Essay Judge:
Virginia Buckingham

Virginia Buckingham was the first woman to serve as chief of staff for two successive Massachusetts governors – Governors Weld and Cellucii. She was the first woman named chief executive officer of the Massachusetts Port Authority, operator of Boston's Logan International Airport and the Port of Boston.

She is the author of "On My Watch, A Memoir," a chronicle of her journey after being blamed personally by some for the 9/11 attacks when she was head of Boston's Logan Airport.

Following her tenure at Massport, she worked in varying roles at Pfizer, Inc. for 14 years, including as vice president of corporate affairs overseeing the company's digital and social corporate channels and public affairs platforms during Pfizer's development of its Covid 19 vaccine.

Prior to joining Pfizer in 2007, Buckingham was a political columnist and Deputy Editorial Page Editor for the Boston Herald, Boston's number two metro daily. She appears frequently as a political commentator on WCVB-TV, Boston's ABC affiliate.

In 2015, she was selected for the inaugural class of the Presidential Leadership Scholars program, a joint initiative of the presidential libraries of Presidents George W. Bush, William Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Lyndon Johnson.

Completing "On My Watch" was her presidential leadership project, a core component of the program.

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