The 2015 Women to Watch Awards Finalists

Each year, so far, of WILMA’s Women to Watch Awards program, we see the judges’ stress.

Even though we’ve had a different panel of female leaders and executives participate in the judging each year, a similar phenomenon happens.

Faced with piles of applications from up-and-coming trailblazers, someone inevitably comments, “How can we possibly decide?”

And this coming from a hard group to impress.

But they were, and it’s a good problem to have. It means there are so many women in the region doing impressive things, that it’s hard to settle on a list of 35 finalists for the seven categories: business, health care, education, nonprofit/volunteer, arts, public service, and rising star. (You can read more about them on the following pages.)

It gets even harder for the judges who had to do it again to decide the top seven.

(You can meet them – and the finalists – at our Women to Watch Awards Celebration party October 23 when we announce the winners.)

We can assure you the judges didn’t take their responsibility lightly and at times had to make difficult decisions because of the caliber of the nominations.

Congratulations to all the finalists!

The Categories

To see the finalists for the ARTS category, click here.

To see the finalists for the BUSINESS category, click here.

To see the finalists for the EDUCATION category, click here.

To see the finalists for the HEALTH CARE category, click here.

To see the finalists for the NONPROFIT category, click here.

To see the finalists for the PUBLIC SERVICE category, click here.

To see the finalists for the RISING STAR category, click here.

The Judging Process

Each year, WILMA opens up the nominations process for the Women to Watch Awards during the summer.

Colleagues, family, clients, and even the nominees themselves provide information about their work, achievements, and impacts on the community. Our judging panel – made up of female leaders who sit on the Women to Watch Leadership Initiative’s advisory board as well as a few outside guests – pore through the hundreds of applications.

They meet to deliberate about their picks before coming with unanimous decisions on the finalists in each of our seven categories and decide ultimately who should be the overall winners.

The Judges

Gina Andrews, Private Client Group Relationship Manager (PNC Bank)

Kim Bankston, GM, Human Resources (GE Hitachi)

Dana Cook, Owner (Julia’s Florist)

Paula Corbett, Founder/CEO (EastCoast Research)

Donna Esteves, Supply Chain Manager (Corning)

Lori Feezor, Vice President of Legal Affairs and General Counsel (NHRMC)

Lauren Henderson, Chief Financial Officer (CastleBranch Corp.)

Jen Iapalucci, Theater Director and 2014 Women to Watch Award winner in the Arts category (Brunswick Little Theatre)

Lindsey Neumann, Operations Specialist and 2013 Women to Watch Award winner in the Rising Star category (U.S. Coast Guard)

Deloris Rhodes, Former Assistant Superintendent (Pender County Schools) and former Outreach Liaison of Watson College of Education (UNCW)

Kelly Schaudt, Senior Director (Wilmington Health)

Pamela Webster, Human Resources Executive