Each year, NAFE asks members to tell us about women with courage, compassion, and the ability to overcome obstacles for our annual Women of Excellence Awards. The five exemplary women who receive this honor each have a unique story to tell, but all five share qualities we admire: a strong spirit, the ability to persevere through adversity,  and a commitment to advancing women.

Click here to apply for the 2009 Awards

Outstanding Entrepreneur Mary Catona 
Founder and President, Retriever Waste Management
Biggest Accomplishment  Getting my black belt and maintaining my business after a dissolution
Pet Peeve  Poor communication skills and people not returning phone calls
Advice for Young Women  Learn from your mistakes and be able to keep yourself open and learn from others
Hero/Role Model  Hillary Clinton
Goal To open an animal rescue shelter

Wanting Waste
How did a nice girl like Mary Catona get into waste management? By accident, apparently. Catona took a sales job with a large waste management company and knew by day two that “it was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”

Since another other goal was to have her own business, founding Media, Pennsylvania-based Retriever Waste Management was a natural next step after Catona was laid off by her next waste management employer in 1997. In becoming the first woman in the U.S. to own and operate a national waste and recycling brokerage, the stars seemed to be aligning for Catona, who met a benefactor at a networking event the very day she was laid off.

“I told her what I wanted to do and she offered me use of office space, a computer, a fax machine,—everything I needed to get up and running,” says Catona. “Then when I started to make money after about eight months, she said, ‘You owe me. When a woman comes by looking for the same thing you were looking for, offer her the same opportunity.’”

Unfortunately, Catona’s smooth start ended abruptly when relations with a business partner she brought in to help grow her business soured. The partners were in the midst of a painful dissolution of their businesses when the partner physically assaulted Catona. “She banged my head up against the wall repeatedly,” recounts Catona, who is just 5’2” and slight of frame.


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