Women We Admire is pleased to announce The Top 50 Women Leaders of Baltimore for 2024. As the most populous city in the state of Maryland, Baltimore’s diverse economy is led by talented, skilled leaders in a variety of forward-thinking, innovative sectors. Major industries in Charm City include finance, education, healthcare, science, business services IT, manufacturing, and construction. Government positions are also a primary employer in Baltimore.
Among this year’s honorees, we honor business leader Martine Balthazar, a Senior Human Resources Business Partner at Molson Coors Beverage Company. Balthazar leads an organization of 90 employees who support improving payroll and workforce administration processes for 30,000 employees across the United States and Mexico.
A leader in one of Baltimore’s largest employers, the Johns Hopkins University System, Jennifer Adams is the Director of International Teaching and Global Leadership and an Associate Professor at Johns Hopkins, America’s first research university. With an eye toward the future, Adams’ research investigates how climate change shapes children’s learning in diverse contexts.
Finally, we recognize the career of Louritha Green, the Branch Chief for the Office of International Affairs of US Customs and Border Protection, a part of the Department of Homeland Security. A certified trade advisor, international commercial arbitrator, and border security expert, Green has 25 years of experience with Asia-Pacific and European cultures, law, and policy and 20 years of expertise in trade and security law.
Please join us in celebrating the accomplishments of The Top 50 Women Leaders of Baltimore for 2024.
1. Charisse Hughes
Senior VP, Chief Growth Officer, Kellanova
Charisse Hughes is the Senior Vice President and Chief Growth Officer of Kellanova. She first joined the company in 2023. At Kellanova, their vision is to be the world’s best-performing snacks-led powerhouse, unleashing the full potential of their differentiated brands and their passionate people.
Hughes is an award-winning brand builder and modern marketer with over 25 years of experience driving consumer acquisition, retention, and loyalty, as well as digital e-commerce growth. Her vision as a member of the executive committee is to create a future-ready Kellanova with a winning portfolio of leading, iconic global brands and characters that inspire consumers to engage with the company. She is committed to creating personalized engagement and inclusive experiences enabled by a deep data-driven understanding and advanced analytics/machine learning.
Previously, Hughes was a chief marketing officer in the Americas at Pandora and, before that, a senior vice president of global marketing at Esteé Lauder. Earlier in her career, she worked with Sara Lee as a senior analyst in corporate development. Hughes earned an MBA in Business Management and Marketing from Northwestern University and an undergraduate degree in finance from Howard University.
3. Louritha Green
Branch Chief, Office of International Affairs, US Customs and Border Protection
Louritha Green is the Branch Chief for the Office of International Affairs of US Customs and Border Protection. As a part of the Department of Homeland Security, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) serves as a leading law enforcement agency in securing their nation.
Green is a certified trade advisor, international commercial arbitrator, and border security expert with 25 years of experience with Asia-Pacific and European cultures, law, and policy. As an attorney, she has 20 years of expertise in trade and security law and five years of managerial experience. She is an expert in the operation of multilateral institutions, including the United Nations, World Customs Organization, World Trade Organization, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, and the International Maritime Organization. Green has concluded over 40 international agreements and arrangements on six continents, including twenty with Asia-Pacific governments, and has led multiple international anti-corruption and trade facilitation capacity-building missions. She holds a Zertifikat Deutsch als Fremdsprache (certified 3rd-level German proficiency), has intermediate French language comprehension, and basic Japanese reading comprehension.
Green started her career in 2001 as a law clerk at the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. She graduated from Tulane University Law School with a JD in International and Comparative Law, from Harvard University with a Master's in Public Policy International Trade and Finance, and from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville with an undergraduate degree in political science.
4. Jennifer Adams
Director of International Teaching & Global Leadership/Associate Professor, The Johns Hopkins University
Jennifer Adams is the Director of International Teaching and Global Leadership and an Associate Professor at Johns Hopkins University, America’s first research university. Adams’ most recent research investigates how climate change shapes children’s learning in diverse contexts. In one project, she explores the short and long-term educational impact of climate-induced natural disasters in Indonesia.
