Nine Local Business Leaders Honored as OWLs – Outstanding Women Leaders

Oct. 29, 2014 - PRLog -- SACRAMENTO, CA – The National Association of Women Business Owners Sacramento (NAWBO-Sac), recognized approximately 30 nominees and named nine women as Honorees at the 2014 Outstanding Women Leaders (OWL) Awards. OWL nominees are women business owners and entrepreneurs, and leaders of area non-profit organizations in the Sacramento Valley region. Approximately 150 business leaders gathered to recognize the following Honorees:

The recipients of the 2014 OWL Awards are:

Pamela Marrone, Marrone Bio Innovations, Inc.—Wind Beneath Our Wings Award
Eva Garcia Garcia Realty—Lifetime Achievement Award
Tina Reynolds, Uptown Studios—Achievement Against All Odds
Marcelle Flowers, Armstrong Plumbing—Innovator Award
Azizza Davis Goines, Sacramento Black Chamber of Commerce—Executive Woman Award
Cecelia Lakatos Sullivan, PTI Solutions—Wise Woman Award
Loretta “Inez” Whitlow, Chicks in Crisis, Inc.—Vision Award
Sara Arbabian, The Rind—Woman on the Way Award
Carol Noreen, Court Appointed Special Advocates of Sacramento County—Luminary Award

Hosted by KBFK’s Kitty O’Neal at the Double Tree Hotel, the event began with a reception at the hotel’s outdoor serene space with some of Sacramento’s influential leaders and entrepreneurs enjoying cocktails, mingling, and bidding for some great prizes through the event’s silent auction.

Following the reception, NAWBO-Sacramento Valley president, Anne Staines and founder of Sacramento social marketing firm ProProse, welcomed guests and thanked all the volunteers and members who have helped the chapter grow more than 400 percent in the past year. Nora O’Brien, OWL events chair and principal at Connecting Consulting Services, an emergency management planning company, expressed sincere gratitude for the support of the business community, the guests in attendance and the NAWBO-Sac team in helping make the OWL Awards event such a big success.

The award ceremony began with the ‘Wind Beneath Our Wings Award’ awarded to Dr. Pam Marrone, founder of Marrone Bio Innovations, Inc. who has been a pioneer in a traditionally male dominated world of bio insecticides. Marrone started the company in 2006 to discover and develop effective and environmentally-responsible, biologically-based products for pest management and plant health. In August 2013, she led the company to be listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange. Marrone also founded and later sold AgraQuest (1995 – 2006) where she served as its CEO, Chairman and President. Before AgraQuest, she was founding president of Entotech, Inc. (1990-1995), a biopesticide subsidiary of Novo Nordisk. Marrone profiled the challenges women face as job candidates and promised a continued commitment to creating employment opportunities for women.

The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Eva Garcia, owner of Garcia Realty and NAWBO member since its founding in Sacramento. Garcia who has numerous trailblazing achievements to her name, took the audience down memory lane to discriminatory practices that precluded women from obtaining funding for their businesses, absent the signature of their husbands or men. In accepting her award, Garcia, emphasized the importance of economic empowerment for women. She applauded NAWBO for being instrumental in helping change this discriminatory lending practices against women.

For the ceremony, all nominees were called onto the stage with O’Neal reading their very impressive bios as they approached the stage for recognition, then the Honorees were named. Each OWL recipient gave great remarks and statements of gratitude amidst applause and cheers from guests in attendance. A particularly memorable remark was that of Marcelle Flowers of Armstrong Plumbing. Flowers briefly shared the challenges of foraying into a male dominated industry. She thanked all including the male role models who supported her and urged the audience to: “Love God, love family, love your community and love each other.”

The 2014 OWL Awards were sponsored by Bank of America, UC Davis Community Relations, Sacramento Business Journal, SMUD, KBFK News Radio, The Party Concierge, Comstock’s Magazine, Union Bank and Graphic Focus.