WITI - Hall of Fame

Ruth Leach Amonette
First Female Vice President, IBM

Dr. Eleanor Baum
Dean of Engineering, Cooper Union Engineering school

Dr. Jaleh Daie
Managing Partner, Aurora Equity

Dr. Barbara Grant
Partner, American River Ventures

Stephanie L. Kwolek
Developed the Kevlar Fiber, DuPont

Dr. Misha Mahowald
Neuromorphic Engineer, Institute of Neuroinformatics

Linda Sanford
Senior VP, Enterprise on Demand Transformation & Information Technology, IBM

Dr. Cheryl L. Shavers
Chairman and CEO, Global Smarts, Inc.

Dr. Sheila Widnall
Secretary of the Air Force,

Dr. Chien-Shiung Wu
Retired, Senior Research Scientist, Columbia University

2012   2011   2010   2009   2008   2007

2006   2005   2004   2003   2002   2001

2000   1999   1998   1997   1996

Ruth Leach Amonette

First Female Vice President, IBM

Inducted in: 1996

At the age of 27, Ruth Leach Amonette was elected IBM Vice President in 1943, four years after joining the company. Ms. Amonette's promotion was, according to the IBM board of directors, "in recognition of her ability and of the increasingly important part which women are playing in the operation of the company." She was the first woman to hold a corporate position at IBM and one of the few women at that time to hold an executive position in any large company in the U.S. After becoming vice president, she devoted herself to the advancement of women in business and industry.

Ms. Amonette became associated with IBM in February 1939, as a demonstrator at the company's Gallery of Science and Art at the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco. After attending Systems Service Class 448, she was assigned to the Atlanta office as a systems service representative. In July 1940, she was promoted to instructor in the Department of Education in Endicott, New York, and in October of the same year, she was promoted to the position of Secretary of Education for Women.

In 1945, Ms. Amonette was selected as one of the eleven outstanding women of the year and received an award at the annual dinner of the Women's National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

Ms. Amonette is a graduate of the University of California.

Ms. Amonette at age 87, died in Carmel on June 21, 2004.

More information on Ruth Leach Amonette is available at the following:
Among Equals: A Memoir : The Rise of IBM's First Woman Corporate Vice President