Adams earned her master’s and doctoral degrees from Harvard University, where she was a Spencer Foundation Research and Training Fellow. She has over 20 years of experience working in the field of global education as a teacher, school leader, and educational researcher in East Asia (Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong). She received the Fulbright Specialist Award for Indonesia and Israel Faculty Fellowship in 2022. She was selected to serve on the Hong Kong Research Grants Council’s Collaborative Research Fund award panel from 2023 to 2026 after serving on the Education and Social Sciences panels from 2014 to 2019.
In prior positions, Adams taught graduate-level courses in comparative and international education, quantitative research methods, and survey data collection. Her research identifies and investigates educational opportunity, salient dimensions of children’s school experiences in rural communities, and the educational impact of social, demographic, and economic shifts associated with rapid globalization and development, primarily in China.
5. Divya Srikumaran
Chief, Division of Cornea, Cataract & External Disease, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins Medicine
Divya Srikumaran is the Chief of the Division of Cornea, Cataract, and External Disease at Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins Medicine. After completing her residency and fellowship at Wilmer, Srikumaran joined the Wilmer faculty in 2011. From 2011 to 2021, she was the medical director of the institute’s Odenton satellite clinic. She also served as associate residency program director from 2012 to 2013 and residency program director from 2013 to 2016. In 2017, she was named Wilmer’s vice chair for education.
Srikumaran has a track record of academic and clinical accomplishments. She has 100 peer-reviewed publications, serves on the editorial board of the journal Cornea, is a member of the board of directors of the Cornea Society, and is currently co-chair of the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s Cornea Subspecialty Day. Srikumaran wants to expand the capabilities of the cornea team by recruiting new faculty members to fill open roles and specialties, such as adding a pediatric cornea specialist. She hopes to continue making the cornea fellowship one of the top programs in the country to train the next generation of cornea specialists. From a research perspective, Srikumaran wants to expand the number of clinical trials the team offers.
Srikumaran continues to provide patient care at Wilmer’s East Baltimore and Odenton locations. She received her MD and BA in Biology from Northwestern University.
7. Megan Bailey
EVP, Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer, Labcorp
Megan Bailey has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer at Labcorp since 2023. She came into the Labcorp organization through the acquisition of Personal Genome Diagnostics (PGDx), a cancer genomics company, where she served as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors. As CEO, Bailey led PGDx through a business transformation and several noteworthy milestones, including securing the first-ever FDA clearance of a comprehensive genomic profiling product, Medicare reimbursement, and several high-impact co-development and commercial partnerships.
Bailey has more than 20 years of leadership experience in the healthcare industry, including more than 10 years at Roche Diagnostics. There, she rapidly progressed through commercial leadership roles, most recently serving as senior director of commercial operations, leading commercial organizations across four divisions that spanned clinical chemistry, molecular diagnostics, tissue diagnostics, and point of care portfolios, addressing multiple market segments.
She is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and earned her Master of Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Bailey serves as a member of the Novo Holdings Advisory Group, and she is on the University of Maryland Baltimore Foundation Board of Trustees and the Army West Point Athletic Association Board of Directors.
9. Melissa Helicke
Chief Operating Officer, Office of Johns Hopkins Physicians, Johns Hopkins Medicine
Melissa Helicke is the Chief Operating Officer for the Office of Johns Hopkins Physicians at Johns Hopkins Medicine. She ensures the success and efficient execution of all operations within the Office of Johns Hopkins Physicians and the Clinical Practice Association, working in tandem with representatives from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the hospitals, and the Johns Hopkins Health System on the shared vision of clinical growth and integration.
Previously, Helicke served as chief operating officer for Johns Hopkins Community Physicians, where she was responsible for practice operations across all of the locations and led primary care expansion planning and implementation through practice integrations and new-build growth. She worked closely with the organization’s entire clinical and administrative leadership and interfaced with ambulatory leadership throughout Johns Hopkins Medicine, particularly through the Office of Johns Hopkins Physicians. Helicke joined Johns Hopkins Medicine in 1996 as an administrative fellow. She then served as administrator for the Department of Medicine at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center for nearly 15 years. She also served as an assistant dean at Johns Hopkins Bayview and partnered with the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and medical center leadership to build programs that supported the academic mission and reinforced bonds among Bayview, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, and the School of Medicine.
After earning a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Pennsylvania State University, Helicke worked as an auditor for PricewaterhouseCoopers. She also earned Master’s degrees in Health Administration and Business Administration from the University of Pittsburgh.
