WIIT Special Events Committee Update
2005-2006 WIIT Special Events Committee:
Edyta Malinowski, Carolina Costa, Sarah Smiley and Maria Abrantes

As tradition holds, an Annual Dinner marks the end of a WIIT year, where WIIT honors the Woman of the Year for her professional accomplishments, while the incumbent WIIT President hands her torch to a successor.

This year's WIIT Annual Dinner was held at the University Club of Washington DC and honored Ms. Catherine Novelli as WIIT's Woman of the Year. Until recently, Ms. Novelli served as the Assistant U. S. Trade Representative for Europe & the Mediterranean and was responsible for the coordination of U.S. trade policy for Western Europe, Central Europe, Russia, the NIS, the Middle East and Northern Africa. Her long track record of successfully opening markets and solving problems for U.S. businesses is marked by her oversight of a US-EU dialogue that produced path-breaking agreements in such areas as telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, and marine safety, as well as serving her lead role in the free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations with Jordan, Morocco and Bahrain, Oman and United Arab Emirates. Ms. Novelli also chaired the Trade and Investment Framework Councils with a number of countries in the region, including Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Algeria.

WIIT also honored some members of its own:

• The award for "Outstanding WIIT Member of the Year" was awarded to Laura Trejo, who had served as the coordinator of WIIT's Mentor Program and member of the Western Hemisphere Section.
• The "Lifetime Achievement Award" was conferred upon Mary Alexander, who throughout the years has displayed commitment to WIIT. Mary is now the leading force behind the WIIT's Charitable Trust initiative.
• A new honor in 2005, the "WIIT Section/Committee of the Year," was presented to the members of the Special Events Committee, Fiona Simpkins, Christine LoCascio, Edyta Malinowski and Maria Abrantes.

The event, which brought together more than 100 guests, was organized with the generous sponsorship of Altria, the Angolan National Private Investment Agency, Chevron-Texaco, the Distilled Spirits Councils of the U.S., Kissinger McLarty Associates, Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw, and Wal-Mart Stores.

The Special Events Committee would like to thank Rebecca Miller, WIIT's President for the 2004-2005 year, for her outstanding leadership and dedication. We also thank the sponsors of the dinner and the volunteers who assisted in making the Annual Dinner a very successful event. Moreover, we would like to recognize the continued contributions made by WIIT's corporate sponsors: Akin Gump Strauss Hauser & Feld LLP, The Boeing Company, Lucent Technologies, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP, General Electric International Law and Policy, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc, American Chemistry Council, C&M International, LTD., Delegation of the European Commission, Greenberg Traurig LLP, Nortel Networks and Novartis Corporation.

We are very excited about the special events of the 2005-2006 WIIT year. The Special Event's agenda for this year will include the Annual Winter Gala and a 3rd annual Silent Auction, as well as a Winter Social that will be organized in conjunction with the Membership Committee. We look forward to a great year of exciting events, professional networking and fun times!

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