ATHENA International Leadership Awards Breakfast

Join Us  
Friday, MAR 7, 2025  |  7:30 AM  |  Water's Edge Event Center

The ATHENA Foundation is dedicated to creating leadership opportunities for women. The prestigious ATHENA Awards Program recognizes individuals on local, national, and international levels.

The inspiration for the ATHENA International Awards Program originated in Lansing, Michigan in 1980, when Martha Mayhood Mertz, owner of Mayhood/Mertz REALTORS® Inc., was asked to serve on the Board of Directors of the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce. Finding herself to be the only working woman serving on the Board, she also discovered that, in the 75 years of presenting community awards, her Chamber had only once honored a woman.

Martha Mertz recognized that, “The world was changing, and the Chamber boardroom did not reflect the reality of the world outside.” The time had come to bring into focus the many outstanding professional and business women in the community and to incorporate them into leadership positions within the Chamber. Through the “voice of business,” they, too, would participate in guiding the present and shaping the future. The first ATHENA Award was presented in 1982.

The ATHENA Awards

2025 Finalists

ATHENA Leadership Award®

• Amber Shrodes, Director of Philanthropy and Community Engagement, Harford County Public Library
• Angela Rose, President & CEO, Harford County Chamber of Commerce
• Angela Sheldon, Lead Associate, Booz Allen Hamilton
• Melynda Velez, Executive Director, LASOS (Linking All So Others Succeed)
• Vickie Bands, Director, Community Outreach and Health Improvement, University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health

ATHENA Young Professional Leadership Award®

• April Cheatham, Director of Community and Business Relations, Extreme Family Outreach
• Ashley Mintzer, Branch Manager, Harford Bank
• Chanel Kelly, Program Manager/Director, Tenax Technologies
• Lauren Beward, Business Development Manager, Bravura Information Technology Systems, Inc.

ATHENA Organizational Award®

• 755 Alliance, BangTam Miller, President and Founder
• Homeward Bound Veterinary Services, Dr. Kristen Vance, Director
• Rodier Family Law, Samantha Rodier, Managing Partner
• The Arc Northern Chesapeake Region, Shawn Kros, President & CEO

Keynote Speaker: Ranger Angela Crenshaw, Director, Maryland Park Service

 

Sponsors

PRESENTING SPONSOR

 

Past Award Recipients

2024 Recipients (L to R): Dr. Mary T. Wray of Laurel Bush Family Dentistry, ATHENA Organizational Award; Stacey Rebbert, ATHENA Leadership Award; and Stacy Guerin, ATHENA Young Professional Leadership Award.