Last fall, the Chicago Chapter showcased the winners of the second WITI "Excellence in Corporate IT Leadership" Award for top Chicago female IT executives. Held at elegant facilities at Northwestern University, the event was sold out and the audience energized, a testament to the community's hunger to hear success stories such as the night's winners'.

WITI has worked to transform corporate and media perceptions of women and technology, and to recognize and celebrate the outstanding accomplishments of women. The WITI Excellence in Corporate IT Leadership Award builds on that mission by recognizing outstanding corporate leaders in regional areas.

There were an inspirationally high number of nominations. To win, the selection criteria were:

1. Nominee must be in an IT leadership position in a large corporation.
2. The individual's contribution must be significant in furthering the corporation's business and technology strategy.
3. The individual must have contributed in the civic arena and mentorship.

The 2006 winners are:

• Noreen Iles, VP, Technology Solutions, Freddie Mac
• Jan LaHayne, VP, Chief Information Officer, Littelfuse, Inc.
• Susan Malisch, VP, Chief Information Officer, Loyola University
• Barbara A. Zeller, VP, Information Technology Nicor Inc. and Nicor Gas

Each winner spoke briefly on key learnings on their path to leadership. The keynote speaker for the evening was Ellen Barry, a previous award winner. Additionally, Ms. Barry served as a judge for this year's award with fellow award winners Ms. Warrior of Motorola and Ms. Brune of Allstate Insurance. To round out the impressive judging panel was Mr. Michael Krauss, a technology columnist for The Chicago Sun-Times.

Past winners include Ellen Barry, Chief Information Officer, Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority; Padmasree Warrior, Chief Technology Officer, Motorola; Catherine Brune, Chief Information Officer, Allstate Insurance; Maureen Osborne, Chief Technology Officer, Bank One; June Drewry, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer, AON Corporation; and Joy Keeler, Associate Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs and Chief Information Officer, the University of Illinois at Chicago.

"The WITI 'Excellence in Corporate IT Leadership' Award builds on our mission to support and honor women who achieve their goals in the information technology and science fields," said Carolyn Leighton, CEO, chairwoman and founder of WITI. "WITI strives to empower women through example and these awards help achieve this by recognizing outstanding women locally."

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