Past Pinnacle Award Winners

Rhonda Rhyne embodies everything Athena. She has consistently and increasingly promoted/mentored women through her 27-year professional career. As CEO of Culture Technology Inc., she equitably recruited, interviewed, hired and promoted women, building a work force comprised of more than 75 percent women.

While president of CardioDynamics, Rhyne promoted 50 percent of companywide positions and 75 percent of director/senior management positions filled by women. She identified, promoted and mentored women in director/senior management positions, and organized and mentored collaborative leadership opportunities for women at all levels from administrative to senior management. She facilitated corporate organizational structure supporting direct interaction and/or management of women with executive management, including herself as president. Rhyne directly mentored an average of 5 percent of corporate women employees per year, as well as an average of five women per year outside of the company.

Her extensive community involvement includes serving as co-chair for 2009-2010 American Heart Association’s Go Red, Circle of Red efforts for women’s heart disease. She serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council at Washington State University’s College of Pharmacy, for the advancement of women in science/health care.

Rhyne created a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, with an all-women board of directors, focusing on innovative advancements for cardiovascular disease, with a highlight on women. She co-created Athena’s mentoring committee in 2006, benefiting more than 250 Athena FEW members with mentoring benefits. She authored book on the glass ceiling’s effects on women’s advancement, and created Grace Protection Systems, a technology company to safeguard women and children from sexual predators.

Nancy Aitkenhead successfully worked her way up the corporate ladder during a period when women were a rarity in the defense industry to her current role as deputy operations center manager with SAIC. This makes her one of the more senior women within the corporation, and her leadership and caring over her 25 years with SAIC helped pave the way for the advancement of other women in the company.

As an active member in Women in Defense and SAIC Women’s Network, Aitkenhead continually looks for ways to support and mentor women and other minorities to advance in the work place. She is regularly recognized for her outstanding leadership and professional development activities, most recently as the recipient of the prestigious Tribute to Women in Industry award. She actively pursues opportunities to assist in the advancement of women within SAIC, such as taking part in SAIC’s Invest in Our Employees Future Campaign, which selects highly talented young women and minorities to benefit from corporate-sponsored higher education programs to further their careers.

Aitkenhead is extremely supportive of those who work with her, frequently taking extra steps to personally mentor and guide individuals, ensuring their success. She is currently spearheading the implementation of a formal Mentor-Protégé Program within her operation center to foster the professional development and advancement of junior women to achieve high levels of leadership in their careers.

During her more than 20-year tenure at Deloitte, Teresa Young has shown a tireless commitment to mentoring and empowering women in the workplace. As a member of Deloitte’s national partner selection committee, Young championed the promotion of women to the level of partner. Today, more than 10 partners and directors count Young as one of their mentors, and many attribute their success to her guidance.

As a leader in Deloitte’s Women’s Initiative, Young helped establish many programs for working mothers, including a lactation support program. A working mother of two, she encourages flexible work arrangements for Deloitte employees, and she serves as a role model for women seeking to balance motherhood and work. She has recruited female executives of local companies to educate and inspire young women through Deloitte’s External Role Model program. A well-known specialist in life sciences and health care, Young has used her industry knowledge and relationships to help women secure new career opportunities.

For more than 12 years, Young has provided networking, mentoring and professional support through her involvement in FEW. Additionally, she was an original founding board member of Athena, served two terms as board treasurer and was a founding member of the Athena Biosciences Affinity Group. She has been a selfless advocate for advancing women within Deloitte and in the business community, and exemplifies the leadership and values of a Pinnacle Award winner.

Jaqueline "Jackie" Trishman inspires all those around her to great things and believes that reaching out to girls and women at all stages of their education and careers is important to foster future women leaders in the sciences. She believes that serving as a role model is not enough to truly move the dial and ensure that more women have successful careers and leadership roles in the sciences.

Trishman not only serves as a Girl Scout Troop Leader in her spare time, but also leads and orchestrates a science ChemExpo through the Girl Scouts each year, which reaches more than 200 girls throughout San Diego and Imperial counties.

