8 -10 am
Bethesda North Marriott Hotel
and Conference Center
5701 Marinelli Rd
North Bethesda, MD 20852
The Cornerstone Montgomery "Legacy" Award recognizes those individuals and groups making a difference for area residents living with a mental health diagnosis.
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Doug Duncan has been a leader in the Greater Washington Region for over thirty years. Today he serves as President & CEO of Leadership Greater Washington, where he brings together regional leaders and regional challenges to foster positive community impact.
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Mr. Duncan is best known for having served three terms as Montgomery County Executive. The Washington Post has called him the best County Executive in Montgomery County history. He led Montgomery County through its transformation from a suburban bedroom community into a thriving urban center recognized for visionary land planning, its global technology industry, and vast open spaces and parks. He successfully revitalized downtown Silver Spring, now a national model for urban redevelopment. He led the effort to fund and construct the Music Center at Strathmore. During an extraordinarily dangerous time in our region’s history, Mr. Duncan, along with Police Chief Charles Moose, helped lead this community through the DC area sniper shootings.
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In 2005, Mr. Duncan announced his candidacy for for the Democratic Party's nomination to challenge incumbent Governor Robert Ehrlich in the 2006 Maryland gubernatorial election. On June 22, 2006, he dropped out of the race citing a diagnosis of clinical depression. He had at first thought he was simply experiencing physical and mental fatigue associated with campaigning, but that the symptoms had progressed beyond simple fatigue, and sought medical treatment which resulted in the depression diagnosis. Like many, a family history of the disease was a factor in the diagnosis. Mr. Duncan s being honored for being open about his diagnosis which has led to more people in Montgomery County seeking mental health help. He has continued to speak openly about his experiences with depression and in 2009 Duncan proclaimed, "I'm living proof that treatment works."
Among numerous awards, Mr. Duncan has been named to the Washington Business Journal Power 100 and as a Washingtonian of the Year by Washingtonian Magazine.
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We will also be honoring the recipients of our Workforce Champions awards for volunteer, partner and employer of the year.