Women of Distinction

Kimberly Dozier
Award-winning journalist Kimberly Dozier has covered the Middle East and the Iraq war for the CBS Evening News, The Early Show and CBS Radio News. In 2006, while reporting a story in Baghdad, Dozier was gravely injured by a car bombing. The explosion killed two of Dozier's colleagues, along with a U.S. Army captain and an Iraqi translator. After a lengthy recovery, Dozier returned to work at CBS in 2007.

A veteran war correspondent, Dozier has reported from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo, receiving three Gracie Awards from the American Women in Radio and Television (AWRT) for her work. In 2007, she received AWRT's Grand Gracie Award for her work in Iraq, as well as the Radio and Television News Directors Association's Leonard Zeidenberg First Amendment Award. The Association for Women in Communication also honored Dozier in 2007 for her significant career achievements in spite of extreme hardships.

Majora Carter
Majora Carter is the founder of Sustainable South Bronx, an organization devoted to environmental urban revitalization. Awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship "genius grant" in 2005, Carter works with government, businesses, and neighborhood organizations to improve the lives of the citizens in her community. She has helped to create riverfront parks and green roofs, to increase the number of trees in the South Bronx, and to replace an underused expressway with positive economic development.

Carter has served on New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's Energy and Environment Transition Team and the Clinton Global Initiative's Poverty Alleviation Panel. She received New York University's Martin Luther King, Jr., Award for Humanitarian Service and the National Audubon Society’s Rachel Carson Award. In 2007, Newsweek named her as one of its "25 to Watch" future newsmakers, and Essence Magazine cited her as one of the "25 Most Influential African Americans."

Evelyn "Pat" Foote
During her three decades with the U.S. Army, Brigadier General Evelyn "Pat" Foote commanded at the company, battalion, brigade, and major Army installation levels. She was the first woman Army officer to command an Army brigade in Europe, the first woman Army officer on the faculty of the Army War College, and the only woman general officer to serve as the Army's Deputy Inspector General.

Foote's assignments in the Army included tours of duty in Vietnam, Germany, and at the Pentagon, and she concluded her service as commanding general of Fort Belvoir, Virginia, in 1989. Foote was recalled to active duty in 1996 to serve as vice chair for the Secretary of the Army's Senior Review Panel on Sexual Harassment in the wake of the widely reported sexual abuse and harassment scandal at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. In recognition of her outstanding accomplishments in the Army, Foote received the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star, and numerous other awards.

 Watch a video clip from General Foote's speech during the Women of Distinction Awards Ceremony

Maya Ajmera
Maya Ajmera is the founder and president of the Global Fund for Children, a nonprofit organization devoted to advancing the dignity of children around the world. Founded in 1994 with the help of Ajmera's Echoing Green Public Service Graduate Fellowship, GFC supports community organizations that work with vulnerable children, including street kids, AIDS orphans, and child laborers.

As part of that work, GFC creates books and films for children that promote an understanding of our multicultural world. In 2006, GFC received a $50,000 grant from Oprah's Angel Network to help distribute 17,000 books to children, especially those living in remote or conflict-ridden areas. A supporter of Kids with Cameras, GFC helped fund filmmaker Zana Briski's remarkable documentary Born Into Brothels, which won an Oscar for best documentary film in 2005.

 Watch video from Maya Ajmera's speech during the Women of Distinction Awards Ceremony

Jovita Carranza
Jovita Carranza, deputy administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, helps manage the agency's field offices and its portfolio of business loans, venture capital investments, and disaster loans. Before joining the agency, Carranza spent more than 30 years at UPS, working her way up from night-shift box handler to vice president of domestic operations and president of international operations for Latin America and the Caribbean.

An active participant in civic and community activities, Carranza has served on the boards of the National Center for Family Literacy and the United Way. In 2004, Hispanic Business magazine named her Woman of the Year for her outstanding career achievements.