A Message from the FWA President

May 15, 2024

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

― Mark Twain


Our 2024 International Business Conference wrapped up our sessions in Athens which were full of excellent content and networking opportunities. It's been an incredible experience! 


Our opening day, we visited the Acropolis which started our grand welcome to our International Business Conference (IBC). We followed up with sessions rich in content and spanned all areas of the Greek economy and its role in the region. Chef Maria Loi brought us great energy and reminds us that “Health is Wealth”! The delegation celebrated with a dinner that had a stunning view of the Acropolis and a visit from the US Ambassador to Greece, George Tsunis, who shared insights on Greece and took questions from our group.


We closed our Athens segment with a special dinner in honor of Chef Maria Loi who is an inspiration and role model for so many. We presented her the 2024 Entrepreneur of the Year Award and enjoyed a great celebratory meal. I am thankful for this opportunity to see Greece for the first time and meet amazing people. Discovering Greece has always been a dream of mine. As I reflect on this trip, I know this will be forever etched in my mind as a success for the FWA.


As we head to Santorini, I remain fascinated with Athens and know that I will return. Thank you, AWS & Stephanie Ackler, AKD Wealth Partners, for your sponsorship and support. 


We look forward to sharing our learnings on our return!


Annette

September 21, 2026
The FWA is pleased to share that Stephanie Ruhle will be honored as the 2026 Private Sector Woman of the Year at the FWA's 70th Anniversary Gala on October 8, 2026. Stephanie Ruhle is the host of MS NOW’s Money Power Politics with Stephanie Ruhle and serves as MS NOW’s Senior Business Analyst, appearing across all linear, digital, and social platforms. Ruhle is known for her business acumen, hard-hitting style, original reporting, and for bringing humanity to her news coverage. She is also the co-host of the live, weekly Q&A show, “ Velshi & Ruhle: Full Disclosure ,” part of the MS NOW Membership. Ruhle has interviewed leaders in politics, business, entertainment, and sports ranging from President Biden to Stephen Curry, from Jamie Dimon to Jamie Lee Curtis. As a Wall Street veteran, she is known for bringing her business acumen and hard-hitting style to high-profile interviews, for her original reporting, and for bringing humanity into her news coverage.
September 17, 2026
We are pleased to announce Steve Liesman, CNBC’s senior economics reporter, as emcee of the FWA's 70th Anniversary Gala on October 8, 2026. As CNBC’s senior economics reporter, Steve Liesman reports on all aspects of the economy, including the Federal Reserve and major economic indicators. He appears on “ Squawk Box ” (M-F, 6 AM-9 AM ET), as well as other CNBC programs throughout the business day. Liesman joined CNBC from The Wall Street Journal , where he served as a senior economics reporter covering monetary policy, international economics, academic research, and productivity. At the Journal , Liesman previously worked as an energy reporter and Moscow bureau chief. He won an Emmy for his coverage of the financial crisis and was a member of the reporting team recognized with a Pulitzer Prize for stories chronicling the crash of the Russian financial markets.
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 The FWA is pleased to share that Jonathan Dambrot will be honored as the 2026 Male Ally of the Year at the FWA's 70th Anniversary Gala on October 8, 2026. Jonathan Dambrot is CEO and Co-Founder of Cranium AI, the independent end-to-end platform for enterprise AI security and governance. He has built a category leader once before — and is doing it again for the AI era. Before Cranium, Jonathan grew Prevalent from a startup into a Gartner- and Forrester-recognized leader in third-party risk management, through its 2016 sale to Insight Partners. As a Partner at KPMG, he led third-party security globally, launched the firm's AI security services, and incubated Cranium inside KPMG Studio — spinning it out of stealth in April 2023 on a simple thesis: every SaaS application is now an AI application, so every SaaS risk is now an AI risk.
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The FWA is pleased to share that Carolyn Maloney will be honored with the 2026 Lifetime Public Service award at the FWA's 70th Anniversary Gala on October 8, 2026. We look forward to introducing additional honorees in the weeks ahead.
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