Greenville Chamber Calling for Athena Organizational Leadership Award Nominations
July 20, 2015
GREENVILLE, SC – The Greenville Chamber is accepting nominations for the ATHENA Organizational Leadership Award® to be presented at the third annual ATHENA Leadership Symposium November 17, 2015. The ATHENA Organizational Leadership Award is presented annually to an organization for supporting and developing women leaders.
Investor organizations with initiatives dedicated to creating cultures that encourage women employees to achieve their full leadership potential, and/or that give back to the larger community of women by providing or supporting leadership development opportunities and initiatives, should consider applying for the prestigious award. Both non-profit and for-profit Greenville Chamber Investors are eligible.
An organization that creates a culture which encourages women employees to achieve their full leadership potential might do the following:
(1) Demonstrate passion and conviction toward having women in leadership roles throughout the organization;
(2) Launch an initiative or program to specifically advance women as leaders;
(3) Show a commitment from the top senior leadership toward advancing women;
(4) Have women as role models in senior leadership;
(5) Develop talented women through mentoring by other senior leaders;
(6) Have programs to retain and promote talented women by helping them with career-development plans;
(7) Have set goals to increase number of women in leadership and monitors progress toward those goals;
(8) Share information throughout the organization on progress and status of women leaders (transparency);
(9) Have programs such as flexible hours, child care, to help women balance families and careers;
(10) Advocate for women leaders and girls in the community.
“Receiving the ATHENA Organizational Leadership Award was a tremendous honor for our firm and highlights how women leadership can be truly transformative for businesses and the community,” says Wyche P.A. attorney, Jo Watson Hackl. Wyche P.A. received the inaugural award in 2014.
The award will be presented at the symposium, held from 7:30 to 9:30 am at TD Convention Center with keynote speaker Karen Kaplan, Chairman and CEO on Hill Holliday. Kaplan will address the topic of Advancing Women’s Leadership.
This unique women’s leadership program is inspired by recipients of the ATHENA Leadership Award®, presented each year at the Chamber’s Annual Meeting to women who have made significant contributions to Greenville in promoting community prosperity and quality of life. Past ATHENA recipients make up the volunteer planning committee for the ATHENA Leadership Symposium. The symposium is one of multiple opportunities the Chamber executes to advance leadership diversity within underrepresented populations through the Diversity and Inclusion program.
“The award makes a positive statement to the community that developing the talents of 100% of our population makes our businesses and our city better,” says Hackl.
The nomination deadline is September 15. For more information, and to download a nomination form, visit www.greenvillechamber.org/athena-symposium.php.
About the Greenville Chamber
The Greenville Chamber, now in its 127th year of operation, is the largest business organization in Upstate South Carolina with over 2200 investors supporting the vision to continually improve the quality of life in our community by inspiring and facilitating business success. For more information, visit www.greenvillechamber.org or call 864-242-1050.