13. Lenora Henry
Executive Director, American Red Cross
Lenora Henry is the Executive Director of the American Red Cross. She first joined the team in 2023. The Red Cross is a nonprofit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to deliver its mission.
Henry is a nonprofit executive leader with over 25 years of experience in management, fundraising, and strategic planning. She started her career in fundraising for the American Red Cross of Central Maryland, traveling across the US to cover national and local disasters. Since then, Henry has worked for the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA), the House of Ruth Maryland, United Way of Central Maryland, Catholic Charities, and Howard County General Hospital Foundation. Before returning to the Red Cross, she served as the executive director of the Baltimore City Chamber of Commerce.
A native of Baltimore City, Henry has been very involved with her community, currently serving on the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance, and has served on Shepherd's Clinic, and her alma mater, Mercy High School. Henry is a graduate of the University of Baltimore, where she earned a Master’s in Public Administration with a concentration in Nonprofit Management. She also received her undergraduate degree in business from Sojourner-Douglass College.
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14. Rebecca Altman
Senior VP & Chief Administrative Officer, Midtown, University of Maryland Medical System
Rebecca Altman is the Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of Midtown of the University of Maryland Medical System. Altman has more than 24 years of experience in healthcare management, healthcare reform, and business development. Her areas of expertise include business planning and integration, healthcare policy, population health management, cross-cultural communications, crisis management, and process improvement.
In her current role, Altman is responsible for the overall performance of the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) Midtown Campus. Her areas of focus include building on the operational, clinical, and functional integration between UMMC's two campuses, as well as advancing community health initiatives and West Baltimore partnerships, accelerating the optimization of ambulatory services, and increasing overall efficiency. Altman cultivates and maintains effective relationships throughout the University of Maryland Medical System and with the deans of the UM School of Medicine and UM School of Nursing, department leaders, and colleagues at other University of Maryland and Baltimore professional schools.
Before joining UMMC, Altman held several senior leadership positions at LifeBridge Health, overseeing operations of two hospitals and leading the expansion of healthcare services in West Baltimore to address specific community needs. She serves as an advisor to the state's Health Equity Resource Community Advisory Committee, where she chairs the data sub-committee. Altman's leadership and dedication to healthcare equity was recognized by The Daily Record, which named her one of Maryland's Top 100 Women. Altman earned her RN licensure at Lancaster General School of Nursing and her bachelor's degree from Franklin & Marshall College. She completed her Master's in Business Administration from the George Washington University School of Business.
17. Nancy Haines
Executive Director, Human Resources, Allegis Group
Nancy Haines is the Executive Director of Human Resources of Allegis Group. As the global leader in talent solutions, Allegis Group takes pride in what they do, connecting great people to great opportunities, and helping businesses win and careers soar. Today, with $12.3 billion in revenues and over 500 global locations, Allegis Group and its network of specialized companies provide a full suite of complementary talent solutions to solve workforce challenges.
Haines has 20 years of experience. She is a passionate, innovative, and creative talent development and strategy partner with a proven record of success in optimizing human resources strategy to support overall employee empowerment and strategic direction. She creates enterprise-wide vision, mission, and guiding principles. She leads global talent strategies, including performance management, workforce planning, talent pipeline and succession management, competency modeling, employee value proposition, and branding. She collaborates formally with executive leadership to create and implement strategies and success measures, ensuring alignment with the company’s vision, goals, and practices.
Before joining Allegis Group, Haines worked with T. Rowe Price as a senior business systems analyst. She graduated from Johns Hopkins University with an MA in Organizational Development and from Franklin & Marshall College with an undergraduate degree in French and business administration.
22. Delphine Kocher
VP, Group Communications, Constellium
Delphine Kocher is the Vice President of Group Communications of Constellium, a global leader in designing and manufacturing innovative and high-value-added aluminum products and solutions for a broad range of applications dedicated primarily to aerospace, automotive, and packaging markets.
Kocher has diverse work experience spanning different roles and industries, starting her career as a technical assistant at the National School of Education in 1998. Later, she worked as a director of client services at Publicis Consultants from September 2003 to September 2009. Kocher then transitioned to a partner role at CLAI from January 2010 to February 2013. Following this, she joined Weber Shandwick as a senior vice president from January 2014 to December 2015. Starting from January 2016, she joined Constellium and held various roles, including communications director for North America and vice president of group external communications and public affairs. In 2018, she became the vice president of public affairs and communications for North America before assuming her current role.
