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POWER OF SOUTHPOINTE
MERGES WITH
WASHINGTON COUNTY
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
At the Annual Washington County
ATHENA Award Presentation Luncheon,
POWER of Southpointe announced it will be
merging its organization
into the Washington
County Chamber
of Commerce. The
consolidation will allow
both organizations to align common missions,
combine resources and reduce administration
costs. With the merger, POWER of
Southpointe will fully incorporate its
organization, programming and assets into the
Washington County Chamber of Commerce.
Speaking to over 400 business and
government leaders at the event, Melissa
Stein, the founder of POWER of Southpointe,
explained that the consolidation with the
chamber is part of the continued evolution of
the organization.
“Since 2008, the POWER of Southpointe’s
mission has been to provide a dynamic base
for successful, professional women to celebrate
diversity and recognize the importance of
building strong and effective women leaders
in the business community,” said Stein. “And
for the past two years, we have partnered with
the chamber on those initiatives in women’s
business leadership. We now believe that it is in
the best interest of our organization as well as
our business community to combine our team
with the chamber team and together expand
our mission, realize
organizational
efficiencies
and create new
opportunities for women business leaders in
Washington County.”
Jeff Kotula, President of the Washington
County Chamber of Commerce, remarked that
the merger is a new
step in expanding
the chamber’s
programming
to promote women’s business leadership in
Washington County.
“When the chamber brought the
internationally recognized ATHENA Awards
to Washington County 14 years ago, we wanted
to focus on highlighting the accomplishments
of women business leaders in our county,”
says Kotula. “Through our partnership with
POWER and now their consolidation into the
chamber, we can greatly increase our initiatives
in not only honoring but now developing
women’s leadership opportunities.”
As part of the merger, the chamber will
continue to sponsor POWER initiatives
such as the ATHENA Young Professional
Leadership Award, Annual Champagne Toast
and Women in Politics event.
2016 ATHENA AWARD
RECIPIENTS ANNOUNCED
The Washington County Chamber of
Commerce announced Geraldine Jones,
President of California
University of Pennsylvania, as
the 2016 Washington County
ATHENA Award Recipient.
The 2016 Finalists included:
• Teresa Babyak, Director of
Operations, Washington
Health System, Washington
Physicians Group
• Joyce D. Ellis, Executive
Director, Lemoyne
Community Center
• Natalie Furgiuele, M.D.,
Mon-Vale Specialty
Practices
• Jana Grimm, Esq., Steptoe &
Johnson PLLC
The ATHENA Award recipient and finalists
are selected by a panel of accomplished
Washington County businesswomen who
determine the
candidates by the
following criteria:
achieving the highest
level of professional
excellence;
contributing time
and energy to
improve the quality
of life for others in
the community; and
Geraldine Jones
actively assisting
others, particularly women, in realizing their
full leadership potential.
In addition, the POWER of Southpointe
and the Washington County Chamber of
Commerce also
announced the
recipient of the
2016 Washington
County ATHENA
Young Professional
Leadership Award
as Laural Ziemba,
Director of
Public Affairs for
Range Resources
Laural Ziemba
Corporation. The
inaugural award honors emerging leaders
who demonstrate excellence, creativity and
initiative in their business or profession.
The recipients provide valuable services by
contributing time and energy to improve the
qual