Here is a snapshot of the amazing women who were honoured at the annual conference in Miami last year. Woman of the Year: Linda Rottenberg , CEO and Co-founder of Endeavor, New York. Linda launched Endeavor, the award-winning non-profit, headquartered in New York, with a novel and inspiring idea: identify and support high-impact entrepreneurship in emerging markets as a means to sustainable economic growth. With novelty comes resistance but, despite proclamations from her peers that, There are no entrepreneurs in emerging markets, Linda advocated persistently for her cause, relentlessly pursuing potential donors until she'd racked up over a million air miles and US$10 million in donations from business leaders in Latin and South America. Today, she is recognized both for empowering high-impact entrepreneurs worldwide and for inspiring a new generation of philanthropists. Endeavor currently operates in Latin America, South Africa and Turkey, with significant plans for expansion into Asia and the Middle East.

Lilia Navarette, Valeria Jiminez and Rosy Lujan

Linda has also been recognized as one of 100 Innovators for the 21 st Century (Time Magazine); one of 100 Bold Innovators of 2003 (MIT Technology Review); a Global Leader for Tomorrow/Young Global Leader (World Economic Forum); and the Most Important Not-For-Profit Leader in Latin America (Ponder- BCG Business). A Harvard College and Yale Law School graduate, Linda lives in New York with her husband and twin daughters.

Member of the Year: Leann Hackman-Carty , CEO, Concrete Global Ventures, Calgary, Alberta.

Leann's steadfast motivation and vision of mentoring women at an international level led her to establish the Alberta chapter of OWIT in 2002. Since then, she has continuously volunteered her time and effort to make a difference at the chapter, within the organization, and around the world in the international trade arena.

Just over a year after the Alberta chapter's launch, Leann initiated a successful bid to host and organize OWIT's annual conference. Her stint as conference Chair included the first grant securing Canadian International Development Agency funding, which brought 12 delegates from developing countries to the conference. In 2004, Leann was voted Executive Vice President of OWIT at the international level, and just a year later became President. During her tenure, she expanded the Executive Committee and initiated many positive changes, including a website revamp. When she was asked to stay on as President in 2006, she did so even though she was pregnant.

Leann's past ventures include serving 12 years as Executive Assistant to the Mayor of Calgary in the area of Community and Economic development, and three years as Vice President of Calgary's economic development agency. She is also the founder of Concrete Global Ventures, a marketing and market development company.

Leann currently serves as Immediate Past President and Advisory Chair of OWIT and continues to be an active board member at the Alberta Chapter level.

Chapter of the Year: Monterrey , Mexico

Since the launch of the Mexico chapter in 2004, President Valeria Jimenez , the board, and members in Monterrey have shown incredible initiative in expanding it and raising awareness for OWIT in Mexico. Despite being one of our smaller chapters, with limited resources at only 22 members, Monterrey successfully hosted the 2007 OWIT Spring Board Meeting.   Its six board executives arranged meeting space, negotiated hotel rates and organized two evenings filled with impressive networking opportunities. The first event, held in the Graduate School of Business Administration and Leadership Center at Monterrey Technical University, was attended by a staggering 200 Mexican business and government leaders. The program included bilingual presentations and a very lively panel discussion about women's issues in business.

Monterrey's tremendous work and publicity efforts successfully introduced OWIT International to the local community. The chapter had striven successfully to integrate our mission statement and goals into the minds of local business and secured sponsors. Several honoured guests from the Mexican government attended. During the Board meeting, the Monterrey chapter announced its bid to host the 2008 Fall Conference, no small feat for a small chapter. It has already gained full support of the Mexican government.