2010 ATHENA Finalists
Celeste AmaralDirector and Vice President, Finance, Worldwide Sales and Customer Operations and Digital Printing Solutions
Eastman Kodak Company
Rachel August
Executive Director
Seneca Park Zoo Society
Nancy Bennett
Director, Center for Community Health; Associate Vice President, University of Rochester Medical Center; Professor, Departments of Medicine and Community and Preventive Medicine
University of Rochester Medical Center
Lydia Boddie-Rice
Manager, Public Affairs
Rochester Gas and Electric
Ellen Brenner-Boutillier
Co-Owner
Fleet Feet Sports AND YellowJacket Racing
Laurie Broccolo
President
Broccolo Tree and Lawn Care
Kelley Brown
Partner, Real Estate Development and Finance Department
Woods Oviatt Gilman LLP
Antonia Carfagna
Manager, Global Applications Operations
Eastman Kodak Company, Worldwide Information Systems
Catherine Cerulli
Director, Laboratory of Interpersonal Violence and Victimization
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Dept. of Psychiatry
Bernadette Durman
Acting Vice President, Eastern Sales Operationss Marketing
Xerox Corporation/North American Sales Group - Eastern Sales Operations
Jennifer Leonard
President and Executive Director
Rochester Area Community Foundation
Angella Luyk
Chief Executive Officer/Owner
Midnight Janitorial, Inc.
Monica Mattioli
Dean of the Lima Campus
Genesee Community College
Dianne Newhouse
President and Chief Executive Officer
Volunteers of America of Western New York, Inc.
Christine Peters
Chief Executive Officer/President
Family First of NY Federal Credit Union
Nancy Plews
World Wide Director, Operational Excellence, Prepress Solutions
Eastman Kodak Company
Susan Salvador
Vice President, Student Services
Monroe Community College
Susan Shafer
Pastor of Evangelism and Membership Care
Asbury First United Methodist Church
Kristin Skarie
President
Teamworks
Sharon Stiller
Partner
Boyland, Brown, Code, Vigdor & Willson, LLP
Fran Weisberg
Executive Director
Finger Lakes Health Systems Agency
Laurie Zaucha
Senior Vice President, Human Resources
PAETEC Holding Corp.
The 2010 ATHENA Recipient will be determined January 21, 2010
2010 ATHENA Award Recipient
Jennifer Leonard
Jennifer Leonard, President and Executive Director of the Rochester Area Community Foundation the 2010 ATHENA Recipient is recognized nationally in her field and has driven both the growth and the impact of the organization she leads through her strategic thinking, business savvy, focus on the customers she serves and her creative and collaborative approach.
Leonard runs what is now Rochester’s largest Philanthropic Foundation, which provides a source of opportunities for philanthropists to create positive change and which administers over 1,000 funds for the benefit of residents of the greater Rochester area. Under Leonard’s tenure, this foundation has grown assets six-fold, from $32 million dollars in 1993, to $200 million dollars today. Increased its grant giving from $3 Million dollars to $22 million dollars annually, has reduced overhead to asset ratio from 1.4% to less than 1% and delivered an investment portfolio performance which ranked it 4th out of 24 similarly sized foundations.
Leonard incorporated a three pronged approach in building the significant growth of her organization, service to donors, service to non-profits and service to the community as whole.
Choosing to give was made easier by providing donors with a variety of options and visibility to community needs, as well as providing their advisors with online resources and educational opportunities on charitable and tax law.
To help direct change efforts of agencies across the community, Leonard has collaborated with United Way and garnered support from other organizations to create Act Rochester, providing key status indicators and information about trends in our community.
Leonard has also promoted efforts to assist women in reaching their potential, including programs for mentoring young women, providing scholarships for older women returning to complete their education, and for assisting to build economic self-sufficiency for women and girls. She mentored young staffers in their efforts to co-found a giving circle for young professionals, and four former staffers she mentored have gone on to senior positions in local and national charitable organizations.
Leonard has held leadership positions on several community organizations, was invited to a white house conference on philanthropy and has received many recognitions, including the Rochester business journal’s 20/20 as one of 20 people having the biggest impact on Rochester over the past 20 years, the mayor’s renaissance award, and twice as the Ibero-American Action League’s “friend of the year.”
Leonard is a member of the faculty of the Center for Community Foundation Excellence. Her articles on the role of a community foundation have been published in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Columbia journalism review among others.