Two trustees were recognized at the Board’s meeting Friday after being named two of the most influential women in the District.
The Washingtonian Magazine dubbed Northern Virginia Technology Council CEO Bobbie Greene Kilberg and Linda Rabbitt, founder and CEO of Rand Construction, the third largest female-owned construction company in the country, two of Washington’s most powerful women in its annual report this month.
Kilberg – who holds degrees from Yale and Columbia universities as well as Vassar College – has worked for former presidents Gerald Ford and George H. W. Bush.
Her council, the largest technology board in the country, includes 1,000 member companies who employ 200,000 individuals in northern Virginia, according to its website.
Called the “savvy godmother of the Northern Virginia tech boom” by Washingtonian, Kilberg’s passion lies with the Virginia Science and Technology Campus.
Rabbitt is founder and CEO of the $250 million dollar Rand Construction Corporation, which was contracted to renovate the headquarters of the Council on Foreign Relations, Volkswagen and General Dynamics. She also serves as chair of the Board’s real estate committee.
“I’ve always said that it’s wonderful to be successful in business, but the goal of life is to be successful in life,” Rabbitt, a Graduate School of Education and Human Development alumna, said.
She said the University she attended is “unrecognizable” compared to today’s GW.
“As the stature of Washington grew, the leaders of GW were very wise to springboard off the stature of the community and use that as a competitive advantage. [Former University President Stephen Joel] Trachtenberg did it in his way and [University President Steven] Knapp is doing it in his way,” Rabbitt said.
Rabbitt speculated that she made the Washingtonian’s list partially because she is the first person to chair both the Greater Washington Board of Trade and the Federal City Council, which represent business interests in the D.C. region.
“I’ve been very honored to be part of those organizations and to be a voice heard, because women of my generation think that when we sit in most rooms, we’re not seen and not heard,” she said.
