Merit Award

The 2006 WBC annual Merit Award Dinner was a success!

WBC Member Release

April 11, 2006 The Women's Bond Club 2006 Merit Award Dinner was held at Chelsea Piers in New York City on Wednesday April 5. As in past years, this was a well attended event. This year the Merit Award Dinner attracted 740 attendees from all over Wall Street. Guests came out to network and support diversity in the workplace.

The keynote address and Corporate Host, Ken Lewis CEO of Bank of America, described one of his first observations of a failed management strategy that had been crafted without taking into account diverse viewpoints and execution ideas. Mr. Lewis drove home the point that our customers are diverse and businesses are more successful with customers when they incorporate diversity.

The WBC highlighted its charitable giving efforts by featuring a WBC college scholarship winner Tejwantie Niranjan from Fordham University. TJ was impressively articulate in how meaningful the WBC's involvement has been in her life through the WBC mentoring program and the WBC corporate internship program.

The WBC also recognized 24 women as Rising Stars on Wall Street. Each year the WBC takes the opportunity to partner with its Corporate Member firms to recognize the outstanding women that represent the industry's future leaders.

The 2006 Isabel Benham Honoree, Marsha Evans Rear Admiral (Retired) US Navy, was recognized for her efforts in the area of "women helping women". Marsha has made meaningful contributions in forging new ground for women in the US Navy and ultimately pioneered the effort to repeal the law prohibiting women from serving on Naval combat ships. Marsha commented on the benefits of intramural sports and developing a young woman's sense of confidence in sports at an early age.

Merit Award Winner, Erin Callan, shared her career progression from tax lawyer to heading the Global Finance Solutions Group at Lehman Brothers, with key themes being her inspirational perspective on staying true to oneself. Erin emphasized that taking on new challenges is a risk but that with the right team the rewards are there.

These distinguished women were celebrated by a room full of successful, energetic, and determined WBC members, their supportive colleagues, their clients and customers.