Accenture Celebrates Excellence in the Public Sector at Third-Annual Government Women's Leadership Awards Tea; Three Outstanding Women in Government and Small Business Honored

The honorees -- each of them an employee of the federal governmentor a small-business leader working in the government sector -- wereselected for outstanding achievements, leadership and ingenuity inthree categories: Government Visionary, Government Rising Leader andSmall Business Icon. The Awards were presented at the third-annualAccenture Government Women's Leadership Awards Tea, hosted by KathleenMatthews, local news anchor for WJLA-TV, at the Four Seasons Hotel inWashington, D.C.

Following are the winners in each category:

Government Visionary Category: Dr. Katharine B. Gebbie, director,Physics Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology,U.S. Department of Commerce

"In her 15 years of leadership at NIST's Physics Lab, Dr. Gebbiehas repeatedly proven her dedication to the spirit of scientificdiscovery and teamwork," said Matthews. "Under her direction,scientists from NIST have received three Nobel Prizes, and herleadership has led to improvements in the quality of clinicalmammography, port entry radiographic devices, and the irradiation ofpotentially contaminated mail."

Government Rising Leader Category: Robin Ware, manager, BusinessService Network Integration, United States Postal Service

"Ms. Ware has demonstrated true leadership and innovationthroughout her 27-year career at the Postal Service, from leadingorganizational redesigns to introducing a Web-based self-servicecapability for large customers," Matthews said. "In the wake ofHurricane Katrina, Ms. Ware was instrumental in restoring normalpostal operations, as well as leading search-and-account efforts fornearly 750 employees, establishing support and counseling services,and working with relief agencies."

Small Business Icon: Helen Greiner, chairman and co-founder,iRobot Corp.

"Beyond pioneering advances in robot and unmanned vehicletechnology, Ms. Greiner's leadership has strengthened her company'sleadership position and helped to guide it through the IPO process,"Matthews said. "In addition, Ms. Greiner's success has prompted her toencourage women toward engineering careers and entrepreneurshipthrough participation in organizations like Springboard Enterprisesand the National Youth Leadership Forum."

"For three years, Accenture has been proud to recognize theoutstanding contributions women bring to the public and privategovernment sector," said Gayle Nix, an executive director withAccenture's Government group. "We are pleased to continue thattradition by honoring three exceptional women whose leadership,innovation and commitment to high performance serve as an inspirationto us all."

The winners were chosen from a pool of qualified nominees by anindependent panel of judges that included past award recipients. Amongthe many qualities and capabilities the judges looked for werecreative thinking, problem solving, success in delivering qualityservice to citizens or clients, and the achievement of tangibleresults in transforming program and service delivery.

The judges included:

-- Dr. Joyce Johnson, rear admiral, U.S. Coast Guard (Ret.), current vice president of health sciences for Batelle, and winner of the 2004 Government Visionary Award

-- Eleanor Roberts Lewis, chief counsel for international commerce, Office of General Counsel, U.S. Department of Commerce, and winner of the 2005 Government Visionary Award

-- Nancy Laich, manager, Human Capital Enterprise Programs, U.S. Postal Service, and winner of the 2005 Government Rising Leader Award

-- Kay T. Ely, senior principal, Acquisition Solutions Inc., and winner of the 2005 Small Business Icon Award

-- Lolie Kull, program manager for the Joint Office of Identification and Credentialing, Department of Homeland Security

-- Janet Stevens, director, Web services staff, Office of Public Affairs, Education & Outreach Food Safety and Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture

Alice Rivlin, a senior fellow and director for metropolitan policyat the Brookings Institution and former vice chair of the FederalReserve System Board of Governors, delivered the ceremony's keynotespeech.

The Government Leadership Awards Tea developed from Accenture'sGovernment Women's Leadership Forum, which provides an opportunity forprivate-sector and small-business leaders to come together with womenin government and share ideas. The 2006 Government Women's LeadershipForum -- the fifth-annual forum -- is scheduled to take place thisJune.

About Accenture

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology servicesand outsourcing company. Committed to delivering innovation, Accenturecollaborates with its clients to help them become high-performancebusinesses and governments. With deep industry and business processexpertise, broad global resources and a proven track record, Accenturecan mobilize the right people, skills, and technologies to helpclients improve their performance. With more than 126,000 people in 48countries, the company generated net revenues of US$15.55 billion forthe fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2005. Its home page iswww.accenture.com.