With NAWBO now accepting applications for two coveted national awards, NAWBO past national president Virginia Littlejohn reflects on her two longtime friends. The Susan Hager Award recognizes a NAWBO Premier member who has demonstrated an ongoing commitment to propelling women’s economic empowerment and NAWBO’s mission locally and nationally. The Gillian Rudd Award honors a NAWBO Basic, Premier or NextGen member who has made a significant contribution to the status and visibility of women-owned firms. Read about these visionary leaders and fearless champions and get all the details to nominate by the February 5th deadline below:
Susan Hager Legacy Award »
Gillian Rudd Advocacy Award »
Susan Hager
Susan was a trailblazer, one of the founders and the first national president of NAWBO. She was a visionary leader whose boldness and strategic brilliance transformed NAWBO from a fledgling DC network into a national force for women’s entrepreneurship and economic empowerment. Her inspiring leadership and strong advocacy for women in business continue to resonate today, symbolized by the prestigious Susan Hager Legacy Award, given in her honor.
Susan was known for her powerful mantra: “Get a seat at the table, or build your own table and make sure to include other women at that table.” These words epitomized her belief in creating opportunities for women and exemplify her enduring legacy.
Among NAWBO’s 12 original founders, Susan stood out as the one with the foresight and drive to take the organization national. Originally from Kentucky, Susan was an incredibly effective businesswoman and the president of the highly respected PR firm Hager Sharp. She was visionary, shrewd, strategic and fearless—a dynamo who knew how to inspire and lead. Yet Susan was also sometimes irreverent, outrageous and always able to think outside the box.
She also had a unique ability to motivate and engage others. She had a delightful way of pushing people to do things they might not want to do, but it was always done with a big smile, and people almost always said, “Yes.” Susan was one of Virginia’s favorite people to work with, because “she had a delicious sense of humor, and we keyed off of each other so well.”
“Once, four or five of us in Capital Area NAWBO were brainstorming the name for a new political action committee we were starting,” Virginia shares. “Susan and I came up with one suggestion that had the two of us laughing so hard we could hardly talk, ‘Titans with Tits.’ We didn’t select that name, of course, but the joy, camaraderie and hilarity we shared in our work on the 1986 and 1995 White House Conferences on Small Business, and the groundbreaking HR 5050 legislation, made all our hard work seem not just significant, but also great fun.”
Susan’s impact extended beyond NAWBO. In collaboration with Laura Henderson, president of the NAWBO Foundation and CEO of Prospect Associates, a health communications company, Susan’s and Laura’s companies partnered on a federal contract that played a supporting role in banning smoking on commercial airplanes—in support of a multi-year campaign by legislators, flight attendants and public health advocates. American and global lungs have benefitted.
Susan’s employees adored her so much that one even donated a kidney to her—a gesture Susan humorously referred to as her “lifetime employment contract.” Susan’s bravery was equally noteworthy. Despite having a narrow esophagus that required painful monthly medical procedures, she always faced life with grace and determination.
A lover of life, Susan hosted legendary Kentucky Derby parties every year and always seemed like the life of every gathering. Her combination of brilliance, warmth and humor made her unforgettable. “Susan Hager wasn’t just a leader—she was a force of nature, a cheerleader and champion for women and a true visionary whose legacy continues to inspire me every day,” says Virginia.
Gillian Rudd
Gillian was NAWBO’s national president in 1988 who, together with other early NAWBO advocates and White House Conference delegates, instigated the charge to educate and influence elected officials about the undeniable impact women-owned businesses played in the U.S. economy. Their efforts led to the authoring and passage of HR 5050—and shaped the NAWBO voice that’s so widely respected today. That’s why the Gillian Rudd Legacy Award is now given out in her honor.
Gillian was born in the Forest of Dean, England, and grew up in Sri Lanka, where her British father was the harbormaster. Gillian had very fine silvery platinum hair and some NAWBO members adoringly referred to her as “The Queen,” because of her lovely British accent and refined manner. “But The Queen had a droll and dry sense of humor, and was full of toss-away lines that made me weak from laughter,” describes Virginia.
Like Susan Hager, Gillian owned a PR firm. She was a rabid and rapid reader, and read at least one novel a day. And she was a terrific writer, able to get so many things right in her first draft. She also was a great champion for women’s access to markets, and spearheaded the MegaMarketplace initiative.
When it was clear that Gillian would be the next national president, Virginia began quietly teasing her that “I was going to sing ‘Rule, Britannia,’ a patriotic British song, at her installation because she was still a British citizen who soon would be presiding over NAWBO in the United States. Thus, she became an American citizen, and some of us in Capital Area NAWBO held a small citizenship party for her in which we bedecked her pale platinum hair with small American flags.”
At a House Small Business Committee reception in 1988, Gillian, now NAWBO’s national president, strategically placed herself in front of the shrimp bowl when she spotted John LaFalce, Chairman of the Committee, consuming the crustaceans. After the tiniest bit of small talk, she asked if he would consider holding hearings on women’s entrepreneurship. Within a few days, Gillian, Hope Eastman, Charlotte Taylor and Virginia were meeting with the Committee’s staff director, Don Terry. Don and the Chairman were open to the hearings, but the Committee had limited expertise. Could NAWBO help?
They leapt at the opportunity, and a few days later organized a Strategic Slumber Party at Charlotte’s cabin in the Virginia hills, where overnight, they mapped out the five issues they considered crucial: federal contracts, women’s business centers, data and statistics on all women business owners, creation of a National Women’s Business Council and eliminating the requirement that a male relative co-sign a woman’s business loan.
For the next two months, about 10 NAWBO Capital Area women barely did anything on their businesses. Instead, they organized turnkey hearings for Chairman LaFalce, and lobbied the historic bill through both the U.S. House and Senate in record time, although they had to drop federal procurement from the legislation NAWBO wrote because the opposition was too strong.
Gillian aspired to write best-selling novels with women entrepreneurs as the protagonists, and Virginia volunteered to be a beta reader. But she passed away in 1992 from ovarian cancer at the age of 49, only four years after her presidency, and NAWBO lost one of its great leaders far too soon. “And I lost an irreplaceable friend,” says Virginia.