Joyce Bender, Founder of Bender Consulting Services, is proud to announce that the organization’s Tony Coelho Award will be presented to Judy Woodruff, Senior Correspondent and former anchor and managing editor of the PBS NewsHour. The presentation will be made at a private gathering on July 23rd in Washington, DC. The Coelho Award is named after former Congressman Tony Coelho, the primary author of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and is presented to a leader who has significantly advocated for employment opportunities for people with disabilities.
Upon learning she would receive this award, Ms. Woodruff shared, “I am incredibly honored to receive this award in the name of Tony Coelho, who has spent decades fighting for fairer treatment and greater opportunities for people with disabilities.”
Ms. Woodruff has covered politics and other news for five decades at NBC, CNN, and PBS. She is the founding co-chair of the International Women’s Media Foundation, an organization dedicated to promoting and encouraging women in journalism and communication industries worldwide. She serves on the boards of trustees of the Freedom Forum, The Duke Endowment and the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and is a director of Public Radio International and the National Association to End Homelessness. She is a former member of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, a former director of the National Museum of American History, and a former trustee of the Urban Institute. Ms. Woodruff is a graduate of Duke University, where she is a trustee emerita. She is the recent recipient of an Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as the Radcliffe Medal, the Poynter Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Journalism, the Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism from Arizona State University.
Previous recipients of the Coelho Award include last year’s recipient, Valerie Jarrett, CEO of the Obama Foundation, as well as David Holmberg, CEO of Highmark Health, John Berry, former Director of Personnel Management under President Obama, U.S. Senator Richard Durbin, and Congressman Steny Hoyer. In determining this year’s awardee, Tony Coelho said that “There are few people in public life that have used their platform, personal experience, and commitment to equality for over 60 million Americans with disabilities as Judy Woodruff. Alongside her family and her husband, Al Hunt, an advocate in his own right, Judy has made an enormous impact on our community. I’m truly excited to present this award to her.”
Joyce Bender added that “We hold this honor and presentation for those who truly emulate Tony’s leadership. Judy is not only deserving of this award, she is a friend to all of us living with disabilities that we cherish and are grateful for each day.”
If you have any questions about Bender Consulting Services or our work, please contact Sherry Lapaglia at slapaglia@benderconsult.com.