2007 Awards Luncheon
Join us at this year's Awards Luncheon in celebration of a year of progress in the states! The Awards Luncheon takes place on Saturday, December 8 from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. in the Congressional Ballroom at the Capital Hilton Hotel. Reserve your seat at the online Summit registration site. Contact Chris Rutledge at 202-956-5132 or crutledge@cfpa.org to learn more about the benefits of sponsorship.
2007 Awards Honorees
The Honorable Barney Frank, U.S. House of Representatives, Massachusetts
Barney Frank is a 26 year member of the United States House of Representatives representing Massachusetts's 4th congressional district as a Democrat. Following the Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives in the 2006 midterm elections, Frank assumed the chairmanship of the House Financial Services Committee.
Congressman Frank was educated at Harvard College. He taught at Harvard while studying for a PhD, but left before completing that degree to become the Chief Assistant to Mayor Kevin White of Boston, a position he held for three years. He then served for one year as Administrative Assistant to Congressman Michael J. Harrington. In 1972, Frank was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, where he served for eight years. During that time, he entered and graduated Harvard Law School.
While in state and local government, Frank taught part time at the University of Massachusetts Boston, the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and at Boston University. He published numerous articles on politics and public affairs, and in 1992 he published Speaking Frankly, an essay on the role the Democratic Party should play in the 1990s. In 1979, Frank became a member of the Massachusetts Bar, before being elected to Congress in 1980. He was elected to fill the seat of Father Robert Drinan. In 1982, redistricting forced him to run against Republican Margaret Heckler. Since then, he has been re-elected consistently and easily.
Frank is a prominent figure in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party and has been outspoken on many civil rights issues, including gay rights. In 1987, he spoke publicly about his homosexuality for the first time. In 1998, he founded the National Stonewall Democrats, the national gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Democratic organization. In 2004 and again in 2006, a survey of Capitol Hill staffers published in Washingtonian magazine gave Frank the title of the "brainiest," "funniest," and "most eloquent" member of the House. As of May 2007, Frank is one of two openly gay members of Congress.
Frank has received numerous honors and awards.
Senator Karen Keiser, Washington State Senate
Karen Keiser has represented the citizens of the 33rd Legislative District in Washington since 1996. She first served in the House and was appointed to the Senate in 2001. She was re-elected to the Senate in 2002 and 2006. In the Senate, Keiser serves as the Chair of the Senate Health and Long Term Care Committee and is Vice-Chair of the Labor, Commerce and Research Committee. She also serves on the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
Senator Keiser retired in 2006 as communications director of the Washington State Labor Council. She has a Masters Degree in Journalism from the University of California and is a former journalist. Senator Keiser serves as a Board Member for the Judson Park Retirement Community and the Economic Opportunity Institute. She is also a former trustee of Highline Community College.
Senator Keiser has participated in programs of the Center for Policy Alternatives as a Flemming Fellow, the John F. Kennedy School of Government/Harvard University as a Fannie Mae Foundation Fellow and the Elliot School of International Affairs/George Washington University as an Elliot Fellow.
Senator Keiser’s honors include: 2007 Washington Health Care Legislator of the Year, 2007 Washington Community Health Centers Health Care Champion, WSCA William Day 2006 Senate Award, 2006 Washington State Residential Care Council Legislator of the Year, 2006 SEIU Legislator of the Year, 2004 Domestic Abuse Women’s Network (DAWN) Leadership Award, 2004 Washington Assoc. for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) Policy Maker of the Year and the 2004 Center for Women Policy Studies' National Honor Roll of State Legislators.
Julian Bond, Chairman, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
From his student days to his current Chairmanship of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Julian Bond has been an active participant in the movements for civil rights and economic justice. As an activist who has faced jail for his convictions, as a veteran of more than 20 years service in the Georgia General Assembly, a university professor and a writer, he has been on the cutting edge of social change since 1960.
He was a founder, in 1960 while a student at Morehouse College of the Atlanta student sit-in and anti-segregation organization and of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). As SNCC's Communications Director, Bond was active in protests and registration campaigns throughout the South.
Elected in 1965 to the Georgia House of Representatives, Bond was prevented from taking his seat by members who objected to his opposition to the Vietnam War. He was re-elected to his own vacant seat and un-seated again, and seated only after a third election and a unanimous decision of the United States Supreme Court.
He was co-chair of a challenge delegation from Georgia to the 1968 Democratic Convention. The challengers were successful in unseating Georgia's regular Democrats, and Bond was nominated for Vice-President, but had to decline because he was too young.
Bond serves as Chairman of the Premier Auto Group PAG (Volvo, Land Rover, Aston-Martin, and Jaguar) Diversity Council and is on the Boards of People for the American Way, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Council for a Livable World, and the advisory board of the Harvard Business School Initiative on Social Enterprise, among others.
He was a commentator on America's Black Forum, the oldest black-owned show in television syndication. His poetry and articles have appeared in numerous publications. He has narrated numerous documentaries, including the Academy Award winning "A Time For Justice" and the prize-winning and critically acclaimed series "Eyes On The Prize."
He has served since 1998 as Chairman of the Board of the NAACP, the oldest and largest civil rights organization in the United States.
In 2002, he received the prestigious National Freedom Award. The holder of twenty-five honorary degrees, he is a Distinguished Professor at American University in Washington, DC, and a Professor in history at the University of Virginia.
2006 Awards Honorees
CPA Board Chair joins 2006 Awards Honorees and Special Guests (from left to right) Senator Nan Orrock, Congressman John Lewis (GA), Mr. Ronald Brown (Atlanta Life Insurance Company) Ms. Ingrid Saunders Jones (The Coca Cola Company), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery (Georgia Coalition for the People's Agenda, Southern Christian Leadership Conference), Mr. Michael Wilson (UFCW), Delegate Pauline Menes (MD) and Mr. Eduardo Peña Hernández (UFCW).