Jan. 26, 2007

Nine Women Named Winners Of Innovation Awards

By Janice Posada
Courant Staff Writer

Nine women, whose expertise ranges from cancer research to software development to robotics, were named winners of the 2007 Women of Innovation awards Thursday.

The awards are given annually by the Connecticut Technology Council.

The event, now in its third year, is intended to honor the accomplishments of women in academia, research, development and technology-oriented businesses, said Matthew Nemerson, president and CEO of the technology council, an industry group.

For this year's awards, 120 women were nominated in eight categories by co-workers, colleagues, lawmakers and members of various organizations; 51 finalists were chosen.

Awards are given in eight categories. This year, there were nine winners because of a tie in the research innovation and leadership category, said Paige Rasid, the council's marketing and operations manager.

The winners are:

Leslie Abi-Karam, executive vice president and president, document messaging technologies, of Pitney Bowes Inc. in Stamford for innovation and leadership at a large business.
Lucy Baney, president and CEO of Access Technologies Group in New Canaan, for innovation and leadership in the community.
Jennifer Good, president and CEO of Penwest Pharmaceuticals in Danbury, for innovation and leadership at a small business.
Kristyn Greco, a graduate student at the University of Connecticut, for collegiate innovation and leadership.
Julie Henion, a high school student at Watertown High School, for youth innovation and leadership.
Dr. Nita Maihle, professor, Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, for innovation and leadership in research (tie).
Mei Wei, assistant professor, University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy, for innovation and leadership in academics.
Patty Williams, president and CEO of Telesis LLC in East Hartford, for entrepreneurial innovation and leadership.
Quing Zhu, associate professor, University of Connecticut in Farmington, for innovation and leadership in research (tie).

Winners are selected by the event's steering committee, which includes past winners and representatives from the event's sponsors, which include Day Pitney LLP, Pfizer Inc. and United Technologies Corp., Nemerson said.

The awards were originally conceived of as a way to "create a culture of innovation in the state," said Nemerson - important for "attracting and creating new businesses and keeping our young people here."

"We realize that women in leadership positions - in research, academics, business and nonprofits - are important and influential. We want to bring them together to get to know one another across different industries and sectors."

By calling for nominations every year, people across the state "find all of these leaders for us," Nemerson said. "We're delighted that we can recognize them, but the real goal is to create a network of leaders."

In addition, it's hoped that the event will draw attention to the number of women involved in science and technology.

"Women are doing so much better in high school and college," Nemerson said. "But they're disproportionately not going into the sciences. We're hoping this network of women can directly and indirectly mentor these young women and encourage them to go into sciences."

Last year, there were seven winners. However, this year, there was a tie in the research category and the council decided to split the youth category into two categories: high school students and college students.

Rebecca R. Rhoads, vice president and chief information officer of Raytheon Co., gave the keynote address. The sold-out event was held Thursday night at The Waterview in Monroe.

© 2007 by The Hartford Courant