The Journal Record's 2009 Fifty Making a Difference honorees
Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Jul 14, 2009

The 50 honorees selected for The Journal Record's 2009 50 Making a Difference include women who are health care and education professionals, attorneys, entrepreneurs, civic employees and even a politician, just to name a few.

As part of this year's program, five women will be named to the Circle of Excellence - an honor reserved for those being selected for The Journal Record's 50 Making a Difference for the third time. They include Debbie Harrison, Karen Langdon, Melanie Macdonald, Cathy O'Connor and Mary Blankenship Pointer.

Immaculee Ilibagiza, a Rwandan genocide survivor, will share her message of peace, faith and forgiveness as the featured speaker for The Journal Record's Woman of the Year awards banquet on Oct. 1 in downtown Oklahoma City.

The 29th Journal Record Woman of the Year awards gala, to be held at Cox Business Services Convention Center, is a special tribute to Oklahoma's female business and community leaders. Each year, hundreds of nominations are received from across the state for the award. Fifty honorees are recognized at the event and in the publication Fifty Making a Difference. The Woman of the Year will be announced during the evening program.

"It is truly inspiring to look at this list of 50 women and see their level of commitment to their professions and to their communities. Each has an amazing story of dedication, persistence and sacrifice that has brought them to where they are today," said Mary Melon, president and publisher of The Journal Record. "We are lucky to have them in Oklahoma and The Journal Record is proud to have the opportunity to recognize them through our Woman of the Year program."

Corporate partners for the Woman of the Year program are Coppermark Bank, Cox Business Services, Crowe & Dunlevy, Eide Bailly, OGE Energy Corp., Oklahoma City University's Meinders School of Business, Renaissance Hotel and Convention Center and University of Phoenix.

From 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Oct. 1, Bank of Oklahoma, Express Employment Professionals and Oklahoma Natural Gas will sponsor a forum for all past and present honorees of the program at the Skirvin Hilton. The forum includes panel discussions and breakout sessions. A champagne reception for partners and corporate table sponsors begins at 6 p.m. with the awards gala and dinner starting at 7 p.m. Individual tickets are $150, and corporate table sponsorships are available. Reservations for the banquet can be made by calling Kari Koster at (405) 278-2820.

This year's honorees include:

* Ann Archer, Integris Comprehensive Breast Center, Oklahoma City.

* Cheryl Borelli, BancFirst, Oklahoma City.

* Katy Boren, Cox Communications, Oklahoma City.

* Sylvia Burgess, Cameron University, Lawton.

* Barbara Butner, Calm Waters Center for Children & Families, Oklahoma City.

* Shelley Cadamy, Francis Tuttle Technology Center, Oklahoma City.

* Priscilla Cude, First Bethany Bank, Bethany.

* Linda Dzialo, Lawton Public School, Lawton.

* Amy Eldridge, Love Without Boundaries, Edmond.

* Robyn Elliot-Scribner, The Chickasaw Nation, Ada.

* Robyn Ewing, Williams, Tulsa.

* Staci Freudiger, Valir Health, Oklahoma City.

* Caroline Boecking Gist, Putnam City Public Schools Foundation, Warr Acres.

* Rhonda Godwin, Investrust NA, Oklahoma City.

* Margo Gray-Proctor, Horizon Engineering Services Co., Tulsa.

* Debbie Harrison, Oklahoma Environmental Management Authority, El Reno.

* JoAnn Haysbert, Langston University, Langston.

* Cathryn Hibbs, Deaconess Hospital, Oklahoma City.

* Lori Westbrook Hill, Morgan Stanley, Oklahoma City.

* Pat Hoerth, Turtle Rock Farm, Red Rock.

* Gail Huneryager, Crowe & Dunlevy, Oklahoma City.

* Jia Bane Johnson, Choctaw Electric Cooperative, Idabel.

* Sandy Scaffetta Johnson, Anautics Inc., Oklahoma City.

* Marti Jourden, St. Anthony Hospital, Oklahoma City.

* Cathy Keating, Express Employment Professionals, Oklahoma City.

* Kerry Robertson Kerby, Kerry Robertson Communications, Oklahoma City.

* Karen Langdon, Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma Inc., Tulsa.

* Debbe Leftwich, Oklahoma Senate, Oklahoma City.

* Janet Levit, University of Tulsa Law School, Tulsa.

* Melanie Macdonald, World Neighbors, Oklahoma City.

* Susan McCalmont, Kirkpatrick Family Foundation, Oklahoma City.

* Ann McFerron, Turtle Rock Farm, Red Rock.

* Teresa Moisant, Moisant Promotional Products, Oklahoma City.

* Vanessa Mushrim, Eide Bailly, Oklahoma City.

* Cathy O'Connor, City of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City.

* Colleen Payne-Nabors, Mobile Cardiac Imaging LLC, Tulsa.

* Mary Blankenship Pointer, UMB Bank, Oklahoma City.

* Brenda Porton, McCurtain Memorial Hospital, Idabel.

* Lisa Putt, Willis HRH, Oklahoma City.

* Joyce Reed, Griffin Communications LLC, Oklahoma City.

* Kathy Lee Santangelo, Midwest Regional Medical Center, Midwest City.

* Sue Lynn Sasser, University of Central Oklahoma Center for Economic Education, Edmond.

* Jeanna Sellmeyer, Asset Group Inc., Oklahoma City.

* Katrina Shaklee, University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond.

* Robyn Sunday-Allen, Oklahoma City Indian Clinic, Oklahoma City.

* Rebecca Dunning Switzer, Switzer Talent Agency and Trapeze LLC, Norman.
Marsha VanHoutte, Choctaw Police Department, Choctaw.

* Kristy Ventimiglia, HR Solutions, Oklahoma City.

* Penny Mills Voss, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Norman.

* Mary Whitson, SandRidge Energy, Oklahoma City.

Last year, retired Maj. Gen. LaRita A. Aragon received The Journal Record's 2008 Woman of the Year award. Other past winners include Robin Flint Ballenger in 2007; state Rep. Susan Winchester, R-Chickasha in 2006; Kari Watkins, executive director of the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum, in 2005; U.S. District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange in 2004; Meg Salyer, president of Accel Financial Staffing in Oklahoma City, in 2003; and Susan L. Chambers and Deborah L. Huff, founding partners of the area's first all- female OB/GYN physician group, co-winners in 2002.

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