Trishman joined the CSUSM Chemistry/Biochemistry faculty in 1993. She has carried forward her desire to see more women succeed in her field, and believes in finding opportunities to engage women in science in creative ways. For example, on a trip to Catalina Island, she helped five students earn SCUBA certification for scientific diving. She has formally mentored several students to be co-advisors of the ACS Student Club. She also has hired past women students to teach courses for nursing and kinesiology majors, and those women have gone on to mentor their own group of students.

Trishman has chaired the CSUSM's Chemistry/Biochemistry Department for four years. In this role, she successfully mentored female faculty in the mathematics and science division through tenure and promotions, helping them with publication and grant writing efforts.
She has been active as a leader in the professional community through her work with the San Diego section of the ACS as chair, vice-chair and secretary. As chair, she ensured that one-third of the nine presentations throughout the year were delivered by female scientists, including the vice president of a local drug discovery company and the only female full professor of nanoengineering at UCSD.

Qualcomm is demonstrably committed to advancing women. Its corporate board is comprised of 18 percent women. Catalyst figures women constitute only 11 percent of Fortune 1000 company board seats, and 25 percent of Fortune 1000 companies have no women on their boards. Qualcomm is proud to have many women leaders and senior executives.

In 2009, 111 were promoted and 20 hired to director roles. Women comprise 19 percent of the management team, 23% of new hires and 24% of all employees. The CEO is extremely supportive of Women in Science & Engineering (QWISE), a dynamic group dedicated to promoting women's careers. The more than 300 members of this group focus on: mentoring, recruiting and outreach.

Qualcomm has proactively created an environment conducive for women to succeed, offering benefits including: tuition reimbursement, 100 percent paid health care and a women's mentorship program. Its innovative environment has earned Qualcomm inclusion on Fortune magazine’s Best Places to Work list for 12 years, and it is the 6th most diverse company of the Top 100.

Qualcomm is actively engaged with the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) to incorporate institutional reform and increase women's participation in technology. Qualcomm provides scholarships to women and minorities studying engineering. Last year more than $120,000 was awarded. Many awardees become employees. Qualcomm has supported organizations like Girl Scouts, GirlStart, San Diego Science Alliance, Society of Women Engineers and Athena. 

In her 20+ year career, Brenda has consistently hired, developed, mentored and enhanced the lives of women. At AMN Healthcare, Brenda is responsible for the housing of thousands of traveling healthcare professionals and all insurance and related benefits. She has also been responsible for attracting and recruiting top talent, including several women in leadership roles. In Brenda’s direct responsibilities, she has positively empowered over 50 women.  Following Peregrine’s restructuring, Brenda created a women’s networking group to assist in resume creation, interviewing and networking techniques. While at Encad/Kodak she developed a formal corporate mentoring program to provide one-on-one mentoring for high performing individuals. Women seeking professional council and guidance are naturally attracted to Brenda’s warm, engaging and nurturing personality. She has also shared this empowering quality with women outside of her companies. The mentoring she provides is from the heart and has successfully helped many to advance in their careers.

Nancy Taylor’s passion for growing the next generation of women scientists and engineers is evident in her everyday work and well beyond. While supporting the 42 local school districts in science learning and curriculum implementation in her administrative role at the San Diego County Office of Education, she has gone beyond all expectations of instructional leadership to build networks and alliances that engage the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) community at large. Her contagious enthusiasm for serving the needs of teachers and students, specifically young women and underrepresented populations is evident in the broad range of programs she has developed. Nancy is co-founder of the Better Education for Women in Science and Engineering (BE WiSE) program of the San Diego Science Alliance. BE WiSE brings girls in grades 7-12 together with practicing women scientists for unique and exciting science and engineering learning experiences. Since 1999, BE WiSE has engaged young women representing 83% of the region’s schools in over 80 scientific venues in San Diego county. Nancy’s visibility as a leader in this program has garnered the confidence of school leaders and women in science to advance efforts to engage young women in opportunities to expand their horizons.

