Women Who Mean: Business Awards: October 22, 2003.

Women Who Mean Business-2003 Honorees

--Trail Blazer Award--

Virginia Ambrosini, MD

Associate Area Medical Director

Kaiser Permanente, Panorama City

Dr. Ambrosini has been the Associate Area Medical Director of the Southern California Medical Group (SCPMG), Panorama City since January 1998. She was the first woman to achieve this level of leadership in the organization and the only woman in this position for five years.

Virginia thoughtfully provides leadership, working closely with chiefs and managers to best deliver high quality, personalized care. With annual budget responsibilities exceeding $240 million, Virginia works with a team of more than 260 physicians and 2,100 employees to provide care to more than 265,000 health plan members throughout San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Antelope Valleys do. In addition, she champions, as co-chair of a local labor-management partnership team, a revolutionary model for management and staff collaboration.

Virginia has not only made significant contributions in business, medical practice and the community; she has paved the way for other women. With the advancement of women always top of mind, she is a trailblazer for others and should be honored for her countless contributions and her dedication to mentoring and motivating others to achieve their personal best.

--Valley Leader of the Year--

Bita Ardalan

Senior Vice President and Division Manager

Union Bank of California 

With her high-energy, hard-working style, Bita Ardalan, Union Bank of California's Senior Vice President and Division Manager is one Valley woman who truly leads by example!

Her position at Union Bank has her responsible for close to one billion dollars in loans and over $600 million in deposits. As of August of this year, she has led her team in having an 18.3% year over year growth for the bank's earnings, in an otherwise difficult environment for commercial banking. As well as the San Fernando Valley, she's in charge of Union Bank's territory including Santa Barbara, Ventura, Simi Valley, San Clarita Valley, Glendale, West Los Angeles and Torrance.

Known for her imaginative and inspirational leadership skills, Bita has consistently demonstrated creativity and insightfulness in addressing the needs of clients and prospects. As she has been throughout her career, Bita continues to be a consistent "rain maker." She has taken a key leadership role in various bank acquisitions, and makes a point to know and be known by virtually everyone in the financial industry. Perhaps most importantly, she regularly demonstrates the highest level of ethics and professionalism when dealing with clients, bank colleagues and subordinates and business associates at all levels.

--Non Profit Leadership Award--

Ann Britt

Executive Director

Valley Community Clinic

Since 1983, Ann Britt has served as the President/CEO of the Valley Community Clinic and was instrumental in transforming it from a grass roots counseling center into a major provider of healthcare services and one of the outstanding non-profit organizations in the Valley.

Under her direction, the VCC has grown from a tiny free clinic delivering only counseling and family planning services, to a complete medical health clinic facility, providing a full-range of services. In March of 2002, Ann worked closely with the VCC's Board of Directors and spearheaded the purchase of a nearby free-standing medical building. Working with the Community Redevelopment Agency and the City of Los Angeles, the VCC obtained a $1.5M grant to purchase the building in October 2001, provided they could close escrow by January 31, 2002. The purchase was negotiated in record time and the escrow did close within deadline. Since then, the Clinic has been able to expand the services it offers significantly.

Ann is known for working with staff to help them listen to patients, assess their needs and then initiate programs that interact with thousands of men, women and children. As a result of her philosophy, the VCC has one of the finest reputations in the community for high-quality care. In 2003, the VCC expects to have more than 47,000 patient visits to its various departments.

--Manager of the Year--

Amy Commans

General Manager & Innkeeper 

Westlake Village Inn

Amy Commans, an active member of the West Valley for 25 years, has been in the hospitality industry for the past 17 years, and has been the General Manager and Innkeeper of the Westlake Village Inn for the past 13 years.

Amy's professional affiliations include membership in The Executive Committee (TEC), which increases CEO effectiveness and enhances their lives; and membership in the Network of Executive Women in Hospitality (NEWH). She previously served on the board of directors for the Thousand Oaks/Westlake Village Regional Chamber of Commerce; the board of directors for Westlake Magazine; and the board of directors for Mary Health of the Sick.

Among her many community involvements is her membership in the American Heart Association, having served on their board of directors for 10 years. She hosted the American Heart Association's Heart Walk/Run for six years, and helped kick off the AHA's first Women's Legacy event. Amy was named Volunteer of the Year by the American Heart Association in 1995, 1998 and 2001.

Amy Commans serves the SFV well through her determination to make the Westlake Village Inn a winning experience for all of her business and community clients.

--Business Owner of the Year--

Martha Diaz-Aszkenazy

President

Pueblo Contracting Services

Martha Diaz-Aszkenazy is President of Pueblo Contracting Services, Inc., a general contracting firm that provides diversified construction services, including real estate development, construction management, and general contracting. She co-founded her San Fernando company with her husband, Severyn, in 1984. She was instrumental in the development of projects for Southwestern University School of Law-Law; El Capitan office building; Los Altos Apartments; Panda Village and Panda Land at the Vaughn Next Century learning Center; the G.L.A.D. Headquarters, and the Bryson Apartments.

