Washington Business Journal names President Cordano 2024 DEI Champion

Gallaudet University President Roberta J. Cordano has been named 2024 DEI Champion as part of the Washington Business Journal CEO of the Year program. She is one of 12 people honored this year by the publication, as follows:

Earlier this year, WBJ named Booz Allen CEO Horacio Rozanski its CEO of the Year, and Rand Construction Chairman Linda Rabbitt was selected as a Lifetime Achievement Honoree. Other award recipients include:

• Dealmaker of the Year: David Boyle, president and CEO, Burke & Herbert Bank
• Nonprofit Leader of the Year: Tamara Wilds Lawson, president and CEO, Washington Area Women’s Foundation
• Marketing Champion: Jeff Bentley, president and CEO, Northwest Federal Credit Union
• CFO of the Year: Fatima Popal, CFO, The Popal Group
• Small Business Leader of the Year: Matthew and Jon’ll Boyd, owners, Boyd Cru Wines
• Crowdfunder of the Year: Peter Schechter, Teá Ivanovic, co-founders, Michael Donlon, principal, Immigrant Foods
• Private Equity Deal of the Year: Paul Brailsford and Chris Dunlavey, co-CEOs and co-founders, Brailsford & Dunlavey
• Affordable Housing Champion: Senthil Sankaran, Amazon Housing Equity Fund 
• Cultural Champion: Ruth Taylor Kidd, CFO, Folger Shakespeare Library

This is Cordano’s second honor from WBJ. Last year, she was one of their “2023 Women Who Mean Business.” Last year, she was also cited as one of USA Today’s Women of the Year.

Read about President Cordano’s selection to WBJ’s 2023 “Women Who Mean Business” list.

President Cordano and the other 11 honorees will be formally recognized at an event on December 5 at the Waldorf Astoria hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue NW, five blocks from the White House.

Congratulations, President Cordano!