Top Women In Marketing & Communications Honored - Brief Article

Ebony, July, 2001

MAJOR corporate, civic and political leaders helped EBONY honor excellence at the magazine's second annual Outstanding Women in Marketing & Communications Award ceremonies at the New York Hilton Hotel & Towers. Among the honorees were 12 women who have succeeded in advertising, marketing, journalism and communications ownership, and who have paved inroads at corporations of all sizes as well as in their own businesses.

"We are honoring advertising agency executives who have creatively influenced our purchasing habits," said Linda Johnson Rice, president and chief operating officer of Johnson Publishing Company. "We are honoring corporate marketing executives who have helped shape the image of products we buy every day. We are honoring journalists who have given us a new world of information. We are honoring entrepreneurs who have taken marketing and communications to a personal level."

Janice Huff, a meteorologist for WNBC-TV, MSNBC and NBC news television programs, was the mistress of ceremonies for the luncheon, which attracted 500 guests. Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields was among the dignitaries at the event.

Grammy-nominated jazz flutist Sherry Winston provided musical entertainment.

Presenters of the major awards included Wallace S. Snyder, president and CEO of the American Advertising Federation; Deborah Roberts, correspondent for the ABC News program 20/20; Vikki Schwartzman, corporate media director of L'Oreal USA; and Jeff Burns Jr., senior vice president of Johnson Publishing Company.

In her closing address, President Rice reiterated the meaning behind EBONY's sponsorship of the award.

"We feel it is important to recognize the accomplishments of women who have achieved success in marketing and communications," she said. "These women have had an impact on informing and influencing consumers of all races."

The honorees were:

TERRI LYN GARDNER, president of L'Oreal's USA's Soft Sheen/Carson Division. As a child, Gardner filled shampoo bottles for Soft Sheen, the family's business. In 1998, she helped coordinate Soft Sheen's acquisition by L'Oreal and was appointed the head of the new division in 2000. Gardner is responsible for Soft Sheen/Carson Division's entire domestic operation.

VERDIA E. JOHNSON, president and founding partner of Footsteps. Johnson's company is an advertising and marketing agency that introduces corporations to multicultural customers. For 25 years, Johnson has pioneered multicultural initiatives with major corporations.

CAROL H. WILLIAMS, CEO and executive director of Carol H. Williams Advertising. The agency's clients include Luster Products and the University of California-Davis Health System. Williams has also created campaigns for Clorox, General Motors and Revlon through other advertising ventures.

MICHELLE L. GARNER, senior V.P., group media director, Burrell Communications Group. A 22-year veteran of the advertising world, Garner is co-manager of Burrell's media department. She oversees media planning and execution for such household names as Sears, Verizon, ExxonMobil, Bacardi and Nestle.

VALERIE J. GRAVES, senior vice president and chief creative officer, UniWorld Group. Graves directs campaigns for Ford, Pepsi, AT&T and other major companies. She is also listed in Advertising Age's "100 Best and Brightest."

CHERYL L. HUDSON, executive vice president and director of media communications, Don Coleman Advertising, Inc. Hudson, who got her start in communications as a teen news reporter for a Detroit radio station, is how responsible for budgets totaling $100 million for clients such as Daimler Chrysler, American Airlines and Kmart Corp.

LEISA BYARS, truck marketing communications manager, Ford Motor Company. Byars joined Ford in 1995. She is responsible for all truck and SUV advertising efforts in the United States.

JOYCE A. GREENE, director of brand advertising and promotion at Amtrak. Greene has spent almost 30 years at Amtrak and is responsible for the company's long-term national marketing program.

KECIA M. VOORHEES, manager of global media and sponsorship marketing, American Express Company. Voorhees started working in the American Express marketing department in 1989 and was moved to the global media and sponsorship marketing division in 1992. She focuses on sponsorships of major sports enterprises such as the NBA, WNBA and the NCAA.

CAROLE SIMPSON, senior correspondent for ABC News and anchor of World News Tonight Sunday. Simpson's impressive network news career covers more than 25 years. In the late 1980s, she became the first African-American woman to be named a network news anchor.

ELINOR TATUM, publisher and editor-in-chief, Amsterdam News, New York's largest Black newspaper. After serving as a reporter, editor and associate publisher of the Amsterdam News, Tatum succeeded her father, Wilbert A. Tatum, the newspaper's publisher emeritus, in 1997.

LENA WILLIAMS, senior writer, New York Times. Williams joined the Times in 1974 as a clerk in the sports department. Although sports writing is her specialty, she established the newspaper's civil rights beat in 1986 while working at the Washington, D.C., bureau.