The New Jersey Women of Achievement Awards were initiated in 1981 and are co-sponsored by New Jersey State Federation of Women's Clubs and Douglass Residential College of Rutgers, The State University.
The Awards represent an opportunity to acknowledge and reflect upon the extraordinary accomplishments of New Jersey Women and the impact these women have made on the lifestyle of our state. Since 1981, more than 150 women from across the state who have made a tremendous contribution to their communities through their professional activities and their volunteer work have been honored. The briefest list representing their activities would show them to have been leaders:
- In politics and in the public sphere of New Jersey
- In non-profit agencies and in volunteer work - making the communities in which we live a better places for all residents
- In the corporate world - opening the doors of the "executive suite"
- In the scientific community - holding open the laboratory doors for women
- In the communication's world - where the public's image of women is shaped
- In our schools - nurturing and educating children, and
- In the home - where women traditionally have both excelled as homemakers and have been especially vulnerable when displaced
To be eligible for this honor, each nominee must be a woman who has gained visibility in New Jersey for her distinguished service and outstanding accomplishments. Some past recipients of this prestigious award include; Millicent Fenwick (1982), Mary Higgins Clark (1985), Jeanne Marie Fox (1987), Joyce Carol Oates (1989), Jeannine LaRue (1994), Virginia A. Long (2001), Carole Sampson-Landers M.D. (2002), Loretta Weinberg (2004), Amy B. Mansue (2007) and Suzann Bresler Goldstein (2015).
Women of Achievement 2024 bios
Past Award Winners
2024: Geeta Chopra, Catherine Kerris, Debra Lynch, Deborah Visconi, Donna Ward
2023: Pamela Brug, MD, Jacqueline Litt, PhD, Leslie A. Morris, Julia Orlando, Shanel Y. Robinson
2022: Francine Conway, Pamela Crum, Phyllis Worrell, Mondana Yazdi, MD
2021: Sheila Brogan, Vernoy Paolini, Karen McLane Torrian
2020: Mary Ellen Brock, Loretta P. Finnegan M.D., Margaret "Marty" A. Gillis, Felicia E. McGinty
2019: Rosemarie L. D’Alessandro, Tina B. Gordon, Marci Hopkins, Evelyn Spath-Mercado
2018: Valerie Anderson, Jennifer Beck, Gina Hernandez, Michele Siekerka, Robyn Urman
2017: Lillian G. Burry, Mary Kelleher DiMartino, Denise Sellers, C. Vivian Stringer
2016: Kimberly Guadagno, Sandra Ramos, Victoria Dabrowski Schmidt, Marjorie Langlinais Strohsahl
2015: Phyllis Adams, Linda Caldwell Epps, Suzann Bresler Goldstein, Christina Foglio-Palmer, Meghan Wren
2014: Linda Blick, Michele S. Byers, Sharon Matlofsky Karmazin, Kathleen Whitehouse Ludwig, Elaine Meyerson, Lynn Snyder
2013: Gertrude M. Clarke, Ph.D, .Paula A. Franzese, Sheila Kelly Hampton, Rachel Ingber, Karen Olsen
2012: Carla Fleming, Gail Phillips Houlihan, Nicole M. McGrath, DDS, Joyce Albers-Schonberg*, Jean E. Stanfield, Cynthia A. Zipf
2011: Sylvia Axelrod, Dr. Laura Morana, Dr. Mary E. Norton, Dr. Laura McKirdy, Gail Dunlap Reuben, Carol A. Wolfe
2010: Jennifer Beck, Deborah Berry-Toon, Sharon A. Burke, M.D., Susan Rose, Anne Salvatore
2009: Renee Lita Borstad, Penny Colman, Vivian Garfing Greenberg, Sister Arlene Kollar, Catherine C. Krein
2008: Carmen Twillie Ambar, Wendy Galloway, Irene Etkin Goldman, Veronice Horne, Donna Roman-Hernandez
2007: Virginia S. Bauer, Kyung Hee Choi, Sister Thomasina Gebhart, Ph.D., Amy B. Mansue, Jean M. Ott
2006: Judith H. Ambrus, Ph.D., MaryJane Celli, Ph.D., Lauren Joyce Cooper, Tammy Evans-Colquitt, Joyce Wilson Harley, Esq., Eileen Swan
2005: Jeanne C. Decker*, Evelyn Sermons Field, Norma U. Levitt, Bonnie J. Monte, Barbara Spillane, Helen Raskin White, Ph.D.
