I stopped reading here: "Upon her arrival at a meeting for the working group that she chaired she was greeted with a suspicious “May I help you?” from a colleague that knew her well — if only by phone."

I can't recognize people in person when I've only heard their voices. The reasonable response is a cheery, "Hi, I'm [insert name here]."

You might also do a little googling about face blindness, which affects 1 out of 50 people.