Telephone & Telegraph Co., Armco Inc., Chrysler Corp., Citicorp, Deere & Co., Eastman Kodak Co., J.C. Penney Co. Inc., RJR Nabisco, UAL Corp., and Zurn Industries. In 1987, Kreps became the first woman to win the Director of the Year award for the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD). Kreps efforts in the boardroom were seen as nothing less than "gold standard". She believed it was the job of those in the boardrooms to raise awareness by what they chose to discuss: "The trouble isn't whether you have the courage to raise the issues. Where you might fall down in your obligation to stockholders is in not knowing enough about what's going on to make an intelligent decision. Cabinet appointment Before her appointment in the Carter administration, Kreps had never worked in a government position. During her appointment, Kreps faced numerous issues in terms of adjusting to a government level occupation. Kreps faced budgeting issues and struggled to work with other Cabinet members who did not take her seriously since she was a woman. She also had to manage a good relationship with Congress which was nearly all male. Kreps still felt close to Carter regardless and enjoyed a friendly relationship with the president. Kreps' time as a cabinet member was considered different not only because she was a woman but also because no economist had ever before held her cabinet position. However, during the Carter administration, Kreps had started out as a very important contributor to economic policy, and slowly people like the Secretary of the Treasury, the OMB director and the chief economist in the State Department, started to push her out of talks. Kreps attributed this to anti-Commerce Department segregation and later on was relieved to find that she disagreed with many of the decisions made by this small group and was thankful for having been overlooked. By the end, the meetings were inclusive and Kreps was offered virtually unlimited access to Carter, which she saw as good consolation for her peers' oversight. Kreps worked heavily on trade issues during her appointment. One of her biggest accomplishments as a cabinet member was noted as the trade agreement with China. The agreement was a public works program and it was started in her first year on the job. Kreps facilitated a successful bill associated with the Arab boycott during her appointment as well. Kreps made it very clear