Laura Monica, Pepco Holdings, was named Woman of the Year by Washington Women in Public Relations. The announcement was made at a WWPR luncheon, Nov. 14, at The Fairmont Hotel in D.C. Monica was one of three women nominated for the award – the other two were Susan Matthews Apgood, News Generation; and Lauren Lawson-Zilai, Goodwill Industries International.

“This honor is a reflection of the tireless work and major investments Pepco Holdings Inc (PHI) has dedicated to improving reliability and customer satisfaction,” Monica said. Customer satisfaction reached its highest rating in more than a decade with Monica directing all communications, stated a PHI release.

Monica joined PHI as VP/corporate communications in 2011. Previously, she served as senior vice president, corporate communications and external affairs, at American Water, the country’s largest water-services company where she led and directed strategy development for customer communications, branding, marketing, advertising, internal and external affairs, government affairs and corporate responsibility activities, reaching approximately 16 million people in 35 states and Canada. During her tenure, she led a successful thought-leadership strategy for American Water resulting in the company’s recognition as “Water Company of the Year 2009” by Global Water Intelligence, and the company received more than 75 awards for communications excellence over a 30-month period, including the ReBrand 100 Global Award.

Monica also founded High Point Communications, where she served as president for more than 15 years. Under her leadership, High Point was an award-winning strategic communications firm working with public and private sector clients throughout the U.S. to develop, implement and manage comprehensive marketing, crisis management, issue-oriented and brand-building programs. The firm was responsible for designing and managing consumer education campaigns on electric restructuring for five public utility commissions, including the Maryland Public Service Commission.