Sections
  • Best of Washington
  • News & Politics
    • Washingtonian Today
  • Things to Do
    • DC Welcome Guide
    • This Week
    • 100 Best Things to Do in DC
    • Neighborhood Guides
    • DC-Area Events Calender
    • Washingtonian Events
  • Food & Drink
    • 100 Very Best Restaurants
    • The Hot List
    • Brunch
    • New Restaurants
    • Restaurant Finder
  • Home & Style
    • Health
    • Parenting
  • Shopping
    • Gift Guides
  • Real Estate
    • Top Realtors
    • Listings We Love
    • Rave Worthy Rentals
  • Weddings
    • Real Weddings
    • Wedding Vendor Finder
    • Submit Your Wedding
  • Travel
    • DC Welcome Guide
    • Best Airbnbs Around DC
    • 3 Days in DC
  • Best of DC
    • Doctors
    • Apartment Rentals
    • Dentists
    • Financial Advisors
    • Industry Leaders
    • Lawyers
    • Mortgage Pros
    • Pet Care
    • Private Schools
    • Realtors
    • Wedding Vendors
  • Magazine
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Subscription
    • Current & Past Issues
    • Features and Longreads
    • Newsletters
    • Newsstand Locations
Reader Favorites
  • 100 Very Best Restaurants
  • DC-Area Events Calendar
  • Brunch
  • Neighborhoods
  • Newsletters
  • Directories
  • Washingtonian Events
Washington’s Best
  • Apartment Rentals
  • DC Travel Guide
  • Dentists
  • Doctors
  • Financial Advisers
  • Health Experts
  • Home Improvement Experts
  • Industry Leaders
  • Lawyers
  • Mortgage Professionals
  • Pet Care
  • Private Schools
  • Real Estate Agents
  • Restaurants
  • Retirement Communities
  • Wedding Vendors
Privacy Policy |  Rss
© 2025 Washingtonian Media Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Skip to content
  • Menu
Hirshhorn Museum Director Melissa Chiu. Photograph by Greg Powers/Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

The Most Powerful Women in Washington

150 of the area’s most influential women in government, business, law, education, media, nonprofits, and the arts.

Written by Washingtonian Staff | Published on October 1, 2019
Tweet Share
Contents
  1. Arts
  2. Business
  3. Education
  4. Federal Government
  5. Food
  6. Ideas
  7. International Affairs
  8. Law
  9. Lobbying and Advocacy
  10. Local Politics and Government
  11. Media
  12. Medicine
  13. National Politics
  14. Nonprofits and Philanthropy
  15. Religion
  16. Sports

 


More from our October 2019: Women in Washington issue:

[su_posts id=”862395, 860470″ order=”desc” ignore_sticky_posts=”yes”]


Arts

Melanie Adams 

Director, Anacostia Museum

Melissa Chiu 

Director, Hirshhorn Museum

Kaywin Feldman 

Director, National Gallery of Art

Anthea M. Hartig 

Director, National Museum of American History

Monica Jeffries Hazangeles

President and CEO, Strathmore

Julie Kent

Artistic director, Washington Ballet

Dorothy Kosinski

Director, Phillips Collection

Deborah Rutter

President, Kennedy Center

Kim Sajet

Director, National Portrait Gallery

Molly Smith

Artistic director, Arena Stage

Stephanie Stebich

Director, Smithsonian American Art Museum and Renwick Gallery

Susan Fisher Sterling

Director, National Museum of Women in the Arts

Ellen Stofan

Director, National Air and Space Museum


Back to Top

Business

Mary Brady

Executive director, Economic Club of Washington, D.C.

Teresa Carlson

VP, Amazon Web Services

Debra Lerner Cohen

Principal owner, Washington Nationals

Michelle Freeman

President, Carl M. Freeman Cos.; minority partner, Monumental Sports

Rebecca Lee Funk

CEO, the Outrage

Leslie Hale

CEO, RLJ Lodging Trust

Carolyn Handlon

Executive VP, finance, and global treasurer, Marriott International

Mary Kay Henry

International president, Service Employees International Union

Marillyn Hewson

Chairman, president, and CEO, Lockheed Martin

Diane Hoskins

Co-CEO, Gensler

Cathy Hughes

Founder, Urban One

Nazzic Keene

CEO, SAIC

Sachiko Kuno

Founder, Halcyon

Roberta Liss

President, Northeast, North-Central and Mid-Atlantic regions, Cushman & Wakefield

Terri McClements

Market managing partner, PwC

Jodie McLean

CEO, Edens

Carol Melton

CEO and founder, Adeft Capital

Phebe Novakovic

CEO, General Dynamics

Linda Rabbitt

Chair, Rand Construction

Susan Riel

President and CEO, Eagle Bancorp

Kyle Schoppmann

Executive managing director for the Mid-Atlantic, CBRE

Holly Sears Sullivan

Director of worldwide economic development, Amazon

Tamika Tremaglio

Greater Washington managing principal, Deloitte

Amazon Web Services Leader Teresa Carlson. Photograph courtesy of Amazon.