She is also the publisher of the San Fernando Valley Sun, a 100-year old newspaper in the SFV.

Martha served as a Commissioner for the State of California on the "Building for the 21st Century" Commission. She has also been appointed Secretary to the public interest corporation, "The California Governor's Conference for Women." She is very involved in her community as the Campaign Cabinet Chair for the Trauma/Emergency Department Upgrades at Providence Holy Cross; Executive Board Member of the Economic Alliance; a member of the valley Strike Force Team; a board member of HOPE, and a Regent at Loyola Marymount University.

--Volunteer of the Year Award--

Joan Krieger Hoffman

Partner & Director of Business Development & Strategic Planning

Fred Hoffman Architecture

Joan Hoffman Es a partner and Director of Business Development and Strategic Planning for Fred Hoffman Architecture, a SFV firm providing planning and design services for commercial, residential and institutional construction projects. Joan's responsibilities in the company are to increase sales volume, which she has doubled since becoming a partner

Recently, Joan was appointed to Mayor James Hahn's Ad Hoc Committee on the Status of Small Business, for which she helped draft new and improved guidelines for doing business with the city of Los Angeles.

She's currently a member of participant in 10 community organizations, including Mayor Hahn's Committee on Housing Shortage in So Weiss; the SFV Advisory Commission under Jack Weiss; the VICA board ot directors; the Pierce College Architectural Dept Advisory Board; and the Hollywood Economic Development Committee. Joan has also produced fundraising events for "Wellness," a charity that raises funds for cancer survivors.

Her tireless advocacy on behalf of innovative housing solutions for senior citizens, are among her efforts that made loan a natural choice for Volunteer of the Year.

--CEO of the Year--

Grace Y. Mayo

President and Chief Executive Officer

Telesis Community Credit Union

Over the past 15 years as CEO of Telesis Community Credit Union Grace Mayo has championed the growth and expansion of the credit union, leading asset growth from $40 million to over $360 Million and over 30,000 members.

Quite the embodiment of the 21st Century business leader, during her tenure as CEO at Telesis Community Credit Union, Grace has become a powerful advocate for credit unions and the valuable services they provide consumers. In constant demand as a credit union industry conference speaker and information resource for national trade association and industry groups across the country, Grace has advocated regulatory reform for credit unions and has been a strong supporter of efforts to extend credit union services to a broader base of consumers across the U.S.

The credit union motto of "People Helping People" is lived daily by Grace. Her contributions have nurtured and developed new programs and services as well as helped to improve and shape the future of countless credit union initiatives. She is a constant mentor to her staff and has been a driving force in assuring that TCCU gives back to the community it serves. Her time and energy has been given selflessly to the industry that she so dearly loves.

--Government Leader Award--

Lisa Pitney

Director, California Government Relations

The Walt Disney Company

A Glendale resident and Harvard University graduate, Lisa Pitney began her career in politics on the Reagan/Bush presidential campaign, later working in the Office of Presidential Personnel at The White House, managing a State Assembly Campaign and assisting with the Bush/Quayle presidential campaign.

Lisa joined The Walt Disney Company in 1996 to manage government relations for the Disneyland Resort. She has moved up the corporate ladder to become Disney's Director of California Government Relations. In this role, Lisa represents her firm to city, county and state government.

Lisa also volunteers her time on the boards of the Motion Picture Association of America-California Group, the Central City Association of Los Angeles, the Valley Industry & Commerce Association (VICA), the Economic Alliance of the SFV, and the Children's Museum Commission of Greater Los Angeles.

Lisa Pitney was named this year's Governmental Leader of the Year, in large part due to her dedication to ensuring key business and nonprofit issues in the SFV are adequately represented to city, county and state government.

--Executive of the Year--

Lisa Watson

Consumer Market Executive of the West

Valley/Market President of the SFV

Bank of America 

A Moorpark resident and 26-year veteran with Bank of America, Lisa Watson began her career as a teller in Northern California. Upon her graduation from California State University, Fresno, with a B.S. in Accounting, she was promoted to a Banking Center Manager. In 1996. Lisa was promoted to the Consumer Market Executive for the Gold Coast Region. In 1909, she assumed her present role as the Consumer Market Executive of the West Valley Market. Her role includes the sales and service delivery through 35 branches, over 700 associates and over $5 billion in deposits within the San Fernando Valley, the Santa Clarita Valley, and the Antelope Valley.

In Lisa's additional capacity of the Market President of the San Fernando Valley, she supports the community through the review and administration of the Bank of America Foundation Grants in the market.

Both on her own time as a supporter of many worthy local organizations, and as a motivator of her bank branch employees and customers to support local businesses and to work together to improve the lives of children in the San Fernando Valley, Lisa is a particularly important pillar of the local community.