Woman of the Year Private Sector 2009-2010 Karen B. Peetz Chief Financial Officer Financial Markets and Treasury Services BNY Mellon

Woman of the Year Public Sector 2009-2010 Gail J. McGovern President and CEO The American National Red Cross Click here, to view Gail's Presentation

More than 600 members and guests enjoyed the FWA Annual Dinner and 26th Women of the Year Awards on Monday, April 26th at the Grand Hyatt, where two highly regarded leaders were honored:

Karen B. Peetz, Chief Financial Officer, Financial Markets and Treasury Services, BNY Mellon
Gail J. McGovern, President and CEO, The American
National Red Cross.

The dinner also recognized two exceptional students from the FWA’s mentoring programs at Murry Bergtraum High School and the Baruch College, Ashley Cerda and Olga Barskaya, respectively. Once again, we were privileged to have Trish Regan of CNBC as mistress of ceremonies. Honorees and mentees alike spoke eloquently about life’s lessons and the family, friends, FWA mentors and organizations that have helped them along the way.

Special note was taken of the landmark sum of $1 million dollars contributed by BMO Capital Markets to the FWA over the past five years through its Equity through Education program. Speaking on behalf of BMO, Pat Behnke challenged other firms to make similar commitments to workforce diversity.

Another focus of the evening was the outstanding contributions made by FWA members to the work of the Educational Fund. Françoise Jeanpierre and Wendy Leibowitz were recognized with Volunteer of the Year Awards for their many years as the team directing the FWA’s mentoring program.

The Annual Dinner also offered its customary opportunities for FWA members, President’s Circle and other corporate table sponsors, their employees, and other FWA supporters to reconnect, meet fellow professionals and share experiences. Special thanks are due for the Annual Dinner Committee, the many Board members, and the FWA office team, all of whom contributed to the evening’s success. We are very grateful also to the distinguished dais guests, the many corporate table supporters, Friends of the FWA, and FWA supporters for making the evening a financial success. The programs of the FWA of New York Educational Fund will benefit from the funds raised by the event.

(l-r): Annual Dinner Co-chair Joyce Sullivan, Honoree Karen Peetz, Ann Kaplan (representing Gail McGovern), Annual Dinner Co-chair Peggy Decker

(l-r): Annual Dinner Co-chair Joyce Sullivan, FWA President Stephanie Hauge, Murry Bergtram Student Mentee Ashley Cerda, Baruch College (CUNY) Mentee Olga Barskaya, Annual Dinner Co-chair Peggy Decker, Honoree Karen Peetz and Ann Kaplan representing honoree Gail McGovern

Our Distinguished Dais

FWA Past Presidents (top row, l-r): Marguerite Platt '65-'67, Debra Flanz '95, Joan Shapiro Green '03 (bottom row, l-r): Gail Miner '96, Mina Baker Knoll '93, Pam Packard '00

Mistress of Ceremonies, Trish Regan

Ann Kaplan on behalf of Gail McGovern, accepts the Woman of the Year Award from FWA President Stephanie Hauge

FWA President Stephanie Hauge congratulates Françoise Jeanpierre, the first recipient of the Volunteer of the Year award

Private sector Honoree Karen Peetz

FWA President Stephanie Hauge with Honoree Karen Peetz congratulate Baruch College (CUNY) Mentee Olga Barskaya

The FWA is very grateful to its many corporate supporters who attended the dinner and who were represented with ads in our dinner journal. View our sponsors ads and honoree acknowledgements on the annual dinner website: www.fwaannualdinner.org