Prior to law school, Karen served as a captain in the United States Army where she was a role model who inspired, empowered, encouraged and promoted hundreds of women to reach their full leadership potential. As a commander, Karen was responsible for all aspects of the professional success, growth and advancement of the women in her command. Karen estimates that she personally promoted more than 20 enlisted women and mentored and/or directly recommended for promotion more than 25 women to and within the non-commissioned officer ranks. As a lawyer at Cooley Godward Kronish, Karen serves as co-chair of  the firm’s strategic women's initiative, C.R.A.W.L., which stands for the Cooley Commission on the Retention and Advancement of Women Lawyers. This program is designed to benefit Cooley's women attorneys by advancing their professional skills and opportunities both in the firm and in the practice of law. Over 30 women participated in and benefited from C.R.A.W.L. events in 2008.      Karen helped found Ms. JD, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation serving U.S women in the legal profession. Since Ms. JD’s inception in 2006, Karen has served on the Board of Directors and as the Chief Financial Officer. Ms. JD’s mission seeks to improve the experiences of women in law school and the legal profession. Through Karen’s extraordinary vision, staunch organizational skills and exemplary leadership, Ms. JD has helped literally thousands of women lawyers and aspiring lawyers all across the nation.

As a member of SAIC’s Engineering, Science and Technology Council and its former co-chair, Pam recommended women for high-visibility science and technology tasking. Moreover, she promoted, rewarded, encouraged and distinguished their technical accomplishments. She also energized experts to advise and mentor the next generation of women leaders. In another industry this might sound common, however, in the defense and information technology industries, it is not common to see a woman receive visibility and be promoted into a leadership and management position. Pam has actively helped other women achieve visibility in their career. Pam recently moved to UCSD where she petitioned senators and the Congress to increase the advanced positions and opportunities nationally for women in science, mathematics, and engineering. Pam’s achievement in her professional career has paved the way for many women behind her. The typical stereotyping notion that women cannot excel in math and science has been dispelled with her great and rare accomplishments.

 Cooley has instituted a number of programs to empower and promote women. The firm has publicly committed to a “no glass ceiling” pledge, formed a committee dedicated to retaining women, instituted programs to address mentoring and morale of women attorneys, and implemented flexible and reduced work schedules. Since January 2005, 51% of the new Cooley attorneys are women, 35% of attorneys in San Diego are women, and 18% of all partners are women. In 2009, 43% of the associates promoted to partner are women, an improvement from 33% in 2008. In 2008, Cooley San Diego created a Commission on the Retention and Advancement of Women Lawyers, known as CRAWL. This women’s initiative focuses on promoting the professional development of women lawyers at the firm, helps refine professional and leadership skills and addresses a variety of issues including mentoring, leadership, work/life balance, and career advancement. Cooley ranks in the top 75 U.S. law firms. The San Diego office has evolved into the preeminent law practice serving technology and life sciences companies, venture funds and investment banks in Southern California. 

Wendy has been an ardent supporter of women in the workplace.  She had led the effort to bring women into senior leadership positions at the companies with which she has been affiliated. At Aires, she has helped advance the career of her key financial person, Julie Crawford.  Wendy is well respected in the industry by the many women whose careers she has helped foster. Wendy has been a Venture Partner at ProQuest Investments since November 2005. While there, she has been instrumental in developing new bioscience companies.  One of those companies is Aires Pharmaceuticals, which she started in 2006 and for which she serves as President and CEO. Prior to joining ProQuest, she served as Senior Vice President, Corporate Development, at Salmedix Inc., where she led the effort to license their lead cancer therapeutic; the company was successfully sold to Cephalon in June 2005. She held senior business and corporate development positions at Women First, Prizm Pharmaceuticals (currently Selective Genetics Inc.), Cytel Corp., Symbiotics Corp., and Murex Corp. (Cambridge U.K.). Additionally, Ms. Johnson served as Assistant Director with the Center for Devices and Radiological Health at the Food and Drug Administration. The mentoring she provides is from the heart and has successfully helped many to advance in their careers. 

For 10 years, Jo Moss dedicated herself to California's Tech Trek Science Camp, a one-week residential session held on a college campus to inspire middle-school girls of all backgrounds to take science, technology, engineering and mathematics courses in high school, to then attend college, and to consider STEM-related careers. As director, Jo recruited innovative instructors to provide hands-on classes and labs, planned field trips and developed workshops led by distinguished STEM professionals. Under Jo's direction, more than 1,000 girls participated in Tech Trek at UCSD. A 2006 assessment of Tech Trek participants revealed that 96% of respondents were enrolled in (or planned to attend) college; and 53% were majoring in science- or math-related fields. Many called Tech Trek the most influential experience of their middle school years, while all respondents credited the camp for encouraging their interest in science and math careers. One young woman reported, "My experience with wonderful teachers and diverse students in a campus atmosphere at Tech Trek is one reason I am studying molecular and cellular biology at Harvard."                          

