Office Depot Presents 2005 "Businesswomen of the Year" Awards

DELRAY BEACH, FL — Office Depot honored nine women with the company's prestigious 2005 "Businesswomen of the Year" Award.

The awards were presented during the opening session of Office Depot's Success Strategies for Businesswomen Conference, taking place this week at the Boca Raton Resort & Club in Boca Raton, FL. Following the presentation of the awards, Dr. Maya Angelou, best-selling author and poet, captivated attendees with a keynote address.

With more than 1,000 attendees, the conference, now in its fifth year, is recognized as one of the nation's most prominent and significant events offered to female small business owners. Office Depot executives, Patricia Morrison, cio, and Lynn Connelly, director of strategic alliances and sponsorships, presented the awards.

The nine recipients were nominated by their respective professional women's associations and selected by their peers. This year's award winners were noted as demonstrating exemplary leadership, entrepreneurial spirit and support for women in business.

"Office Depot is proud to partner with world-class women's business organizations, and the women honored exemplify the entrepreneurial success that women can achieve in business," said Chuck Rubin, evp, merchandising/marketing officer for Office Depot.

The women, hailing from states across the country including, Colorado, Florida, New York, Ohio, Texas and Virginia, have collective expertise ranging from advertising, design and journalism to multimedia production and engineering.

"Our honorees all share two things in common — passion for what they do everyday; and a dedication to helping women achieve success and business excellence in their respective industries. We congratulate them on their success and thank them for their contributions," noted Rubin.

"Businesswomen of the Year" Award recipients include:

• Patricia Parker, president and ceo of Native American Management Services (NAMS), a company that provides a variety of professional services to federal clients and Native American organizations, is headquartered in McLean, VA; nominated by Business Women's Network (Business WireN).
• Maury Dobbie, president and ceo of MediaTech Productions, which provides award winning multimedia services to such clients as the Discovery Channel, Outdoor Life Network, DirecTV and the DISH Network, is headquartered in Ft. Collins, CO; nominated by eWomenNetwork (EWN).
• Deborah Gross, director of business development, defense sector for STG, a certified provider of enterprise and IT infrastructure support services, is headquartered in Dayton, OH; nominated by the Executive Women's Golf Association (EWGA).
• Jennifer Pellet, editor-in-chief for NAFE magazine, the publication of the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE), and principal of New York City-based custom publishing firm Inkstone Editorial; nominated by the National Association of Female Executives (NAFE).
• Wendy Lopez, co-founder and ceo of LOPEZGARCIA GROUP, one of Texas' leading engineering design and environmental planning firms, is headquartered in Dallas; nominated by the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO).
• Earline Lagueruela, president and founder of S&C Advertising & Public Relations, a full-service national bilingual communications firm, is headquartered in San Antonio; nominated by Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP).
• Annette Taddeo, president and ceo of LanguageSpeak, a Miami-based comprehensive language company, which offers a broad range of language-related services in over 100 languages; nominated by the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC).
• Orit, president and Founder of The O Group, a 16-person creative strategy and design firm based in New York City; nominated by Women's Leadership Exchange (WLE).
• Beth Bronfman, ceo and managing partner, Leibler Bronfman Lubalin Advertising, a full-service 18 year-old advertising agency with annual billings of approximately $40 million, is headquartered in New York City; nominated by the Women Presidents' Organization (WPO).

The Office Depot Success Strategies for Businesswomen Conference was created in 2001 to provide women in business with networking opportunities, while offering programs and seminars that help them manage their businesses more successfully.

Keynote presenters at the conference include Barbara Walters, ABC correspondent and Emmy-Award winning co-host and co-executive producer of The View; Kathy Ireland, chief designer and ceo of Kathy Ireland Worldwide (KIWW); and Anne Mulcahy, chairman and ceo of Xerox Corporation.