received the Exceptional Service Medal from NASA and the Minority Business Advocate Award from the Small Business Administration.

Affirmative Action

Lt. Col. Amicitia I. Maloon-Gibson
Chief Engineer Staff Officer
United States Army Reserve
Lt. Col. Amiticia "Cita" Maloon-Gibson has risen to heights few other women have attained. With more than 20 years of military service to attest to her skills and dedication, she is the senior staff engineer of a command that supports military operations and exercises, while also serving as supervisory EEO and diversity manager for the command. Outside of her official duties, she is fulfilling what she considers her "sacred call" as a worship leader in Higher Education Ministries. She also holds master's degrees in management and human resources development.

Educational Leadership

Karen R. Johnson, Esq.
Secretary of Higher Education
State of Maryland
Karen Johnson is the chief executive officer of the Maryland Higher Education Commission, responsible for coordinating $1.3 billion in funding for postsecondary education in Maryland. The Higher Education Commission also administers the state's student financial assistance programs and regulates more than 100 private career schools. She is a member of the governor's cabinet and his principal advisor on postsecondary education issues. She received her J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law.

Managerial Leadership in Government

Pamela R. Baker
Head, Manpower & Resource Management Division
Naval Inventory Control Point
As the division head of Manpower & Resource Management for the Comptroller of the Naval Inventory Control Point (NAVICP), Pamela Baker is responsible for making the best use of the financial resources that are required to support a 3,500-employee activity. When years of downsizing left NAVICP in a "critical hiring mode," Baker almost single-handedly reestablished the organization's recruiting efforts, launching a cooperative education program and successfully participating in job and career fairs. She manages to do it all with a team of 14 analysts and technicians.

Managerial Leadership in Industry

Marjorie G. Davis
Senior Principal
SRA International, Inc.
Marjorie Davis has held diverse leadership and management positions of increasing authority within SRA since 1990. She usually has been the first woman to serve in these positions, paving the way for other women to move into operational roles within the company. She now is director of operations for SRA's Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence (C3I) strategic business unit, supervising 300 persons and overseeing more than 80 technical projects.

New Media Leadership in Industry

Victoria Nguyen
IRS Enterprise Systems Management Software Distribution Technology Lead
SRA International, Inc.
Victoria Nguyen is technical lead of SRA's Internal Revenue Service Software Distribution Operations, responsible for managing distribution of applications used throughout the IRS network's approximately 100,000 workstations and servers. Her work providing up-to-date software to all IRS employees and processing centers has earned her praise from the IRS and saved taxpayers substantial money in the process. Nguyen holds two degrees from George Washington University: a bachelor's in electrical engineering, specializing in medical engineering, and a master's in electrical engineering, specializing in telecommunications.

New Media Leadership in Industry

Stacey R. Jones-Speight
Senior Manager, Information Systems
Aspen Systems Corporation
With a constant thirst for knowledge in emerging technologies, Stacey Jones-Speight has avidly embraced continuing education within the IT field for herself and her coworkers. Throughout an 18-year career, she has helped organizations enhance their electronic capability and has become a specialist in joint application design. Today, she is responsible for hiring, managing, and nurturing a team of 15 systems analysts and database professionals at Aspen. She earned an M.B.A. at George Washington University and now is enrolled in a post-master's certificate program in e-commerce at The Johns Hopkins University.

Research Leadership

Lt. Rojan J. Quarles
Space Surveillance Engineer
Air Force Research Laboratory, Space Vehicles Directorate
Lt. Rojan Quarles is credited with producing the first-ever hyperspectral images from space. Lt. Quarles is a key leader of the $38-million program and 29-person team that cut across nine government agencies and developed the one-of-a-kind satellite that accomplished this feat. In addition to its military uses, hyperspectral imaging can be used to analyze the health of crops, environmental or pest damage to otherwise inaccessible wilderness, and even whether the ground can support vehicle traffic or is safe for aircraft to land.

Research Leadership

Maria E. Nadal, Ph.D.
Research Chemist
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Dr. Maria Nadal is a GS-14 research chemist in the Optical Thermometry and Spectral Methods Group in the Physics Laboratory of NIST. She leads an innovative research program in the quantitative measurement of the color and appearance of materials, areas of critical importance to providing measurements and standards to industry and government. She has published 23 articles about her widely disseminated work in influential, professional journals. She earned her Ph.D. in physical chemistry at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Student Leadership

Cadet 1st Class Sarah M. Salazar
Regimental Commander
United States Coast Guard Academy
Now a graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy with a B.Sc. degree in marine and environmental sciences, Sarah Salazar distinguished herself as the highest-ranking cadet in the corps of more than 850. In her role as regimental commander, she was responsible for maintaining discipline of the Corps, serving as the senior cadet for all Corps-wide functions, and building esprit de corps among the cadets. She now serves as an officer aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter FIREBUSH, stationed in Kodiak, Alaska.

Student Leadership

Eileen M. Saenz
Electrical Engineering Student
Ohio University
Now in her third year as an undergrad, Eileen Saenz is treasurer and chair of the mentor program for the Ohio University student chapter of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The IEEE Journal has published her article about her work on filter design at NASA Glenn Research Center, where she interned last summer. She also was instrumental in raising $2,000 for a minority freshman scholarship in the fall of 2000, and has been active in organizing this year's Hispanic Heritage Week.

Technical Innovation

Rosa C. Cassidy
Engineer III
Aspen Systems Corporation
Rosa Cassidy's contributions to helping the nation become more energy-efficient are far-reaching. She has helped market affordable energy-efficiency practices to small businesses and has developed a multimillion-dollar incentive program to encourage retailers, remodelers, builders, and owners of multifamily properties to sell and promote energy-efficient products and services. Her strong engineering knowledge linked with her fluency in English and Spanish have made her a key resource for a number of important programs at Aspen. She holds B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in mechanical engineering.

Technical Innovation

Yazmin Seda-Sanabria
Research Structural Engineer
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Engineer Research and Development Center
Yazmin Seda-Sanabria is involved with project planning and management dealing with bridge engineering and structural condition assessment, and leads activities focusing on the development of innovative technologies for rapid load capacity assessment. She has authored several research publications, including peer-reviewed journal papers and technical papers for conferences. She earned B.Sc. and M.E. degrees in civil engineering from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, an M.Sc. in engineering mechanics from Mississippi State University, and expects to complete her Ph.D. in civil engineering at Virginia Tech next year.

Businesswoman of the Year

Victoria Lowe
Founder, President & CEO
Alert Staffing
In less than five years, Victoria Lowe has grown Alert Staffing from a company that fit in her living room and had one unpaid employee into a $207-million firm -- with 117 paid positions and 20 operations -- that is the largest WMBE staffing firm in the country. Her stated goal is to grow the company to $1 billion by 2005. She plans to expand the company to six major U.S. cities in the next few months. Lowe earned her B.Sc. degree in marketing/business administration from the University of Missouri, Columbia, in 1983.

10/21/02