The Century City Chamber of Commerce will host the 2017 Women of Achievement (WOA) Annual Awards Dinner at the InterContinental Hotel on Sept. 17. Here’s a closer look at the women who will be honored at the event.
Patricia “Tricia” Crider
Crider is the vice president, accounting, for Westfield Corporation, with assets valued at more than $50 billion. Since 2015, Crider has been the board chair of the Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles.
Candace DeGraff
DeGraff directs facilities management for Creative Artists Agency (CAA), overseeing the firm’s 1,200 employees. DeGraff’s passion for the arts led her to become a docent at the Getty Center for the past 15 years. She also supports organizations such as Best Friends, CAA Foundation and Science Festival Foundation.
Colleen Hart
Hart is a partner at Proskauer Rose LLP and a member of its employee benefits and executive Compensation group. She serves as the vice chair of the compensation and benefits standing committee of the tax section of the State Bar of California and second chair of the tax section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. A U. S. Navy veteran, Hart serves as board member of Counsel for Justice and volunteers for their Veterans legal services project and domestic violence project. She also established and coordinates Proskauer’s volunteer efforts for Los Angeles People Assisting the Homeless (PATH) cooks.
Jacqueline Norvell
Norvell has been working at law firms in Century City for 35 years, and as a legal secretary at Seyfarth Shaw LLP for the past 23 years. She founded a non-profit called Brown Bag Lady, which has distributed more than 11,000 meals and other basic necessities to the less fortunate on Skid Row since 2014.
Tanya Russell
Russell is currently the director of administration, California, for Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP. She is a board member of the Greater Los Angeles Association of Legal Administrators and is their ambassador for the Constitutional Rights Foundation internships.
Very dear to her heart is her commitment to Verbum Dei High School’s Christo Rey corporate work study program, where student interns work at Katten. She also serves as a City of Los Angeles approved visitation monitor, supports the Alexandria House (a transitional home for homeless women and children) and Vista del Mar. She is currently the chair of the Harvard-Westlake school’s PAAHWS Committee.
Rebecca Waits
Waits is executive vice president of People Services at the global marketing and publicity agency PMK•BNC. She spearheads many annual community activities and programs, including PMK•BNC’s annual holiday campaign, which provides employees with over 25 different volunteering opportunities with local non-profits, and facilitates team participation with Making Strides Against Breast Cancer. She also serves as Interpublic Group’s Women’s Leadership Network’s Southern California chapter career committee chair.
Tickets, table purchases, and sponsorship opportunities are available at www.centurycitycc.com, contact@centurycitycc.com, or by calling the Chamber at 310-553-2222.