Kocher attended Columbia University from 2000 to 2001, where she obtained a Master of International Affairs. Before that, she studied at Sciences Po, a public university in Paris, France, from 1996 to 2000, earning a Master of Political Sciences in Political Science and Government. Additionally, she obtained an International Student Diploma from Georgetown University.
24. Tabata Gomez
Chief Marketing Officer, McCormick & Co.
Tabata Gomez is Chief Marketing Officer at McCormick & Company, Inc., a global leader in flavor and one of the most respected and familiar names in the industry. As CMO, Gomez leads the global marketing organization and partners with regional commercial organizations and global functions to drive growth, build brand and flavor differentiation worldwide, help deliver against innovation objectives, and accelerate global digital marketing capabilities. She is also a member of McCormick’s Global Operating Committee.
Before joining McCormick, Gomez served as chief marketing officer for Stanley Black & Decker, where she had stewardship of a $14 billion portfolio of brands, including Dewalt, Craftsman, and Black & Decker. She also served as president of the Global Hand Tools, Accessories & Storage Group, a $4 billion business unit within Stanley Black & Decker. Before her time at Stanley Black & Decker, Gomez worked at Coty, Inc., where she was a vice president. She also spent 13 years at Procter & Gamble, where she served in roles of increasing responsibility in brand management, marketing, and innovation, working on top brands like Covergirl, Max Factor, Braun, Crest Whitestrips, Ariel, Dawn, and Mr. Clean.
Gomez holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City. She speaks several languages. Gomez brings expertise in global marketing, brand leadership, and license product management to the board of directors. With broad international experience in Latin America, Europe, and Asia, she also provides the board with critical international perspectives.
27. Whitney Boles
Managing Director, Customer Products, Constellation
Whitney Boles is Managing Director for Customer Products at Constellation. Headquartered in Baltimore, Constellation Energy Corporation is the nation’s largest producer of clean, carbon-free energy and a leading supplier of energy products and services to businesses, homes, community aggregations, and public sector customers across the continental United States, including three-fourths of Fortune 100 companies. Boles leads the customer products and portfolio integration teams that manage new and existing power and natural gas products.
Before her current role, Boles was a senior manager for off-site renewables. In that role, she was responsible for helping commercial and industrial customers achieve their sustainability goals through Constellation’s off-site renewable solutions and the development of new off-site renewable products. Before that, she served as chief of staff to the CEO of Constellation and the president and CEO of Exelon Generation, where she managed the operations of the Constellation Leadership Committee and drove the priorities of the executives, including responsibility for the annual Constellation business plan, among other initiatives. Boles joined Constellation in 2014 as an in-house transactional attorney, supporting Constellation’s wholesale energy business.
Before joining Constellation, Boles practiced law at Skadden, Arps, Slate Meagher & Flom, focusing on energy project development, financing, and mergers and acquisitions. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Government from Harvard College and her JD from Harvard Law School.
28. Trishana Bowden
VP, Advancement & President of GMU Foundation, George Mason University
Trishana Bowden joined George Mason University in March 2019 as the Vice President for Advancement and Alumni Relations and President of the George Mason University Foundation. George Mason University is Virginia’s largest and most diverse public research university.
Bowden reports jointly to the president of the university and the Foundation Board of Trustees, working harmoniously with a multitude of highly engaged and energetic university and foundation partners. She is responsible for developing, executing, and evaluating all aspects of the university’s comprehensive fundraising program, including annual giving, major and leadership giving, corporate and foundation relations, planned giving, alumni relations, research and prospect management, development services, and donor cultivation and stewardship. Bowden came to Mason from Goucher College in Towson, Maryland, where she was the vice president for advancement, responsible for providing strategy, leadership, and direction for fundraising, alumni and parent relations, campaign planning, and implementation. Her accomplishments there included diversifying and strengthening Goucher’s donor base and pipeline to build a culture of philanthropy, which led to a doubling of overall giving to the institution in less than three years.
Before her work at Goucher, Bowden was the associate dean for external relations at the University of Maryland’s Francis King Carey School of Law. She also served as associate dean for institutional advancement at American University Washington College of Law and has held development positions at the American Lung Association of Maryland and the Johns Hopkins Oncology Center. She received a BS in Mass Communication/Media Studies from Towson University.