Ellen Morgan is President and co-founder of Synteract, which has 221 employees, over 70% of which are women. The senior and overall management team compiled by Ellen is a diverse and high-functioning group. Of the fifteen key functional areas at Synteract, nine are headed up by women.  Four of these female managers were initially hired at lower positions and within the last five years have been promoted. Ellen's open management style of giving individuals with potential the opportunity to take on additional responsibilities and develop their careers significantly contributes to Synteract's success as an organization. Under Ellen's leadership, Synteract has grown from a small consulting organization of a few individuals to a successful company with $30 million in revenues (up from $10 million just 3 years ago) and the company has expanded its clinical development services to biotechnology companies. Ellen’s vision of providing high quality and personalized services to small biotech companies is pervasive throughout the organization. The culture developed by Ellen engages encourages employees to go the extra mile in helping clients achieve their corporate milestones. Ellen is a frequent participant in panel discussions for women's and general business organizations, sharing her experiences as an entrepreneur.  Most recently, for the Women In Technology (WITI) 2006 Conference Ellen led the topic "Sharing Wisdom: Stories of successful Women Entrepreneurs", sharing her insights about successfully growing a company from a start-up to $30MM in revenues.

As one of few women leaders in the wireless industry and the first woman inducted into the "Wireless Hall of Fame," Arlene Harris is a true role model for women in technology. After founding Jitterbug in 2005, Arlene led its innovative business and technology strategy resulting in thousands of satisfied customers and VC funding to support continued growth. During the delicate start up phase for Jitterbug, Arlene hired professional women in Operations, Marketing, Legal and Telesales, over 70% of the workforce, to help ensure that focus on consumer needs and simplicity was maintained. Arlene assembled additional technology providers to deliver customer-centric services, including the first ever ability to configure phone features via the Internet. Validating Arlene's vision, Jitterbug received numerous awards including Best New Wireless Company 2007 and accolades from the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, NY Times Top 10 Brilliant Ideas, and Reader's Digest 100 Best Products, among others.      Arlene Harris, along with co-founder of Jitterbug, Marty Cooper, and inventor of the first handheld cellular phone, help the San Diego technology community focus on the future of wireless.  This includes the convergence of wireless solutions in the healthcare industry, one of San Diego's bright futures with the potential for global leadership. They collaborate with government, industry and consumer advocate leaders in Washington D.C. and across the nation and bring these insights back to San Diego.

 Amylin is focused on providing a diverse workforce of people who bring diverse perspectives, knowledge and experiences to the company. Fundamental to creating that diverse workforce is ensuring women are an integral part of the company’s recruitment and retention efforts.  To foster female employees' career development, Amylin instituted the Amylin Reaching Out to Women (AROW) affinity group in 2007. AROW empowers by creating an open dialogue of various issues that impact women in the workplace. AROW leaders organize programs that unify, develop, empower women throughout the company, including a commitment to send two women each year to the Kellogg Center for Executive Women program. Over 50% of Amylin's 1900 employees are women, and represent a spectrum of functions and roles within the company - ranging from the top down. Seven of the 25 members of Amylin's senior executive management team are women, and are responsible for leading functions ranging from clinical development to commercial operations. Additionally, 3 members of Amylin's Board of Directors are women, including former Amylin CEO Ginger Graham. Over 31% of the company's senior management group are women, who oversee departments responsible for Amylin's day-to-day operations. To address large, unmet medical needs in diabetes and obesity, Amylin is deploying near-, mid-, and long-term strategies. Today, Amylin's first-in-class marketed diabetes products, SYMLIN® and BYETTA® injections, provide patients the unique opportunity to manage glucose and lose weight. Over the long-term, Amylin’s obesity franchise will enable the company to develop safe products for the chronic condition affecting 1/3 of the U.S. population. Amylin firmly believes the only way these strategies will be successful is if it harnesses the power of its diverse, committed and passionate workforce.