The annual PLEN Mentor Awards honor women leaders who have a proven commitment to training the next generation of women public policy leaders. Each year, PLEN alumnae, students, speakers, and supporters join us to support the amazing work of women leaders who are making huge strides in the public policy arena while also helping those coming up the ladder behind them.
The 2017 PLEN Mentor Awards
On March 15, 2017, over a hundred PLEN students and supporters gathered at Sonoma Wine Bar in Washington, D.C. to celebrate the PLEN Mentor Awards Honorees. The evening’s keynote address was given by Anna Palmer, and also featured remarks from members of the Board of Directors, PLEN supporters, and PLEN alumnae.
#PLENMentor Tweets • See all of the photos on Facebook
PLEN congratulates the 2017 PLEN Mentor Award Honorees for their outstanding commitment to mentoring the next generation of women public policy leaders.
2017 PLEN Mentor Award Honorees
Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)
Senator Susan Collins (R-ME)
Nancy Bocskor, The Nancy Bocskor Company
Alice Rivlin, The Brookings Institution
2017 Marianne Alexander Alumna Leadership Award
Kathee Facchiano, PLEN Alumna & Office of Congressman Clay Higgins (LA-03)
2017 Host Committee
Emily Bardach, Women in Government Relations • Michele Blair • Amy J. Blankenbiller, President & Owner, AjB Strategies, LLC • Dana Brown, Pennsylvania Center for Women and Politics* • Anne DarConte, Beyond K Street • Christine R. de Denus, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Chemistry Hobart & William Smith Colleges & Director of the First Generation Initiative • Caitlin Donahue, Senior Vice President, Curley Company • Maggie Feldman-Piltch, Unicorn Strategies • Lynn Fox • Mary Goldsmith, RSM • Kristin Haffert, Co-Founder, Project Mine the Gap • Lisa Kaenzig, Ph.D., Associate Dean, William Smith College* • Vanessa Kermick, Air Line Pilots Association* • Shelby Olson, Right Management* • Allyson Perleoni, American Academy of Pediatrics • Lisa D.T. Rice, Director, Newcomb Alumnae Association* • Naomi Senkeeto, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association* • Ellie Shaw, American Express Company • Jen Stange, SEIU • Jona Van Deun, Koch Companies Public Sector, LLC* • Gwen K. Young, Director of the Global Women’s Leadership Initiative and Women in Public Service Project at the Wilson Center
*Denotes PLEN Board Member
Thank you to our 2017 sponsors!
Past PLEN Mentor Award Honorees
2016
The Honorable Joyce Beatty
The Honorable Amy Klobuchar
The Honorable Elise Stefanik
Elizabeth Z. Bartz, State and Federal Communications, Inc
Anne DeSeta DarConte, Beyond K Street, LLC
Jen Stange, SEIU (PLEN Alumna Award)
2012
The Honorable Virginia Foxx
Karen Mulhauser, Women’s Information Network
Naomi Senkeeto, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (PLEN Alumna Award)
Jennifer Luray, Becton Dickson
2011
The Honorable Barbara Lee
Tracy Henke, Senator Roy Blunt
Sarah Craven, UN Population Fund
Jamila Larson, Homeless Children’s Playtime Project (PLEN Alumna Award)
2010
The Honorable Judy Biggert
Susan Scanlan, WREI
Valerie A. Jackson, K&L Gates
Kristin Haffert, Haffert Global (PLEN Alumna Award)
2008
The Honorable Carolyn Maloney
Peggy Tighe, Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville
Lisa Evans, National Institutes of Health
Erin Buechel Wieczorek, U.S. Army’s Program Executive Office Enterprise Information Systems (PEO EIS)
2007
The Honorable Lisa Murkowski
Erin Barclay, U.S. Department of State
Dr. Shirley Malcom, AAAS
Amy Walter, Cook Political Group
2006
The Honorable Stephanie Tubbs Jones
Alejandra Ceja, White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics
Monique Frazier, HSBC -North America
Beth Myers, The Shawmut Group
Kathie Olsen, National Science Foundation (NSF)
Randi Reid, Kountoupes Denham
2005
The Honorable Susan Collins
Judith Auerbach, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)
Mary Dixon
Dr. Sharon Hays, University of Southern California
Dr. Yvonne Maddox, NIH
Nicole Venable, Bockorny Group
2003
Bonnie Campbell, Private Practice Attorney, Iowa
Marisa Demeo, Superior Court of the District of Columbia
Lisa Maatz, AAUW
Mary Matalin, Political pundit and speaker
Veryl Miles, Columbus School of Law, Catholic University
Dr. Vivian Pinn, National Institutes of Health (NIH)
2002
The Honorable Donna Shalala
The Honorable Patsy Mink
Cynthia Hall, Women’s Policy Inc.
Erica Henri, Appleseed’s
Mary Elizabeth Hoinkes, The Department of State
Lidia Soto-Harmon, Girl Scout Council of the Nation’s Capital
2001
The Honorable Tillie Fowler
Cynthia Bunton, CRBi LLC
Emilia DiSanto, Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General
Jocelyn Frye, Center for American Progress
Erin Loubier, Whitman Walker Clinic
Kimberly Miller
2000
The Honorable Sabrina Sojourner
Irene Bueno, Nueva Vista Group LLC
Layli Miller-Muro, Tahirih Justice Center
Lulu Rodriguez
Marjorie Sims, California Women’s Law Center
Leslie R. Wolfe, Center for Women Policy Studies
1998
The Honorable Eleanor Holmes Norton
Anita Perez Ferguson, InterAmerican Foundation
Denise Ferguson
Gladys Kessler, United States District Court for the District of Columbia
Sherry Little, Spartan Solutions, LLC
Judy Schneider, Congressional Research Service
1997
The Honorable Linda Tarr-Whelan
The Honorable Marge Roukema
Kim Alfano, Alfano Communications
Karen Hendricks, Nurse-Family Partnership
Char Mollison, John Hopkins University
Carmen Delgado Votaw
1996
The Honorable Patricia Schroeder
Sandy Aguilar
Sheila Burke, Harvard Kennedy School
Kathryn Ellis, Department of Education
Patricia Goldman
Patricia Reuss, National Organization for Women
1995
The Honorable Susan Molinari
Heather Booth, Democracy Partners
Nancy Clack, Planned Parenthood Fund America
Brenda Girton-Mitchell, Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships
Claire Gonzales
Lael Stegall
1994
The Honorable Constance Morella
Betsy Crone, Betsy Crone Consulting
Constance Newman, The Carmen Group
Helen Norton, University of Colorado School of Law
Antonia Coello Novello, Disney Children’s Hospital at Florida Hospital
Claudia Withers, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission