The Committee of 200 (C200) Presents Annual Luminary Awards to Exceptional Women in Business

Sponsored by Accenture, EY and U.S. Trust and a Coalition of C200
Members and their Companies, The 2015 C200 Luminary Awards Recognizes
Women Leaders Who are Changing the Face of Business

WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–On Friday, October 23, The
Committee of 200 (C200) will pay tribute to four women credited with
changing the face of business: Margery Kraus, Founder & Executive
Chairman, APCO Worldwide; Sandra E. Peterson, Group Worldwide Chairman,
Johnson & Johnson; Reshma Saujani, Founder & CEO, Girls Who Code; and
Megan Smith, United States Chief Technology Officer, Office of Science
and Technology Policy. Each honoree will receive a C200 Luminary
Award at a private ceremony at The Fairmont Hotel in Washington, DC.

C200 is a financially vetted, invitation-only, global organization
composed of the world’s most successful female entrepreneurs
and corporate leaders. The organization’s primary mission is to foster,
celebrate and advance women’s leadership in business. C200 and its
programming supports women at every point of their education and career
development, from high school to the board room, helping to cultivate a
pipeline of powerful future female business leaders to ensure that women
will continue to play increasingly significant and visible leadership
roles. Collectively, C200 member companies generate more than $1.4
trillion in annual revenues.

“The Luminary Awards are so important to our organization, because they
give us the chance to honor amazing women who are taking the business
world by storm,” said Gay Gaddis, Chair of C200 and founder and CEO of
T3, the largest woman-owned advertising agency in the nation. “By
recognizing the accomplishments of these remarkable women, C200 is
furthering its mission to provide inspiration for current and future
generations of women in business.”

“The C200 Foundation is privileged to present this year’s awards to four
women who have achieved outstanding success and extraordinary
accomplishments in their fields,” said Roz Alford, chair of The
Committee of 200 Foundation and Principal and Owner of ASAP Solutions
Group. “Each woman represents a different area of importance to C200,
its members and our sponsors including entrepreneurship, corporate
innovation, education and skills training and the promotion of women’s
achievement in STEM fields.”

Entrepreneurial Champion, Presented by EY
Winner: C200
member, Margery Kraus, Founder & Executive Chairman, APCO Worldwide

Margery Kraus is the founder and executive chairman of APCO Worldwide, a
global consulting firm headquartered in Washington, D.C. that
specializes in public affairs, communication and business consulting for
major multinationals. Margery founded APCO in 1984 and transformed it
from a company with one small Washington office to an international
consulting firm in major cities throughout the Americas, Europe, the
Middle East, Africa and Asia. In September 2004, Margery led a
management buy-out of her firm, making APCO one of the largest privately
owned communication and public affairs firms in the world.

Prior to starting APCO, Margery assisted in the creation and development
of the Close Up Foundation, a multi-million dollar educational
foundation sponsored in part by the United States Congress. In addition
to serving on the organization’s board of directors, Margery is chairman
of the board of the Women Presidents’ Organization and a trustee of
Northwestern Mutual Life, the Arthur W. Page Society, the Catherine B.
Reynolds Foundation, the Institute for Public Relations and American
University. She also sits on the advisory board of Enterprising Women
magazine and the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at
Northwestern University, as well as the steering committee of the
school’s Center for Executive Women.

Margery holds a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in political science
and public law from the American University.

EY is proud to sponsor the C200 Entrepreneurial Champion Award. The
growth in women-owned businesses reflects a new breed of dynamism,
confidence and diversity that is changing the face of the US economy.
The EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women program, which helps high-potential
women entrepreneurs scale rapidly, is one way EY demonstrates its
commitment to the growth and success of this market. Additionally,
awards such as EY Entrepreneur Of The Year recognize the impact these
role models have on our communities and the economy at large. EY seeks
to advance women across all spectrums through our Women. Fast forward
platform, an accelerator which employs our collective knowledge,
experiences and convening power to push ourselves further and to help
accelerate global gender parity.

Corporate Innovator, presented by U.S. Trust
Winner: C200
member, Sandra E. Peterson, Group Worldwide Chairman, Johnson & Johnson

Sandra (Sandi) E. Peterson is Group Worldwide Chairman for Johnson &
Johnson, the world’s largest healthcare company, where she is playing a
leading role in transforming the company. Sandi’s portfolio includes the
company’s global operating infrastructure, multiple consumer-facing
businesses, which generate revenues of approximately $20 billion, and
key enterprise initiatives designed to spur innovation and accelerate
growth. Sandi leads organizations that include over two thirds of
Johnson & Johnson’s workforce and is at the forefront of Johnson &
Johnson’s efforts to transform healthcare using technology and
design-thinking to create breakthrough solutions for patients, consumers
and providers.

Prior to joining Johnson & Johnson, Sandi had an extensive global career
in healthcare, life sciences, consumer goods and consulting. Most
recently, she was Chairman and CEO of Bayer CropScience AG in Germany
and has held a number of leadership roles at Medco Health Solutions
(previously Merck-Medco), Nabisco, Whirlpool Corporation and McKinsey
and Company, Inc.

Sandi is a member of the board of directors of The Dun & Bradstreet
Corporation, belongs to Women’s Forum and C200 and serves on the Rutberg
& Company Wireless Influencers 2015 Board of Advisors. She also serves
on the International Advisory Board of the Center for the Advanced Study
of India, University of Pennsylvania as well as the Institute of
Advanced Study, and has served as Chairman of the Board of EcoHealth
Alliance. Sandi has been nominated to serve on the board of Directors of
Microsoft Corporation.

Sandi holds a B.A. from Cornell University and an M.P.A. from Princeton
University.

U.S. Trust is honored to partner with the C200 and present its 2015
Corporate Innovator Luminary Award. Recognizing that lasting legacies
come from imagination, insight, and careful consideration, U.S. Trust
shares your vision and empowers women to inspire future generations.
Outstanding trailblazer, Sandra Peterson, exemplifies excellence in
strategic innovation and corporate leadership, we and the members of
C200 salute you.

Skills to Succeed Champion, presented by Accenture
Winner:
Reshma Saujani, Founder & CEO, Girls Who Code

Reshma Saujani is the Founder and CEO of Girls Who Code, a national
non-profit organization working to close the gender gap in technology
and prepare young women for jobs of the future. In her groundbreaking
new book, Women Who Don’t Wait in Line, Reshma advocates for a
new model of female leadership focused on embracing risk and failure,
promoting mentorship and sponsorship and boldly charting your own course
both personally and professionally.

After years of working as an attorney and supporting the Democratic
party as an activist and fundraiser, Reshma left her private sector
career behind and surged onto the political scene as the first Indian
American woman in the country to run for Congress, seeking a seat in the
U.S. House of Representatives in New York’s 14th congressional district.
Following the highly publicized race, Reshma stayed true to her passion
for public service, becoming Deputy Public Advocate of New York City and
most recently running a spirited campaign for Public Advocate on a
platform of creating educational and economic opportunities for women
and girls, immigrants and those who have been sidelined in the political
process. A true political entrepreneur, Reshma has been fearless in her
efforts to disrupt both politics and technology to create positive
change.

Reshma is a graduate of the University of Illinois, Harvard’s Kennedy
School of Government, and Yale Law School.

Accenture’s partnership with Girls Who Code reflects the company’s
commitment to supporting the professional goals and aspirations of its
more than 130,000 women worldwide, providing an environment and culture
that empowers them to create their own paths for professional and
personal success. In the U.S., women represent half of the country’s
workforce, but hold just 25 percent of the jobs in technical or
computing fields. To help close this gap, Accenture teams with Girls Who
Code to inspire, educate and equip young women with computing and
professional skills that enable them to pursue technology careers. The
company recently signed Girls Who Code’s Hire Me pledge, which aims to
place graduates of its coding programs in jobs at top tech companies,
including Accenture. Accenture’s support for Girls Who Code is part of
its Skills
to Succeed corporate citizenship initiative, which is equipping more
than 3 million people around the world with the skills to get a job or
build a business. Accenture is honored to present the C200 Skills to
Succeed Champion Luminary Award to Reshma Saujani.

STEM Innovator, presented by a coalition of C200 Members and their
Companies
Winner: Megan Smith, United States Chief
Technology Officer, Office of Science and Technology Policy

In September 2014, President Obama named Megan Smith the United States
Chief Technology Officer (CTO) in the Office of Science and Technology
Policy. In this role, she serves as an Assistant to the President
focusing on how technology policy, data and innovation can advance the
future of our nation.

Megan is an award-winning entrepreneur, engineer and tech evangelist.
She most recently served as a Vice President at Google, first leading
New Business Development and later serving as a VP in the leadership
team at Google[x]. During her tenure she led the company’s acquisitions
of major platforms and served as GM of Google.org during its engineering
transition.

Megan previously served as CEO of PlanetOut, a leading LGBT online
community in the early days of the web and was part of designing early
smartphone technologies at General Magic. She also worked on multimedia
products at Apple Japan and has served on the boards of MIT, MIT Media
Lab, MIT Technology Review, and Vital Voices; as a member of the USAID
Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid; and as an advisor to the
Joan Ganz Cooney Center and the Malala Fund, which she co-founded.

Megan holds a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering
from MIT, where she completed her master’s thesis work at the MIT Media
Lab.

The C200 STEM Innovator Award is sponsored by a coalition of C200
members and their companies who are dedicated to promoting and
supporting women’s achievement in STEM fields. Collectively, we are
honored to recognize and shine a light on trailblazers, like our 2015
recipient Megan Smith, who have fearlessly changed the face of business
and set a shining example for young women everywhere.

About C200

The Committee of 200 (C200) is a not-for-profit, invitation-only
membership organization including more than 450 of the world’s most
successful female corporate executives and entrepreneurs. C200 member
companies generate more than $1.4 trillion in annual revenues. By
sharing their success, C200 members are supporting and advancing future
generations of women leaders worldwide.

Contacts

For more information about C200, the Luminary Awards and the C200
Conference:
Lauren Banyar Reich, 202-246-8789
lreich@lbrpr.com