WSSC Director Honored for Exemplary Achievement and Leadership

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Laurel – April 8, 2013: Towanda Livingston, Director of the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission’s (WSSC) Small, Local and Minority Business Enterprise (SLMBE) Office, was the recipient of two prestigious honors in Women’s History Month noting her role empowering women in business and the local community.

Ms. Livingston was awarded the Women Empowered to Achieve the Impossible (WETATi) Distinguished Community Service Award at its annual awards banquet on Saturday, March 30, 2013. Towanda received the award based on “…her lifelong dedication and commitment to public and community service. Moreover her unequivocal and unwavering support of women empowerment and the enthusiasm with which she performs her duties…”

Ms. Livingston was also one of two recent inductees into the 2013 Hall of Fame of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC). This honor was recognized at the Women’s Business Enterprise Summit and Salute on Thursday, March 14, 2013. According to the WBENC panel that selected this year’s winners, “Towanda Livingston was inducted into the WBENC Hall of Fame for her exemplary achievement and leadership in business, government, volunteerism, and citizenship. She demonstrates a passion for excellence and is a true role model for other women and aspiring leaders to emulate.”

“These recognitions validate Ms. Livingston’s tireless efforts on behalf of WSSC, women owned businesses and women in the community,” said WSSC General Manager/CEO Jerry N. Johnson. “Towanda’s leadership and dedication are clearly noteworthy.”

“I am very humbled by these honors. They confirm our hard work, but we know we have a long way to go," said Livingston. “The awards really belong to the entire organization, from the Commissioners, to Mr. Johnson to my staff and all of the employees who work to carry out our motto; ‘Diversity…Just the way we do business.’"

The Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), founded in 1997, is the largest third-party certifier of businesses owned, controlled, and operated by women in the United States. WBENC, a national non-profit, is the nation's leading advocate of women-owned businesses as suppliers to America's corporations.

WETATi was founded to advance and challenge women to dare to achieve their “impossible”- whatever it is that they once thought and/or were told was “impossible” in life, regardless of their socio-economic status, geographical or other limitations.

For information about doing business with WSSC, please contact WSSC’s SLMBE/Supplier Diversity Office at (301) 206-8800 or link to www.wsscwater.com.