2009 Honoree ~ Arlene Schnitzer

Co-owner and Vice-President, Harsch Investment Corporation
Co-founder and Chair, Harold & Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation

Arlene Schnitzer has made a mission of fostering artistic excellence and diversity throughout the Northwest, advocating eloquently for the key role the arts play in a society’s social, cultural and economic well-being.  Arlene’s advocacy has, in many areas, been a pioneering one.  The native Oregonian’s energetic leadership has advanced local and national arts organizations such as the Portland Art Museum, the Oregon Ballet Theatre, the Oregon Symphony, The National Council of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the National Committee for the Performing Arts/Kennedy Center, and the McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert, California.

Educational and social service institutions also receive a generous share of Arlene Schnitzer’s philanthropic and volunteer commitment.  She has been actively involved with The Northwest Academy, The Boys & Girls Clubs of Portland, The Oregon Health & Sciences University Foundation and several state-wide appointments.  With her husband, Harold, Arlene co-founded the Harold & Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation, which not only awards grants and supports a variety of health, social service and community organizations in the community, but also operates a program, entitled “Care To Share”.  This program, operating at Oregon Health and Sciences University, was established is help fund medical and personal financial needs of families when they have a child involved in a health crisis.

Public recognition received by Arlene includes having received the Aubrey R. Watzek Award from Lewis and Clark College, the Distinguished Service Award from the University of Oregon, the Distinguished Service Award from Western Oregon State College, an honorary degree of Bachelor of Fine Arts from Pacific Northwest College of Art, the Equal Opportunity Award from the Urban League of Portland, and with her husband Harold the prestigious First Citizen Award.

Regarded as one of the foremost galleries in the Northwest, Arlene Schnitzer’s “Fountain Gallery of Art” nurtured many of the region’s finest visual artists from 1961 to 1987.  During a fourteen-year television career, Arlene produced programs on wide ranging topics on the arts and social issues, subjects not often thoughtfully and publicly discussed at that time.

2009 Honoree ~ Gert Boyle

Chairman of the Board and former CEO, Columbia Sportswear

Gert Boyle is the Chairman of the Board for Columbia Sportswear, the international outdoor apparel, footwear and equipment manufacturer. At age 13, Gert Boyle and her family fled Nazi Germany and moved to Portland, Oregon. Her parents, Paul and Marie Lamfrom, founded what was then called Columbia Hat Company in 1938. After attending the University of Arizona she and her husband, Neal Boyle, returned to Oregon and joined the family business.

After the death of her father, Neal became president. Six years later at the age of 47 he died of a heart attack. Gert found herself at the helm of a financially struggling company. Her son Tim, while still in college, helped run the business. After a year they were advised by a banker to sell Columbia, but they were only offered $1,400 and wisely declined.

Hard work and a helpful staff of employees made Columbia a leading global seller of outdoor apparel, footwear and equipment with annual sales of more than $1 billion. Gert Boyle has become an industry icon and she is a well respected leader in Portland and around the world. Her autobiography, One Tough Mother, was published in 2005. She was the first woman to be inducted into the Sporting Goods Association Hall of Fame and was also inducted into the Global Business Hall of Fame and the Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame. She has won many other awards including:

• The SBA Outstanding Business Person Award for Oregon (1977)
• The Oregon Chapter of Women’s Forum Woman of the Year Award (1987)
• A Top 50 Woman Business Owner by Working Woman Magazine (1993-96)
• Oregon Entrepreneur of the Year, Oregon Enterprise Forum (1994)
• The Golden Plate Award, American Academy of Achievement (1998)
• Awarded the Jimmy Huega “Can Do” Award (2003)
• Member, Oregon Commemorative Coin Commission (2004)
• Granted Portland, OR’s prestigious First Citizen Award (2005)
• Women of Distinction Award, Marylhurst University (2008)
• Small Business Association Impact Award (2009)
• Outstanding Mother Award, National Mother’s Day Committee (2009)
• Women of Achievement Award, Oregon Commission for Women (2009)

Keynote Speaker ~ Betty Roberts

Betty Roberts is a mother of four who entered night law school at the age of 39, on the same day a daughter entered Stanford University. Twenty-six years later, Betty Roberts received the Women of Achievement Award from the Oregon Commission for Women.

Betty was the first woman appointed to the Oregon Supreme Court in 1982 after serving as the first woman on the Court of Appeals. Prior to that, she proudly served 13 years in the Oregon State Legislature.

An educator, a mentor. A lawyer, a judge. A legislator, an advocate. A determined woman who began her career at the height of the Civil Rights demonstrations, when the Vietnam War was raging, and vague rumors of some kind of “women’s movement” were about to become a reality. Whenever she was told “you can’t,” she said “just watch me.”

Betty Roberts’ life defines the word “trailblazer.”

Secretary of State ~ Kate Brown

In 1995, Kate Brown received the Woman of Achievement Award from the Oregon Commission for Women. Today, we are proud to call her “Madame Secretary.”

Public service is nothing new to our Secretary of State. Kate served in the Oregon House of Representatives from 1991 to 1996 and then won election to the Oregon State Senate. In 2004, she was elected by her colleagues to be the first woman to serve as Oregon’s Senate Majority Leader. In 2008, she was elected Oregon’s 24th Secretary of State and subsequently was appointed by Governor Kulongoski to chair the Oregon Sustainability Board.

Kate has taught at Portland State University, and practiced family and juvenile law. Her commitment to public service is recognized from Portland to Pendleton, from Ashland to Astoria. When addressing the weighty issues of education or health care, transparency in government or ethics laws, Kate has always been well known and widely respected as the woman who rolls up her sleeves to get it done for the people of Oregon.

S. Renee Mitchell

S. Renee Mitchell will graciously emcee the Silver Anniversary Women of Achievement Awards. Poet, playwright, producer, public speaker, parent – Renee Mitchell has done it all. As an African American women who has turned struggles into strengths, Portland’s well-known and eminently respected award-winning journalist often uses spoken word, song and storytelling to entertain, empower and inspire women and girls to reach their fullest potential.

Tiffany Hinano Hill

As the first deaf student to compete in the national Poetry Out Loud competition, Ms. Hill demonstrates a fearless, determined nature that clearly shows she flies with her own wings! A student at the Oregon School for the Deaf and a resident of Eugene, Tiffany hopes “…to let everyone know that Deaf people are not weak or lesser – we have equal abilities to hearing people – just different. Our worlds are different, but we have equally valued goals, desires, and ways in our lives. Here is an example – we may not be able to speak as well as hearing people but underwater? We can communicate very clearly and effectively!“

Tiffany will perform Diane Wakoski’s “Inside Out” to open this year’s celebration.

Mary Volm

Local artist Mary Volm has been commissioned to create this year’s award. The kiln cast glass art pieces will reflect this year’s theme: She Flies With Her Own Wings. Mary has been a working artist for 36 years, specializing in fused and kiln cast glass, painting, photography, printmaking and encaustic. She currently shows at Talisman Gallery in the Alberta Arts district in northeast Portland. Mary was the first field camerawoman to shoot TV news in the United States and after serving the State of Oregon and City of Portland as a spokesperson she is currently dedicating herself to enriching her community through her art.