Six Evansville women recognized at this year's ATHENA Award Luncheon
Brook Endale
EVANSVILLE, Ind. — This year's ATHENA Award Luncheon recognized how far women have come over the years as more women are assuming leadership roles and making their impact known.
Six Evansville women were awarded who are not only succeeding in their careers but giving back to the community as well.
More:Read more about each of the six ATHENA award winners
Stephanie Terry was the winner for Non-Profit Professional. She is the executive director of the Children's Museum of Evansville and also serves on the Vanderburgh County Council.
"It's really humbling," Terry said. "There are many non-profit directors that are very deserving of this award. I'm blessed to be able to be acknowledged in this way, and I just really look forward to continuing to serve the community."
Jean Hitchcock was the Educator of the Year, she is the Signature School Principal.
Hitchcock said if it weren't for the people around her, she wouldn't have made the strides she has to receive an award of this magnitude.
The Healthcare Professional of the year went to Lynn Lingafelter, the Chief Operating Officer at Deaconess.
"In the last few years, I’ve focused on leaving Deaconess a better place than I found it; so my goal is to mentor others and develop future leaders here," Lingafelter said.
Nikki Davis was named Entrepreneur of the Year. She is the executive director of SMILE on Down Syndrome and founded SMILE's Trucks & Heroes and A Night of Stars & Style events. Davis also uses her photography and event planning expertise as managing editor and co-founder of Engaged River Valley.
"I love that the things I do complement each other and keep me involved in the community," Davis said.
The Rising Star of the Year was Alyssia Oshodi, who works for Vectren, a CenterPoint Energy Company, and serves on the board of YWCA.
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"Growing up, I had examples of strong women I could look up to, and I hope to one day be that example to a young woman," Oshodi said.
Executive of the Year went to Dr. Heidi Dunniway, who has been Regional Chief Medical Officer of Ascension St. Vincent South Region since February 2016.
"I did not have any female role models in medical school. Now there are so many more women in medicine, and the role models are much more accessible," Davis said.
Organizers for the event said they decided to expand the award recipients from one to six women due to the growing popularity of the ATHENA program, along with a high number of outstanding nominees year after year. There were 60 women nominated this year, a record for the local program.
The Southwest Indiana Chamber has hosted the annual Athena Award Luncheon since the 1990s. The program is designed to honor women leaders in the community and shine a spotlight on the impact they make.
More:Alyssia Oshodi named ATHENA Rising Star, works to empower young women
More:Service a long-held value for non-profit ATHENA Award winner Stephanie Terry
More:ATHENA recipient Nikki Davis' work with Down syndrome, small business has touched lives
At the luncheon, the recipients of the $1,000 ATHENA Scholarship were also honored.
The winners are Cheyenne Miranda who attends the IU School of Medicine, Rickie Wilson, a student at the University of Southern Indiana, Anarae Silverwillow of Ivy Tech Community College and Megan Yoder at the University of Evansville.
The keynote speaker for the event was Sue Ellspermann, President of Ivy Tech Community College.
She spoke about how far women have come over her lifetime and how much is left to be done.
Ellspermann said it's important to acknowledge that this year marks 100 years since women got the right to vote. She took time to reflect the milestones in history allowing women greater opportunity and standing.
She said in her own life she's seen the adversity that was placed in front of women. In 1977, when she tried to attend Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, she was told they didn't accept women.
"Education matters for women more than our male counterparts. We need credentials, often to just be given the opportunity for a job. Education matters, and credentials matter," Ellspermann said.
She said while women make up 52 percent of professional jobs and are outpacing men in post-secondary educational attainment, "it's still pretty bleak at the top." Even though women are well prepared to assume senior leadership roles, it's still not happening on a wide-scale level.
Ellspermann said women need to be more tenacious and ask for promotions and salary adjustments and push for leadership roles.
"This tenacity has been seen in each of the women that have been honored here as they plowed new ground in their career and are making amazing impacts on the community," she said. "We must continue to encourage that tenacity in our women leaders and then reward it when it's delivered in recognition, in pay, and in promotion."
She ended her speech by saying the only way forward is with the help of everyone and that everyone should use their voices to speak up about instances of discrimination.
"We must help those who are underrepresented be heard. We need to be advocates of equity and allies of women and all who are underrepresented until we see that equity in action," Ellspermann said.
"This event is a great time to celebrate the female leaders we have, their accomplishments, and because of them, our businesses, our schools, our communities and our lives are much better."
