Athena Recipient

27th Annual ATHENA Award Recipient

The ATHENA Award®

The Women’s Council, an affiliate of the Rochester Business Alliance, will honor 15 women chosen as this year’s Finalists for the ATHENA™ Award based on their significant professional achievements, their community service endeavors, and their leadership in the advancement of other professional women.

Tickets are now on sale for the 27th Annual ATHENA™ Awards luncheon, scheduled from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. on January 24, 2013 at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center, where the 2013 ATHENA™ Award recipient will be announced. The 2012 recipient, Judith Baumhauer, MD, MPH, Associate Chair of Academic Affairs, Orthopaedics, University of Rochester Medical Center, was recently selected by ATHENA™ International as one of the 30 most prestigious recipients selected by any ATHENA™ organization over the last 30 years!

The 2013 Finalists are:

  • Rachel Baker August, executive director, Seneca Park Zoo Society
  • Dianne Cooney Miner, PhD, RN, CNS, dean, Wegmans School of Nursing, St. John Fisher College
  • Jane Glazer, founder & president, QCI Direct
  • Roberta Goheen, president & CEO, Synthesis Management Group
  • Anne M. Kress, PhD, president, Monroe Community College
  • Dolores Kruchten, corporate vice president & president, document imaging, Eastman Kodak Company
  • Elizabeth Lattimore, chief administrative officer, Golisano Children’s Hospital at the University of Rochester Medical Center
  • Debra A. Martin, assistant attorney general in charge, Rochester Regional Office, NYS Office of the Attorney General
  • Suzanne Nasipak-Chapman, market executive, First Niagara Bank
  • Kathy Palokoff, CEO, CUSTOMERicity
  • Kimberly Puglia, director, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield
  • Susan A. Roberts, executive vice president & chief compliance officer, Bausch & Lomb
  • Ginny Ryan, news anchor & reporter, 13WHAM-TV
  • Christine Wagner, SSJ, executive director, St. Joseph’s Neighborhood Center
  • Laurie Zaucha, vice president, human resources & organizational development, Paychex, Inc.

Tickets for the ATHENA™ luncheon are $85 per person or $750 for a table of 10 (a portion of each ticket sale to benefit the Women’s Council’s Young Women of Distinction Scholarship Program).  Table sponsorships are also available for a cost of $1,000 which includes sponsorship recognition and an invitation to a pre-luncheon, private reception honoring the Finalists—sponsored by the E. Philip Saunders College of Business at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

The reservation deadline is January 17, 2013.  For more information or to purchase tickets/tables, contact Susan George at the Rochester Business Alliance at (585) 256-4612 or Susan.George@RBAlliance.com.

Woman in the Spotlight

Gidget Hopf, Ed.D

Dr. A. Gidget Hopf is president and CEO of the Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired-Goodwill Industries of Greater Rochester in New York. This comprehensive not-for-profit agency provides employment to people who are blind in manufacturing, food services, retail and call center occupations.

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