Baxter International, CH2M HILL, Gibbons, and KPMG were presented with the 2009 Catalyst Award for their initiatives toward advancing women in the workplace.

The award attracted approximately 100 CEOs of major corporations and firms, and nearly 1500 senior executives and industry leaders from over 200 U.S. global companies.

“This year’s award-winning initiatives represent the business success that bringing women into leadership can deliver across industries and geographies,” said Ilene H. Lang, president and CEO of Catalyst. “No matter where we look, whether in New York or Asia Pacific, from engineering to pharmaceuticals, we find achievement through inclusion of women.”

Baxter International’s Asia Pacific initiative, Building Talent Edge reached its 2010 target of a 50/50 gender balance across management-level and critical positions two years ahead of schedule.

CH2M HILL’s Constructing Pathways for Women Through Inclusion initiative provides a model for leveraging women employees to achieve business success and accelerate women’s advancement.

Gibbons P.C.’s The Women’s Initiative: Driving Success Through Diversity Investment ,has generated more than six percent of its annual revenue in 2007. KPMG LLP’s Great Place to Build a Career initiative uses diversity and inclusion as a driver for change resulting in a culture of career growth, mentoring, and accountability.

Andrea Jung, Chairman and CEO of Avon Products, Inc. delivered the luncheon keynote address. Avon initiatives received the Catalyst Award in 1988 and 1997.

Avon elected V. Ann Hailey to its board. Hailey will serve on the board’s audit committee. She is a retired executive of Limited Brands, where she served as executive vice president and later CFO until 2006.

Brett Brewer was appointed to Pacific Sunwear’s board. Brewer is an Internet entrepreneur who has built, operated, and sold Internet media companies. He co-founded Intermix Media, which launched several online businesses including Myspace.com, Skilljam.com, and Alena.com.

Walgreens nominated Mark P. Frissora, chairman and CEO of Hertz Global Holdings, to its board. Frissora previously served as chairman and CEO of Tenneco from 2000 to 2006. Tenneco earned two Automotive Industry Shareholder Awards for delivering the highest shareholder returns.

XOMA appointed John Varian to its board. Varian currently serves as the COO and CFO of Aryx Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of drugs designed to eliminate safety issues with well-established, commercially successful drugs. He previously served as CFO of Genset, where he was a key member of the team negotiating the company’s sale to Serono.

Big Lots, a closeout retailer, announced the appointment of Peter J. Hayes to its board. Hayes’ was COO of Variety Wholesalers and has more than 35 years of senior management experience in the retail industry.

George Shaheen joined Voxify’s board. Shaheen was CEO of Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) and helped guide the creation of the CRM market. He also serves on the boards of Network Appliance, 24/7 Customer, PRA International, and newScale.

Visualant elected Yoshitami Arai to its board. Arai has served as a director and senior executive of 7-Eleven, Tokyo Hotels, Systems International, Catalina Marketing, and Sony.

Charles R. Rinehart has been elected to MBIA’s board. Rinehart is former chairman and CEO of H.F. Ahmanson, which was sold to Washington Mutual Bank in 1998. He also is the chairman of the board of Verifone.

Fabian Nunez has been appointed to Zenith National Insurance’s board. Nunez was elected to the California State Assembly in 2002 and served as its speaker from 2004 through November 2008. He is currently a partner and co-chair of Mercury Public Affairs.

BizBash appointed Beverly C. Chell to its board. She currently serves on the board of Primedia, which she co-founded in 1989 and subsequently served as vice chairman, CFO, general counsel, and secretary.

HCC elected Thomas M. Hamilton to its board. Hamilton is co-owner of Medora Investments, a private investment firm, since 2003. He served as chairman, president, CEO of EEX, an oil and gas company, from 1997 until his retirement in 2002.

Options Media Group appointed Ronald Levine to its board. Levine was founder and president of Universal Marketing, a national life and annuity marketing firm.

William K. O’Brien joined Virtusa’s board and will serve on the company’s audit committee. O’Brien was chairman and CEO of Enterasys Networks from April 2002 until March 2006. Prior to that, he served 30 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers.