By HENRY EMPEÑO |

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma received on Friday, Nov. 16, a silver award for “Female Executive of the Year” during the annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business in New York City.

The “Stevies,” which is regarded as the Oscars for business, is given annually by the American Business Awards organization to recognize accomplishments and contributions of companies and business people around the world.

Eisma won the silver under the category for government or non-profit organization with more than 2,500 employees.

The gold award went to Deanna Wise, EVP and CIO of Dignity Health, a not-for-profit operator of hospitals and ancillary care facilities in San Francisco, California, while the bronze was taken by Maria da Glória Guimarães dos Santos, president of Serpro, the biggest government-owned corporation of IT services in Brazil.

Eisma also received in the same occasion a bronze Stevie for the SBMA for “Organization of the Year” under the category for government or non-profit with more than 10 employees.

The top places under this category were taken by The Welsh Air Ambulance Charitable Trust of Wales in the United Kingdom, gold winner; and Bob Woodruff Foundation of New York, and Plan International Canada of Toronto, both silver winners.

The winners for the gold, silver and bronze Stevies were announced in the 15th annual awards dinner in New York City. Organizers said more than 600 women and their guests from around the world attended the presentations that were broadcast live on Livestream.

More than 1,500 entries were reportedly submitted this year for the more than 90 categories of the Stevies that include Executive of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year, Startup of the Year, Women Helping Women, and Women-Run Workplace of the Year.

Finalists in the awards were selected by the average scores of more than 200 professionals worldwide on five specialized juries.

A week earlier, Eisma also accepted an award in international public service at the Chicago Filipino Asian American Hall of Fame Awards, which honors high-achieving Filipinos and Filipino-Americans who promote the positive image of the Filipino, not only in the Philippines and the United States but also throughout the world.

Eisma, who arrived in Illinois, USA on November 9 for an investment and trade briefing at the Morgan Stanley Building in Chicago, received the award on November 10. The awards is a project of the Chicago Philippine Reports TV and VIA Times Newsmagazine of Chicago.

Eisma said the citations that she and the SBMA received serve as recognition of agency efforts to make the Subic Bay Freeport Zone a premier investment center and a catalyst of economic growth.

“The SBMA has grown to be a better organization due to the culture of ‘malasakit’ in the agency, which this administration has actively promoted,” Eisma said.

“When we give our all because of this concern for the common good, we are bound to give our best performance and this recognition is one result of this hard work that SBMA employees are doing,” she added.