2018 Chicagoland ATHENA Awards Announced
The ATHENA award is given to an exemplary leader who has achieved excellence in their business or profession, served the community in a meaningful way and, most importantly, actively assisted women to achieve their full leadership potential. ATHENA International is a women’s leadership organization that supports, develops and honors women leaders through the programs it administers. ATHENA’s flagship program, the ATHENA Leadership Award® Program, has honored over 7,000 women leaders from hundreds of cities and eight countries since its inception in 1982.
The following women leaders were recognized:
2018 Chicagoland ATHENA Leadership Award: Debra Jennings-Johnson is Senior Director of Supplier Diversity for BP America, a global producer of oil and gas with operations in 70 countries. BP employs about 14,000 people across the U.S. and supports more than 106,000 additional jobs through all its business activities. She is Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Women’s Business Development Center (WBDC) in Chicago, and also sits on the board of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC.) The WBENC is the largest certifier of women-owned businesses in the U.S. and a leading advocate for women business owners and entrepreneurs.
2018 Chicagoland ATHENA Organizational Leadership Award: Quarles & Brady LLP was presented with the Organizational Leadership Award. Adie (Adrienne) Olson, Partner, accepted the award on behalf of the Quarles & Brady Women in Leadership Initiative, comprised of the firm’s thought leaders from across its offices in ten different cities. These leaders come together to help direct Firm policies and practices to drive meaningful change, including implementing the “Mansfield Rule” to ensure women have an equal opportunity to develop the business necessary to build a successful practice. The Women’s Initiative works to continually improve the ways that the firm attracts, retains, and promotes women.
2018 Chicagoland ATHENA Emerging Leader Award: Allison Dillon, Women Mentoring Co-op & Marketing Manager for Chicago Innovation whose mission is to create a thriving ecosystem in the Chicago region by educating, connecting and celebrating innovators. Chicago has a network of 20,000 + participants with 6,000 annual event attendees who unite in a common purpose: to harness the power of innovation to grow their organizations, boost the economy, create jobs, and change the Chicago narrative.