31. Dr. Renique Kersh
VP, Student Affairs, University of Maryland Baltimore County
Renique Kersh is the Vice President for Student Affairs at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. A strategic leader with more than 20 years of higher education experience, Kersh has been a leader in student success and engagement with a strong commitment to creating experiential equity, providing leadership development, and building strong teams. Previously, she served as the vice president for student engagement, success, and diversity at Simmons University in Boston. In addition, she has held mid-level and senior-level leadership positions at North Central College, Northern Illinois University, the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, and the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Kersh has provided visionary leadership at public and private institutions, engaging university stakeholders in the critical and collaborative work required to ensure that students are transformed by their experiences in and out of the classroom. Her commitment to outcomes has resulted in retention gains, reductions in equity gaps, reductions in barriers to student success, increase in engagement for underrepresented students in undergraduate research, and service-learning experiences, as well as the merging of academic support and career services to increase efficiency and the level of service delivery.
Kersh earned her BA in Communications from Oakland University, her MEd in College Student Personnel from the University of Maryland, and her PhD in Community Health from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. She is a wife and a mother of two boys.
View the complete list of awardees.
33. Jana Gold
Managing Director, Alvarez & Marsal
Jana Gold is a Managing Director with Alvarez & Marsal Private, a leading global professional services firm that provides advisory, business performance improvement, and turnaround management services. Gold brings more than 15 years of direct retail industry experience, specializing in strategic solutions for existing and new business segments, end-to-end product design, development, production, and sourcing optimization. She has a proven record of post-merger integration, interim management roles, system implementations, and cost take-out/performance improvement.
In her retail industry career, Gold has held roles of increasing responsibility across Asia and North America. She assisted or led more than 10 post-acquisition/carve-out integrations for apparel, footwear, and accessories and was responsible for operational due diligence, TSA negotiation, project plan, and integration execution from merchandising to end consumer delivery. Gold led the PLC reengineering for a major sportswear company and has directed the implementation of multiple PLM and planning systems. Most recently, Gold led a COGS reduction effort for a $500 million affordable luxury brand, resulting in a 20 percent YOY reduction by implementing cost transparency, should-cost modeling, construction optimization, and factory rationalization. She also led a $2 billion apparel retailer in transforming its go-to-market process, reducing the calendar by 12 weeks, optimizing the assortment, and rightsizing the organization. Gold has served as the in-country international lead for the post-carve-out activities and SAP implementation for a $400 million wholesale/retail footwear company.
Previously, Gold acted as interim COO for a $70 million luxury direct-to-consumer brand, focused on establishing a sourcing strategy, developing a product development and production function, and implementing basic planning fundamentals associated with integrated planning across all functions. She has also acted as SVP of sourcing, domestic production, and technical design for a $500 million retailer. Gold earned a bachelor's degree from New York University Stern School of Business and an MBA from Wake Forest School of Business.
34. Phyllis Keys
Associate VP, Academic Affairs, Morgan State University
Phyllis Keys is the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at Morgan State University. She is also a professor of finance, a director for the Academy of Economics and Finance, on the editorial board of the Africa Journal of Management, and an active faculty participant in the PhD Project Finance Doctoral Association.
Keys is involved in community and university activities related to financial literacy, having volunteered with Junior Achievement of Delaware, Junior Achievement of Central Maryland, and the Green Dollars Project. Her research interests are corporate governance, executive compensation, and the relationship between diversity and organizational performance.
Keys has a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Mississippi, an MBA from Jackson State University, and a PhD in Finance from Florida State University.
36. Angela Celestin
EVP, Chief Human Resources Officer, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield
Angela Celestin joined CareFirst in 2019 as Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer. CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield is a health insurance provider serving 3.5 million individuals and groups in Maryland and the Washington metropolitan area. Celestin is responsible for shaping the employee experience and driving robust and progressive HR thought leadership throughout the organization.
Over a 20-year career, Celestin has led HR and employee development activities within consumer product and financial services industries, including roles with Pepsi-Cola, OneMain Financial, Citi, and Money Mart Financial Services. She has successfully negotiated outcomes in union and non-union environments, and she drove transformational culture initiatives. She also spearheaded change management practices, which are useful in her role as CHRO. Celestin and her team continue to look for ways to improve the employee experience while driving better business outcomes.