Susan Tynan

Founder and CEO, Framebridge

Kathy Warden

CEO, Northrop Grumman

Ardine Williams

VP of workforce development, Amazon HQ2


Back to Top

Education

Sylvia M. Burwell

President, American University

Monica Goldson

CEO, Prince George’s County Schools

Mary Ann Rankin

Senior VP and provost, University of Maryland


Back to Top

Federal Government

Dale Cabaniss

Director, OPM

Gina Haspel

Director, CIA

Carla Hayden

Librarian of Congress

Kimberly Reed

President, Export-Import Bank

Seema Verma

Administrator, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Nadja West

Surgeon general, US Army


Back to Top

Food

Rose Previte

Owner, Maydan and Compass Rose

Maria Trabocchi

Co-owner, Fiola, Fiola Mare, Del Mar, and Sfoglina


Back to Top

Ideas

Jane Harman

Director, Woodrow Wilson Center

Kay Coles James

President, Heritage Foundation

Gail Ross

President, Ross Yoon literary agency

Anne-Marie Slaughter

CEO, New America

Neera Tanden

President, Center for American Progress


Back to Top

International Affairs

Rima al-Sabah

Goodwill ambassador, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency

Reema bint Bandar al-Saud

Ambassador, Saudi Arabia

Emily Haber

Ambassador, Germany


Back to Top

Law

Anna Blackburne-Rigsby

Chief judge, DC Court of Appeals

Lisa Blatt

Partner, Williams & Connolly

Cristina Carvalho

Managing partner, Arent Fox

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Associate justice, US Supreme Court

Fatima Goss Graves

CEO, National Women’s Law Center

Beryl Howell

Chief judge, US District Court for DC

Elena Kagan

Associate justice, US Supreme Court

Debra Katz

Partner, Katz, Marshall & Banks

Lina Khan

Counsel, House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust

Neomi Rao

Judge, US Court of Appeals, DC Circuit

Sonia Sotomayor

Associate justice, US Supreme Court

Beth Wilkinson

Founding partner, Wilkinson Walsh & Eskovitz


Back to Top

Lobbying and Advocacy

Niki Christoff

Senior VP, Salesforce

Suzanne Clark

President, US Chamber of Commerce

Gloria Dittus

Chairman, Story Partners

Anita Dunn

Managing director, SKDKnickerbocker

AARP head Jo Ann Jenkins. Photograph by Jesse Dittmar/Redux.

