distinguished women’s award

Karen Barbour
Founder and President of the Barbour Group

Karen Barbour is founder and president of The Barbour Group, LLC and one of Enterprising Women Magazine’s 2012 Enterprising Women of the Year. Ms. Barbour is a 27-year veteran of the surety bonding industry, where she is well known as a thought leader and expert within the industry. She is former president of the Mid-Atlantic Surety Association and has served on the board of the American Subcontractors Association of Baltimore and on the Board of Governors for Washington Building Congress. With a strong understanding of the construction industry and a dynamic leadership style, launching her own agency was an obvious progression. Ms. Barbour currently serves as co-chair for the Governor’s Commission on Small Business and as a board member for the Carroll County Economic Development Corporation. Her awards and accolades include the 2010 Future 50 Award from Baltimore SmartCEO Magazine, and The Daily Record’s 2010 Innovator of the Year Award.  Ms. Barbour received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Loyola College and her Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Baltimore, with induction into Sigma Iota Epsilon, the University’s honorary management fraternity.

Winifred J. Booker, D.D.S.
Principal Owner of Valley Dental Pediatrics

Dr. Booker is a practicing pediatric dentist based in Owings Mills and founder of Brushtime Products, Inc., a company that manufactures child-friendly dental hygiene products. Prior to opening her practice in Owings Mills, she spent 14 years serving children in the heart of Baltimore City. Dr. Booker is also the Chief Executive Officer  & Director of Development for the nonprofit Children’s Oral Health Institute. She created the Children’s Oral Health Institute in 1996 to focus on children’s oral health and programs to promote good dental health and hygiene practices. Dr. Booker has been a media spokeswoman for the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry and secretary/treasurer of the Maryland Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. She has held numerous leadership positions within her field including president of the Maryland Dental Society; state and gubernatorial appointments that include membership with the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the Maryland Dental Action Coalition. She has also contributed to articles for the Baltimore Afro –American newspaper, Parents Magazine, Reader’s Digest and the Woman Dental Journal. Dr. Booker received her Certificate in Pediatric Dentistry in 1996 from the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC and her Doctor of Dental Surgery from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, TN.

Patricia McHugh Lambert
Principal of Pessin Katz Law, P.A.

Ms. Lambert has over 25 years of experience handling complex commercial litigation and insurance matters and has worked on national class actions and regulatory matters for Fortune 500 companies. She was consecutively selected as a Maryland Super Lawyer from 2007-2012 and was named a Maryland Top 50 Women Lawyer in 2012 by Maryland Super Lawyers.  Active in her community, where she is involved with women, family and children issues, she has served as the Women’s Leadership Council Chair, Executive Committee, United Way of Central Maryland and as a member of the United Way’s Tocqueville Society.  She has published a number of articles on topics spanning from the rise in insurance rates, life and disability insurance claims to agent/broker liability.  She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of North Carolina. She received her Juris Doctorate from Wake Forest University Law School where she served on the editorial staff of the Wake Forest Law Review. Ms. Lambert also enjoys mentoring young attorneys and the high school students she coaches in mock trial competitions.

Cecile K. Perich
Senior Vice President of Human Relations at McCormick & Company Inc.

Since 2007, Ms. Perich has had responsibility for all Global HR functional activities for McCormick & Company, Inc. She is Secretary of McCormick’s Compensation Committee and a member of McCormick’s Management Committee. Ms. Perich joined the McCormick team in 1982 and served as HR supervisor; in 1984 she became the HR Manager for McCormick Construction and in1987 became the HR Director for McCormick Properties. She was promoted to HR Manager of the Hunt Valley Plant in 1988 and then promoted again to Vice President-HR, U.S. Industrial Group in 1995.  She is an Emeritus member of McCormick’s Multiple Management Board.  Ms. Perich received her Bachelor of Science degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania ad her MBA from Johns Hopkins University.  She serves on the Executive Committee and is past Chair for the National Board of Director of the Arthritis Foundation.

Maria Harris Tildon
Senior Vice President of Public Policy and Community Affairs at CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield

Ms. Tildon joined CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, the largest health care insurer in the Mid-Atlantic region, in 2006. She is responsible for managing all matters related to public policy, government relations, external and internal communications and community outreach and giving. She served in the Clinton Administration at the U.S. Department of Commerce under Secretaries Ronald H. Brown and William Daley as Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Import Administration and Deputy Director of Public Affairs. Prior to joining the Administration, Ms. Tildon practiced law at Venable, LLP in Washington, DC focusing on civil and criminal litigation if federal and state courts. She is a member of the Maryland and District of Columbia Bar Associations and has been appointed by Gov. O’Malley as a Commissioner on the Maryland Community Health Resources Commission.  Ms. Tildon serves on several not-for-profit boards including Healthcare for the Homeless, the Ron Brown Scholar Program and The Hippodrome Foundation.  A native of Baltimore, she received her B.A. in International Relations from Boston University and her Juris Doctorate degree from American University’s Washington College of Law.