Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas aren’t sitting on the fence worried about whether all this good get-together news is the real thing or folks will be back wearing masks and social distancing come the fall.
The 17th Annual Women of Distinction Co-Chairs Mary Martha Pickens and Shannon Thompson have announced that the Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas fundraiser will be virtual and presented by AT&T at noontime on Friday, October 29.
But the big news is who will be honored with the Women of Distinction Awards. This year’s collection includes Haynes and Boone Partner Kit Addleman, T.D. Jakes Foundation President/CEO Hattie Hill and Goldman Sachs VP Cris Zertuche Wong.
According to GSNETX CEO Jennifer Bartkowski, “Girls Scouts of Northeast Texas is committed to ensuring that the girls have strong opportunities for success, and role models to look up to. Showcasing women like Kit, Hattie and Cris promotes the best of leadership and gives girls the aspiration to change their worlds for the better.”
Last year event organizers decided that instead of have a keynote speaker, they would have guests “experience a candid conversation about leading with resilience during difficult times.” It was such a hit that Mary Martha and Shannon decided to once again open the virtual event for a conversation. But this time it will focus on “common setbacks women and girls face.”
Tickets and sponsorship are available now!
Thanks to funds raised, GSNETX will be able to “build a pipeline for strong, confident girls.” Within its 32-county program, 20,000 girls and 8,000 adult volunteers are working to achieve this goal.
Follow the jump to read the bio on each of the award recipients:
* Photo provided by Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas
Kit Addleman
Kit Addleman is a partner with Haynes and Boone, LLP in Dallas. She is a frequent speaker at national, international and regional conferences on trends in the SEC’s enforcement and examination programs. At Haynes and Boone, Kit started the firm’s Women’s Initiative and served for 6 years as the head of the Women’s Leadership Academy, a training program for women associates.
Until March of 2021, Kit served as board chair and executive committee chair, as well as a member of GSNETX’s Board Development, Finance, and Strategic Planning Committees. She is a Thanks Badge recipient (a distinguished Girl Scout volunteer honor), a former Girl Scout troop leader and a proud Lifetime Girl Scout Member. Kit, who previously served as the former Regional Director of the Atlanta Regional Office of the SEC, received her JD from Oklahoma City University School of Law and BS from Wake Forest University.
Hattie Hill
Currently, Hattie Hill serves as the president & CEO of the T.D. Jakes Foundation. Launched in January 2020, the foundation provides the skills, education and training to lift communities, increase diversity and inclusion, and gender equity, and power the modern global economy through science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) jobs. Hattie is leading those efforts through a $100 million fundraising campaign while utilizing her experience as a connector of people and opportunity to focus the foundation’s strategy on bridging the gap between human potential and companies seeking talent.
During her prior career as founder and CEO of Hattie Hill Enterprises, Hattie served as a strategy growth and development consultant for many of the world’s largest multinational companies such as IBM, McDonald’s and Southwest Airlines, among others. Her influential work spanned across more than 70 countries worldwide. Hattie is a celebrated author and highly sought-after speaker who is often quoted in top-tier media outlets such as Oprah, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal. In addition, she has received numerous awards and honors, including being named to Forbes’ Top Texas Women in Business, selected as EY’s Inclusiveness Champion of the Year and featured on National Restaurant News’ 2018 Power List as well as receiving Dallas Business Journal’s Minority Business Leader Award, the Dallas Women’s Foundation’s Maura Award and Working Woman’s Working Woman Entrepreneurial Excellence Award.
Cris Zertuche Wong
Cris is a senior vice president at Goldman Sachs since 2010 and serves in a chief operating officer capacity supporting real estate business operations across the Americas.
She is a founding member of Hispanic 100, a Dallas-based Latina leadership network, established in 1996. Most recently, Cris was instrumental in creating the first Latina Giving Circle, a donor advised fund, under the Texas Women’s Foundation, which provides grants to non-profits that focus on the needs of Latinas of all ages and the Hispanic community. Cris is a board member of Fair Park First, a non-profit organization, created to oversee the management and stewardship of Fair Park, a 277-acre Dallas City Park, and National Historic Landmark. She also serves as the Community Foundation of Texas’ Leadership Council and is a member of the Hispanic Women’s Network of Texas.
A proud alumna of University of Texas at Austin, Cris invests a significant amount of her time recruiting students and actively supports the University’s diversity student organizations to mentor and prepare students to compete and be successful in corporate roles.