Erin Egan

Chief privacy officer, Facebook

Juleanna Glover

Founder, Ridgely Walsh public-affairs consultancy

Tammy Haddad

President and CEO, Haddad Media

Cynthia Hogan

VP for public policy and government affairs, Apple

Ilyse Hogue

President, NARAL Pro-Choice America

Jo Ann Jenkins

CEO, AARP

Gail MacKinnon

Senior executive VP, Motion Picture Association of America

Melissa Maxfield

Senior strategic adviser, federal government affairs, Comcast NBCUniversal

Susan Neely

President and CEO, American Council of Life Insurers

Lisa Nelson

CEO, American Legislative Exchange Council

Heather Podesta

Founder and CEO, Invariant

Dawn Sweeney

CEO, National Restaurant Association


Back to Top

Local Politics and Government

Angela Alsobrooks

County executive, Prince George’s County

Muriel Bowser

Mayor, District of Columbia

Jessie Liu

US Attorney for DC

Nancy Navarro

President, Montgomery County Council

Eleanor Holmes Norton

DC delegate, US House of Representatives

Jennifer Wexton

US representative from Virginia


Back to Top

Media

Nancy Barnes

Editorial director, NPR

Dana Bash

Chief political correspondent, CNN

Jackie Bradford

President and general manager, NBC4

Margaret Brennan

Moderator, Face the Nation

Carrie Budoff Brown

Editor, Politico

Elisabeth Bumiller

Washington bureau chief, New York Times

Susan Goldberg

Editor in chief, National Geographic

Paula Kerger

CEO, PBS

Andrea Mitchell

Chief foreign-affairs correspondent, NBC News

Norah O’Donnell

Anchor, CBS Evening News

Julie Pace

Washington bureau chief, AP

Anna Palmer

Senior Washington correspondent, Playbook coauthor, Politico

Sharon Percy Rockefeller

CEO, WETA

Janet Rodriguez

White House correspondent, Univision

Kara Swisher

Cofounder, Recode; columnist, New York Times

Judy Woodruff

Anchor and managing editor, PBS NewsHour


Back to Top

Medicine

Diana Bianchi

Director, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH

Kim Horn

President, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic States

DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton. Photograph by Elizabeth D. Herman/New Yo​rk Times/Redux.

Erin O’Shea

President, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Martine Rothblatt

CEO, United Therapeutics

Kimberly Russo

CEO, GW Hospital

Monica Schmude

President, Mid-Atlantic market, Cigna

Jacky Schultz

President, Suburban Hospital

Nora Volkow

Director, National Institute on Drug Abuse


Back to Top

National Politics

Elaine Chao

Secretary, Department of Transportation

Liz Cheney

Republican Conference chair, US House of Representatives

Susan Collins

US senator from Maine

Kellyanne Conway

White House counselor

Betsy DeVos

Secretary, Department of Education

Debbie Dingell

US representative from Michigan

Kirsten Gillibrand

US senator from New York

Stephanie Grisham

White House press secretary

Kamala Harris

US senator from California

Cheryl Johnson

Clerk, US House of Representatives

Nita Lowey

Chair, Appropriations Committee, US House of Representatives

Elizabeth MacDonough

Parliamentarian, US Senate

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

US representative from New York

Nancy Pelosi

Speaker, US House of Representatives

Therese Pritchard

Co-chair, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner

Ivanka Trump

Adviser to the President

Elizabeth Warren

US senator from Massachusetts

Maxine Waters

Chair, Financial Services Committee, US House of Representatives


Back to Top

Nonprofits and Philanthropy

Rosie Allen-Herring

CEO, United Way

Adrienne Arsht

Philanthropist

Katherine Bradley

Founding chair, CityBridge Education

Jean Case

CEO, Case Foundation

Nicky Goren

President and CEO, Meyer Foundation

Laurene Powell Jobs

Majority owner, the Atlantic; president, Emerson Collective

Sheila Johnson

President, Sheila C. Johnson Foundation

Marlene Malek

Cofounder, Friends of Cancer Research

Jacqueline Mars

Philanthropist

Linda Mathes

CEO of the National Capital Region, American Red Cross

Janet Murguía

CEO, UnidosUS

Radha Muthiah

CEO, Capital Area Food Bank

US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Photograph by Celeste Sloman/Redux.

Catherine Reynolds

CEO, Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation


Back to Top

Religion

Mariann Edgar Budde

Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Washington


Back to Top

Sports

Brenda Frese

Women’s basketball coach, University of Maryland

Rose Lavelle

Midfielder, the Washington Spirit, National Women’s Soccer League

This article appears in the October 2019 issue of Washingtonian.

More: FeaturesAlexandria Ocasio-CortezBetsy DeVosBrenda FreseEleanor Holmes NortonElizabeth WarrenIvanka TrumpJo Ann JenkinsKamala HarrisKellyanne ConwayKirsten GillibrandMaxine WatersMelissa ChiuMost Powerful Women 2019Muriel BowserNancy PelosiRose LavelleRuth Bader GinsburgSonia SotomayorTeresa Carlson
Join the conversation!
Share Tweet

Longreads

Perfect for your commute

Does Eleanor Holmes Norton Still Have What It Takes to Fight for DC?

Why PETA’s Ingrid Newkirk Is Still Getting in Our Faces

Human Decomposition Has Been a Mystery–Until Now

Rep. Jennifer Wexton’s Way Through

Related

DC Archive or Student Housing? Bowser Proposal Prompts Debate Over the District’s Records.

At Arena Stage Gala, Rutter Dances and Norton Falters

What to Know About the $3.6 Billion New Commanders Stadium Plan

Does Eleanor Holmes Norton Still Have What It Takes to Fight for DC?

© 2025 Washingtonian Media Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Washingtonian is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
Privacy Policy and Opt-Out
 Rss
Get the best news, delivered weekly.
By signing up, you agree to our terms.
  • Subscribe
  • Manage My Subscription
  • Digital Edition
  • Shop
  • Contests
  • About Us
  • Advertising
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs