Adrian, MI – Shortly after retiring from her ministry as President and CEO of Catholic Charities USA, Donna Markham, OP, PhD, received the highest honor of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious: the Outstanding Leadership Award.
The presentation occurred during the closing banquet of the LCWR’s 2023 Assembly in Texas.
The LCWR is an association of nearly 1,270 elected leaders of Catholic women’s religious congregations, including the Adrian Dominican Sisters.
Sisters were treated to a video outlining Sister Donna’s five-decade career, accomplishments, and positive impact. She was noted as a ‘trailblazer, advocate, and preacher of the Gospel.’
Sister Donna was the first woman to serve as President and CEO of Catholic Charities USA.
She also served in leadership for the Adrian Dominican Sisters as a member of the General Council from 1986 to 1992 and as Prioress of the Congregation from 2004 to 2010.
In March, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recognized her as one of the nation’s top women of faith leaders.
President Joe Biden, in a tribute read at a recent event in Washington D.C., expressed his gratitude for Sister Donna’s “trailblazing leadership [which] opened the doors of opportunity wider for future generations of women.”
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