Nicole Barnes, Meaghan McGrath named Triangle Business Journal 2015 Women in Business Awards winners

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC— Triangle Business Journal recognized Nicole Barnes, vice president of Business Strategy and Communications at RTI International, and Meaghan McGrath, environmental engineer at RTI, as 2014 Women in Business Awards winners.

The awards honor Barnes for her dedication to nonprofit leadership and McGrath as a future star.

The Women in Business Awards program recognizes dynamic women in the Triangle for their outstanding leadership and accomplishments in business and/or community service. The judges, composed of Triangle Business Journal staff and Triangle area business leaders, selected 25 award recipients among nearly 100 entries.

"These winners are putting accomplished leadership to work in their professions, challenging any lingering gender gap," said Bryan Hamilton, publisher of Triangle Business Journal. "Not only are they delivering an impressive list of achievements, but they're also champions of our community and role models to women hoping to follow in their footsteps."

At RTI, Barnes leads a team that drives client diversification and growth for RTI's International Development Group. She fosters innovative thinking around business development tasks and approaches, assesses competitive trends, and communicates the International Development Group's impactful work worldwide.

Barnes is an expert in public finance with more than 19 years of experience in international development, including overseas technical work in South Arica, Uganda, Indonesia, Pakistan, India and Montenegro. During her career she has held both long and short-term assignments for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. 

McGrath provides technical support on air quality projects for both industry and government clients, which includes assisting in the process of the development of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations. Her current focus is on developing expertise in multiple facets of the U.S. and international waste sector, as well as supporting a variety of air quality regulatory development projects with RTI's air quality engineering group.

McGrath serves as a US2020 science, technology, engineering and mathematics mentor by exposing students to opportunities in science and engineering. She is also a board member of the Research Triangle Park chapter of the Air and Waste Management Association.

This year's winners were recognized at an awards luncheon on March 30 at the Sheraton Imperial Hotel and Convention Center in Durham. Triangle Business Journal will profile the winners in a special section, published in the April 3 print edition.