Pinnacle 2008 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.