A native of New York, Celestin received her Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University. She actively supports their member communities, including board leadership roles and DEI insight at Port Discovery and the United Way of Central Maryland.
37. Nicole Petroski
Associate VP, Digital Experience & Products, Mercy Medical Center Baltimore MD
Nicole Petroski is Associate Vice President of Digital Experience and Products for Mercy Health Services. Petroski provides leadership and oversight for consumer-facing digital transformation initiatives, including strategy across web, mobile, and other key digital touchpoints, as well as involvement in the health system’s artificial intelligence adoption and governance.
Petroski has over 20 years of experience in digital innovation and has led enterprise-wide initiatives, as well as strategies focused on specific service-line expansions. She and her team leverage a range of technologies to improve patient acquisition and retention, as well as the overall patient experience.
Petroski holds an MBA and a Certificate in Digital Media and Marketing. She is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Data Science at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
38. Mary Crystal
Director & Head of Project Management Office (PMO), Information & Transformation Office, FWD Insurance
Mary Crystal is the Director and Head of the Project Management Office and the Information Transformation Office at FWD Insurance. FWD Group is a pan-Asian life insurance business with more than 13 million customers across 10 markets, including some of the fastest-growing insurance markets in the world.
Crystal is a highly motivated, proactive, and enthusiastic leader with broad experience in management, enterprise project management, and program management. She is skilled in driving transformational change by implementing Agile methodologies and process improvements, focusing on efficiency and profitability. With extensive expertise in managing projects that drive growth, increase sales, and reduce costs across multiple industries, including IT service delivery and BPO environments, she is a dedicated leader who promotes a team-oriented approach. Her leadership style has resulted in improved performance metrics and strong employee retention rates.
Crystal started her career in 2003 as a project implementation officer at Epixtar International Contact Center Pte, Ltd. From there, she went on to Citigroup Business Process Solutions, before eventually rising to change management and reengineering lean Six Sigma lead and practitioner at HSBC, her last role before joining FWD Insurance. Crystal graduated from De La Salle University with an undergraduate degree in chemistry.
40. Terri Bracciale
Regional President, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices PenFed Realty
Terri Bracciale is the Regional President of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices PenFed Realty, a full-service real estate company with over 2,000 professionals across more than 50 offices, dedicated to assisting clients with buying and selling homes. She is also the Principal Broker for Maryland.
With 38 years of experience in real estate sales and leadership, Bracciale joined Berkshire Hathaway in 2010 as a branch manager. She was promoted to a regional role after three years, and five years ago, she stepped into her current leadership position. Prior to Berkshire Hathaway, she held the role of Branch Vice President at Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, where she was also involved in education and career development.
Bracciale holds several distinguished certifications, including the Certified Real Estate Team Specialist (CRETS) designation from the National Association of REALTORS and the Certified Real Estate Brokerage Manager (CRB) designation through the Real Estate Business Institute. Additionally, she is also a Certified Real Estate Negotiator (CREN), has served on the Maryland REALTORS® Executive Board as the Representative for Large Brokerages, and has chaired the Maryland REALTORS® Public Policy Committee
She loves reading, cooking, sports and spending time at the beach with her husband, children and grandchildren.
43. Jessica Silwick
CFO/COO, ABET
Jessica Silwick is both CFO and COO for ABET. As CFO, she is responsible for developing ABET’s financial management strategy, budget development, forecasting, and the integrity of the financial information. Silwick is also responsible for monitoring investments, of strategic reserves.
As COO, Silwick is in charge of communications and marketing, professional assessment offerings, office operations, and overall management of Human Resources, and serves as Lead Internal Auditor for ABET’s Quality Management System to ensure continued ISO compliance and certification.
Prior to ABET, Silwick gained experience working for large organizations in the manufacturing, pharmaceutical, and energy fields.
Silwick earned her bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the University of Notre Dame of Maryland, and an MBA from the University of North Carolina, Kenan-Flagler School of Business. She is also an active Certified Public Accountant (CPA), a Certified Association Executive (CAE), and earned professional certificates from Yale and Cornell Universities.
In 2015, Silwick received the AICPA’s Women to Watch, Emerging Leader Award by the Greater Washington Society of CPAs. Outside her busy professional life, Silwick enjoys practicing yoga and hiking with her husband, two children, and dogs.
