The Women of Achievement Awards Dinner is an annual event that honors outstanding women whose lives have been marked by achievement and serve as positive role models who exemplify what we strive to instill in girls through Girl Scouting.
This year's Women of Achievement Awards Dinner will be held on Thursday, April 3, 2008 at Seasons in Washington Township. The event begins at 5:00 p.m. and promises to be a memorable evening that features a lavish cocktail reception, elegant dinner buffet and live music. The festivities will include a Silent Auction to tempt the nearly 400 guests who join us from area corporations and the community at large. Circle of Honor Reception tickets are $250 each (includes reception, cocktails and dinner). Cocktails and Dinner tickets are $150 each.
For tickets or more information, call Pam Singer at (973) 248-8200, or e-mail psinger@gsnnj.org
The Women of Achievement Awards Dinner is our largest adult fundraising event of the year.
Proceeds from this event will support programs and opportunities for the more than 37,000 girls served by the Girl Scouts of Northern New Jersey as we inspire them to become tomorrow's extraordinary leaders, our future Women of Achievement.
Julie Banderas has graciously agreed to be our hostess of ceremonies this year for our 2008 Women of Achievement Awards Dinner.
Julie Banderas is host of "The Big Story Weekend" on the FOX News Channel.
Amelia Gold earned her Bachelor's degree in Music at the Juilliard School.
She has studied violin with Gerald Beal, Ariana Bronne, Nicole Di Cecco, Masao Kawasaki, Dorothy Kaplan Roffman, Patinka Kopec, and Isaac Malkin. She has performed as a soloist, a chamber musician, and with orchestras in the Soviet Union, France, Israel, Canada, and throughout the United States.
She has participated in the music festivals of Aspen, Interlochen, Rencontres Musicales d'Evian, and Meadowmount. Ms. Gold also played the violin teacher in the Miramax film, Music of the Heart.
Ms. Gold is the Orchestral Director and Coordinator of the String Program at the Elizabeth Morrow School in Englewood, New Jersey.
She is also on the faculty of JCC Thurnauer School of Music and the Manhattan School of Music Pre-College Division. Ms. Gold's students have performed in Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, Bergen PAC and Alice Tully Hall.
They have also been featured on The Today Show, The Rosie O'Donnell, and the ABC and CBS Television Networks.
Melissa L. Klipp is a partner in the Commercial Litigation and Intellectual Property Groups in the Florham Park office. Her practice is focused on technology, intellectual property and computer-related litigation and counseling.
A significant portion of her work is concentrated on international data privacy and the needs of multinational companies to comply with competing laws of the countries in which they do business. She is a founding member of Drinker Biddle & Reath's Electronic Discovery and Data Management Task Force.
Ms. Klipp has represented several high-profile clients, including Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts, BASF, ADP, and Foot Locker. She has successfully protected the integrity of intellectual properties for prominent accounting, technology, gaming, and pharmaceutical clients.
She has been quoted in publications, such as Associated Press, USA Today, Wired.com, the Star Ledger, and New Jersey Lawyer.
In 2006, Ms. Klipp was named one of "New Jersey's Best 50 Women in Business" by NJ Biz.
Ms. Klipp serves on the Women's Leadership Steering Committee of the United Way of Morris County and is a member of the NJ 300, a statewide group created to honor New Jersey's top women executives. She is also a member of the council of Grace Lutheran Church in Mendham, NJ.
Gina Wilson is executive vice president and chief financial officer of Wyndham Worldwide Corporation, a global hospitality company, where she is responsible for all of the company's financial functions, and served its predecessor, Cendant Corporation, from September 2003 until July 2006.
She and her family moved to New Jersey in 2000 when she became MetLife's senior vice president and controller. Prior to that, she worked in Los Angeles for Transamerica Corporation and before that for almost 20 years with Deloitte & Touche in a public accounting career, culminating as a partner. She grew up in the Chicago area and has bachelors and masters degrees in accounting from the University of Illinois (Urbana).
She is currently on the boards of Catholic Charities of New York and the Los Angeles Child Guidance Clinic, and formerly served on the boards of the March of Dimes of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Women's Economic Development Corporation, and other social service organizations.
Afriye Amerson is an OB/GYN with the Prospect Women's Medical Center in Hackensack, New Jersey. She entered the practice with two other doctors after finishing her residency with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital of Columbia in New York City. She is also an Assistant Attending with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Hackensack University Medical Center.
Ms. Amerson began her undergraduate studies at age 16 at Duke University in North Carolina and then went on to complete medical school at George Washington University. She then interned and completed her residency at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital in New York City. Seeking a more intimate relationship with her patients, Ms. Amerson moved to New Jersey and entered her practice. She prides herself on the relationships she has with her patients and the more than 2000 newborns she has delivered.
Ms. Amerson now seeks to broaden her audience, reaching women on a larger scale by publishing her book on pregnancy and meditation. She is a member of the American Medical Association, the Medical Society of New Jersey, and the Bergen County Medical Society.
Sheila James has been a troop leader and volunteer for the Girl Scouts of Northern New Jersey since 1996. At present, Mrs. James is the leader of both a Daisy troop and a Brownie troop. She also is the co-leader a Junior and Cadette troop. Under her direction Mrs. James has 3 granddaughters who started as Daisies and have since achieved Brownie and Junior Status. Her troops are sponsored by the Second Baptist Church in Paterson and have been active since their inception. Her troops have participated in a number of activities and service projects. Mrs. James has also served as the Events Coordinator for her Girl Scout Service Team.
Over the past twelve years Mrs. James has had clear and attainable goals for her troops. She has encouraged the girls to be positive, courteous and always keeping the Girl Scout promise and law in the forefront. Under her leadership, Mrs. James' troops have participated in several flag ceremonies. In 2007 her Brownie troop successfully completed the prestigious religious award which took eight weeks for the girls to complete the requirements.
Her troops have gone on several trips including excursions to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, the New Jersey Aquarium, Medieval Times, Off-Broadway shows, The Franklin Institute, Morristown Planetarium, Liberty Science Center, pumpkin picking, and overnights at the Girl Scout camps. They have also taken a limousine ride to the Palisades Park Mall.
Mrs. James' troop along with The Paterson service unit, has been involved with many community service projects such as food drives, Toys for Tots, and Baby Bundling. As a service project for their sponsor, the Second Baptist Church, the girls planted 50 beds of flowers around the church.
Outside of Girl Scouting, Mrs. James has served as District Director for the Paterson Jaycees and was on the Board of Directors for the Paterson YWCA for ten years. At her church, Second Baptist, she serves as a Deaconess, sings on the EC Davis Ensemble Choir, and is the Vice Chair for the Community Development Corporation, which completed a 44-unit Senior Citizen Building in 2007. For the last 30 years, Mrs. James has been an employee for the State of New Jersey in the Child Support Probation Division as a Court Services Supervisor.
The Women of Achievement Awards Dinner is our largest adult fundraising event of the year.