2004: Ruthi Zinn Byrne, Riletta L. Cream, Angela M. Gonzalez, Laura Szwak, Constancia S. Uy, M.D, Loretta Weinberg
2003: Sister Janet M. Christenson, Elaine Feller, Dina Matos McGreevey, Eileen L. Poiani, Ph. D., Marijane Singer*, Frances J. Treanor
2002: Judith K. Brodsky, Charlene Brown Margery, S. Cohen, Carole Sampson-Landers, M.D., Janice L. Sangle, Melanie Willoughby
2001: Judith Coffin Cambria, Sheridan Quarless Kingsberry, Virginia A. Long, Joan M. Quigley, Val Skinner, Mary Wells
2000: Shamita Das Dasgupta, Helen C. Fenske, Faith Hochberg, Diane J. Stelling, Cheryl Wall, Donna Lynn Weinbrecht
1999: Diane Allen, Gail Mowry, Ashley Iris, J. Chang, Elizabeth Christopherson, Dianne Mills McKay, Mickie McSwieney
1998: Theresa Cavanaugh, Sharon Fordham, Palma Formica, Nancy Lane, Wilma Olson, Paula Rosenberg
1997: Noemie Benczer-Koller, M. Wilma Harris, Lonna R. Hooks, Glenda C. Kirkland, Susan Bass Levin, Evelyn Pezzolla
1996: Nancy Boyd-Franklin, Regina Carlson, Mary T. Conrad, Minga Cullen, Mary S. Hartman, Jaynee LaVecchia, Joyce Luhrs, Emily Mann, Christine Todd Whitman
1995: Alice Jennings Archibald, Linda B Bowker, Maria Barnaby Greenwald*, Rose Heck, Evangelica Micheli Tazanakou, Elenore Pettersen*, Deborah Poritz, Bernice Proctor Venable, Maria Vizcarrondo-DeSoto
1994: Marilyn Aguirre-Molina, Sister Jacqueline Burns, Beatrice D'Agostino, Paula Kassell, Jeannine LaRue, Mary Slutz, C. Maxene Summey, Judith Shaw, Nadine Taub
1993: Helen Berman, Zulima Farber, Elinor Ferdon, Helen Hurd*, Keiko Harvey, Penelope Lattimer, Carol J. Sas*, Pat Stanislaski
1992: Edna Alex, Fran Avallone, Francine Essien, Lisa Klein, Betty Kraemer, Rita Newman, Jacqueline Rottleveel, Susan Wilson, Ellen Zavian
1991: Anne Dillman, Dolores Harris, Barbara Irvine, Janice Davis-Miller, Cecily Ramos-Quimet, Phoebe Seharn, Linda Troeller, Margaret Varma
1990: Gloria Bonilla-Santiago, Barbara C. Crafton, Mary Good, Marge Roukema, Lynda Volker, Deborah Wolfe
1989: Mary Lee Fitzgerald, Maria Hernandez, Ming Hsu, Shirley Jackson, Dorothy LoSasso, Joyce Carol Oates
1988: Marie Alberian, Leanna Brown, Frances Clark, Theresa Grentz, Alma Hill, Esther Hymer, Wynona Lipman*
1987: Celia Dorantes Abalos, Marguerite Chandler, Lena Edwards*, Jeanne Marie Fox, Kent Manahan, Dorothy McGlade*, Barbara Boggs Siqmund*
1986: Ruth Ann Burns, Vera King Ferris, Golden Johnson-Burns, Irma Mirante, Belva Plain*, Jean Sidar
1985: Mary Higgins Clark*, Hazel Frank Gluck, Ellen Levine, Maria Parnell, Mary Roebling, Ruth Parlin Sanborne*
1984: Althea Gibson*, Linda Stamato, Ruth Supp*, Evelyn Witkin, Joan Wright
1983: Adrienne Anderson*, Robbie Cagnina, Olga Mackaronis*, Barbara McConnell, Lucille Dangremond*,
1982: Clara Allen*, Elizabeth Alton*, Millicent Fenwick*, Yolanda Mapp, Claire Nagle, Adelaide Zagoren
* Deceased