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44. Erin McCarthy
VP | Head of Retail Development, Brookfield Properties
Erin McCarthy began her professional career 32 years ago. Today, she is the Vice President of Head of Retail Development of Brookfield Properties. Brookfield Properties develops and operates real estate investments on behalf of Brookfield Asset Management, one of the largest alternative asset managers in the world.
McCarthy has over 30 years of experience in the retail real estate industry. Her passion lies in providing strategic guidance and developing brick-and-mortar strategies for promising retail start-ups, high-potential direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands, and Fortune 500 companies that are new to brick-and-mortar and Brookfield Properties. She actively seeks out brands with a unique voice and a genuine audience and is dedicated to helping these businesses develop plans to launch in her portfolio and successfully expand into the physical retail world.
Earlier in her career, McCarthy served as a director of national advertising and creative services at Tanger Outlets. From there, she went on to The Rouse Company, Inc., before eventually rising to vice president of retail development and emerging brands at General Growth Properties, before joining Brookfield Properties. McCarthy graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with an undergraduate degree in communication studies and public relations.
46. Amber Scurti
VP, Human Resources, CoreLife Healthcare
Amber Scurti is the Vice President of Human Resources at CoreLife Healthcare. She first joined the team in 2023. CoreLife provides comprehensive, evidence-based, and medically-backed obesity treatment that empowers its patients to take control of their lives and health.
Scurti is a human resources leader with over 20 years of extensive and diverse HR experience from various industries, sizes, structures, locations, and cultures, including manufacturing, banking and financial services, construction, healthcare, retail, e-commerce, and nonprofit. Previously, Scurti was a director of human resources at C-Care. Before that, she was a director of human resources at Thread, Inc. Earlier in her career, she worked with BorgWarner Inc. as a human resources specialist.
Scurti earned an MBA in Organization Development and Change Management from DePaul Driehaus College of Business, and she has an undergraduate degree in HRM from King's College.
48. Maryann Jones
Chief Advancement Officer, Garrison Forest School
Maryann Jones is the Chief Advancement Officer of Garrison Forest School. Empowering students to achieve their fullest potential and live lives of purpose has been the core of Garrison Forest School since 1910. What was an innovative educational mission for girls at the turn of the 20th century remains so in the 21st century.
Jones has 17 years of experience. Before joining Garrison Forest School, she was a director of development at Carey Business School at Johns Hopkins University. Before that, she was a development officer at the University of Baltimore. Earlier in her career, she worked with the Shakespeare Theatre Company as a teleservices manager.
Jones graduated from the University of Glasgow with an MPhil in Theater Studies and from William & Mary with an undergraduate degree in theater and history.
49. Joni Rutter
Director, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)
Joni Rutter is the Director of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), part of the National Institutes of Health, conducts and supports research on the science and operation of translation to allow more treatments to get to more patients more quickly. Rutter oversees the planning and execution of the center’s complex, multifaceted programs that aim to overcome scientific and operational barriers slowing the development and delivery of new treatments and other health solutions. Under her direction, NCATS supports new tools and approaches to make each step in the translational process more effective and efficient. A key goal is to speed research across a range of diseases, with a particular focus on rare diseases. By advancing the science of translation, NCATS helps turn promising research discoveries into real-world applications that improve people’s health.
In her prior role as the NCATS deputy director, Rutter worked with colleagues from government, academia, industry, and nonprofit patient organizations to create robust interactions with NCATS programs. Before joining NCATS, Rutter was the director of scientific programs within the All of Us Research Program. She led scientific programmatic development and implementation efforts to build a national research cohort of 1 million or more US participants to advance precision medicine. While at NIH, she also led the Division of Neuroscience and Behavior at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). In this role, she developed and coordinated research on basic and clinical neuroscience, brain and behavioral development, genetics, epigenetics, computational neuroscience, bioinformatics, and drug discovery. Rutter also coordinated the NIDA Genetics Consortium and biospecimen repository.
During her career, Rutter has earned a national and international reputation for her diverse and unique expertise via her journal publications. She has received several scientific achievement awards, including the 2022 Rare Disease Legislative Advocates-RareVoice Award for Federal Advocacy and the 2022 FedHealthIT–Women in Leadership Impact Award. Rutter received her PhD from the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology of Dartmouth Medical School and completed a fellowship at the National Cancer Institute within the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics.
View the complete list of awardees.