Triangle Business Journal awards two RTI International leaders 2017 Women in Business Awards winners

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC— Triangle Business Journal recognized Lisa May, chief human resources officer, and Jacqueline Olich, Ph.D., director of the University Collaboration Office, both of RTI International, as 2017 Women in Business Awards winners.

May was honored as a corporate executive who has helped shape a new approach to the HR function at RTI. In response to feedback from within the organization, May and the HR team worked collaboratively to organize the function to serve RTI more holistically. Since joining RTI in June of 2015, May worked with her colleagues to deliver HR programs that reinforce RTI’s leadership culture and mission and values, initiated a new development-oriented performance management philosophy, and championed the implementation of enhanced benefits that includes paid parental leave.

May has more than 25 years of experience in strategic human resource management, with demonstrated expertise in talent acquisition, leadership development, executive coaching, and organizational design.

Olich was honored for her dedication to mentorship through leadership of RTI’s Internship Program and the initiation of RTI’s Outstanding Mentor Awards, as well as for connecting people, ideas and resources that advance research and the RTI mission. As the director of University Collaborations at RTI, Olich manages outreach to universities and facilitates the RTI University Scholars Program that provides support for distinguished academic researchers to spend scholarly leave time at RTI.

The Women in Business Awards program recognizes dynamic women in the Triangle for their outstanding leadership and accomplishments in business and/or community service. The judges, composed of Triangle Business Journal staff and Triangle-area business leaders, selected 26 award recipients.

RTI board of governors member Hilda Pinnix-Ragland was also honored by the Triangle Business Journal with a Lifetime Achievement Award. The award recognizes her for carving a niche in the corporate communications space as a utility executive who also created a path for women and African-Americans in the corporate setting and civic arena.

“The 2017 class of Women in Business Awards winners represents a vast array of knowledge and influence that spans across the entire Triangle and beyond,” said Triangle Business Journal publisher Jason Christie. “We are extremely excited to be able to honor these successful women.”

This year’s winners were recognized at an awards luncheon April 21 at Raleigh Marriott Crabtree Valley. Triangle Busineses Journal profiled the winners in a special section that was published in the April 21 subscriber edition.