2021 Annual Awards Event
Outstanding Woman of the Year: Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy
Lifetime Achievement: Jennifer Hillman
Business Legacy: Rosa Whitaker
Government Service: Brenda Brockman Smith
Emerging Leaders: Chynna Hawes and Kim Yaeger
Lifetime Achievement: Jennifer Hillman
Business Legacy: Rosa Whitaker
Government Service: Brenda Brockman Smith
Emerging Leaders: Chynna Hawes and Kim Yaeger

In addition, Congresswoman Murphy serves as co-chair of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of Democrats focused on fiscal responsibility, a strong national defense, and a principled and pragmatic approach to legislating. Murphy is the first woman of color ever to lead the Blue Dog Coalition, and she is only the second leader in the coalition’s history to serve consecutive terms.
Congresswoman Murphy also serves as a Chief Deputy Whip of the House Democratic Majority. In this role, she helps Democrats better communicate with House leadership so that legislation that comes to the House floor reflects the views of the entire Democratic caucus. As Chief Deputy Whip, Congresswoman Murphy has a seat on the powerful House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, which recommends committee assignments to the Democratic Caucus and helps shape the House policy agenda.
Before her election to Congress, Congresswoman Murphy was a businesswoman and college instructor. Before that, she served as a national security specialist in the office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense, where she received numerous awards for her distinguished service, including the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Civilian Service. She worked on a wide range of security issues from counterterrorism to foreign military relations to strategic planning for the Department. Prior to her service at the Pentagon, Stephanie was a strategy consultant at Deloitte Consulting.
Congresswoman Murphy holds a M.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and a B.A. in Economics from the College of William and Mary. She lives in Winter Park, Florida, with her husband and two young children.


Rosa was one of the key architects of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), America’s first comprehensive trade law towards Africa, which continues to deliver, inter-alia, billions of dollars in duty free products from Africa into the US market annually, while also generating jobs and investments across the Continent. AGOA remains the cornerstone of US economic policy towards Africa.
TWG, based in Washington DC and Accra, is a leading consultancy of choice for global brands investing and expanding market share in Africa. Named one of Foreign Policy Magazine’s Top 100 Global Thinkers, Rosa is also a Board member of the US Chamber of Commerce.

Ms. Smith served as the Executive Assistant Commissioner of Trade, at US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) from 2014 until 2021. In this role, she led CBP’s Trade mission, overseeing trade enforcement, security, and facilitation matters to enable legitimate trade, contribute to American economic prosperity, and protect against risk to public health and safety. Her work included enforcement of over 5—US trade laws and 14 trade agreements with 20 countries. She oversaw national compliance audits, management of trade data and CBP’s regulatory process for administering trade and border operations. She partnered with CBP’s IT experts to expand trade automation and analytics technologies through agile user-based processes an change management.
Ms. Smith held a variety of roles at CBP overseeing trade and border enforcement issues. As Executive Director for the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Business Office, she was responsible for digitization of trade processes on behalf of 50 government agencies for 50,000 private sector and government users. She also served as Executive Director for Trade Policy and Programs, the Director of Policy and Programs in the Office of International Affairs and Trade Relations, and led the CBP Commissioner’s Strategic Planning and Performance Division. Prior to joining Customs, Ms. Smith worked at the Department of the Treasury and on Capitol Hill.
Ms. Smith was a 2017 finalist in the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America (“Sammie”) Award for Management Excellence. She received the Distinguished Executive Presidential Rank Award, given to the top 1% of government senior executives, for enhancing enforcement of trade laws to protect American business and consumers, and aligning customs procedures with modern business practices to enhance US economic competitiveness.

Chynna has a MA in International Studies from the Johns Hopkins-Nanjing University School for Advanced International Studies, completed in Mandarin, and a BA from Middlebury College. She is professionally fluent in Mandarin Chinese.